Cupcakes on Steroids

I never understood America's obsession with cupcakes.
I remember them being strictly for birthday parties as a kid.
But is seems on every corner in Manhattan a new cupcake store opens up!

My girlfriend had a wedding in nyc and to save some money on a fancy, $$$$ wedding cake, she opted for pretty cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery with silver dragee. They were lovely and festive (& affordable!).

I saw Martha Stewart's show a few weeks ago and she featured another rat race survivor, Marlo Scott, who decided to find some happiness away from Wall Street & open up her own cupcake bakery and lounge that serves wine and beer pairings to go with the cupcakes.

The place is called Sweet Revenge and is located in the chic West Village neighborhood on Carmine St.
I love that she bakes her cupcakes in cut squares made from parchment paper, instead of cupcake tins. They look special and very artistic in these brown paper packages.

So, I decided to see what all the fuss was about.
I don't have any kids' birthday parties or any festive occasion to bake cupcakes for, but figured everyday is a happy occasion, so why not go for it!

I decided to bake a vanilla cupcake and on half of them I sprinkled flaked coconut, and on the other 3 cupcakes, I swirled melted Hershey bars inside the batter.




I cut the parchment paper into 4" squares, as per Marlo, and used a drinking glass to wedge the paper into the muffin tins. Didn't work as well as the demonstration on Martha's show, but I made do.

They really puffed up and were HUGE!!!! As if we injected them with sugar steroids!


Some of the batter spilled over the sides, I probably should've used an oversized muffin or popover tin.

Here is what Marlo's cupcakes look like in the paper wrappers, mine were close. These cupcakes were TERRIFIC!


Here is the recipe for basic vanilla cupcakes with coconut topping:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup whole milk

sweetened flaked coconut

Mix all ingredients and fill muffin liners in muffin tin. Sprinkle with flaked, sweetened coconut. Bake for about 15 minutes in a 350 oven.




I guess these are really MUFFINS, not CUPCAKES, because they have no icing!