A Beary Good Start to Summer

Did your parents ever tell you "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all"? Mine definitely did and it's a saying that I'm trying to live my life by right now. The usual subjects for this blog aren't providing much in the way of positive stimulus: work is frustrating, the weather has reached the itchy 'crinkly' stage of summer heat, and it seems like the world of PR is just full of smart people doing inexplicably stupid things and then making everything worse while trying for damage control. Not even the Adam Richman (of Man vs. Food fame) Instagram meltdown is enough for inspiration right now. 

So instead I am turning to the thing that is putting a huge smile on my face right now: cupcakes. In honour of the summer holiday season starting (Canada Day is just behind us and the 4th of July is just ahead), I wanted to make something fun, light, and just screaming of summer. Typing 'summer cupcakes' into Pinterest will definitely bring you tons of ideas and I settled on a "Bears at the Beach" theme for Piña Colada* cupcakes. 

Despite some initial setbacks**, I think they turned out pretty good! If you want to see the recipes I used and what I did for decoration, read on!

*For the record, these are virgin Piña Colada cupcakes - as much fun as it would be to add a little rum to these bitties, I am taking them to work. 

They're so wee!

**setbacks are as follows. If you're looking to have a lot of 'beach' space to work with, I would suggest you use jumbo cupcake tins. Something in this recipe makes the cake quite dense and moist, and so they don't rise up like cupcakes are supposed to. According to my friend Julie who is a biochemist/baker extraordinaire, there is an enzyme in pineapples that degrade proteins and so that might be why the cupcakes fall. Also, the coconut milk is another likely culprit.

 Piña Colada Cupcakes

Cupcakes

- box of yellow (golden) cake mix

- 3 eggs

- 1 can crushed pineapple (incl. juice) 
- 1 can coconut milk

- 1/2 cup oil*

Icing

- 3/4 cup unsalted butter (softened to room temperature) - I apparently only had 1/2 cup of unsalted butter so I made up the remaining 1/4 cup with softened shortening

- 3 cups icing sugar

- 1/4 cup heavy cream (I used whipping cream)

- 2 tbsp vanilla extract

- 1/2 tsp coconut extract

- pinch of salt to taste

For decorating

- sky blue colour gel to tint icing and cake batter

- cocktail umbrellas

- fine graham cracker crumbs (for the sand)

- sour straps for beach blankets

- teddy grahams

- sour jelly rings for floaties (Lifesavers are great too!)

- any other candy that you can use for beach items

1.      HEAT oven to 350°F.

2.     BEAT first 4 ingredients with mixer until blended; if mixture is too thick, add the oil. Spoon into 24 paper-lined muffin pan cups.

3.     BAKE 20 to 25 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Be careful towards the end of the baking time – the cupcakes can go from brown to burned quite quickly. Cool cupcakes in pans 10 min.; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Make the frosting: In a medium bowl, beat the softened butter/shortening on medium speed with an electric or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat for about 3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Turn mixer off and add confectioners' sugar, cream, vanilla, and coconut extracts. Mix on low for 1 minute then increase to high speed and beat for 3-4 full minutes. Add colour gel to tint your icing. If the frosting needs thickening, you can add more powdered sugar (be careful of it getting too sweet!) If the frosting is too thick, just add more heavy cream. Add salt if frosting is too sweet. Frost cooled cupcakes. There may be leftover frosting depending how much you use on each cupcake.

Decorating time!

Brother Bear is going for a float.

One of the best parts of these cupcakes is that a) they’re so easy to make, and b) each cupcake can be unique! After you frost the cupcakes, dip them into the graham cracker crumbs. How much you dip depends on how much ‘sand’ you want in each little diorama. I also found a way to make spiky waves with the 'ocean' icing - just make sure your icing is stiff enough. Use the flat side of a butter knife and press it down on the icing. When you quickly lift it up, the icing should lift in a little peak. Then use the decorating items you have to make unique little scenes (if you have the available cupcake surface space.) Because mine shrank more than I expected, I ended up reusing several difference scenes.

Mother and Father Bear catching the sun

Store cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days and in the refrigerator up to 4 days. 

Verdict: delicious! No one expected to actually bite into crushed pineapple, despite me telling them that the cupcakes were Piña Colada. The denseness actually worked in my favour this time, so that was nice!

These cupcakes were a lot of fun to make and design, and got tons of compliments at the office. Too bad I've already switched gears to the cupcakes I'll be making for the August long weekend. S'mores, anyone?