One of my Christmas presents this year was the coveted cupcake cookbook by Isa and Terry. And by February I had finished my testing for the Urban Vegan, so I got to jump right into another cookbook.

My first pick were the Cardamom Cashew Cupcakes. Something a little bit different, but I had all the ingredients in the house (or so I thought) so I thought I’d give them a try. After realizing that I had ground coriander and NOT ground cardamom, I knew these would not go so smoothly as I hoped, but I would not be deterred! I had some cardamom pods from an attempt to make Chai, so I spent a good quarter of an hour opening up those suckers to get at the cardamom seeds inside. Too bad my hand blender was not up to the task of crushing them once they were out (and neither was my improvised mortar and pestle). No worries! I’ll go to the only grocery store still open and purchase an over-priced jar of the stuff. Too bad by the time I got home I learned that I was out of cupcake liners. Boo.

So, the bottoms of my cupcakes were stuck in the bottom of my muffin pans… but luckily the tops were flat enough that I just flipped them over, iced the broken bits, and called it a day. 

 

Cashew Cardamom Cupcake

The taste was quite different, combining the salty and the sweet, but I rather enjoyed them in the end.

My roommate got the next pick and chose Coconut Lim cupcakes. These ones worked out perfectly. I learned from the last experience and made sure that I truly had everything I needed before I started baking. These did not last long at all. 

 

Coconut Lime Cupcake

Any suggestions of what to try next?