I didn’t set out to make Rider cupcakes yesterday, really and truly I didn’t. All I really wanted to do was to experiment with my new cupcake pan (sturdier and not prone to bending the way my shiny disposable aluminum ones are; the trade-off is that the darker coating wreaks havoc with my baking times and temperatures and results in what I feel are overbaked cupcakes. Hence, experiment), using a familiar – so I knew what I should be getting – and preferably light-coloured cupcake recipe, that I might better be able to judge degree of browning. What better than the basic vanilla cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World? The liners I used weren’t terribly important; these were just going to be “practice cupcakes” for home. Yet when my eyes lit on an open package of green and white gingham liners, an idea started to form. Green and white liners….white-ish cupcakes….perfect snacks for the Labour Day Classic between the Bombers and the Riders!
I substituted almond extract for the vanilla in the recipe since for some reason I have three bottles of the stuff in the cupboard, and found a lonely-looking lime in the fridge that seemed to be begging to be incorporated into the icing. While almond-lime seems like – and is – an unusual combination, I thought the sweet and tangy might play off one another well, although my test audience remains uncertain of its status as the next power-combo. It’s no peanut butter-chocolate, that’s for sure, but certainly not offensive, at any rate. And I actually had enough icing left over for a 13th…what, too soon? Okay…
While I realize that neither almonds nor limes are indigenous to the Land of the Living Skies, there’s also canola oil and wheat flour (101 varieties suitable for growth in Saskatchewan, according to the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation, which also lists lemons and oranges as viable crops but not limes), so I feel like it’s at least somewhat representative. And I can’t say for sure whether my culinary toying affected the outcome of the game, but, well, Riders 27 – Bombers 7.
Which of course raises the question: can a blue and gold creation pull things the other way at next weekend’s Banjo Bowl?
The Witty Child 