Cooking 2: Chrysanthemum Steamed cupcakes!

Hello everyone, I think this entry will be pretty embarrassing!

This post is not really about a recipe but rather, about how I tried to tweak an ordinary steamed cupcake recipe into something creative, and failed. So I suggest you stick to the original recipe (which I will post below).

So one fine day I felt I was too free and had no coursework deadlines so I decided to bake steamed cupcakes for my housemates. I didn't want to make conventional ones where you baked them in the oven because it usually involves a lot of butter and I prefered to have something spongier and lighter. :)

I got the recipe for steamed cupcakes here:

(click to enlarge)

I was very inspired, but the rebel in me wanted to try something different. I didn't like sticking so closely to recipes and I preferred to change them in my own way to suit my tastebuds. Besides, the patterns looked too complicated for a first-time noob like me, so I concocted my very own....

CHRYSANTHEMUM TEA CUPCAKES :D

In addition to the ingredients above, I used a handful of dried chrysanthemum flowers and some honey in place of white sugar.

Step 1: I boiled the handful of chrysanthemum flowers for approximately half an hour* to obtain the chrysanthemum essence. Add honey for sweet taste.*

Step 2: In the meanwhile mix the eggs, flour and milk into a mixing bowl. Add the chrysanthemum essence to the batter to give it the flowery taste.

*This was my chrysanthemum tea and batter after half an hour. I made an enormous mistake- the tea was not strong enough to give the batter the flavour (unlike if you were to add store-bougfht flavour essences, where a few drops would have sufficed). Besides, it was quite dumb of me to add the honey into the essence rather than into the batter. Adding too little makes the batter really tastless and adding too much essence makes the batter too watery. It was a lose-lose situation either way.

Recommendation:

Add the honey directly into the batter and boil the chrysanthemums for a long time, or use more chrysanthemums.

Step 3: I add the batter with the chrysanthemum essence into the cake holders. Put them into the steamer for about 15 minutes.

Another really stupid thing happened at this stage: the paper cake holders were too flimsy to handle the weight of the batter, so they started collapsing the moment I filled them up. :( When they came out the steamer they became these spaceship-looking things. They were the right texture, but they were so salty because of the egg in the batter, and also the fact that I ADDED THE HONEY INTO THE CHRYSANTHEMUM WATER INSTEAD OF DIRECTLY ONTO THE BATTER.

Not being one to give up, I tried again:

Frustrated, this time I added the stupid flowers straight into the batter, resulting in this vomity-druggy concoction that only a mother would care to taste after it is baked. Oh wait, I don't even think my mother would want to eat this. Can I just say the greenish tint of the chrysanthemums and the pink batter (I added red colouring) go really badly together? :/

Michellin-star baker- quality cupcakes

At this point my kind housemate decided to put me out of my misery and asked me, "Delia, why don't you just use the cupcake tray and bake the thing in the oven?" Because I was already using 6-7 layers of cupcake holder paper per cupcake and the holders still collapsed (especially under steam), I decided to just end my pain and bake it in the oven.

This is the final product!

Verdict: Overall taste is not bad, just that they are 1. really ugly 2. could not rise properly because of the weight of the chrysanthemum flowers 3. if you bite into the flowers (which you most certainly will), prepare to cringe. Perfect for serving to your enemies, except I say skip the sugar!

So that concludes my very interesting first baking attempt! Good luck on trying steamed cupcakes, and if you try the chrysanthemum versions, do drop me a comment if you didn't laosai (have diarrheoa) or land in hospital after eating them, and share with me your secret to success!