the idea behind the flavourings for these cupcakes comes from a chocolate called a 'violet cream' made by a south australian company called haighs..while i grew up loving haighs chocolates i was never very fond of their violet creams nor any other sweets or food that had a perfumed flavour..however violet creams were a particular favourite of my mother..
on sunday i had a family lunch where for the first time since my mother died 2 years ago i cooked a chicken pie that was a specialty of hers and that was a favourite of my brother for whom the farewell lunch was organised..and for sweets i decided to interpret her favourite chocolate..
violet creams are a dark chocolate with a violet flavoured creamy centre and with a candied violet on top.. so in order to interpret the chocolate i made chocolate cupcakes iced with a violet coloured and flavoured butter cream..i wanted the violet flavour to stand out over the chocolate flavour but at the same time not eclipse it so i added the flavouring in stages and tasted as i went..and on top i popped one of my own candied violets..
i think i got the balance of flavours right because my guests seemed to enjoy them and when i tried one i was surprised by how much i liked the combination of flavours..in fact i loved the violet flavour which suggests that my palate has changed..
and i've since been wondering whether others have experienced such a distinct change in their palate..jane
on sunday i had a family lunch where for the first time since my mother died 2 years ago i cooked a chicken pie that was a specialty of hers and that was a favourite of my brother for whom the farewell lunch was organised..and for sweets i decided to interpret her favourite chocolate..
violet creams are a dark chocolate with a violet flavoured creamy centre and with a candied violet on top.. so in order to interpret the chocolate i made chocolate cupcakes iced with a violet coloured and flavoured butter cream..i wanted the violet flavour to stand out over the chocolate flavour but at the same time not eclipse it so i added the flavouring in stages and tasted as i went..and on top i popped one of my own candied violets..
i think i got the balance of flavours right because my guests seemed to enjoy them and when i tried one i was surprised by how much i liked the combination of flavours..in fact i loved the violet flavour which suggests that my palate has changed..
and i've since been wondering whether others have experienced such a distinct change in their palate..jane
Jane I love the colour of these. They look beautiful. I'll bet your mum would have loved them.
ReplyDelete(I hated raw celery for my first 30 years, now I can't get enough of the stuff.)
What sweet lil cupcakes! :) I love violet flavoured sweets :)
ReplyDeleteJane, what an amazing colour! I never knew Haighs made those chocolates..
ReplyDeleteViolent creams (that's what we called them as kids, ooh how we dreaded finding the chocolate with the rose or violet flavours in the Christmas choc box) but I think you're right and I would like them better now. As a child I didn't approve of flower flavours in sweets, or fruits in stews, just didn't seem right. Now I drink herb tea made with roses and lavender and though somewhere in the back of my mind, something says, 'bath water' I have overridden that thought :D What did you use to get the violet flavour? Beautiful and unusual post :D
ReplyDeletethanks cityhippyfarmgirl..yes you are right..she would have loved them..
ReplyDeleteand thanks nqn for your comment..i'm now thinking of other flowery flavours i want to play with..rose and lavender are the ones that comes to mind..
celia..they do a couple of interesting flowery soft centred chocolates..violet being one but they also make a rose one..must check what else they do..now that's a good excuse to make a trip.. :)
joanna..i'm very much all about fresh natural and so on but sometimes i convince myself that the odd bit of artificial is ok and this was one of those times..i did try to buy pure violet essence but it was $45 for one of those tiny bottles..i thought maybe the violet cakes would be a one off thing but now that my palate has gone all flowery i might just reconsider.. :)