Tuesday 23 August 2011

violet cupcakes

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

5 comments:

  1. Jane I love the colour of these. They look beautiful. I'll bet your mum would have loved them.

    (I hated raw celery for my first 30 years, now I can't get enough of the stuff.)

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  2. What sweet lil cupcakes! :) I love violet flavoured sweets :)

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  3. Jane, what an amazing colour! I never knew Haighs made those chocolates..

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  4. Violent 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

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  5. thanks cityhippyfarmgirl..yes you are right..she would have loved them..

    and 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.. :)

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