experiment

i tested 2 new cupcake flavors today: vanilla lemon drop and cantaloupe honey.

vanilla, lemon and vodka...these flavors are in my favorite drink so i decided to try to recreate the experience in cupcake form. it was pretty good...tart and sweet and i could taste the sharpness from the vodka. i don't think ANY of my chief taste testers could taste the vodka though. something is missing...i need to work this out. for some reason i didn't like the last TWO cocktails i ordered from two different places. what's going on?

i came up with the cantaloupe honey combo myself. a few weeks ago i got a beautiful and sweet melon from the farmer's market. i got home and quickly chopped the cantaloupe and put it in the fridge for later. i prefer my melon chilled. anyway when i came back the next day the melon was perfect: sweet, ripe, orange and cool. i closed my eyes to allow my taste buds to focus. suddenly the floral taste of honey appeared in my imagination. where did that come from??? my eyes opened in surprise. i'd never heard of that combination...cantaloupe and honey...sounds kind of random. my eyes closed again and i took another bite. could these 2 flavors go together? yes, most definitely...without a doubt. just let me go test my hypothesis. i drizzled the liquid gold over the last bright orange square in my bowl and confirmed my suspicions. this cupcake was also pretty good...but i have to make a few adjustments. less honey and more cantaloupe.

so cupcakes are made up of 2 parts right? cake and frosting. usually i combine flavors in both parts...but in the future i want to put one flavor in the cake and one flavor in the frosting. i've tasted cupcakes like this and they were good. it's a good way to get more intense flavors....and you can also take a bite of just the cake....or taste just the frosting....then put the 2 flavors together....mmmmm.