The icing warmed up and two sides began sliding around. I took the cupcakes downstairs but the office was closed and with no note saying where they were or when they'd be back. I brought them back upstairs. They were covered and put into the refrigerator.
The icing chilled and stiffened. I realized that they don't have enough red color. I added more red to the sugar creating a deeper pink/orange. Straightened the two halves, trimmed excess icing and rolled them partially in deeper pink/orange colored sugar. They looked more convincingly like peaches. Replaced the wilted basil leaves and took them downstairs.
The color-improved version looks better than these pictured. Same cupcakes with more red blush. It made a big difference in appearance.
Dexter was talking to two women, Deena who had been gently suggesting she sure did like the peaches, and a new person whom I don't know. I think Deena's sister. These three people freaked out. They whipped out their phones and took pictures. They took pictures of Dexter and me. The two women each ate one, nibbling as if eating a real peach, separating the halves and eating them as two separate cupcakes, oohing and aahing the whole time, complimenting the icing, the cupcake, the almond inside. Just the overreaction one hopes for. They made doing the whole thing such a pleasure. I'd say, they gave the perfect reaction. Deena who had them before, and two others who hadn't seen such things. They made this fun.
* 2 eggs
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 1 cup sugar
* 3 tablespoons peach flavored liquor
* 1 tin peaches without syrup blended to puree.
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 cups low-protein cake flour. (I added flour in increments tapped through a strainer to the desired thick viscosity. The amount of flour may vary depending on how much peach puree you end up with)
* 2 level teaspoons baking powder.
This batch produced enough batter to fill 10 hemispherical cupcake tin depressions for 5 fairly large peach cupcakes. I thought it was enough to fill all 12 depressions. If 12 is important, then some of the syrup from the tin of peaches could be included. Who knows, maybe that will intensify the peach flavor. And so would more peach flavored liquor.
See, cupcake recipes will have some measure of milk. Here peach puree is substituted.
The cupcakes rise above their containers. The dome that forms is sliced off to make a flat top so the two halves fit to make a ball.
The batter tastes awesome. The baked up halves taste very good. I have some extra from a trial run without icing. I do have leftover icing but I've been eating the extra without. They're great with coffee or milk. I imagine they'd be very good toasted.
Icing:
* four ounces cream cheese
* four ounces butter (one stick)
* tablespoon peach flavored liquor
* 2 cups confectioner's sugar. (I think. I kept adding until the right thickness was reached.)
* pinch of salt
At room temperature the frosting is light and airy, nearly unsubstantial. It chills to hardness as both butter and cream cheese do.
This icing is what holds the two halves together. An almond is placed in the center of both halves.
* 3/4 cup white sugar shaken with yellow powdered food coloring. The cupcake balls are rolled all around. It sticks to the fairly moist exterior. Red powdered food coloring is added to the yellow sugar. The balls rolled partially so they're 1/2 yellow and 1/2 pink/orange.
* I used a stem of basil for leaves because they're the same shape as peach tree leaves. Mint is probably more appropriate. It doesn't matter. The basil leaves wilt fairly quickly.
Women love these cupcakes. There's just something about them that tickles their fancy.
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