...so these are triple cantaloupe cupcakes...meaning cantaloupe cupcakes with cantaloupe and cool whip filling....topped with cantaloupe buttercream......woohoo!
.....and noooooo...!!!!.....summer can't be almost over.....!....no no no....not ready yet....this summer went by even faster than last summer when i complained about the same here.....
....so melons always remind me of summer....and since i already attempted watermelon cupcakes....decided to cantaloupe it up.....and cantaloupe is tough because the flavor is so subtle...especially in baked stuff....like you don't really see cantaloupe pudding...or cantaloupe cookies....or cantaloupe brownies.....or ....you get the picture.....so i was trying to figure out how to concentrate the flavor....there are some recipes out there...but i kinda just winged it....
....start with a really ripe cantaloupe....cut it up and food process the heck out of it.....
.....then add the puree plus about 1 tablespoon of sugar to a saucepan and heat until it thickens and reduces....then strain to get the solids out....and you get a kinda thick puree.....
...add about 1 cup of puree to about 3 cups of cake batter (just used a boxed vanilla cake mix).....this made about 6 cupcakes as i didn't want to make a huge batch of these.....
....then bake @350 degrees for about 12-15 minutes.....in the meantime....add some of the puree (about 2 tablespoonfuls) to about 1 cup of cool whip.....
....and using the cone method...described here.....take out some of the cupcake (to make room for filling)....and fill with the cool whip mixture.....
....the buttercream is my favorite vanilla buttercream recipe....add about 2 cups of buttercream to about 1/2 cup of concentrated cantaloupe puree....add some extra powdered sugar until you get the consistency you want for piping.....
..these are piped with a wilton 1M tip in roses (my fav!)....and then topped with some regular sugar tinted orange with some regular liquid food coloring....(btw-which is a great way to get your own home made colored sugar crystals!)......
....and you get some end of summer cantaloupe cupcakes with cantaloupe filling and cantaloupe buttercream.....and you most certainly get cantaloupe flavor in these...the cool whip filling is nice and light and goes really well with the cake and buttercream flavors.....so if you dig cantaloupe then these are most definitely for you.....(and now i am done with typing "cantaloupe" for like the next 20 years....!)
...and on a totally other note....let alone the summer flying by....i can hardly fathom 10 years have gone by since September 11, 2001.
...i so understand how people remember exactly where they where when JFK was shot or other huge moments in history....because i remember the moment i found out the World Trade Center was hit by hijacked planes....
....i was working in nj (about 30 miles from NYC) at the time...any other normal tuesday workday...the day was a perfect day...such a very perfect simpson's sky day....i remember i had on a black sweater and plaid skirt that day (have never worn that same combo again)....a little before 9 am my husband called me and said something hit the world trade center...maybe a small plane but no one was sure....i remember he was amazed by the amount of paper showering from the sky....he was working on-site at Deutsche Bank which was across the street from the WTC ...he called again after the 2nd plane hit and sounded freaked out and said his building was rocked and there was fire falling down, that another plane hit the WTC, this was not an accident and something was going on...he was going to figure out what to do and get out of there.....we couldn't get pictures on the internet at work as it was jammed and phone lines where hit or miss....he called again and got my cell voicemail...when i listened to it he said he was standing outside of the WTC which was on fire....and that he was going to try to get back to nj...as i was listening to his voicemail, i was in our cafeteria which had tv's broad casting the live news and i saw the first WTC collapse....i didn't really know what to do...i walked out of the caf and ran into a friend....she asked about john....and i told her he was somewhere outside around the WTC....she hugged me and said i'm sure he's fine.....
....and thankfully he was...he made it inside the basement of the federal reserve bank (where he worked) which had 12 inch concrete walls before the collapse of the first tower.....he finally got a text to me saying he was ok and safe....but there was a good couple of hours that i had no idea.....he made it home around 6 pm that nite.....
....this story is nothing compared to the thousands of people who have a very different story and ending to tell....i will always remember 9/11/01....that's just a given...it's hard to watch all the remembrance stories going on....i don't want to watch but i can't not....it's too close to home....i work in nyc now and it's truly an amazing place....it's so great to see the new tower climbing in the sky downtown but it will never replace the twin towers we lost, the skyline and the country will never be the same.....but it needs to go up...it just does....
...anyway...thanks for listening to my catharsis....life is great and precious no matter what....it most definitely throws you some curve balls.....some you hit out of the park and some you won't but regardless you have to play to stay in the game.....and maybe making or eating a cupcake will help just a little on one of those curve ball days....
