Is it just me or are more people having their own fireworks parties these days? Much as I enjoy a municipal gathering where thousands of huge fireworks are let off in a spectacular successful fashion, there is a part of me that hankers after a few unpredictable rockets zooming off into the next door's garden. The inevitable pause between fireworks is always a good moment to get some food out. Sausages? Yes. Baked potatoes? Yes. Cupcakes? Definitely. Should you be of a nervous disposition and shy away from explosive devices, never fear. Stick a small, indoor sparkler into the top of the cakes, turn the lights out and behold the gentle fizzle.
*Makes about 12
Kate Shirazi makes beautiful and irreverently decorated cupcakes with eggs from her own free-range flock of hens rescued from laying cages—they are cupcakes with both conscience and attitude. Combining a simple, straightforward approach to cooking and an insatiable appetite for cake, here is a collection of delicious new recipes and fun designs for cupcakes. A lively, colorful book packed with baking tips, captivating new cake designs, modern photography, and delightful illustrations, it is split into low-fuss, middle-fuss, and high-fuss recipes, with ideas for sweet and savory, children and adults, and seasonal and special occasion designs. There is also a section devoted to ingredients and equipment. The author writes in such an informal style and w...
© 2013 Kate Shirazi / Anova · Reproduced with permission.Make the cakes as for whichever recipe you choose, and make up the icing appropriate to the cake.
Ice the cakes - if not using chocolate, a really deep navy icing seems best to imitate the night sky. Let the icing dry really well (including the ganache).
Separate the royal icing into as many bowls as you want colours, and tint them accordingly with food colouring. Using piping (decorating) bags with fine nozzles (tubes), pipe on whatever firework takes your fancy - Catherine wheels, rockets, shooting stars and those amazing fountains of coloured baubles all go well.
Sprinkle a tiny bit of edible glitter over them if you wish, and run free with the dragees, which may need a tiny dab of royal icing underneath them to hold them in place.