Curryfest!

So my latest delve into my creativeness was last weekend when I was invited to my aunts annual Curryfest. Every year she throws this party which essentially turns out to be a 30 person curry potluck. Way too much food, far too much fun.
Every year I've had to miss it because it's been held on a Saturday and I've had to work (servers don't tend to get Saturdays off very often!) Well this year I was told a couple weeks in advance and was able to go! So naturally what do I decide to make?

Curried Cupcakes.

Yes you read right. I figured there would probably be a lack of desserts considering curry doesn't usually translate to sweet, and as soon as I walked in the door with my tray the first thing out of my aunts mouth was "Of COURSE you brought baking!" followed by a huge hug.
When it came time to serve dessert, everyone was shocked/surprised at these miniature cupcakes that were apparently curried. Several of the East Indian party-goers were even more shocked and proclaimed "I have NEVER heard of a curried cupcake before!"

This really excited me.

They went over a HUGE hit. Everyone went back for seconds, let alone thirds!!
I was very skeptical about my adventure and planned on making a back-up batch of good ol' chocolate, but was pleasantly surprised by the final product, and apparently so was everyone else! They were sweet and savory at the same time. A really wonderful flavor combination.

So what did I do? I took my trusty white cake recipe and tinkered away.
I replaced the milk in the recipe with almond milk, which I just barely brought to a boil with approximately 2 teaspoons of curry powder mixed in. I allowed that to cool while I prepared all the other ingredients. I also used packed golden brown sugar instead of white sugar and added a dash of cinnamon.
I was a little disappointed when the cakes fell, but I assume with was probably from over creaming the butter and sugar together (waiting for the milk to cool!) Thankfully they still turned out light and fluffy.
I topped each one off with a dollop of lemongrass buttercream which I made by mixing in about a teaspoon of lemon juice and probably 2-3 tablespoons (I did it by taste) of lemongrass paste which I found in the produce section of my local grocery store.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them (silly me and my dead camera battery...teach me to be prepared!), but imagine the cupcake as a greenish yellow reminiscent of curry with a bright white dollop of icing on top. Although a greenish yellow cupcake sounds more like something that's gone bad sitting in the back of the fridge for ages (not that a cupcake would ever sit there for long enough to go bad!), they were actually quite pretty!

I'm really looking forward to playing with more savory cupcake concoctions, especially after the success of these!