Karina Makes the Chow, Ariel Takes the Vow: cupcakes for the newlyweds!

This weekend...oh, what a weekend. Our very own Ariel and Sam got themselves hitched on the beautiful Mt. Tam, and I was lucky enough to be there to witness one of the most unique and inspiring ceremonies imaginable... Even better- I was asked to make cupcakes for the celebratory event!


Ariel requested enough cupcakes to feed 75 folks, and hinted at the wish for two different flavors. I knew there was going to be a more traditional wedding cake front and center made by her incredibly talented friend Butch, so I decided to stick to my style and go bizarre and bold.


I made my favorite go-to vegan cake batter using all the organic ingredients I could get. (I made a little over double what this recipe calls for:)

2 cups water
3/4 cups light oil (I used extra virgin olive oil this time)
2 tbl white vinegar
4 tsp vanilla
3-1/2 cups unbleached flour (I used whole wheat instead and recommend it!)
2 cups sugar
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp baking soda cinnamon and cayenne

Then I split the batter in half and made two different flavor purees to add to each one.

Kiwi-Lavender (with added mango, ginger and dates)


And Banana-Chipotle (with added cayenne, ginger, more cinnamon and dates.)


I added each puree to one of the batter bowls, and made a few last minute flavor adjustments by adding this and that (more spice here, a little lemon to balance it there, agave to make it perfectly sweet..) I made both minis and regular size to make sure there was more than enough to go around.


Once they were all cooked at 350* to moist and golden perfection and cooled over night, I set up my decorating station and got to some serious business... (notice my new frosting syringe I just bought- an awesome addition to my cake garnishing tool box!)


I had made both frostings by starting with a base of room temperature earth balance, vanilla, powdered sugar, sea salt, dates, fresh ginger, cinnamon and cayenne. I added bananas and chipotle peppers to one, and kiwi, lavender buds, lemon, and rose water to the other.


I garnished the kiwi-mango-lavender cupcakes with dried pomegranate seeds, dried blueberries, and candy pearls...


And the Banana-Chipotle cupcakes with freeze-dried bananas, chili-coated dried pineapples, dried pomegranate seeds and more candy pearls.


Butch's gorgeous cake!




The crafty couple planned for the reception to be one giant potluck, and luckily all of their friends and family apparently are INCREDIBLE cooks. I am fairly confident that no one went hungry that night.


Congrats Ariel and Sam!