Flaming Lips: 24 exquisite miniature cakes

Season 1, Episode 6

So it has been a while since my last post for two reasons: Firstly, life has been kind of busy which therefore meant that I wasn’t baking as much. And secondly, I have mostly been baking old favourites rather than challenge myself to something new.

I actually made these a little while ago when a dear old colleague (and partner in crime for the adventures of Mr Claus) of mine approached me with a very special request. They remain the cakes that I am most proud of. I mean look at these babies:

So here is what happened. I got this email from Joe last year:

Hi Charlie,

(…) I’m currently shopping around for a bakery that delivers cupcakes in London as I’d like to send some to a friend (...) I’d rather give my money to someone I know can do a second-to-none job i.e. YOU!

Have you ever made cakes to order? If not, can I be the first customer?

Thanks,

Joe

Turns out the person these cupcakes were for was the Head of UK Marketing for Twitter, Lucy Mosley. She gave Joe a ticket to The Flaming Lips gig on Tuesday in Camden, despite them having never met before (Tweets here). Not only was I thrilled to have a little project to challenge myself with, but also that Joe trusted me enough to deliver bakery-level cupcakes to someone kind of blew me away.

So of course I had no choice but to say Yes and ask for details of the order (flavour, decorations, theme, delivery date, no. of cupcakes are all important facts to be taken into consideration when baking isn’t your full-time occupation). Joe briefed me to come up with some cupcakes that were inspired by a band:

“So if possible I’d like the cakes to be inspired by the band The Flaming Lips. The tracks they’re famous for are eclectic, pretty wild, and really colourful, as you can see in the photos. I’m no expert when it comes to baking so I’d like to take your professional opinion on flavour, decoration etc.”

Head space went into a little bit of an overdrive but in the end we agreed on a classic recipe with inspired decorations. The recipe I used to create these cupcakes is the classic Hummingbird Bakery Red Velvet Cupcakes recipe – see ingredients and how at the end of the post. The challenge with these cupcakes (and the most fun part of the entire ‘Project’) was the decorations. The cakes were meant to reflect and show the bands vibrant, wild and colourfulness of the band and at the same time be unique and special.

Some of you might have seen my post for the Octopus cupcakes I made for my last day in my old job on my other blog “From Charlie with Love”. I got inspired by the way I got to use roll-out sugar icing to create very personalised shapes and considering that it was impossible to find lips big enough out of chocolate or as lollies anywhere (who would have thought!) I decided to use the same method as the Octopi for these lips. I wanted these to be bold, big and glittery to ensure the achievement of maximum impact. Because my ability to make stuff out of roll-out sugar paste is limited (my octopi were cute but somehow ended up looking a little more like adorable little aliens) I asked my best friend from home to come and help. With her help we ended up making 6 of these beauties:

A little research into the Cox Cookies & Cupcakes book told me that they would have to harden over night in the fridge before being made glittery the next day. So that’s what we did. We wrapped them up in a little aluminium foil blanket and left them there. Then we used cooled, boiled water (a little bit of an oxymoron I know) to apply the glitter with a tiny brush. That resulted in the lips looking like this:

 We mixed 2 different colours to ice the cupcakes with; one to act as the basic colour (the white) which could give us some height on the cupcake to play with and give us a basic layer of icing before continuing with the colours, and a couple of others to give the cupcakes their vibrancy. I opted for blue and green to create the spikes on the cupcakes to give them some colour as well as texture and we then covered some of them in more edible glitter. Plop the red, glittery lips on top and voila “The Flaming Lips Cupcake” were born.

Makes 12; you will need:

• 60g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 20g cocoa powder
• 40ml red food colouring
•  ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 120ml buttermilk
• 150g plain flour
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1½ tsp white vinegar
• 12-hole cupcake tray, lined with paper cases

How to:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas mark 3.
2. Put the butter and the sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy and well mixed. Turn the mixer up to high speed, slowly add the egg and beat until everything is well incorporated.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla extract to make a very thick, dark paste. Add to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly until evenly combined and coloured (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Turn the mixer down to slow speed and slowly pour in half the buttermilk.
4. Beat until well mixed, then add half the flour and beat until everything is well incorporated. Repeat this process until all the buttermilk and flour have been added. Scrape down the side of the bowl again. Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until you have a smooth, even mixture. Turn the mixer down to low speed and add the bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Beat until well mixed, then turn up the speed again and beat for a couple more minutes.
5. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Tip: Making the cupcakes was pretty straightforward and any baker with a little bit of experience can make some delicious red velvet cupcakes with this recipe. Personally I like my cakes a little more moist and gooey so I tend to get them out right on time and let them cool to achieve that slightly gooey texture (stick a knife into your cake and if it comes out with a little batter still attached it will make for great gooey cakes, I always use this trick when making brownies to make sure they aren’t dry!). 

Frosting:

• 300g icing sugar, sifted
• 50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 125g cream cheese, cold

Tip: I like adding a little bit of white chocolate into my cream cheese frosting for a little bit of extra kick, but that is personal preference and definitely not the traditional way of making cream cheese frosting. This works best by breaking the chocolate into tiny little pieces by putting it in a plastic bag and hitting it with a rolling pin (also a great way to relieve any stress or anger).

How to:

1. To make the frosting begin by beating the icing sugar the 50g of unsalted butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.
2. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat it until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed.
3. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least five minutes. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny.
4. When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the cream cheese frosting on top and decorate.