Misunderstanding Rush Lyrics and Poured Fondant

What a freakin' letdown. All these years I've thought Rush had a great song about Space Invaders, and now that I've bothered to flex the internets, I'm forever disapointed. I hate you Tom Sawyer!

Anyway, I've wanted to try frosting cupcakes with poured fondant since before King Kong first began shimmming up New York architecture, and yesterday's Totally Vegan Potluck brought me the very opportunity I've been waiting for--goodbye Cinderella Complex and hello ball Cyclops Cupcakes.

We've been damp armpit deep in the 90s for a few weeks already, and believe it or not, I'm not masochistic enough to attempt transporting buttercream covered objects right now. Except of course, under the direst of circumstances, or if someone asks politely with big batting eyes and wads of cash, or lots of banana bubble tea. While one might and possibly should consider a Science Fiction themed vegan potluck dire, really, it's not quite the burning emergency it might have been pre-Federal Levee Failure, is it? See, the great thing about poured fondant is that it's pretty indestructible. Once set, it forms a shell stronger than Texas sized palmetto bugs, and better yet, it doesn't melt--perfect for slammin' around in the car en route to wherever it is I'm headed in this fire o' hell.

It seems most poured fondant recipes on the webs are vegan, and most of the ones I've found give good directions for how to make the actual fondant, but zero directions for how to apply the paste, because once boiled and processed, it sets up into a semi solid mass.

My plan for the potluck, was also solid, and I could not be swayed--Nuclear Winter-Proof Cyclops Space Invader Cupcakes. First, I made a batch of banana cake from pakupaku, but poured the batter into cupcakes instead (the recipe will yield 24, but watch that time, they really only need to bake for about 25 minutes). Then I stuck my finger into each cake and made a hole, a la VCTOTW, filled each hole with some peanut butter buttercream I piled into a pastry bag, and then spread the top of each with a swab of strawberry jam--don't go globbing it on, all that's needed is just a thin delicate swipe.

Next, I bundled my armpit hair into adorable homemade hairnets (for food safety) and eagerly began my poured fondant and evil eye adventure. I used the recipe from ochef.com and followed it to a capital T, but at the end if you've done it right, you end up with an "opaque paste" that is supposed to be sealed into a plastic ziplock for 24 hours. Not what I wanted, with the TVP loomin' around my afternoon.

Using a heat-proof spatula, I scraped the stuff into a heat-proof bowl and placed it on a small makeshift double boiler over low heat and had myself a little heat-proof-hoe-down. Then I very carefully reheated it, added just a few tablespoons of hot water and stirred it like a maniac, until it relaxed into a nice viscosity for dipping. Don't be jealous, you can use the word viscosity, too. Go ahead, just keep it within context. Each cupcake was then dipped into this magic liquid, and lo! Almost immediately a sturdy crust was formed. If you have enough fondant (I'd recommend making 1.5 times the above linked recipe for 24 cupcakes), you can double dip them for perfection--looks more perfect and soooOOoo firm. Once the fondant is set (within mere moments) you can continue to decorate them however you like. For me, I couldn't quit tapping on them, it's a miracle I even got them showcased and out of the house. The fondant has the taste and texture of a very light praline or penuche. Also, if you use unbleached sugar like I did, the color will not beat white. Mine stayed a light beige, which I tinted into a mucus green for party effectiveness.

To create Space Invaders, each dipped cupper was adorned with a strip of scalloped fruit leather, some confectioner's glaze-free sprinkles, fig/blueberry cross sections for the alien irises and tinted buttercream for the details. Fun-fun-fun. If you make and share these, please don't forget to force everyone to tap their finger on top of the fondant. It's important to get some fuss over their crunchy tops.

Oh and P.S.
Emily, you've won Peta's latest cookbook, please email your snail mail contact info to me at kittee68 at yahoo dot come, and I'll send it out as soon as possible.






xo
kittee