Miss American Cupcake Contest

The lovely ladies at All Things Cupcake are hosting a cupcake recipe contest, and they're looking for entries from every state in order to do a Miss America-type showdown. Read more about it here. I'm sending in my entry this week...wish me luck as I try to capture the state title!

My first attempt at finding a cupcake to represent Louisiana left a little to be desired. Entries for the contest would ideally be ones that flavor wise capture the spirit of the state they're coming from. Huh? I had to do a little brainstorming for this one. King cake, bread pudding, bananas foster...these are all fine ideas, but they're not cupcakes. I toyed with the notion of making bread pudding in cupcake form, but to me a cupcake shape does not a cupcake make. What should I do? Thumbing through some of my local cookbooks and doing some internet searching gave me my answer: Cajun Cake. I've never heard of or eaten this particular cake, which has a pineapple base and a German chocolate cake-like topping. I decided to go for it, based on the numerous positive reviews I read on the internet. After all, we all know that if it's on the internet it has to be true.

Cooking evaporated milk, sugar, brown sugar, pecans, and coconut on the stove top. Who needs cupcakes to pour this on? I could eat the whole pot. Seriously. Pot, wooden spoon, and all.

The lovely little beauties right out of the oven. Notice how there's just enough room between the top edge of the cupcake and the top of the liner to capture any icing overflow. They're so pretty! But tasty? Ummm...not so much. Kinda rubbery since none of the recipes I came across called for oil. And bland. Bland is bad. I think they needed salt, if that makes any sense. That and I was told a few days later that pineapple doesn't "go" with the pecan and coconut topping. Oh well.

Here they are in all their shiny, golden glory. Oh so pretty. Such a shame that I'm not entering these in the contest. On a side note, remember how I always wish I could take better pictures? As in without my messy kitchen as a background? Notice the top picture of the single cupcake...that's my black dress filling in as a backdrop. Desperate times, folks.