When I arrived here in Cairo and moved into our house, I was
wondering what our neighbors would be like.
I should tell you that we live on a little side street with only two
houses and an enormous shared parking space.
So good neighbors next door would be an important thing. Well, we were here for several weeks and
never saw them up close. From a
distance, I knew there was a woman, a man and a little boy. I told dear husband that they must not be
American because Americans would have come over to say hello. And, then.
Then! I heard them outside
talking. And the lady called to the
little boy and he shouted, “Yes, ma’am!”
And I declared, “They are not only American, they are from the
South!” Americans would come over to say
hello, but Southerners are duty bound, raised to be polite. We bring warm cookies or pie! Yes, we do!
But still no one came to welcome us to the neighborhood. And I sat in judgment and found them
lacking. Not that I dwelled on it, but
it stung a little. (I have to say that I
did go over once and ring the bell, but no one answered, despite the car in the
parking space and the gardener telling me they were home.)
I was in the kitchen last Sunday. I am fortunate in that my sink looks out on
the front garden. All of a sudden, I
caught sight of one of my neighbors, the elder male of the clan, watering his
lawn. About the same time, my doorbell
rang and it was the meter reader or someone else that is not important. Finally, I had a chance to meet my neighbor! I rushed out and introduced myself. We chatted.
He is a very nice man. And he shared
with me within those first few minutes that they had lived in Egypt for many,
many years and were raising their five-year-old grandson since last August when
his mother, their daughter, was murdered by her ex-husband. In front of that sweet boy. I maintained composure and I think I said all
the right condolencey-type things, even offering to babysit if they ever needed
a break, but once I got back into the house, I was so ashamed. The very last thing on that woman’s mind is
surely welcoming a neighbor to the neighborhood! She is raising her grandson and grieving the
loss of her own beloved child. Dear God, forgive
me! I pray I will remember this lesson forever.
In the face of loss and grief, I do what Southerners
do: I baked them cupcakes. Does it make up for judging them? Hell no.
But it made me feel the tiniest bit better.
And I hope the bright cupcakes cheered them up just a little.
Ingredients
For the vanilla cupcakes:
2 ¼ cups or 280g flour
1 ½ cups or 340g sugar
¾ cup or 170g shortening or
butter, softened
3 eggs
¾ cup or 80ml milk
2 ½ teaspoons
double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
extract
For the butter cream
frosting:
16 oz or 450g confectioners
sugar
6 tablespoons or 85g butter, softened
11/2 teaspoons vanilla
extract
3-4 tablespoons milk
Food colorings of your choice (I use
Wilton gels because a little goes a long way.)
For the decorative
flowers:
About 70 mini
marshmallows (for 18 cupcakes)
1/2 cup or 110g fine
sugar for each color you make (Store leftovers in a airtight plastic bag - these will keep indefinitely.)
Food colorings of your choice
Preheat oven to
375°F (190°C). Grease a muffin tin or
use cupcake papers.
This is the easiest
cake ever. Into a large bowl, mix ALL
the cake ingredients at low speed until smooth, scraping bowl occasionally with
a spatula.
Increase speed to
medium and beat five minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally with a spatula.
Spoon out the batter
into the prepared muffin tins. I use a
small ice cream scoop for this because I find it easier to distribute the
batter evenly and get it neatly in the muffin tin. This batter should make 18 cupcakes. Drop the muffin pan gently on the cabinet a
couple of times to let the air bubbles come to the top and pop.
Bake for 20-30
minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick poked in them comes out clean. Remove from pans and let cool completely on
rack.
Meanwhile, make your
butter cream icing and decorations. For
the butter cream, mix all the ingredients together with your electric mixer
until it is creamy.
If the mixture is too thick, add just a little more milk.
Add in your food
coloring and mix again. I chose green
but you can make whatever color you like best.
For your decorative
flowers, mix your food coloring gel in a few drops of water and stir with a
toothpick until it is dissolved. I tried
adding the gel directly to the sugar and that didn’t work out so good since my
gel was too thick and sticky. I ended up with a light color that didn't contrast enough with the white of the marshmallow. If you have liquid food colors, you might be able to skip this step and put the colors straight into the sugar.
Too light with bits of gel still visible. Don't do it this way! |
Add it to the sugar
in an airtight container and shake vigorously until the color is even distributed.
You will need at least two colors to make a daisy. Or you could use M&Ms for the
center.
Much better, don't you agree? |
Once your colored
sugars are ready, cut the mini marshmallows diagonally for the petals, and
straight across the middle for the center of the flower.
I will be petals! |
I will be the center! |
Pop them into the airtight sugar containers
and give them a shake. They will plump
back up in just a few minutes.
Once your cupcakes
are cool, frost them.
Add the marshmallows to the top, flat, non-cut side down. Start with the center and then add the petals at 9 and 3 o’clock and then fill in the other two on each side.
Share them with
anyone who might need some springtime sunshine.
Enjoy!
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Credit for the
marshmallow flower idea goes here.
Aren’t hers beautiful?!
The cake and frosting recipes came originally from the Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook, 1980 edition.