Toddler Friendly Frosting

Yes, all frosting is kid friendly, but when it comes to buttercream swirls, little chubby hands have a difficult time creating fancy pants cupcakes. Of course, you don’t mind what the cupcake looks like when it’s your child that decorated it; in fact, usually the final look is even more charming because it’s from the hands of your sweet child. But, if your cupcakes are destined for a crowd other than your family, I have just the recipe, and it’s the easiest frosting recipe on earth: ganache. Ganache is multi-purpose; so, if you make too much for your cupcakes or cake, you can repurpose it for truffles. It also works well as filling for crepes, a drizzle over ice cream, or sandwich cookies, whether they're your cut and rolled ones or animal cookies straight from the box.


My daughter had a blast dipping the cupcakes in the ganache for our Valentine's day treats. I demonstrated once how to dip the cupcakes, and, to my pleasant surprise, she mimicked the technique perfectly. She turned out four perfectly frosted cupcakes, one of which is in the photo. You can't tell the difference between hers and mine! So, I gave her four more. At that point, the temptation became too great, and she added a quality check step to her job. With each cupcake she dipped, she took a big lick off the top and squealed, “Mmm, ah, good!”

Ganache
Makes 1 cup


 2/3 cup heavy cream
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons corn syrup


Directions

Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Place chocolate and corn syrup in a small bowl. Pour hot cream over chocolate mixture, and stir until smooth.

Agave Nectar

I don’t know why I’ve had my head in the sand regarding the Agave Nectar craze, but it’s out now. Agave nectar has such a luxuriously soft mouth feel, “nectar of the gods” is what comes to mind-not in the reference to wine way, but in the wow, this is good enough for the gods way. I ordinarily don’t sweeten my cappuccino; but, not because I don’t want to, mainly because I try to cut out refined sugar where ever possible (to make room for cake, haha). But, it seems as though I’ve been hearing about agave nectar left and right; so, when I passed by it in the grocery store, I backed up and stopped to take a looksee at what all the hulabaloo is all about. Offhand, I wasn’t exactly sure how I would use it in a recipe (that’s on deck), so I grabbed the vanilla flavored bottle, thinking I would use a little in my daughter’s milk to replace her favorite Starbuck’s treat. Of course, I had to test it out first. I drizzled a little over my cappuccino, took a sip, took another sip, then drizzled a lot more over the top. Amazing! So, I swirled some over the top of oatmeal, and S. loved it, too. Although, he thought it was maple syrup.



Here’s the lowdown: Agave syrup is a natural sweetener. The carbohydrate in agave syrup has a low glycemic index; so, unlike refined sugars, it doesn’t cause a spike in blood sugar or produce a sugar rush (followed by a crash). Its sweetness comes from inulin, which is a fructose that occurs naturally in fruit. It’s a winner. I see a whole new frontier for carbonated beverages.