A Tribute to Numb3rs - Part 4

It took me a long time to put the concept of this cupcake together; I first started thinking about it in November 2009, in April 2010 I finally knew what to do. During these six months little shreds of inspiration crossed my mind but I’ve never been able to “see” the cupcake as a whole.

Charlie Eppes - Sex on Toast? Chocolate Curls on a Cupcake!




After six seasons of Numb3rs we know so many things about Charles Edward Eppes that it is hard to describe him in only a few words. Now that the season finale has provided us with some closure, I’ve been able to take a step back and look at this character from a different point of view. The reason why it is so much easier to capture the essence of a recurring supporting character is in their very nature. They are flat characters – in order for them to be recognizable they all have their quirks (e.g. Miss Havisham in Dickens’ Great Expectations) and it is very easy to work with these obvious character clues. After six seasons, Charlie has become such a round character, that I couldn’t see the wood for the trees. I had to step back to get a clear picture: If we look at Charlie as if we hadn’t seen a single episode of Numb3rs, who would he be to us? The most obvious answer to this question is: Charlie is a curly-haired mathematician. This is basically all the character information I ended up using in this recipe.

How on earth can one turn “mathematician” into a cake flavour? The Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős famously said "A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems." This quote reminded me of a jar of coffee-Amaretto cream I had bought a couple of months ago but hadn’t tried yet. I will use this cream as a filling for the cupcakes.

Now that we’ve taken care of the “mathematician” part, we only have to take care of the curly-haired part and we’re done. Adding curls to a cupcake is rather easy: chocolate curls! I did not have cute little store-bought chocolate curls (my supermarket only stocks rather big chocolate shavings), so I had to make them myself. Because the temperature of the chocolate (or my kitchen) wasn’t exactly right, my curls did not become as curly as I wanted them to be, but they look cute nevertheless. Maybe your supermarket stocks cute chocolate curls? Make sure that the curls are made of good chocolate – if the curls look pretty but taste awful, they probably ruin the whole cupcake.

The cupcake is based on a chocolate-coffee-dough (yes, more coffee) I usually bake in the form of a loaf cake. I only made half of the dough and filled 10 instead of the usual 12 liners in order to get rather big cupcakes. I let them cool down, cut off their tops and spread them with the coffee-Amaretto cream before putting their tops back on. I frosted the cupcakes with vegan cream cheese icing and decorated them generously with chocolate curls.

The coffee-Amaretto cream I used is basically coffee jelly (the kind of jelly used in peanut butter sandwiches, but made of coffee instead of grape juice). I bought it at KADEWE in Berlin, but I think it’s pretty easy to make. (Ingredients list: 55% espresso, sugar, 3% Amaretto. Gelling agent: modified corn starch, pectin, salt. ) If my jar is empty, I’ll try to make some myself. Any other caffeinated spread may be used as a substitute.

If anyone is interested in the detailed recipe, you can drop me a note and I’ll be happy to send it to you.

A Tribute to Numb3rs - Part 3

The new year begins with a new cupcake from my Numb3rs tribute collection.

Amita Ramanujan - no pun invented (yet)

The inspiration for this cupcake came out of an Indian recipe book, which described khulfi (ice cream made of evaporated milk, almonds, pistachios and cardamom) as a traditional Indian wedding dessert. With Charlie's and Amitas upcoming nuptials khulfi was a good starting point for my recipe. I used the same recipe as in Larry's cupcakes; analog to the khulfi recipe I just turned the normal soy milk into evaporated soy milk and added cardamom and pistachios.



wet ingredients

1/3 cup canola or sunflower oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup soy joghurt
1 cup soy milk (evaporated to 1/2 cup)
1 tsp. vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)
1 tsp vanilla extract

dry ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour (not the self-raising kind)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp salt


1 cup of finely ground white almonds
1 oz chopped pistachios

Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a muffin pan with white cupcake liners.
Pour the soy milk into a wide pan and let it boil until half of it evaporated. You need 1/2 cup of evaporated soy milk; it will create a nice creamy feel in the finished cupcake.
Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl, prepare the dry ingredients in another bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the ground almonds and the chopped pistachios and mix again. Fill the cupcake liners and bake for 18-20 minutes.

decoration

Following the wedding dessert theme, I decided to use the traditional "something old (Larry's recipe), something new (new ingredients), something borrowed (the Indian recipe), something blue (the decoration)" as an inspiration for the decoration. The cupcake is dusted with icing sugar and adorned with a ribbon made of blue fondant. On second thought I would turn the ribbon into a Möbius strip, which does better justice to a wedding between two mathematicians. Especially because their engagement ring consists of a Möbius strip.
I wasn't too happy with my home made fondant either; as it breaks too easily, it is rather difficult to work with. This is why I don't bother to give you the recipe for vegan fondant. I need to find a vegan ready-made fondant or I will continue to use marzipan for the handmade decorations.

A Tribute to Numb3rs - Part 2

What would Rosencrantz be without his Guildenstern? This is a two-part cupcake to honour both Colby Granger and David Sinclair, but each part is also awesome and tasty all by itself.

David Sinclair & Colby Granger - Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are dead Fedcakes cupcakes (*)



David's part is chocolate with a pinch of pepper. This ingredient is proudly presented by Swiss idioms, as in my mother tongue, people who are active and show extraordinary commitment are said to have "pepper in their butt", a term which I think, sums David up quite nicely.

Colby's part is based on Californian walnuts combined with light brown sugar. The nuts are proudly presented by Swiss idioms as well. The Swiss-German term that is literally translated into "stupid nut" refers to a person who is "empty-headed" in English. We all remember season 2 Colby - before we found out, that his stupidity was only an act to hide his spying. The nuts are a remembrance of things past and also a reminiscence of California, where Numb3rs takes place. Unfortunately my research for agricultural products of Winchester, Idaho did not result in any ingredients I would want to use - except huckleberrys, but these are impossible to find around here.

Both halves are kept together by oranges. And yes, there is a hidden meaning in those oranges as well (apart from being awesome in combination with walnuts and/or chocolate). Let's just say their date in eppesode 602 was neither lemon, nor lime, but it might have been orange.

I will give you the recipes for full batches of either flavour. I made half a batch of each and combined them to a marble cupcake. Partly because I liked the idea of portraying them both together, partly because I really love puns (as an English major I also like Shakespeare and Stoppard and literary references are always a nice thing to have) and most importantly because my flatmates and I cannot eat four trays of cupcakes in five days.

(*) I do not really feel like commenting on the buzz that is going on in the fandom right now, all I am going to say for the moment is, that I like being creative and I will go where my inspiration takes me. Baking is, for personal reasons I will not go into right now, the form in which I show support and love for people (or in this case fictional characters) I care about. A cupcake does not change the world; but if it can put a smile on someone's face, that is enough for me. If there is no room for creativity, irony and fun in the things we love, why should we care about them at all?

"It is a curious fact that people are never so trivial as when they take themselves seriously" - Oscar Wilde.

David Sinclair

dry ingredients

1 cup soy milk
1 tsp vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)
1/2 to 3/4 cups sugar
1/3 canola or sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tblsp ground orange peel
1/4 tsp ground pepper

wet ingredients

1 cup flour (not the self raising kind)
6 tblsp cocoa powder (pure cocoa, no sugar added)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl, prepare the dry ingredients in another bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Fill the cupcake liners and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Colby Granger

wet ingredients

1/3 cup canola or sunflower oil
3/4 cup (light) brown sugar
1/4 cup soy joghurt
1/3 cup soy milk
1/2 tsp vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)
1 tblsp ground orange peel
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup orange juice

dry ingredients

1 cup plus 2 tblsp flour (not the self raising kind)
3 oz ground walnuts
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of ground cardamom
pinch of ground coriander seeds
pinch of ground ginger
pinch of ground clove

Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl, prepare the dry ingredients in another bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Fill the cupcake liners and bake for 18-20 minutes.

decoration

I decided not to decorate these cupcakes in order to keep the colour differences in the picture visible. You could however use an icing made of icing sugar and orange juice or simply dust the cupcakes with icing sugar.

Cupcakes for Fedcakes

I'm not done yet! Numb3rs has more than just 2 characters who are so awesome, they deserve to be honoured with their own cupcake. In fact, the characters are so wonderfully depicted on this gem of a show, that it is almost too easy to come up with recipes for them. Except Charlie of course; vegan lemon meringue seems to be my own personal P vs. NP. If Charlie solves his Millennium Problem, I'll solve mine.

The fandom's Millenium Problem is how to convince CBS to keep Numb3rs alive. We need something creative, fun and nice. Cupcakes are awesome. Our Fedcakes are awesome. Cupcakes in combination with our Fedcakes are awesome times awesome. Awesome squared. Maybe we can sweeten up TPTB for our request with lots and lots of sweet and sexy cupcakes.

As I said, I'm far from being done. In the next 24 hours I will be baking part 3 and 4 of my Numb3rs cupcake collection. Stay tuned for more yummy awesomeness to come.

You can vote for "Cupcakes for Fedcakes" as the fandom's campaign to save Numb3rs here: http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/460620

A Tribute to Numb3rs

How can I express how I feel about Numb3rs? How can I express the joy, laughs, tears and love this show has given me over the years? How can I express the sadness and anger I feel about its impending end?
If I were a musician, I would write a song. If I were a painter, I would paint a picture. If I were a writer, I'd write an epic, tear-jerking work of fiction or a breathtaking poem. The thing is, I'm neither a musician, nor a painter, nor a writer. Baking is my art. Hours after reading that CBS cut their order of Numb3rs eppesodes, my baking inspiration went haywire.
This is when "Cupcakes: the Numb3rs Collection" was born; cupcakes, inspired by Numb3rs characters. My tribute to a wonderful show; capturing its essence in sugary perfection.

The two characters I immediately knew how to portray in a cupcake were Larry Fleinhardt and Ian Edgerton. Lots of ideas for the other characters are still floating in my mind and will hopefully see the light of day soon. As always Charlie seems to be the most difficult character to handle, I still haven't figured out how to create a vegan lemon meringue cupcake that deserves to be named a meringue.

Numb3rs belongs to CBS, Cheryl Heuton and Nicolas Falacci. The recipes are mine. I'm not making any money with this; however, if this tribute helps to keep Numb3rs on air, I'm really happy to be of service. If you're holding a bakesale to help CBS to come up with enough money to keep Numb3rs alive, feel free to use my recipe. If you can bring the cupcakes to CBS directly, feel even freer to use my recipe; as I am
living in Switzerland I have currently no possibility to deliver them myself.

If you have any other idea how we could use my work to save Numb3rs, go ahead, but please drop me a note on twitter.com/stepfordgeek or stepfordgeek(at)gmail.com.
If you have problems with vegan baking, you can contact me as well, and I can try to help you figure out some alterations. Right now I care more about the general idea of a tribute than about the veganness of said tribute.

Larry Fleinhardt - Fleinhardt's Finest



Given his monochromatic diet, creating a cupcake for Larry is rather easy. It obviously has to be white (and vegan, but that's just me), so I settled on a recipe based on shredded white almonds. Inspired by eppesode 601, I added some clear raspberry spirit to the icing to make it taste like the universe, but without dyeing it pink at the same time. The white sprinkles stand for the stars in the constellation Lyra, because this is where the M57 nebula lies.


wet ingredients

1/3 cup canola or sunflower oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup soy joghurt
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tsp. vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)
1 tsp vanilla extract

dry ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour (not the self-raising kind)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1 cup of finely ground white almonds

Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a muffin pan with white cupcake liners.
Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl, prepare the dry ingredients in another bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the ground almonds and mix again. Fill the cupcake liners and bake for 20-22 minutes.

white raspberry icing

1 cup icing sugar
2 tsp raspberry spirit/schnapps/brandy
water

For the icing mix 1 cup of icing sugar with 2 teaspoons of raspberry spirit (you can also use raspberry flavour, I had to go with liquor because I haven't been able to find colourless/white raspberry flavour). Add a couple of teaspoons of water while mixing, until you think the icing is okay. Add more icing sugar if it's too runny, add more water if it's too solid.

Glaze the cupcakes with the icing and place 5 white sprinkles on the icing,imitating the 5 stars of the constellation lyra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyra).


Ian Edgerton - Essence of Edgerton



For Ian I had to use a different approach than with Larry. Given no culinary preferences, I tried to capture the essence of this character in a few words, which I then turned into ingredients: dark and intense, with a hint of scary. Sounds like a really dark, slightly bitter chocolate cupcake to me.

The cupcake itself is based on bars of chocolate with a cocoa content of 85% and dark brown sugar. The pinches of chili in the cupcake and the chili sugar on top provide the hint of scariness and dance nicely with the chocolate flavours.

wet ingredients

1 cup soy milk
1 tsp vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup canola or sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 pinches of chili

100g (3.5 oz) chocolate with a cocoa content of 85%

dry ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour (not the self-raising kind)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl, prepare the dry ingredients in another bowl. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan full of boiling water, stir occaisonally. You can melt slowly in the microwave if you must, but as we are working with rather expensive chocolate, a more tender approach is better I think...

Add the melted chocolate to the wet ingredients and mix well.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Fill the cupcake liners and bake for 18-20 minutes. These cupcakes raise quite a bit, so be careful not to overfill your liners.


decoration

60g (2 oz) chocolate with a cocoa content of 85%
1 tbsp thick agave juice (maple sirup works just as well)
chili sugar

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan full of boiling water (again, microwave if you must). Add the agave juice and mix well. Draw a spiral on top of the cupcakes and sprinkle a pinch of chili sugar on top of it.