Thursday, December 11, 2008

Martha's rawliday makeover

Okay, so maybe Martha didn't actually get a makeover. But, her holiday cupcakes sure did, courtesy of yours truly.

Now, you probably already know that I receive Martha Stewart's e-newsletter in my inbox from time to time. One of the latest issues included some fun ways to decorate holiday cupcakes.

Of course, I couldn't wait to turn them into raw versions, starting with this white Christmas tree cupcake. It is surrounded in coconut snow.

While recreating this cupcake, I realized one of the advantages to raw baking; you can make your cakes in any shape you like without a special pan or the tedious process of trimming and icing pieces together. I was able to mold the tree out of raw cake, while Martha's site recommended using a sugar cone as the base.

The tree is covered in piped icing pine needles and coconut snow. It actually looks a lot like Martha's handiwork, despite the rush (it was a last minute project before heading up to my son's school to volunteer).

Although I was in a hurry, I also managed to find time to rawify her holly cupcake. Instead of using candy, I took a more natural approach. I made my holly berries out of dried cherries and leaves out of pumpkin seeds.

It doesn't exactly look like the original, but I think I prefer mine. Maybe I'm a little biased. What do you think? (Mine is chocolate, by the way.)