It's a Vegetable Peeler for a Reason

So, you know how in the blog description I said I would try to keep the blood and tears out of the batter? That line was spawned in part from this story:

Cupcakes. What could possibly be better?

Gourmet cupcakes? With liqueur in the frosting? Oh, yes, I must try this recipe.

Candied Grapefruit Cupcakes landed on my radar courtesy of Food Network magazine. You evil, twisted souls.

The most difficult part, I thought as I read through the recipe, will be finding Elderflower Liqueur. What a surprise I was in for. In fact, I found the liqueur at the first liquor store I stopped at! Smooth sailing from here!

I picked up two large red grapefruits from the grocery store, turning them this way and that in search of the nicest looking zest. For anyone who has been around when I bake with fresh fruit, you know how much I don't like zesting fruit. No matter how careful I am, a fingertip or knuckle always ends up zested. Of course, I have always done lemons and limes which are small and difficult to hold while zesting. Grapefruit should be easier.

Step 1: using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from one grapefruit and cut into thin slices. These will be the candies on top.

A vegetable peeler is very difficult to control on a fruit. I ended up with many odd little pieces where the peeler lost its grip and sliced off the zest too soon. Also, many squiggly strips as I attempted to scoot the peeler through the zest. The joints on my fingers ached so bad; especially my thumb which still suffers a strained tendon. Almost done, the handful of zest strips lined up across the cutting board wait in terror for the sharp kitchen knife that lays intimidatingly at the edge of the board.

Grapefruit zest strips, via vegetable peeler

SLIP "Sh**!"

A lovely pink line across the pad of my thumb starts to turn red. The vegetable peeler had leapt from its path in the grapefruit zest and bit me. Fabulous. I guess we have enough zest strips.

So while I boil down the tear-stricken, thin slices of zest in the pan to start the syrup that will candy them, I move on to step 2: zest the other grapefruit.

The tip of my middle finger mimics my thumb with little spots of red from being zested.

Not enough alcohol to have a 21 and older rating.

As my dad always said: you're not working till you're bleeding. Now that I think back on it, that is a horrible lesson to teach a child, even in jest. Ah, well.

The rest of the baking is, fortunately, uneventful and standard affair: zest strips get candied and syrup set aside, batter gets put together with some of the zest from the second grapefruit as well as some liqueur, buttercream is blended with elderflower liqueur and grapefruit juice along with a drop of red coloring gel. The buttercream is, of course, taste tested multiple times to ensure satisfaction. I am very careful to make tasty buttercream!


The cupcakes get a raw deal - stabbed multiple times with a toothpick - before the healing of syrup is applied followed by the soothing cool of pink buttercream. Dress them up for the party with a twist of candied zest and voila!

Recipe Rated: 4 out of 5 stars

Time: 2 hours

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