baking

535a6c6b2f220790c96812e05ff7d331 I know, I know I said I didn’t have time to post. But when you hear that Hanson is scheduling a 25th anniversary tour (coming soon to a city near you!) and you may finally have the opportunity to hear your favorite song of all time played live, you have to RE-PRIORITIZE. Plus, I’ve seen this episode before so it shouldn’t take long. Back in 2013, Hanson stopped by Cupcake Wars to promote their album “Anthem.”

Round 1:
The Challenge – Oklahoma (BBQ Pork, Fried Squash, Sausage Gravy, etc. The teams have to use three ingredients to make a cupcake reminiscent of Hanson’s home state. It sounds pretty disgusting).
Cupcake 1 – Brown Sugar Corn Cake, Graham Cracker Crust Strawberry Filled, Black-Eyed Pea Cream Cheese Icing, and Fresh Strawberry Garnish.
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Taylor said, “I think you took the challenge and actually wove it into a whole flavorful cupcake that I would actually want to serve to someone. I can see this at the after party to launch the tour.”
Cupcake 2 – Sweet Corn and BBQ Pulled Pork Cupcake, With Brown Butter Strawberry Cooley, honey butter cream, and fondant corn on the cob.
Isaac said “the flavors were impressive and the frosting was really good.”

Cupcake 3 – Sweet Corn Cupcake filled with Strawberry Braised BBQ Pulled Pork, topped with Strawberry Italian Butter Cream, and garnished with fresh strawberries.
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Zac said, “This cornbread felt like an Oklahoma meal to me. Oklahoma’s kind of Southern food, barbecue, cornbread, and so the butter cream to me tasted like the way people put butter on their cornbread.”
Cupcake 4 – Cornmeal & Grit Cupcake, Filled with Strawberry Glazed BBQ Pork, Strawberry Frosting, and Garnished with Strawberry on top.
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Taylor said, “It was great to have the barbecue in there. I thought that was really creative.”
(Sadly, this was the losing cupcake. Sorry, cupcake.)

Just in case any of this sounded at all appetizing to you, here are some recipes from the episode!

Round 2:
The Challenge – Make 3 cupcakes of your own choosing and make them look pretty (50% taste, 50% presentation).
Cupcake Set 1 – Boston Cream Pie, Apple Pie Cheesecake, Citrus Beer
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Taylor said, “I think there’s a lot of creativity, but it doesn’t particularly represent this album. It looks a little bit more like a country band. I’m not sure you nailed it.”
Cupcake Set 2 – PB&J, Coffee Liquor and White Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate Stout Beer
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Isaac said, “I didn’t love them.” (Spoiler alert, this team lost.)
Cupcake Set 3 – Sweet Potato Pie with Blueberry filling, Raspberry Cake, Creme Brulee

Zac said, “This is like the worldwide smash hit. The flavors are great. And I think you did a great job.”

Round 3:
The Challenge – The 1000 Cupcake Display!
Display 1 – A guitar on a stand with a spinning record that shows the name of their record in lights.
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Display 2 – A Hanson stage with a drum kit, piano, and electric guitar sitting on the stage. The name of the album will be above the stage, big, and in red. (THIS ONE WON!)

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Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

{I guess technically this was more Kel inspired since I’m not sure Kenan was as into the whole orange soda thing.}

I’m not really a person who makes things in the kitchen, but I found a mini donut maker on Amazon and eyed it for a very long time before purchasing it. Then I left it in its box for a couple of months until I finally decided to use it tonight. So if I can make this ridiculously easy recipe, then anyone can. Also, if you don’t have a donut maker, then you can also use a donut pan in your oven. These are cake donuts, baked not fried. And they’re very tasty! I used a cake mix donut recipe from “It’s Always Autumn” and added a little Kenan & Kel twist.

The ingredients are simple:

-1 box orange cake mix
-1/4 cup vegetable oil
-1 egg
-1 cup orange soda
-Cream Cheese Frosting
-Cooking spray for your pan/donut maker

Step 1. Combine cake mix, vegetable oil, egg, and orange soda in a large mixing bowl.

Step 2. Whisk the ingredients together. I realized after starting this process that I do not own a whisk. So I used an egg beater. It worked.
Step 3. Shovel some batter into a plastic baggy, cut one of the corners, and pipe that batter into the pan.

Step 4. Use a plastic spatula or wooden spoon to remove the donuts from the pan and place them on a plate too cool.
Step 5. Lather, rinse, repeat. Seriously, this makes like 24 donuts and with only 7 fitting in the pan at a time, I felt like the “Time to Make the Donuts” guy was my kindred spirit.

Step 6. Apply a thin layer of cream cheese frosting to your donuts.

Although I did not use her recipe, the concept behind this post was inspired by Jessica Segarra’s “The Kenan and Kel: Orange Soda Mini Donut” in Mini Donuts: 100 Bite-Sized Donut Recipes to Sweeten Your “Hole” Day, available on Amazon.