Cucumber Martini Cupcake

Cucumber martini cupcakes are sophisticated cupcakes.  They’re fresh, not cloyingly sweet, and they’ve got alcohol in both the cupcake and the frosting (gin and vermouth).  Although cucumber martini cupcakes are not for everyone (I had a few tasters who thought that they were just too different and tossed them after a few bites), if you like cucumber martinis or the crisp feel cucumber imparts to any beverage (even simply cucumber water), you’ll likely enjoy these unique cupcakes.

Cucumber Martini Cupcake Recipe

Yield: 16 cupcakes

Yield: 16 cupcakes

• 1 cup  granulated sugar
• 1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons gin
• 3 teaspoons vermouth
• 2/3 cup cucumber juice (for the batter) + 3/4 cup cucumber juice for soaking the cupcakes after they are out of the oven (I used about two cucumbers and got the juice by using a juicer.  If you don’t have a juicer, you can still make cucumber juice following the directions from Livestrong.

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).
2. In a small bowl, combine sugar and seeds from the vanilla bean. (For those of you who are new to using vanilla beans, check out this video to learn how to get the seeds out of the bean.)
3. Using the back of a spoon, move around the bowl and apply pressure to break up any clumps of seeds and to better infuse the vanilla flavor into the sugar. Set aside.
4. In a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. Add the vanilla bean sugar and mix until well combined.
6. Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes.  Because there is so little butter, you’ll end up with a very fine crumb texture.
7. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.
8. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.
9. Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined.  The batter will be liquid.  (Don’t worry, you didn’t do anything wrong.  It’s supposed to be that way.)
10. Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full.
11. Bake for 14 minutes and then test to see if they are done. They are done when a toothpick comes out without wet batter stuck to it.  The cupcakes should appear white with specks of vanilla bean. They should not turn a golden brown.  If they are not done, test again in two minutes.  If they are still not done, test again in another two minutes.
12. When the cupcakes are done, remove them immediately from the tins and leave them on a cooling rack (or just on your counter if you don’t own a cooling rack) to cool.