My kind of Mother's Day Flowers

Don't get me wrong, flowers are all well and fine. Pretty, and help liven up a room. But they don't last very long and they cost a small fortune, money I would rather have spend on something else, like say new dishes, or a pot. Or heck, even a nice set of oven mitts! Or better yet, skip the flowers and buy a nice assortment of flour instead - with the rising prices, you may spend just as much, though.


Now, these kinds of flowers, again, they won't last very long, but they don't cost nearly as much and are just as effective at brightening up a room! (And if at some point you did buy a "bouquet" of flour, you've contributed to making these as well.)

I made these recently for a baby shower, so they are pretty close to being Mother's Day cupcakes. I think my mother would have enjoyed eating them, vanilla bean cupcakes, filled with dulce de leche, and topped with a light vanilla buttercream. I know she liked to look at them as she was nearby when I made them, enjoying some of the left over dulce on a spoon.

For these cupcakes, I went back to Dorie's Perfect Party Cake, which I had made for last month's Daring Baker challenge. A few changes - I had neither whole milk nor buttermilk, so used a combination of 1% and of light cream. I omitted the lemon but added the seeds of a vanilla bean in addition to some vanilla extract. The little cakes came out with just the right weight and denseness, heavy enough to support the filling, but still light in flavor.

I stuck with the buttercream that came with the recipe, but again, omitted the lemon and stayed with the vanilla for flavoring. I wanted subtle this time, and did not want the off color that comes with pure extract, so used some clear vanilla extract instead.

I understand these were well received at the baby shower, by the mom-to-be and the guests. I was supposed to be there as well but that cough and cold had not yet let go of me and I would have felt quite badly if I had made her sick.

Now the next time you are thinking of giving someone flowers, why not consider giving vanilla bean caramel flowers instead? Or play it safe - an assortment of different flours would be just as nice, and would last longer than a bouquet of mixed flowers.