Hummingbird Cupcakes

I had another opportunity to try out some cupcakes this weekend.  Even better, they start with H, so I can use them as today's post!

These are hummingbird cupcakes, a flavor my sister specifically mentioned she was interested in.  They are made with banana, coconut, and pineapple; iced with cream cheese frosting; and topped with a dried pineapple flower.  The recipe is from Martha Stewart.  It's a hearty cupcake, almost more like a muffin.  Everyone who tried them this weekend really liked them (or told me they did), but I think I need to make a few modifications to get them right for the wedding.  The banana flavor was very strong and it was hard to taste the coconut and pineapple.  I'm considering adding some flaked, sweetened coconut along with the dried, unsweetened.  Tess, my youngest sister said that although they looked beautiful, the flavor just didn't seem fancy enough.  I know what she meant.  They were delicious, but a little heavy and plain.  I'm thinking about making a filling for them, perhaps of a lighter cream cheese-pineapple frosting.  I think that would give them enough something to make them more like a wedding cupcake and less like a frosted muffin.

I mentioned in my previous post on cupcakes that icing has never been my strong suit.  Well, I normally don't even attempt garnishment.   I'm glad I did here, though.  The pineapple flowers were fun, and without them the cakes would just be too plain.  Still, I definitely need a little more practice, and a sharper knife.  They're pretty simple, the most laborious part is scooping out all the pineapple "eyes" with a small melon-baller.  The tricky part is slicing them thin enough.  My husband helped me out.  I have mentioned before, I have horrible knife skills.  Whenever something requires "paper thin," Ed is called in.  He worked in a restaurant for a few years, and can dice and slice like a pro.  The knife was dull however, and it was hard to cut consistently through the core (so he tells me).  All in all, I was fairly happy with our first attempt at them.  They were to thick to fully dry out, but they still looked beautiful and were pretty tasty as well!