Paan Gulkand and Peppermint Frosted Mini Cup Cakes Eggless- Happy Diwali

The fire crackers have all fizzed by now...
The candles all blown away...
There is no reason to be drowning in the leftover sweets...
But , we will.

Theses are pretty,too pretty to eat!
One recipe of egg less cake and 48 mini muffins...
Regular muffins will be cool too.!

My chrysanthemums are just beginning to bloom,so you can see how small these really are.
OK, Paan-Gulkand...
Paan for the uninitiated is the betel leaf, which is eaten with cardamom and lime paste and peppermint and cloves and what not after a meal or whenever.
I was initiated into the paan lovers club by hubby dear's dearest friend Vibhor...
People bring chocolates when they come visiting, but no, he brought Meetha Paan from Gopinath Market, Delhi.
So , for the love of paan and hubby dear's friendship...
For more do to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betel.
Uninitiated , because you really need to develop a taste for paan.
We, the people who have access to Prince Paan shop in Delhi..this is what a Meetha Paan मीठा पान looks like.

And you do not need any initiation!
It is sweet and it is yum...
and it is Desi!
All that is needed for Diwali.
And what makes that meetha paan so great is the Gulkand.
Before I googled it today,I never knew that it was so good for your health.
So ,bingo!
It is essentially a preserve ,if you will..or a jam made of rose petals and sugar.
for more ,go here.
All the more reason to try these pretty cuppies.
And peppermint...whoever heard of paan without peppermint.
Perfect way to say happy Diwali!

for the

Paan Gulkand and Peppermint Frosted Mini Cup Cakes- Happy Diwali...

you need

I recipe Egg less Sponge cake from here.-only omit the cocoa powder.
2 tbsp gulkand
Butter cream frosting made with 150 gms or 3/4 butter 2 1/2 cups icing sugar, green food colouring and peppermint essence. For more on how to make butter cream frosting click here.
Dried Rose petals for sprinkling or just silver/colourful sprinkles

Pre heat the oven to 180C/350F.
Place the cupcake liners in the mini muffin tray(thanking Mary Oxendale Spensley every time I use them)
I used 48.For normal muffins/cupcakes 14 liners are good!
So these minis are really mini!
Sift the flour and salt at least twice.I forgot the salt...

Mix the yogurt/fresh curds to the sugar and blend with a whisk till no trace of the sugar granules remain.

To this add in the baking powder and the bicarbonate of soda/baking soda.Mix and set aside 3 minutes till it froths.

To the bubbling yogurt ,add the vanilla and the oil.

A spoon full at a time ,fold in the flour. Add in the gulkand/rose petal preserve in the end,you will need to whisk it to distribute it evenly.
That is the gulkand.

I needed 2 spoons to do it...

Spoon into the minis and pop into the oven for 15-18 minutes.
And out...after 16 minutes...
All 48 pretty ones.

Butter cream Frosting .
Green, because I had a portion of green frosting in the freezer.So I made more and just tinted it green again. You need to add the peppermint essence. Dried rose petals would have made piping roses a little difficult.So peppermint and green it was.

The crumb is perfect and you don't miss the desi sweets/mithai.This was an experiment, maybe a tablespoon of gulkand more would have given a pretty pink colour...

After 2 hours of cooling their butts...
Little roses on the cuppies.
I crushed some dried rose petals-I used them when I made my Rose Almond Kulfi- so I had leftovers and sifted them over the cuppies....for an extra whiff of  rose .

Happy Diwali.
And I found an easy way to make rangoli.

All that coming up ,as and when I get time.
This is what the earthenware diyas/lamps looked like...

A clearer look at the design???

Pretty awesome.
Diwali was great, better was the experimenting ...chemistry in my kitchen...
So do I now call myself an Alchemist???
Try these cuppies...
Lovely Change from After Dinner Mints...

So what are you baking today????