If you’ve got $10 and 100 minutes, you can impress your fellow Whovians this Saturday with a plate full of edible fezzes.
Fast Fez Cupcakes
1 box red velvet cake mix
1 tub cream cheese icing
½ tbsp red food coloring
1 black icing pen
¼ cup chocolate chips
Mix the cake batter according to package directions.
Unlike the ginormous, moon-like crowns of modern oversized cupcakes, you want as little overfill as possible. You’re best off filling the cups between ⅓ and ½ full, no more. This should give you 24 cupcakes from a single batch of boxed batter.
Follow the box instructions for baking. (Usually 15-18 minutes at 325F or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.) Let them cool for five minutes after you pull them out of the oven, then peel off the baking wrappers.
To make the cupcakes look like fezzes, start by cutting off the curved tops so you have a nice flat surface. Put the cupcakes on a wire cooling rack, cut side down. They should already look a little like fuzzy red fezzes.
Spread a sheet of aluminum foil over a baking sheet. This step is just for the sake of easy cleanup. Trust me – don’t skip it. Now position the cooling rack on top of the baking sheet.
Instead of messing with fondant or fancy icing techniques, you’re going to literally melt some icing and pour it on top of the cupcakes.
Start by carefully peeling the foil off a tub of cream cheese icing. Microwave it for 30-45 seconds, or until it becomes thin easy to pour. Add in the food coloring and stir until it’s completely blended. If you want a darker red, just add more food coloring.
Use a tablespoon to carefully pour a couple spoons full of icing over each cupcake. You can use the back of the spoon to spread it around so every bit of cupcake is covered. Don’t panic when the icing dribbles down the wires and pools in the baking sheet. That’s why you laid down the aluminum foil.
Let the icing cool and harden for at least half an hour before the final step. Once it’s reverted from a liquid back to a solid, carefully draw on some lines for the fez tassel. I used an icing pen from the grocery store, but you can just as easily use some chocolate icing stuffed in a sandwich bag. Snip the very edge of the corner and you’ll have a perfectly good, single use icing bag.
Finish the cupcakes off with a single chocolate chip for the fez button.
If you have more time or want a more fondant-like finish, you can let the cupcakes cool for at least an hour then go over them a second time with another batch of melted red frosting. The more times you coat them, the smoother they get.
Warning! If you happen to have nerf guns around the house, you’re at serious risk of guests spontaneously recreating the scene where Amy tosses the Doctor’s fez into the air and River Song shoots it out of the sky. Tell them if they’re going to start a fez food fight, they have to do it outside and on camera.
Come back every day this week for an original Doctor Who recipe never before seen on Kitchen Overlord.
If you need more help prepping for The Doctor’s return, pick up a copy of Dining With The Doctor: The Unauthorized Whovian Cookbook.
