Psychedelicatessen: Cannabis Cupcake Madness

“Welcome to Psychedelicatessen, a weekly column exploring the world of cannabis cuisine, including recipes from the great chefs and ganjapreneurs who fuel our appetite for adventure.”

As the cannabis industry goes mainstream, many activists have bemoaned the “get rich quick” mentality of investors looking to cash in on the green rush. But while plenty of opportunists have flooded the cannabis space, there’s also been a small trickle of truly community-minded, progressive entrepreneurs quietly joining our ranks.

Seattle cupcake impresario Jody Hall is one of these dedicated do-gooders, bringing values of community involvement, support for local farmers and fairness for employees to her successful Cupcake Royale business. Beyond donating 50,000 cupcakes to non-profit causes every year, Hall also advocated for health care reform, going so far as to meet with President Obama on the importance of small businesses having access to affordable healthcare.

She’s grown Cupcake Royale into a locally beloved business, and now she’s set her sights on the newly legal cannabis marketplace.

“I brought a lot of what I learned at Starbucks to Cupcake Royale,” Hall explained, recalling her history with the now-ubiquitous brand. After abandoning her post-college finance job, Hall began as a manager at the coffeehouse chain when it had only 30 stores. As one of the first hires in the Starbucks marketing department, Hall worked during an era of explosive growth, watching locations grow to over 3000 during her tenure.

“It was an interesting career working for one of the great entrepreneurs of our time,” Hall said and she intends to bring the skills she learned at Starbucks and honed at Cupcake Royale to her new enterprise, The Goodship Company.

As a purveyor of edible cannabis products, Hall hopes to steer her new brand into uncharted territory.

“I want to leverage brand trust from Cupcake Royale” into the new business, Hall explained, “and create a reliable experience for people.”

But The Goodship Company won’t be selling cannabis-infused cupcakes—due to the fact that it’s not possible to make an organic bakery item last long on the shelf at a retail cannabis store without resorting to preservatives and fillers. Instead, Jody invested considerable time to research and develop all-natural recipes for cannabis cookies and candy bars that use locally available ingredients.

“Obviously, we want to create not just a delivery mechanism for THC,” Hall said, “but also something magically delicious.”

Hall is excited to bring a fringe activity back into the mainstream, hoping to create a product that will attract not only Baby Boomers interested in returning to cannabis, but also the young artists, culture-creators and techies driving the Washington cannabis scene.

“Legalization will make marijuana more populist,” Hall asserted, “and what could the future be like if we have a broader appreciation of how this plant makes our lives better? Marijuana legalization is changing our culture, and The Goodship will have a seat at the table to drive this narrative—that’s what I really want to explore.”

Try Goodship cookies and chocolate at the 60 Washington retailers that carry Hall’s brand, and bake these cannabis-infused cupcakes at home! There are two different recipes from Cupcake Royale: one for vanilla enthusiasts and one with decadent German chocolate-style filling. Hall’s recipes should be made with the highest quality ingredients, so seek out organic, local producers. Make sure to bring all ingredients to room temperature before baking, and follow the recipe exactly, since baking is a science.

Luckily, getting baked is not. So fire up a joint and get busy in the kitchen!

Vanilla Cannabutter Cake Recipe

Pair this recipe with the Cannabutter Cream Frosting that follows.

Makes 24

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cup cake flour
2 3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup egg whites
1/2 cup warm water
1/3 cup sour cream
4 ounces butter
1 ounce cannabutter
3 tbs expeller-pressed canola oil
1 tsp Gahara vanilla bean paste (or scrape two vanilla bean pods)

Line a cupcake tin with your favorite cupcake wrappers, and set your oven to bake at 350oF.

Combine dry ingredients in a mixer and mix on low speed. In a separate bowl, combine water and sour cream. Add vanilla paste and egg whites to this mixture and stir until combined. Add the butter, oil and 1/4 of liquid mixture to your dry ingredients, and mix on low speed until moistened. Increase to medium speed and mix for one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and gradually add the remainder of the liquid mixture in three doses, beating for 20 seconds after each dose.

Scoop batter into wrappers, filling them three-quarters full. Bake at 350ºF for 25 to 35 minutes or until edges are slightly golden brown. Set cupcakes aside until they are cool to the touch, before frosting with real cannabutter cream.

Frosting Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted cannabutter, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (we recommend a fine vanilla extract, like Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla)
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups powdered sugar
1 to 2 tbsp milk
1 to 2 drops green food coloring

In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together salt and butter until creamy. Add vanilla and blend until incorporated. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix on low speed until well blended, light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl, especially the bottom! Add milk and beat on low just until combined, you can add more milk if you need a more spreadable consistency. Add food color if you like and blend well.

Use right away on completely cooled cupcakes or refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

German Canna Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups organic cane sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups stout beer
2 oz butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
2 oz cannabutter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
German chocolate cake filling (recipe below)
Chocolate frosting (recipe below)
1/4 cup toasted flaked or shredded sweetened coconut, for garnish
1/4 cup chocolate curls or mini-chocolate chips, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place cupcake liners into muffin or cupcake tin.

Whisk the cocoa powder, cane sugar, flour, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl, and mix the beer, butter, vanilla extract and eggs in a smaller bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing just until the mixture is smooth, with no lumps.

Fill each cupcake liner three-quarters to the top of the pan. Bake for 12 minutes, rotate the pan 180 degrees, then bake for another 10 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on a baking rack.

With an apple corer or very small spoon, remove a 1/2-inch core from the center of each cupcake and fill with the German chocolate filling. Frost the tops, and garnish with coconut and chocolate.

German Chocolate Cupcake Filling

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
4 oz. cannabutter
3 eggs
1 1/3 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1 tablespoon vanilla

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, milk, butter and eggs. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture starts to bubble and thicken. Remove from heat and mix in the coconut, pecans and vanilla. Let cool to room temperature.

Chocolate Frosting Ingredients:

8 oz unsweetened chocolate
8 oz butter, room temperature
4 oz cannabutter, room temperature
1 pound powdered sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Microwave chocolate at 30-second intervals, being careful not to burn it, until melted. Alternatively, you can use a double boiler to melt your chocolate.

Cool to room temperature. In the large bowl of an electric mixer set on low speed, beat together the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until creamy and fluffy—about 3 minutes. Mix in the melted chocolate. Frost your cupcakes!

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