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It’s National Margarita Day!!! Flavors: Monday 2/21
Tequila and I have had a contentious relationship for many, many years. Introduced to me during Spring Break ‘98 (WOOOOO SENOR FROGS!!!! WOOOO!!!!), we had a lascivious affair during my late teens & early twenties until she ultimately turned on me. When Matt and I design cupcakes with alcohol, we try to embrace all the flavor elements of the spirit- “notes”, if you will. For me, tequila has only two distinct notes: regret, and toplessness. Lots and lots of toplessness.
A few weeks ago, I received an email from a company called Partida Tequila asking if we’d like to turn several of their cocktail recipes into cupcakes for National Margarita Day. My first response was “Holy crap, there’s a National Margarita Day?!?!?!”. And then my second thought was NOT A CHANCE. Tequila, no matter how fancy the bottle, is the obvious work of the devil.
One of the most annoying parts about my brain is that once an idea weasels its way into it, it won’t let it go until I give it a proper audience. And so it went with the tequila cupcakes. Matt and I quit drinking alcohol ages ago, so one of the reasons we both enjoy making cocktail-inspired cupcakes is that it allows people like us to enjoy the same sorts of flavors as people who do drink. Surely the sophisticated cocktail recipes that Partida sent me would translate well? “Dab dumbfungled malarkey!” exclaimed the conscious part of my brain who fancies itself to be a grizzled 1890’s prospector. We’ve danced with tequila before (WOOO SENOR FROGS!!!), & could not remember a single appealing thing about it from the culinary angle. Argument over. Then I realized I was still thinking about it, and this idea was not letting go. Taking an ingredient that I hated and turning it into something delicious- well, that’s a challenge! It’s as if the people from Partida came to my front door and glove-slapped me smack across the face. So we told them to send us a sample bottle and we’d see just what this was all about.
While we waited for our bottles to arrive, we started doing a little research on these Partida folks. Theirs is actually quite a beautiful story, more of family, tradition & national pride than the less-than-honorable stories we associate with tequila consumption (woo senor froooooooh my god you know what i totally need right now? cheese fries! WOOO!!!). In fact, I think they too may have heard these stories, or also went to Spring Break ‘98, because they have a “Re-Eduction Program” on their website that dispelled a lot of the misconceptions I had about tequila. Finally, the bottles arrived, and Jesus Mary & Joseph they were gorgeous. I mean, just LOOK at it! How freaking sexy is that damn thing! AND it’s wearing a necklace, because this is one classy as all hell bottle. But fact is that anything can dress up pretty- how did it taste?
The first thing we did was smell the tequila. Remember what I was talking about before with the notes? Well for the first time, there were notes in tequila. Beautiful notes that for a moment or two took me far away from my stark industrial kitchen to a place where there are no cell phones, no email, and my kids aren’t asking me for something every 30 seconds. Unfortunately, notes are sort of a really abstract that’s hard for me to describe, but I will say the ones I experienced were gorgeous and complex. Then the taste- remarkable. No harsh alcohol flavors or burning in the throat. I can’t say that I have had an aversion to tequila in the past, because it is obvious to me now that I have never truly drank tequila. This stuff was in a whole different league. And we could totally work with it.
Partida sent me two cocktail recipes, which we have translated into cupcakes. “The Partida Margarita” is a representation of the classic cocktail: a cake and buttercream made with tequila and limes, a little tequila simple syrup, and then topped with a slice of lime that has been slow-simmered in agave from Partida’s own fields, then sprinkled with a little Maldon sea salt to finish. “The Angry Mango” is cake & buttercream made with tequila and mangos, with a very subtle hint of ancho chili in the background. We’ve topped it with a slice of jalepeno tossed in agave & salt, which you can remove if you don’t like it hot. Both of these cupcakes are LIMITED EDITION, meaning that they are only available for National Margarita Day and will not be going into rotation. So git while the gittins good, dagnabbit!
And if you’re sitting there wondering “Wow, they sure have a lot of nice things to say about Partida- I wonder how much they got paid in promotional fees”, well I’ll tell you.
Not a single cent.
We wouldn’t be using this if it wasn’t a quality product, and having the opportunity to share a very premium bottle of tequila with the masses at an affordable price was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. We were given two bottles of tequila and one of agave, 100% of which was used in the cupcakes going to stores today. This stuff is insanely good folks. Go enjoy it before it’s all gone.
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Flavors:
NEW LIMITED EDITION!!!!
“PARTIDA MARGARITA”: Partida tequila-lime cake & buttercream, Partida agave-candied lime slice, sea salt garnish
NEW LIMITED EDITION!!!
“THE ANGRY MANGO”: Mildly spicy Partida tequila-mango cake & buttercream, Partida agave dipped fresh jalepeno slice, sea salt
NOT NEW, REGULAR EDITION, BUT STILL DELICIOUS!!!
“ABUELITA”: Mexican chocolate cake, cajeta buttercream, ground Abuelita chocolate
“THE TINA”: Chocolate almond cake, vanilla buttercream, roasted almonds, chocolate ganache
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Available at:
AVAILABLE MONDAY AT:
Cafe at Sam’s Bakery: 94th Street off 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge
Crespella: 7th Ave off 9th St, Park Slope
Market: Cortelyou Road btwn Westminster & Arglye, Ditmas Park
Tazza Cafes: Clark St off Henry AND Henry St off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights
Radish: N8th & Bedford Ave, Williamsburg
Cake Shop: 152 Ludlow St, Lower East Side
Lily O’Brien’s at Bryant Park: E. 40th St btwn 5th & 6th Ave, Midtown Manhattan
Joe Union Square: E. 13th Street btwn 5th Avenue & University Place
Joe Chelsea: W. 23rd Street btwn 9th & 10th Avenues
Joe Columbia Univeristy: W. 120th btwn Broadway & Amsterdam Avenue
