Saturday, July 26, 2008

Goodbye Sher Hunka Burning Love

When I first started lurking on food blogs, I came across a cupcake contest, and entered in this cupcake contest was the most magical sounding Hunka Hunka Burning Love Cupcakes entered by Sherry of What Did You Eat? They were a banana cupcake with a chunk of chocolate stuck in them, topped with a peanut butter frosting. A beautiful tribute to Elvis. Two things happened when I found this cupcake. The first thing was that I copied down the recipe. And I made it. And I made it again. And again. I LOVE these cupcakes. I personally don't feel there is any possible way to improve upon them. I even lurked on Sher's site looking for more recipes that could possibly be as delicious. The second thing that happened was I was inspired to start my own food blog. Those cupcake contests looked like fun. And they are!

Unfortunately for the world and for food bloggers in general, we lost Sherry July 20th to a sudden heart attack. Her blog is still up and if you haven't already visited it, go look. Sherry had a wonderful sense of humor and her goodness and love of cats shown through in every post. Her passing leaves a big hole. There's also a beautiful tribute to her on A Fridge Full of Food, posted by her very close friend Glenna.

As a special memorial, today, around the blogosphere, people are choosing recipes off Sherry's blog and posting about them. I'm actually on vacation, but hopefully scheduler will be working and this will post. I didn't have the bananas to make the Hunka Hunka Burning Love Cupcakes that propelled me into the world of food blogging, but I did make the frosting. After all, the peanut butter frosting had special memories for her. And I've never made peanut butter frosting without that pinch of cayenne since making Sherry's frosting. It just isn't the same.

We'll miss you Sherry.

Here's how the frosting appears as she posted it:

Peanut Butter Frosting (Adapted from Meta Givens)
(Note: I doubled this recipe and had a little left over. I froze it. For another day!)

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 cups powdered sugar
2-4 Tbsp. milk
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 small pinch cayenne pepper (Optional) Be careful!

PREPARATION:In large bowl, combine butter, peanut butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, and 2 Tbsp. milk. Mix well, adding more milk as needed to make a fluffy spreadable frosting. Frosts 8" layer cake or sides of 9" layer cake

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice tribute. So wonderful that she was inspiring to many.

Paz

CB said...

What a beautiful cupcake tribute.
/Clara

Dewi said...

Wonderful tribute. May she rest in peace!

Anonymous said...

Mary, thanks for posting the hunka cupcakes! Those are one of my favourite Sher recipes too.

Sher was a special person and she will be missed.

Anonymous said...

Oh! I am so sorry for the collective loss of the blogosphere! What a lovely post you've written!

glamah16 said...

What a great tribute and terffic sounding cupcake.I look fporward to seeing more of her recipes today as I surf.Have a safe vacation.

Astrid (…and the kitties too) said...

I too love these cupcakes! they are just heavenly!
and a wonderful way to remember her!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

A very fitting tribute from one foodie to another for Sherry. She will be missed:D

Lis said...

Awww what a great tribute, Mary! I'm so glad that she inspired you to start your own blog! :)

Those cupcakes sound wonderful, I'll definitely try them.

xoxoxx

Deborah said...

What a great tribute - and so fitting! I'll have to try out that frosting!

Kalyn Denny said...

A wonderful tribute for a very wonderful person.

Andrea said...

A lovely choice. The cupcakes sound delicious and I'm Sher would smile.

Glenna said...

Ahhh, that's a wonderful tribute. I loved those cupcakes too. How funny that she inspired us both directly about starting our blogs. That's special.

Thanks, Mary