Gamer Fuel: DewRito Cupcakes

In the first of this new series on Geeky/Gamer eats, I'll be attempting to recreate the gametastic Dorito/Mt. Dew cupcakes sold at 4Rivers Smokehouse in Orlando, Fl.

I scoured the internet but couldn't find anyone who had duplicated the recipe, but I did find this Mt. Dew cupcake recipe from The Geeky Hostess, which I worked from as a base.

In an interview with John Rivers, owner of the aforementioned 4Rivers Smokehouse, Mr. Rivers advised in making one's own soda-flavored cakes, the use of a soda reduction was key.

Lovely ingredients!

Making a soda reduction takes quite a bit longer than I realized. You'll wanna use at least two or three times the amount you want to end up with, about 3 cups. Start by bringing your soda to a nice rolling boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 1-2 hours until it becomes a syrup.

Stir stir stir

When done, mix 1/2 cup of your syrup reduction, and two eggs into your white or lemon cake mix (I used lemon for mine).

Throw that bad mama jama into your cupcake cups, filling to 1/3 full.

Bake at 350 for the time specified on your mix box (about 20 minutes) or until a toothpick/skewer inserted into the middle of cakes comes out clean.

For an extra kick of flavor, you can top each hot cupcake with a light drizzle of reserved syrup, creating a nice glaze.

While those babies cool, go ahead and start on your icing. You can either use a store-bought icing and add a tablespoon of Mt. Dew syrup and a squeeze each of lemon and lime, or you can go the from-scratch route, as I did.

Mix up your butter until it's nice and fluffy(ish), then add your lemon, lime, and Mt. Dew. Mix 'er up again, and start adding your powdered sugar a cup at a time until you get to the consistency you want.

When your cupcakes are nice and cool, top each one with icing and then just roll the edges in your Doritos.

(NOTE: You'll wanna do this right before serving, as the Doritos chips on your cupcakes will go stale rather quickly)

All in all, I'd say the flavor is... unique. I'm not in love with the icing recipe, as it had a very strong powdered sugar taste. The cake was good, and as noted the Doritos need to be added shortly before you're actually planning on eating them. :)

Happy noming!

Wonderful photography by HylianxPrincess of our sister-blog (literally) Ctrl Alt Petite.

Joss Whedon Loves Sailor Moon

... That, or he saw it once and it was locked away into his psyche. I'm convinced, watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, that Joss Whedon had to have been at least influenced by Sailor Moon. And if not, we have one kooky coincidence on our hands here kids. Allow me to break this down for you, nice and clean starting with the name similarity:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

• Buffy
• Blonde, popular, pretty
• Cheerleader
• Raised by her mother
• "Chosen"/ "The One"
• Starts out spoiled and bratty, eventually growing into a strong, mature leader
• Battles demons/monsters
• Elder English mentor- Giles
• Awkward nerdy friend- Xander
• Lesbian couple friends- Willow & Tara
• Handsome, dark-haired love interest who fights for good- Angel
• Family member (younger female) from an alternate reality/future- Dawn (sister)
• Rival turned ally- Faith

• Large ensemble cast

Sailor Moon:

• Bunny
• Blonde, popular*, pretty
• Tried out for cheerleading squad
• Raised by her mother
• "Chosen"/ "The One"
• Starts out spoiled and bratty, eventually growing into a strong, mature leader
• Battles demons/monsters
• Elder English* mentor- Luna
• Awkward nerd friend- Ami/Mercury
• Lesbian couple friends-  Haruka/Uranus & Michiru/Neptune
• Handsome, dark-haired love interest who fights for good- Darien/Tuxedo Mask
• Family member (younger female) from an alternate reality/future- Rini/Mini Moon (daughter)
• Rival turned ally- Minako/Sailor Venus
• Large ensemble cast

        And here's even one more little bonus for you... The ship in Firefly, as you likely know is called the Serenity, the same name as Sailor Moon takes on when she takes on her alter-ego the Moon Princess, Princess Serenity.

Bunny as Princess Serenity

Bam.

Thoughts?

       Note, Serena/Bunny/Usagi: In the original Japanese, Sailor Moon's name is Usagi, which is Japanese for "rabbit". This is a play on an old Japanese myth that a rabbit lives on/in the moon and in the US Manga, she is called "Bunny" to try and maintain that reference. Why her name was changed to Serena for the US dub of the anime I have no idea but "Bunny" is the most common name used by English-speaking fandom.

*in some versions she's more spazzy but overall she was the preppy/popular sort.

*in US dub

Watch Thundercats. Watch it NOW.

Hahaha, oh Snarf you suck so hard!

Shiny!

       Being born in 1987, I didn't watch the original Thundercats cartoon when it ran from 1985 to 1989. The boyfriend, however, did watch the original series as a kid. So together, as a fan of the original and someone with no prior knowledge of the series, we sat down to watch the first few episodes.
       As a Thundercats n00b, I gotta say I'm pretty taken with the series so far. The artwork is beautiful, and the character archetypes are distinct and recognizable, without feeling tired. The story arch thus far has remained intriguing, and the pacing has been pretty ideal. Things progress at a good clip, but not so fast as to rush the plot, just enough to keep things interesting. Also, Snarf is no longer the second worst character ever (Towelie still wins). Instead of this horrible thing that just loafs around and calls out it's own name like a goddamn PokeMon:

Get a job, Snarf!

       We get this charming little guy, who makes cute cat noises, only occasionally making anything close to a "snarf" sound:

You so cute now Snarf.

       The most recent episode in particular had an excellent plot that incorporated themes from old samurai movies, and almost had a Kurasawa feel to it. Lion-O enters a town full of swordsmen to obtain supplies and is challenged to duel by a "sword collector" type (a recurring character in Japanese tales) and loses the Sword of Omens. A literal drifter comes along to teach him to cool his fevered way of approaching battles and be more flexible. It reminded me of Bruce Lee's "flow like water" ideology.

       I can't get too into the differences between the original and the new incarnations, not having seen the first series. The boyfriend seems just as into the new one as myself though, if not more so. All I can say is I can't recommend this show enough, if you haven't been watching it so far I highly suggest you start watching this week. Additionally, if there's anyone that's seen the original and has any comparative feedback, please comment. Or even if you've seen the show, I'd love to hear what you think.

Thundercats airs on Cartoon Network, Fridays at 8:30pm EST.

Yeah, I had to create a Thundercat. It happens.