Bridal shower cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for a friend's bridal shower! I also made the cake which I will show you in another post ^^ This recipe is great to make after you make the Chocolate lava cake (see previous post) because you will have 2 leftover egg whites which you can use for these cupcakes (partly why I chose this recipe).

Very Vanilla Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

Ingredients
210g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarb soda
1/2 tsp salt
200g caster sugar
115g unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 large egg whites
60g greek yoghurt/plain yoghurt/sour cream
180ml milk
2 tsp vanilla essence
seeds scraped from 1/2 split vanilla bean (if you have)

Vanilla frosting
115g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
240-300g soft icing sugar
60ml thickened cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
seeds scraped from 1/2 split vanilla bean (if you have)
pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Line muffin tin with 12 cupcakes liners and set aside.
2. Mix together flour, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Melt butter in a separate bowl. Whisk in the sugar. Whisk in egg whites, yoghurt, milk and vanilla essence until combined. Add scraped seeds from 1/2 split vanilla bean.
3. Slowly mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients until smooth. 
4. Divide batter among 12 cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. For frosting, beat softened butter on medium speed using an electric or stand mixer. Beat until smooth and creamy (around 3 minutes). Add icing sugar, cream, vanilla essence, vanilla bean seeds with the mixer running. Increase to high speed and beat (around 3 minutes). Add more icing sugar if frosting is too thin or more cream if too thick. Add salt to taste. 
6. Transfer frosting to piping bag and frost cooled cupcakes. (I topped these with malt chocolate balls)

I brought a few cupcakes to the cafe to try and sell and I made my first sale :D The lady said they looked really pretty and tasted delicious *Confidence boost*! Too bad I am no longer working there... so can't sell anything else! Maybe I should set up a stall at a market...

Baking with kids: Owl cupcakes and Cake pops!!!

My first real bake of 2014!!! and what a great way to start of the year by baking with friends ^__^ I invited around some of my little friends to bake since they were still on holidays - semi babysitting. I love getting kids involved in baking at a young age in the hope they continue when they grow up! 

Me and my mini chefs :D all aproned up

Baking with kids has to be FUN yet simple, and also involve a lot of creativity~ So decided to make some simple cupcakes which you can decorate to look like owls and then CAKE POPS!! :) thank you my mini chefs for coming to help and also help eat the food =p

Owl cupcakes
Idea from Nasi Lemak Lover 

Ingredients
1 batch of chocolate cupcakes (use my vanilla cupcake recipe and add 1/4 cup cocoa powder)
chocolate ganache
24 oreos
M&Ms for decorating

1. Ice cupcakes with chocolate ganache.
2. Split oreo in two, making sure you have the white filling on each side. Place on iced cupcakes (these will be the eyes).
3. Place M&Ms onto oreos for the eyeballs and then one M&M for the beak.
4. Break the edge off an oreo for the eyebrows.

Decorating cupcakes

ta da~~ look at the angry one.. and the confused one =p

But really... IT'S UP TO YOU :D

Cake pops

Ingredients
1 x chocolate cake
Chocolate ganache
250g dark chocolate
Coloured sprinkles, M&Ms, dessicated coconut (basically anything you want to decorate!)

1. Break up cake into fine crumbs.

finely crumbed chocolate cake

2. Add 2 tbs of chocolate ganache and mix until well combined. Add more ganache if the mixture is still dry - should be able to roll up into a ball without it breaking.
3. Roll teaspoonful of mixture into a ball and place on tray. Place tray in fridge for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the dark chocolate over a double boiler.
4. Remove cake balls from fridge. Dip stick into melted chocolate then place into the ball. Dip ball into melted chocolate and coat. Decorate with various ingredents e.g. sprinkles.
5. Place in cake pop stand. After chocolate has set you can wrap in plastic wrappers :)


Our cake pops :D

thanks for helping~~

Oh and belated HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!! Hope you have a happy baking year ^__^

Cupcake baking with Special guest: Cakestory!!!

I am so thankful to have the opportunity to work with Wen from Malaysia who is the founder of Cakestory in Malaysia ^__^ A cupcake catering business! hehe! Found out we have a lot of things in common (mainly baking) and I hope that I can set up my catering business one day! Or maybe even a collaboration~! You guys should check out her facebook page! Many yummy cakes there :D

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes (with Cream cheese frosting)
Recipe adapted from Cakestory

Ingredients

Cupcakes
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups (195g) cake flour (I just used plain flour)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
Lemon zest for decoration

1. Preheat oven to 180oC and line 18 holes of muffin pan with cupcake cases.
2. Beat butter and sugar with electric beater until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture in three additions, beginning and ending with flour.
5. Toss the blueberries in 1 tsp plain flour to coat - this helps the blueberries maintain their shape. Fold the blueberries into the cake mix.
6. Fill cupcake cases with batter (~2/3 full) and bake for 15 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire rack.

Cream cheese frosting
500g cream cheese, softened at room temperature
160g soft icing sugar
160g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
Juice of 1/2 lemon

1. In stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese until smooth.
2. Add in icing sugar and butter and beat until smooth.
3. Squeeze in juice of 1/2 lemon and beat until incorporated.

Assembly

• Fill piping bag with frosting and pipe swirls of frosting onto cupcake. If you have star tips, it would look even prettier! unfortunately I don't :(
• Place blueberry on the top together with a sliced lemon zest.

Pro piping skills =p even without a tip!

pretty in blue :)

BakingTray & Cakestory

We had a great day baking! Also used the leftover cream cheese frosting for macaron filling~ Coffee flavoured macaron shell with cream cheese frosting! YUM! If you guys come up with any suggestions on what to call this new flavour... leave a comment below! We wanted to call in "Tiramisu" but realised that uses mascarpone cheese
.. not cream cheese! Oops!!

New macaron flavour that needs a name!!

Check out our feast!!! :D

Thank you Cakestory for sharing your knowledge and tips =) Hope to use this recipe again and try out other flavours!

Wen from Cakestory and her delicious cupcakes ^_^

So that's all from me in 2013!!! Off to Brisbane tonight! cannot wait!! :D

Still have so many posts yet to publish but that shall wait till next year =D 

Happy baking people!! 

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

 

Another belated post! hehe~I had some leftover salted caramel from my salted caramel swiss roll bake so decided to use it in some cupcakes! I really like the recipe I have for plain cupcakes because it means I can add whatever flavour to it! I was trying to decorate them nicely... but failed -___-" ended up just spreading the icing and drizzling leftover salted caramel on top :)
Salted Caramel Cupcakes
Recipe modified from Vanilla cupcakes

Ingredients
125g butter, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup caramel chocolate chips

Salted buttercream frosting
2 tbs butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 tbs salted caramel + extra

1. Preheat oven to 190oC and line a 12 hole muffin pan with cupcake cases.
2. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer until pale.
3. Beat in eggs one and a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Sift over flour and mix until almost combined. Stir in milk.
5. Fold in caramel chocolate chips and spoon into muffin holes. Bake for 15 minutes or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.Once cooked, removed from oven and allow to cool.

6. Meanwhile make frosting by placing all ingredients in small bowl. Beat using electric mixer until it all comes together to form frosting consistency. If you find it's too runny, add more icing sugar... if you find it too dry add more butter:)
7. Ice cooled cupcakes and drizzle with extra salted caramel.

The cupcakes were light and fluffy and the caramel chocolate chips really went well with the whole salted caramel theme :) Gave a few away to friends and they liked them too :D hmmm... I wonder what other flavours I can make ^^

Birthday Bake: Teddiron topped Raspberry and White choc cupcakes!

A little friend was turning 11 years old so wanted to bake something special for her birthday! I've known her since she was 4... and seen her grow up so much :) 

Everybody loves cupcakes! They are a nice sweet gift that look pretty ^^" So I tried to make some "pretty" looking cupcakes (although my icing/decorating skills still average....). But you can turn average looking cupcakes into cute cupcakes by simply adding a macaron (or teddiron to be exact) on top!! =D amazing what one macaron can do~~ hehe

Raspberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes with raspberry buttercream frosting
Modified Vanilla cupcake recipe 

Ingredients
125g butter, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup frozen/fresh raspberries

Raspberry buttercream frosting
2 tbs butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup frozen raspberries, crushed

1. Preheat oven to 190oC and line a 12 hole muffin pan with cupcake cases.
2. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer until pale.
3. Beat in eggs one and a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Sift over flour and mix until almost combined. Stir in milk.
5. Fold in white chocolate chips and raspberries. Spoon into muffin holes and bake for 15 minutes or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.Once cooked, removed from oven and allow to cool. 

Fresh from the oven~

6. Meanwhile make frosting by placing all ingredients in small bowl. Beat using electric mixer until it all comes together to form frosting consistency. (At first, it may seem very crumbly but be patient and keep beating! It'll come together~). If you find it's too runny, add more icing sugar... if you find it too dry add more butter or raspberries :)
7. Ice cooled cupcakes and top with white chocolate chips (optional).

I made the teddirons using Adriano Zumbo's salted caramel macaron mix. I placed a toothpick inside to help it stand on top of the cupcake. (They kind of look like macaron pops ^^) I also wrote on the other side of the macarons with white chocolate spelling out Freesia's name ^^

Teddiron pops!

 So happy birthday Freesia! Hope you have a wonderful day!!! :)

 

What's red and velvety?

I just made it in time for my entry for "Aspiring Bakers #13!!!* hosted by Min of Min's blog. The theme for November is "Enjoy cupcakes" so I decided to bake RED VELVET CUPCAKES!! This is the first time I have made them and they didn't turn out as "red" as I would have liked them.... but hopefully they are still "velvety" ^_^"

I also finally made cream cheese frosting (i remember I had a craving for it a while ago..) but as I don't own a piping bag the frosting looks a bit weird =S I got this recipe from The Cake Mistress' blog who adapted the recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook.

Ingredients

60g unsalted butter, room temperature
150g caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
10g cocoa powder
20 ml red food colouring (I used 20ml water with red colouring powder added)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
120ml buttermilk (I replaced this with normal milk)
150g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarb soda\
1 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar (I used normal white vinegar)

Cream Cheese Frosting

300g icing sugar
50g unsalted butter, room temperature
125g cream cheese, slightly softened

1. Preheat oven to 170oC. Line 12-hold cupcake tin with patty cases.
2. Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add egg and beat until well combined.
3. In a small bowl, mix food colouring, cocoa powder and vanilla extract until thick paste consistency.
4. Add paste to the butter mixture and beat thoroughly until colour is mixed evenly through the batter. The mix should be a deep rose pink/red.
5. Slowly add half the buttermilk until well mixed then add half the flour until well mixed. Repeat for the remaining milk and flour, beating until the mixture is smooth.
6. Add salt, bicarb soda and vinegar and beat for a couple more minutes.
7. Spoon into each cupcake hole about 2/3 full.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until skewer inserted comes out clean.
9. Remove cupcakes from tin and allow to cool completely on wire rack. Meanwhile prepare cream cheese frosting.
10. In a food processor or electric mixer, beat the icing sugar and butter until well mixed.
11. Dice the cream cheese into smaller cubes and add to the mix, beating until completely combined. Continue beating until frosting becomes light and fluffy (~5 minutes)
12. When cupcakes are cooled, pipe the cream cheese frosting on top.

cupcakes for u :)

Happy with this photo =) for my future cookbook XD hahaha

When is an icecream not an icecream?

When it's a CUPCAKE CONE :)  

These delicious and cute looking "icecreams" are actually cupcakes in disguise!! I love this idea (my cousin found it in a kids recipe book) of putting cake into cones! Kids love it as well! We made it for Young Childrens Day and the kids loved helping out! The best part was decorating the cones with little lollies and you can be as creative as you want! It was funny seeing the little kids licking the cones like icecream xD

I used a simple vanilla cupcake recipe and then coated with a chocolate ganache and the toppings can be anything!

Ingredients 

For the cupcakes:

• 125g butter, softened
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 190oC. Grease/line 12 cup muffin pan.

2. Beat butter, sugar, vanilla with an electric mixer until pale. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. 

3. Sift flour into over mixture and stir until almost combined. Stir in milk.

4. Spoon mixture into muffin holes and bake for 15 minutes.

-for chocolate cupcakes just substitute vanilla essence with 1 tbs cocoa powder-

Freesia and I with our cupcakes :)

Chocolate coating:

1. Melt 300g cooking chocolate with 300ml thickened cream in a bowl over a pot of simmering water.

2. Remove to cool.

Assembly

1.  Cut cupcakes using a cookie cutter to the appropriate size and place into cone.
2. Dip cupcake into chocolate coating.
3. Decorate with lollies... sprinkles... chocolate..

Beautifully decorated!! so colourful!

HAHA! if only this pic wasn't blurry =p hilarious!! chomping down!!!

1:1:1.5:2 - make sense? XD

My friend shared this recipe with me during the "Recipe exchange" and I found it pretty funny that she said the recipe was as easy as "1:1:2:1.5" ahhhahah that's the ratio of ingredients for LEMON CUPCAKES. No matter how you remember it, it really is simple! and the results are light, fluffy, lemony cupcakes =) you only need ONE BOWL (as you can tell I LOVE these kinds of recipes =P) 

Ingredients: 

1 cup caster sugar

1 cup cream

2 eggs
1.5 cups self-raising flour, sifted

zest of one lemon

1. Preheat oven to 180oC.
2. Place sugar, cream and eggs into a bowl and whisk until smooth.
3. Gradually add the flour and lemon zest. Whisk until the flour has incorporated and mixture is smooth.
4. Pour into cupcake cases and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Simple as that.

nice and golden brown!! :) :) :)

They do sink a bit once they have cooled down but don't worry! the flavour and texture is still as lovely =)
so what are u waiting for!!?? GO BAKE!!! =D

Birthday food

My birthday = my baking day off =p you shouldn't make your own cake for your bday!! haha..
so had some made for me =)


Fruit  loaf/cake by mum - very healthy cake



Marble cupcakes by Kat - took me a while to work out the msg XD 

 

Mango sago mousse cake by Aikay - delish :D <3 sago!!

Had a lovely bday lunch at YuErh's house :) thanks for the food guys!! Spaghetti and sushi and sago! mmmm mmm =)

I was very very full so thanks :D



hehe.. i turned 1 YEAR old =p jkjk~ getting old now T_T need to get the recipe off Aikay how to make Mango sago! thats next on my "to bake list" - well technically its not baking.. HAHA.. so stay tuned :)

thanks everyone for your bday msgs... phone calls.. presents... sms <3

spur of the moment!

I just decided to set up a food blog .. because after looking at my friend's one.. and other random ones! and I've always wanted to as well... I have another blog and was going to change that to a foodie one.. but nah.. i'll keep that separate x)
Anyways as I was walking to 7/11 with a friend.. she suggested that I start up a bakery..and jokingly we started coming up with names. There's already Bread Top.. Bread Talk.. so Bread Tray? then... I came up with: BAKING TRAY!!!! It's perfect =) =) I doubt it will even happen.. but there's always the dream right? :)

So today I trialled a new recipe that looked pretty interesting: Eggless and butterless Chocolate muffins (Allergy free XD)... i mean the photo looked good and it's healthy right? so made them this morning.. i got the recipe from: http://cupcakesoftheday.tumblr.com/post/583380035/divvies-eggless-butterless-chocolate-cupcakes

and well... they didn't turn out that great... kinda no FLAVOUR!!! So had to rush and made normal Chocolate cupcakes instead! XD for Amy and Julie's graduation =) *that's why i was late guys*

Here's how it turned out:

Left: Eggless and butterless - didn't rise as much

Right: Egg and butter - rose a lot more!


But I'm glad u guys liked it =)

Lesson learnt: You must put eggs and butter! hehehhe