Work Catering #7: Cupcakes and cookies!

Back into the catering swing of things!! This week it was all about cupcakes and cookies =) I wanted to use the ready made Cream cheese frosting I had bought so I looked back at my previous recipes and found Red Velvet Cupcakes! I made mini cupcakes so I could cater for more people :p

before icing..... Just so you can see the red colour =)

Ready made cream cheese frosting!!

This stuff is the BEST! and actually cheaper and easier than making it myself... sometimes I do get lazy too ;)

My friend ripped out pages of a magazine filled with wonderful recipes for me! thanks!!! So found this simple recipe for cookies (basic dough only using 4 ingredients!!!). It makes a bunch of cookies (~50.. depending on how big or small you make them) and its so simple as well =)

Choc chip and Macadamia cookies
(Recipe adapted from New Idea magazine)

Ingredients
250g butter
200g sweetened condensed milk (1/2 x 395g can)
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
250g dark chocolate chips
110g macadamia nut halves

1. Pre-heat oven to 170oC and line 3 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Beat butter, condensed milk and sugar in bowl until light and fluffy.
3. Stir in the flour, choc chips and nuts. (You can really add your own flavours! such as M&Ms, raisins, cranberries, walnuts....)
4. Roll teaspoons of dough into balls and place on lined baking tray. Press down with back of spoon or palm of hand to flatten cookie. (remember to leave a bit of space between each one!)
5. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden in colour.

cookies!!! :D

ready for catering~

mini mouthful

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