the barefoot contessa's carrot cake cupcakes.

carrot cake cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting, from my most favourite member of the ford and carter administrations, ina garten (office of management and budget, 1974-78). they were good--moist, spicy, good balance of sweet frosting to not-so-sweet cake, but i didn't find these carrot-y enough, even though i added an extra cup of grated carrots more than the recipe called for. however, they made a darn tasty spice cake. if you decide to try these, be careful with the cooking time--the 10 minutes at 400˚F then 35 minutes at 350˚F was excessive; i'd go with 25 minutes at 350˚F all the way, or the prescribed 10 @400˚F, then 10-15 minutes at 350˚F. use your intuition or the force, young cupcake warrior, and the cake universe will be yours.

menu for hope III

you know, don't you? if you don't, pim and helen will do their best to inform you about and inspire you to contribute to the worldwide food bloggers' campaign to raise money for the united nations world food programme. i will do my best to survive monday.

although many of you will covet the lovely prizes on offer at acclaimed restaurants in exotic locations, or opportunities with lauded food personalities, you could take your much appreciated US$10 donation and turn that into a raffle ticket towards one of two humble "yes you have to do all the work yourself, deal with it" kits from the fine folk at green bananas (namely, me). whether you wish to express yourself artistically or autistically, you'll have all the tools available to you, all whilst helping those less fortunate than us. also, there is a distinct advantage in going for one of these items--just think: whilst dozens of people will be vying for that meal at tetsuya's or that tour with david lebovitz, you'll most likely be the only person after one of these prizes. at the time of this posting, that means you have a 100% chance of winning! wheeeee.

okay, here's the what:



express(oh!) yourself in cupcakes kit (prize code: AP25)
$10 gets you 2.5 cupcakes at your local hoo-hawed cake boutique, and frankly, you could do better. here is a cupcake/cake decorating kit just for you, including a variety of seasonal cupcake liners, mini espresso cups, mini cutters, a set of three decorating icing tips with disposable plastic cones, food colour gels, various sugar decorations (including edible glitter, coarse sugars and shapes), chocolate sprinkles, nonpareils, and other edible novelties--at least US$60 worth o' goods. that's what i told helen, anyway. in reality, it will probably work out to more than that. also, if you are the winner, and should see cupcakes on my blog that you'd like to recreate, i will do my best to supply all the appropriate decorations for that particular design.




the straight up bentou box starter set (prize code: AP30)
yes, yes, you've spent too much money on bad takeaway meals, and you should be on a diet anyway. bring your lovingly prepared homemade lunch to work in the most stylish way possible with your very own bentou lunch box. do it kawaii-style with a lusciously lacquer-like bentou container, a set of chopsticks in a handy travel case, various essential bentou supplies like decorative cups and papers, plastic soy sauce containers, mini cutters and rice molds. i will also include a copy of eric gower's "the breakaway japanese kitchen" to get you started on your new, smart and swanky regime. that's another US$60 worth of stuff you never knew you needed until now.

*

and now the how:

Here's what you should do...

1. Go to the donation page.

2. Make a donation, each $10 will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize or prizes you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation. Do tell us how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code -for example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for AP01 and 3 for AP02.

3. For US donors, if your company has agreed to match your charity donation, please remember to check the box and fill in the information so we may claim the corporate match.

4. Please also check the box to allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

5. Check back on Chez Pim on January 15 when we announce the results of the raffle. (The drawing will be done electronically. Our friend the code wizard Derrick at Obsession with Food is responsible for the wicked application that will do the job.)

¿listos? okay, then, what are you waiting for?

tagged! menu+for+hope food+bloggers fundraiser prize raffle

the devil's food made me do it.

i haven't made a cupcake in awhile, and had a bit of an itch. unfortunately, i didn't have enough butter on hand, so i just went googling for a devil's food cake recipe, and went with the first one, which happens to use shortening. the cupcakes were beautifully domed, and the texture fine, but they were quite dry. although the flavour was good, it was nothing...to write a blog entry about. soooo...a little whipped cream, a double dipping of ganache, and a squiggle of vanilla buttercream made the cupcake maybe not totally blogworthy, but tasty to eat. the whipped cream added much needed moisture, and the mild cocoa taste only complemented the gooey ganache. and of course, the blatant homage to the hostess cupcake (down to the signature seven loops across the top, natch), may not be the prettiest thing on the blogs, but oh, the charm of it :)

manila: cupcakes by sonja.

halloo poppets, took a v. short weekend holiday to manila, basically to wait for my mohawked precision haircutter from münchen to get over his hangover and spend two hours cutting my hair so it looks like it was never cut. ergh. whatevs, it was good to see everyone in the family okay after the storm, and not-so-good to breathe in some heavy, sticky, dirty air. o, metro manila, how i heart your asthma-inducing air! it's so cosmopolitan.

of course, i did have my foodie moments, one of which was a quick trip to fort bonifacio, to the somewhat open serendra piazza complex across the street from market!market! (or, as the typhoon damaged sign reads: arket!market!). we visited cupcakes by sonja, which i read about in anton's, christine's, and ana's respective blogs. although i am quite happy to make cupcakes, i'm not particularly interested in eating them; still, i was curious to see the shop as the owner, sonja ocampo, is a former employee of magnolia bakery in nyc, and it seems like almost every cupcake shop in new york was spawned from there. i thought oh heck, why not; i'm already dreaming about shoes.

the shop itself is quite precious, very cute--pink and white scalloped awnings hang over large picture windows against a matte black and white shopfront; the interior is pale pink and yellow striped, with white cabinets and fixtures (including a much coveted smeg refrigerator--although i kinda really want this one), and vintage tea accoutrements artfully scattered about. jazz floats gently through the narrow shop, and the sweetly spiced scent of freshly baked cupcakes drifts out the front door, enticing passersby. the shop isn't officially open--it's going through a dry run--so there were only six varieties available of the two dozen that were listed on the menu. along with the cupcakes, there is a short list of plated desserts and a full complement of coffee, tea and other soft drinks available. we decided to try the bunny hugger, chocolate surprise, and berries and cream cupcakes.



the bunny hugger is a lightly spiced carrot cake topped with a cream cheese frosting and a dusting of cinnamon. it was moist, lightly sweet, and filled with carrot, although the shreds didn't seem particularly well-mixed in and clinged to the sides of the cupcake. the cream cheese icing was perfect--smooth, silky not-too-sweet, and not cloying. i thought perhaps that the cake could have benefited from a bit of "aging"--maybe an overnight rest--to help develop and meld the flavours before frosting and serving, but otherwise, this was quite nice. sadly, i think the surprise in the chocolate surprise (chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream) was that the cake was quite dry, and somewhat lacking in flavour. the buttercream frosting was not as smooth as it could have been--although gritty would be overstating it--but the flavour was better than the cake, albeit still lacking depth.



we also had a berries and cream cupcake with a vanilla cupcake base (i suspect it's the magnolia bakery recipe), sliced fresh strawberries, and a whipped cream frosting. the flavours on this one were quite good--the strawberries were sweet, the vanilla cake not overpowering, and the whipped cream frosting not too heavy, but still silkier than just plain whipped cream; everything blended together well. i was a little disappointed with the cake--although the cupcake is faithful to the recipe, it's just not my personal favourite when it comes to vanilla flavoured yellow cake. also, the whole cupcake was in a chiller case, which helped keep the frosting in shape without making the whipped cream too hard, but also made the cake seem heavier and less flavourful than it would be at room temperature. however, i don't know how they can address this the future--perhaps just frost them before serving?

the only other thing i ordered was a cafe americano (espresso with hot water added); it was one of the best coffees i've had in manila--a dark roast that wasn't burnt tasting, not too acidic, and a nice crema on top. although i drink my coffee black, i think some people might be disappointed that it was served with powdered creamer instead of milk. the other cupcakes on offer that day were a flourless valrhona chocolate lava-type cupcake, lemon drop--a vanilla cake/lemon buttercream combo, and red velvet vixen--red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.

overall, i was pleased enough, but found the cupcakes to be somewhat small for the prices they fetch--from P45 to and whopping P98 for the flourless chocolate one (possibly more for others); i understand that they are made from quality (and often imported) ingredients, but hopefully the prices can come down slightly so more people can enjoy them, and more often. also, whilst it is in a new building, the façade is showing signs of wear--the scallop on the awnings doesn't look finished, the light bulbs have burnt out, and the matte black paint looks a bit uneven. however, i think this dry run will help them work out the kinks in the space and in the cupcakes. i shall return to find out!


cupcakes by sonja
1C03 serendra piazza, 1st level
fort bonifacio, taguig.

snowballed.

the cherry macaroons begat



the fruit jelly marshmallow bejewelled coconut cupcakes which begat



the homemade coco jam (a coconut caramel or dulce de leche made with coconut milk) that in turn begat



the sticky toffee coconut cupcakes filled with coco jam, and topped with a healthy dose of double cream and a coconut toffee ornament, which ultimately begat



the coconut lime macadamia cake made from a recipe by bill granger.

*whew*. all that from one very large bag of dessicated coconut.

'snowball' sounds so sweet in the winter, but now in the beginnings of a long, hot summer, it just sounds sort of dirty and nasty, like something a spoiled young celebutante would do to someone, do with someone, or do to herself. eat it, snort it, or ride it, baby--it's all good.

fortunately, my little snowball has nothing to do with gak nor paris hilton, unless she has ally sheedy circa "the breakfast club"-esque dandruff, which looks too-alarmingly-similar to the teeny flakes of dessicated coconut that settle in a snowy pillow that refuses to diminish, and which is the object of my ingredient mini-obsession. not the sweetened, hairy, moist angel-like coconut flakes mostly found in the baking aisles of most american stupormarkets, but the unsweetened, chippy, dry, crunchy stuff that is usually found at your typical hippy granola store. or asian market. i love the stuff, there's a certain animal? vegetable? mineral? quality about it that makes me think i can use it as packing material, insulation, craft table supply, and yet still create the most delicious snack; versatility is where its at, whether real or really imagined. although i didn't stray from the dessert portion of the nutritional pyramid (where is that you ask? where do all sweeties and fatty desserts end up? on the bottom.), i was rather pleased with the array.

the macaroons were a semi-request from esa--he was looking for a recipe that would produce a moist, coconutty, cakey confection like something he had in egypt. most of the macaroon recipes i found online seemed like they would come out rather dry and biscuit-like; but, having recalled the macaroons i'd had in the philippines as being wet and chewy, i thought i would turn to one of my favourite pinoy bakers, celia kusinera. i often turn to her because, as a filipina, she understands the asian palate, but as she lives in the uk, she often uses western recipes and adapts them accordingly. as luck would have it, she had an ideal cherry macaroons recipe, which i only slightly adapted by using only half the stated amount of sugar, and omitting all cherries but the ones on top.

having mostly conquered that particular sugar mountain, i felt the urge to make ina garten's coconut cupcakes again. i've made them before, and i'll make them again, as they are the perfect texture with a lovely crumb, and the right combination of sweet, nutty, and creamy. despite all the butter and cream cheese, these cupcakes are quite light; i also love the dome of frosting and coconut that is simple to create, but charming and fanciful, like summery snowball. (frosting tutorial coming soon)

as a sort of reaction to the sweetness and light of those cupcakes, i wondered if i could create a darker, richer one. i wanted one that had a bolder flavour, but perhaps without relying on so much butter and cream. i thought of a caramel flavour, and of dulce de leche, the spanish milky caramel. in the philippines, there is a coconut milk equivalent, known as katiba or coco jam, which is simply coconut milk cooked down with the native sugar. with the current popularity of dulce de leche, i'll bet that coco jam would be popular too, as it's just as rich and sweet, but lactose- and dairy-free; unfortunately, it's saddled with a stupid name. coco jam? wtf is that? chocolate jelly? mocha choco coco yaya? ugh. even it's singaporean cousin, kaya, sounds prettier and more appetizing. perhaps it can be rebranded as dulce de coco, which makes it sound like the even more exotic sister of dulce de leche. (someone in pinoy food products marketing, call me. asap. i need some extra dosh, and the paper route ain't cutting it.)

i fiddled a bit with a bbc good food recipe for coconut cake, and came up with something rather more tropical tasting than i think the authors' had intended; this combined with the coco jam dulce de coco (might as well start now) resulted in a rather lovely sticky toffee-like pudding, rather neatly encased in a cupcake. served warm with a dollop of double cream as frosting and a bit of homemade coconut toffee, it was a decadent walk on the dark side that was surprisingly not oversweet, or overly heavy in the stummy.

anyway, i'm not sure how the bill granger cake came into the picture, except after all that sugar, caramel and toffee--and the coconut frenzy still unabated--i thought that a bit of citrus would lighten the proceedings, and of course, stave off scurvy. the cake also appealed because there aren't any dairy products as ingredients, which i thought might result in a lighter cake, both in texture and calories (of course, i managed to ignore the bajillion macadamia nuts that make up the bulk of the cake). the texture is weirdly dense yet light, and the flavours quite subtle, although that improves with age. in this world of instant gratification, and downloads on demand, it's almost charming to find a recipe for a cake that improves in texture and flavour at least one day after it's made. not particularly something most people want to hear, but there are plenty worse things to listen to in this world. and the nenes today could use with a little more patience and subtlety, you know what i mean?

and i, i have to lay off the drifts for awhile.



coco jam/katiba/dulce de coco

1 can of good quality coconut milk (i prefer the brands from thailand)
1/4 to 1/2 cup of muscovado sugar

add ingredients to a small slow cooker/crock pot set on low. stir occasionally to dissolve and to keep from burning; otherwise, keep covered with lid. cook for 6 hours, or until the volume has been reduced to less than half and a thick caramel has formed.



"sticky toffee" coconut cupcake

175g/6oz of softened butter
175/6oz muscovado sugar, or dark brown sugar
175g/6oz self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs, beaten
60g dessicated coconut
60g/1/4 cup coconut milk (more coconut milk might be necessary, depending on the dryness of your coconut)

preheat oven to 350˚F. cream butter and sugar together until lighter in colour; beat in eggs. mix baking powder into flour in separate bowl, then fold into butter mixture. gently stir in coconut and coconut milk to form a thick batter.

measure out batter into lined cupcake tins. bake for 20 minutes, then cool thoroughly. once cooled, use a pastry bag and filling tip to fill cupcakes with coco jam (recipe above), then top with double cream or whipped cream.

a bunch o' banana cupcakes

banana cupcakes with a chocolate ganache filling and topped with a double-squidge of mascarpone frosting and a teeny candy-coated chocolate banana. i was reading an article featuring my favourite cupcake lady, chockylit, and i decided to try the banana cupcake recipe from kara's cupcakes. instead of the cream cheese frosting used in the recipe, i just used the leftovers from my previous cupcake efforts. i didn't find the cupcakes to be particularly banana-y, so i refrained from using the coffee ganache leftovers from the last time; however, the frosting and ganache still almost completely overwhelmed the 'nana cakes, so hopefully next time my bananas will be tastier. i just never know how a rotting banana will go.

a few days ago, it was alizinha's birthday; as she is a contributor to cupcake central, cupcakes take the cake, and an early admirer of the greenbanana cupcakes, these are dedicated to her. parabéns e muitas felicidades!

not from s'bux.

chocolate-coffee cupcakes, with a just right amount of mocha ganache and a generous squidge of mascarpone cream frosting. from a daniel boulud recipe. at first i thought that the ganache would just be OTT (yeah you know me), but was hooked at first bite. readers, i ate this one. and it was delicious. easily one of my favourites.



the recipe says it makes 30 standard-sized cupcakes, but i made 18 espresso cup-sized ones (four ounce sized ones, i think), and had quite a bit of ganache and cream frosting left over. hm. what to do, what to do....

best of the worst.

no joy in the kitchen these days. i had that cupcake fiasco, ruined a roasted turkey (all 17 pounds of it!), wrecked a couple batches of cookies....aww, it's too sad to get into. needless to say, my latest culinary endeavours have involved the words "reheat" and "takeout".

however, there was a request for cheesecake--not the typical new york baked style, but something slightly more asian, slightly more tropical. in saipan (a neighbouring island), the pacific gardenia hotel has a gelatin-set cheesecake topped with fresh mango, and that is what my mum was looking for; i don't have the time or dosh to hop on a (albeit 25-minute) flight over, so i had to make one. or two. or five.

still futzing with the recipe, as i found it to be lacking in depth and slightly too-soft set. however, this is the basic in case you'd like to experiment: sponge cake base, brushed with a sugar-orange liqueur syrup, followed by a mix of cream cheese, condensed milk and gelatin folded into whipped cream, and topped by "petals" of mango set in a mango-orange juice glaze. soft, light, whippy, and fruity. it doesn't taste as rich as you'd imagine, and it's easy to hoover up a good portion of it before you begin to worry about the alarming calorie content. i think i needed a bigger mango to make bigger petals for a prettier flower; however, the mango was about 2 minutes away from being overripe, and just this side of sweetly, stickily perfect. just like the cake over all.

now to make it perfect....

update 12april06: still by no means perfect, but here is the working recipe for the mango cheesecake.

mango cheesecake

1 prepared sponge cake (make your own, or store bought)

sugar syrup (you'll only need a scant amount)
orange-flavoured liqueur, to taste

2 packets unflavoured gelatin
1/2 c. water
2 8oz. packages of cream cheese
1 300ml can condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
16 oz. heavy whipping cream

6 large, ripe mangoes

1 packet unflavoured gelatin
1/4 c. water
1/2 mango juice
1/2 orange juice

cut sponge cake in half lengthwise, and fit into the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan. add orange liqueur to sugar syrup, and brush or drizzle this mixture on top of the cake. set aside.

sprinkle 2 packets of gelatin into 1/2 c. of water, leave for 2-3 minutes until dissolved. add the can of condensed milk to a saucepan, along with the gelatin mixutre, bring to a boil for a minute or so, then take off the heat. cut the cream cheese into chunks and whisk or blend into the condensed milk mixture. add the vanilla extract and blend well. leave to cool thoroughly. whip the heavy whipping cream in another bowl, then fold the cream cheese-condensed milk mixture into the whipped cream. pour on top of the cake base, then refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours.

dissolve 1 packet of unflavoured gelatin into 1/4 cup of water, leave to sit for 2 minutes. mix the mango and orange juices in a saucepan, add the dissolved gelatin and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. leave to cool.

peel mangoes and cut the flesh along the pit into 2 "cheeks". slice the cheeks down the "short" side into uniform pieces (these will be your "petals"). arrange the mango slices by slightly overlapping each piece, and going around the pan in a continuous concentrical spiral--when it gets too difficult to continue, cut a chunk of mango off the sides of the pit to fit in the center. drizzle the juice-gelatin mix over the mangoes, filling in any gaps. chill again for another 2-3 hours, or overnight.

makes one 8-inch cake. note-i actually made these with dessert molds, and managed to make 6 3-inch desserts from the recipe.

last cupcake stop for 100 miles.

last cupcake for the time being: a classic sponge cake with a bit of fresh strawberry and raspberry on a whipped white chocolate ganache cloud. adapted from a recipe in annie bell's gorgeous cakes (they are!), into cupcake-sized morsels.

the ganache was easy--just make a white chocolate ganache, cool in the refrigerator, then whip until soft peaks just begin to form. it's like a more sumptuous, richer whipped cream.

bonus: i had a bit of leftover ganache, so i folded in some of the crushed berries, added a touch of redcurrant jam for a lovely red fruits and white chocolate mousse. even if it's not summer where you are, you can pretend it is for as long as this lasts....

espresso cup(cake)s and espresso bars

yellow cake cupcakes with espresso buttercream, with un chicchi di café, and spongebar squarecakes of the same nature, only with less buttercream for the sugar overloaded. okay, not truly a sponge, but very light and fluffy, yet nicely moist and sweet. for those of you who are tired of the cupcakes, have no fear, i've finally found a yellow cake recipe i like (footnote explains how to make it a yellow cake). for those of you who are aren't saturated in buttercream yet, there's always chocolate, carrot, pumpkin, coconut, etcetera, etcetera, wheeee!

the buttercream was inspired by oslo foodie's recent foray into baking, only i used a non-french buttercream recipe (which is egg based), as frighteningly enough, a tray of eighteen eggs doesn't last very long in the cupcake kitchen....come to think of it, neither do the cupcakes.

chapter 10.25: in which santos finds she is baking a lot of cupcakes these days.

"Pooh," he said, "Christopher Robin is giving a party."
"Oh!" said Pooh And then seeing that Owl expected him to say something else, he said,
"Will there be those little cake things with pink sugar icing?"
Owl felt that it was rather beneath him to talk about little cake things with pink sugar icing, so he told Pooh exactly what Christopher Robin had said, and flew off to Eeyore.

simply a simple vanilla cupcake (recipe from simply bill, natch) with pink buttercream. go visit jessica, because she quotes similarly, yet not so owlishly.

grommmmmmit!

same cupcake, only with a fondant gromit on top. i would have used wensleydale instead of mascarpone, but that would be silly.

i'll be in manila for oh, 48 hours, but i'll be back for a morning viewing of "the curse of the were-rabbit". have a great weekend, everyone!

ps--is there anything you think i should do whilst i'm in the philippines? besides get a haircut and eat laksa/churros/beard papa puffs?

chocolate cupcakes with mascarpone cheese frosting

bittersweet chocolate cupcakes with a mascarpone cheese frosting. i found the one-bowl chocolate cupcakes recipe in sara neumeier's cupcakes book, and i used it because it is one of the few chocolate cake recipes that actually uses chocolate, not cocoa powder (i ended up adding a cup of cocoa powder into the recipe anyway). i wasn't wowed by it, even though i used a very nice sharffen berger bittersweet chocolate and shockinag cocoa. if anyone has a great chocolate (cup)cake recipe that uses chocolate, point me to it.

mascarpone cheese frosting was a doddle. i decided to use mascarpone because of a movie i'm looking forward to watching this weekend. anyone care to guess?



mascarpone cheese frosting

1/2 stick/1/4 cup/56g unsalted butter, softened
8oz/227g mascarpone cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb/427g sifted confectioner's/icing sugar

with an electric mixer, beat the butter and mascarpone cheese together until fluffy. add the vanilla extract, and the sugar incrementally, until fully incorporated.

raging yoghurt cupcake

a fresh strawberry cupcake with whipped strawberry yogurt frosting. it was inspired by bowb's fabbo blog, raging yoghurt. why does her yoghurt rage? it doth not rage for me.

the all cupcakes, all the time girls got to this cake before me--literally--and have the scoop on the yogurt frosting.

imbb 13 pt. 2: i should cocoa and naga cupcake

my second entry for this edition of imbb was only supposed to be one thing but the unfinished cake turned out so very good that this has turned into a sort of half and one entry, if you know what i mean.



chika recently reminded me of vosges chocolates, specifically of the naga truffle, which is milk chocolate with coconut flakes and sweet curry. i was so intrigued by this combination i decided to try making a cupcake based on these flavours.



what is good for the truffle is not necessarily good for the cupcake, so i set out to make a very mildly flavoured cake. even though cupcakes are individually sized, they can be quite substantial, and i wasn't sure anyone would want a whole cupcake packing a strong curry chocolate flavour. i started with the cake itself. i wasn't sure how to go about making a "milk" chocolate cake as all the recipes i came across used dark or semi-sweet chocolate, and i wasn't sure a straight milk chocolate substitution nor added milk or cream to it would work as i had already decided to use coconut milk in the recipe, so i ended up using dutch-processed cocoa powder, boosted with some chocolate extract, although i'm not sure it was necessary.

at first i wasn't sure about the chocolate cake produced, but i'm not a big fan of chocolate to begin with. however, after the second or third cupcake (hey, i gotta test 'em, right?), i have to say they were pretty darned good. they remind me more of a chocolate milkshake than a chocolate bar, just a hint of chocolate with a milky coconut undertone. mmm. these cupcakes definitely did a bridget jones as i liked them just as they were. however, i did have to naga-hyde them, so i frosted a few with a chocolate ganache made by melting a bunch of cadbury dairy milk eggs and mini-bars (let's hope my god-daughter doesn't notice i raided her easter egg basket!) with a little bit of heavy cream, then boosted with a couple teaspoonfuls of sweet curry powder, a curry blend with fenugreek, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, and cloves amongst quite a few other things. the ganache was wonderful, chocolatey and somehow smoky, and it was tempered well by the cake.



this cupcake turned out to be more fine than funky, and in this season of excessive chocolate novelties, why not add another to the list?


i should cocoa cupcakes

250 g softened unsalted butter
250g white sugar
4 eggs
2 tbsp chocolate extract (optional)
185g self-raising flour
60g all-purpose flour
40g dutch processed cocoa (although, i did add more later when i wasn't thrilled with the colour, so use your best judgement)
185ml coconut milk

cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy; add eggs until well-incorporated. add chocolate extract. sift the flours and cocoa powder together. alternate folding in the flour-cocoa mix and adding the coconut milk into the mixture. stir until smooth, adding more cocoa powder to the batter if it just looks weird to you, to whatever shade you prefer. fill paper-lined muffin tins and bake in a 350˚F preheated oven for 20 minutes. cool completely before frosting.

imbb 13 pt. 1: matcha cupcakes with pistachio cream and totoro "truffles"

imbb 13 is here, and the theme is cupcakes, babies, CUPCAKES!!!! i thank you, maki, for being a gracious hostess cupcake :-D



these are matcha green tea cupcakes with pistachio cream frosting. i don't normally "do" flavours but i love matcha, so i thought i'd try to modify bill granger's vanilla cupcake recipe, and i paired it with pistachios because...um, they're both green. and the flavours work together well, as these cakes are quite mild.



the first cupcake was frosted with a pistachio mascarpone cream inspired by a recipe i found at deb's blog, words to eat by. i just mixed equal parts of pistachio paste with mascarpone cream until it reached a spreadable consistency (you might need to thin it with milk, but i didn't). the cream was fantastic--tangy, rich, and very nutty, but unfortunately, it completely overpowered the subtle matcha cakes, so i tried just adding a couple tablespoonfuls of pistachio paste to a cup of whipped heavy cream which worked out much better.



as for the totoros, they were made with some pistachio paste covered in fondant. as for why the totoros, well, why not?

matcha cupcakes

250 g softened unsalted butter
250g white sugar
4 eggs
240g sifted self-raising flour
180ml cold green tea
1 1/2 to 2 tbsps good quality matcha powder

cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy; add eggs until well-incorporated. alternate folding in the flour and adding the cold tea into the mixture. stir until smooth, adding enough powdered matcha to reach a jade-coloured batter, or whatever shade you prefer. be careful adding more than a few tablespoonfuls as it can get quite bitter the darker you go. fill paper-lined muffin tins and bake in a 350˚F preheated oven for 20 minutes. cool completely before frosting.

imbb 13

this edition's theme, hosted by maki from i was just really very hungry.: my little cupcake (or muffin).

omg, did the mothership call or what??

the barefoot contessa's coconut cupcakes

i trust the barefoot contessa's ina garten as a cook, like i trust bill granger. her recipes are no-nonsense, there's nothing about her that screams "chef" but she seems approachable, her food looks divine, and i trust her recipes. even though her coconut cupcake recipe is a little fussier than i'd prefer, they are moist, delicious, and worth the little extra effort.

another bloody cupcake

literally.



same cupcake recipe, only without the vanilla and a heaping teaspoonful of chinese five spice in its place. topped with a blood orange juice and sugar glaze. sweet, citrusy and coffee-cakey at first, and then boomboomboom--kick of pepper, hint of anisette, wee backlash of bitter rind. if you don't have blood oranges, try it with grapefruit instead.

vanilla cupcakes, redone.

so i did try the vanilla cupcake recipe attributed to bill granger on the bbc food website, and here it is, covered in pink icing and a lovely little strawberry on top. the different between this recipe and the one in the book is more a matter of texture than taste--it's slightly lighter, with a much lighter crust, and with a more tender crumb. and yes, it looked more like the one in the book.
i can't say i like this one better, but i think it would be the better choice for a dairy-based frosting. maybe even the white chocolate sour cream frosting suggested in the recipe. hmmmm. cupcakes, anyone?