I've found it! The best vanilla cupcake.

So I've been trying to find a recipe for the perfect vanilla cupcake. Because I already have one for chocolate. Because The Gardener prefers vanilla over chocolate. But people who prefer vanilla over chocolate need to get their tastebuds checked out. Because chocolate rocks. Period.

Anyway...I stumbled upon this blog a couple of weeks ago. And I found this recipe for the famous vanilla cupcake from the famous Magnolia's Bakery in New York. And I was in the middle of toiling through my thesis so it was excruciating to have to set it aside first. Excruciating. Because I could just smell it baking in my oven, the wonderful buttery smell filling my kitchen. The buttercream aside (because personally, I don't fancy buttery frosting), the recipe tasted delicious. Excruciating.

But I'm almost ready to submit my beloved thesis, save for a few modifications. So I had time to bake this weekend! Yay me!

First of all, I'd like to reiterate that I really, really, really do prefer chocolate over vanilla. Ice cream, cakes, candy, you name it, I'll choose chocolate over vanilla anytime and everytime. But this cupcake...is heaven. And I don't even like the usual buttercream frosting you find on cakes. But this buttercream frosting is light and airy and moussey. Not too sweet and not too buttery (surprisingly considering the amount of butter that's in it). It's like whipped cream. Yes, just like that. But heavier. With more oomph.

And the cake itself? Exactly what I pictured it to be. The perfect vanilla cake. Complemented by the perfect buttercream. Sob sob. And I have no more =( because I gave them all to my sister and niece. So I recorded the whole eating process, spoonful by spoonful, to remind myself how lovely it was. So that I'll bake another batch. Soon.

My to bake list

Am checking in to remind myself that these are the cupcakes that I'd like to try out. Soon. Yum.

• Caramel cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream frosting
• Chocolate banana cupcakes with banana cream cheese frosting

And also to try making marshmallows again. Damn candy thermometer. Super failed marshmallows sitting on the table now :(

Updates next week, I hope!

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

I've come to a reluctant revelation recently. I am now officially a cupcake junkie. Yes, me, the one who used to loathe and despise the sickly sweet frosting, the one who always preferred a wholesome muffin over a pretentious act-cute cupcake. Bleh. As I was rejoicing over the success of this latest cupcake and tried to offer the recipe to my bestie, she turned it down saying how she didn't appreciate the sickly sweet frosting of cupcakes. That was when I went, crap damn, I have gone over to the dark side. Or rather, the pretentious act-cute side. *Groans*

But as I bit into the moist cake along with the sweet and tart cream cheese frosting, it made perfect sense to have both. Granted some of the decorations offered out there can be overkill, but a little sprinkle here and there, or a little cookie here and there just entices you reach out for the yummy-ness that is underneath all that pretentious act-cute-ness :D

I got this recipe from here but used a cream cheese frosting instead since I've never really enjoyed buttercream frosting.

After frosting and plopping on the Oreos...

A close up. A generous dose of cream cheese never hurt anyone :P Especially not a cheesecake lover like me, bleh. 

And inside, even more Oreos. 

The cake turned out surprisingly soft and moist. So recipe is definitely a keeper! The Gardener already devoured 3, and he usually doesn't eat my cupcakes unless I force him to. Try some today! :D

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Curd and Cream Cheese Frosting

So after the success of my lava fudge cupcakes, I decided to make a vanilla version. But there were so many questions, like what filling should I put inside and what goes well with vanilla as the frosting? I almost made some white chocolate fudge as the filling even though it would be painfully sweet, until I found a recipe for vanilla curd! Kind of a duh moment then because it hadn't occurred to me that since there was lemon curd, there would be vanilla curd. But I was kinda hoping there would be vanilla fudge...unfortunately not, though.

Anyway, I decided to stick with the plain cream cheese frosting since I couldn't think of anything that would complement vanilla well enough. If you have any suggestions though, please let me know!

Also, this is my second batch of vanilla cupcakes :| because the first one was a bit too dense and I accidentally spilled too much blue colouring onto the frosting and it turned out rather sickly looking. Oh well...onwards!

The chocolate that melts on the frosting, not in your hands!

Yes, I know that the curd is hard to spot, but vanilla curd is pretty colourless okay. 

Am actually in a grump over my cupcakes. Have been told more than enough times that they are sweet, too sweet. Personally, I don't like things that are too sweet myself. But for effing sake these are CUPCAKES. Reducing too much sugar in any bake will compromise the composition and hence the outcome. If you don't like sweet things, you shouldn't be eating cakes in the first place -.-" and the very last thing you should be getting yourself are cupcakes. Ok, I shall stop this rant before it gets out of hand. 

My next bake will be cookies and cream cupcakes =) Shall look forward to that instead. 

Lava Fudge Cupcake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

So this is my latest bake. Had rave reviews from everyone so far. Have wanted to make a lava cake for quite some time, but am not in possession of proper ramekins :( And then...was watching my new favourite TV program the other day, DC Cupcakes, and had an aha moment!

So I took this recipe for chocolate cupcakes (which is yummy by itself), and added some fudge in the centre!

Then next problem was the frosting. Whipped cream frosting became a hot mess over time. Buttercream frosting  too rich. Cream Cheese frosting was also a tad rich (plus my recipe for cream cheese frosting was always insufficient). So I thought and I thought. And I twisted and turned at night as I thought and thought again...

:P

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting!

With bits of orange zest and a squeeze of orange juice. 

And inside, you have gooey ooey chocolatey goodness.

Chocolate and orange, perfect together!

Of Macarons and Cookies

I've been going through a bad baking spell lately, with lots of failed recipes.

There was my 4th attempt at macaron making, photos of which I'm going to post up anyway. But that kind of dimmed my spirits and I stopped taking photos hence no new blog post.

There were my numerous icing making attempts, which were really horribly measly, and my cupcakes looked pathetic, so again no more photos.

There were the doomed whoopie pies, which looked and tasted awful, so there went my Mother's Day gift.

But before I deliver the good news, let me show you my macarons.

Tadah...my Ribena with white chocolate ganache macarons. 

Yea, my ganache sort of failed because I didn't have enough white chocolate :P 

But it was my first time trying out the Italian meringue method. So now I can understand why they recommend this method to macaron beginners, because it really does stabilize the meringue for you to whip and smooth it out. And I got really pretty obvious feet! At first...

Because the whole process took me so long that I had to go off for dinner and leave the macarons resting. For too long =.=" 

Then I got lopsided feet. Sigh. 

Anyway, the Italian method produces softer shells, I find. Not as crunchy as the French method. Which I prefer. So...I guess I'll keep working on the French meringue. Onward to attempt #5!

So I stopped with the macarons and the cakes for a while. And made some cookies instead. Hmm, which is funny because The Gardener's brother didn't know what they were called and told me that my 'chocolate cookies' were really good. Psst...they're called macarons o.O

Right, digressing.

Made some wonderful crunchy awesome chocolate wafers! But they were so good I forgot to take any pictures :P But I'm telling you they're so good The Gardener who normally avoids chocolate cookies (for example my chocolate macarons) were wolfing them down like crazy. No worries, will make somemore and snap photos then!

And then since I was on a cookie roll and on the quest to search for the perfect crunchy cookie ala Famous Amos, I found and made this!

Best! A tad sweet, but crunchy!

I made about 36 cookies, and these were the last 6. 

But you count five. Where's the last one, you ask? 

Macarons, Part 3

The Gardener came back in a big huff the other day over how some BFM DJs kept pronouncing 'macarons' as 'macaroons', which is a common error. The two refer to completely different things, though, but both equally tasty :)

This is a macaron (mak-kuh-ron):

And this is a macaroon (mak-kuh-roooon):

Both uses egg whites and sugar, but a macaroon contains grated coconut and no special technique, while a macaron uses ground almonds and also requires some sort of filling and a hell of a lot of practice. 

Hence, the part 3 ahem.

This time around, I managed to get only a few cracked shells (yay me!), but some of the feet were lopsided, and I still couldn't get the almonds to be as fine as I wanted. Proof:

Excuse the misshapen one at the side. A whole lump of ground almond escaped from the piping bag :-s

But see! Almost none cracked!

Feet! Also excuse the lopsided feet there :P I believe it's the pan...hmm...

And off to the fridge to store for a night after sandwiching the chocolate filling. 

At this point, I didn't have the heart to take any more pictures because I couldn't get over the frustration of the coarse almonds...grumble grumble grumble...Am determined to try again! And soon!

*I've been making so many chocolate bakes that Ms. Evelyn finally realized I'm a chocolate fanatic. So yea, I should change the name of this blog to Choco-line or something like that :D

Chocolate Chip Muffins

I had originally wanted to make some fondant-like muffins, but didn't know how they would taste after a few hours because I wanted to bring them over for dinner with family. So...chocolate chip muffins it is! This is one of the recipes from my new baking recipe book and was super simple to make. I didn't realize how much chocolate chips it required until I actually got about measuring them, then I was like...whoa...for 12 muffins? Super a lot. Apt name indeed.

So the joke behind these muffins are that I brought them over for dinner on Saturday evening. My brother and his daughters had come from Singapore for the weekend for Cheng Beng, so my sister had cooked up a feast. She had also made her own batch of 'muffins', ie. steamed 'fatt koh', except hers are green with added pandan. The thing with my sister is that she goes into her cooking seasons. One season it's all pumpkin cake. Another season it's all butter cake. The previous season was all bread (until she had to retire her bread-maker because it was racking up the electricity bill :P) Anyway, the current season is all about 'fatt koh' or 'huat kueh' as Hokkiens call it. The Gardener made the mistake of accepting an entire muffin in one of her first few attempts and it didn't go down very well. Literally.

So I brought this batch of muffins over, and they had a choice for breakfast the next morning aka today, and none of the kids wanted any of hers. Kesian lar, I know. But I think it's time for her to move on to something else...

Anyway, on to the pictures!

Here they are rising prettily in the oven.

The finished product, with some icing sugar sprinkled on top. 

More...more sugar! Hmm...maybe next time I can sprinkle some sugar on top of the muffins before baking for that sweet crispy topping...yums!

My niece said the chocolate chips melt in the mouth :D You gotta try some to know...

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I made 2 dozen of these for my mom's birthday in February and had kept the last one to snap a photo of. But The Gardener ate it :( Ironically, I left a few in the fridge after I made this new batch the other day but he didn't even touch them...grumble grumble grumble...I have to stick a jumongous sticky note on his computer monitor before he remembers to eat anything...grumble grumble grumbles somemore...

Digressing.

Everyone loved these simple but pretty cupcakes during my mom's birthday dinner. My eldest niece even brought one home to have for breakfast the next day. I made the icing from mascarpone the first time, and it was fabulous! Light but still dairy tasty. However, since mascarpone is rather expensive over here, I decided to switch back to the original cream cheese icing. And to my pleasant surprise, it was yum yum yummy! Not as dreadfully rich as I was expecting it to be. Not overly sweet either. I guess incorporating the whipping cream really lightened it up. The Gardener's family loved them :D And psst...I had 3 myself. Recipe followed to the T from JoyOfBaking.

Before icing. They're supposed to be redder than this, but the thought of adding that much food colouring sickens me a little. 

Pinkish delights

After icing

Meant to be piped but cannot be bothered :P I think it looks better this way. Less fuss. All goes in the mouth then stomach anyway...

Like this :D Sorry, all gone by now. Recipe definitely a keeper! Orders anyone? 

Green Tea Ice Cream

Argh, today has been a looong day, but I have just uploaded these photos and grr...the sight of them has stirred my tummy into its usual growling mode again. I made some macha ice cream yesterday as a sample for a few neighbours. And for myself, of course =P

If you've never had homemade ice cream, you should come visit me when I make some. Because it's fabulous licking the ice cream maker paddle just after it's finished churning! That is, if I'll let you share...not. Did not take any greedy photos of myself. Hello...this is public space after all so let me retain some dignity okay.

Homemade ice cream does take some time to defrost before you can scoop it out, though. And melts pretty quickly since everything is natural. Alright alright...here are the pictures already.

Here's another with a failed attempt at fixing the lighting and colour. 

And another with a close up of the red beans. Yes, I know they look black. No, I dunno how to fix the colour because they're actually just dark red. But it doesn't really matter because bittersweet green tea with candied sweet red beans is heaven in my mouth. 

And now I'm off to have some because I <3 ice cream. Yes, truly. I have a 2nd stomach for ice cream :D

Brownies

Wanted to name this post 'Chocolate Brownies' but then realized how redundant it was since brownies are supposed to be chocolate =P

I think this recipe was one of the first few I discovered and it's courtesy of Jamie Oliver, one of my favourite chefs. I had just purchased my oven and was absolutely jumping with excitement about using it for the first time. My cake mixer was new, too, but the fabulous thing about this recipe is that it has absolutely no need for one. Everything is done by hand. And once you're used to the steps, you can whip this up in a jiffy. The ingredients are pricey though, if you want to produce some good quality brownies. Like mine =P Oozing with dark chocolatey goodness. The first time I baked this and the smell filled the entire house, I remember actually salivating. And the first time I tasted this and it melted in my mouth, I remember immediately grabbing another piece. Yes, this brownie is also one of the reasons I packed on so much weight >.<

Serving suggestion: warm, with several scoops of vanilla ice cream, like this...

The evil things are still in my fridge, and I am still tempted to put a slice in my mouth everytime I see them. Darnit! One comment I've received that I can't get over is how 'chocolatey' it is. TOO chocolatey (???) I wanted to tell him: "Dude, go back to your XXX-brand Milk Chocolate Bar lar..." What a waste of a good slice of brownie. 

Lesson of the day? Never offer brownies to non-chocolate lovers.

Sweets for my sweets...

In case any of you are wondering why this blog is named as such =P

Hummingbird cakes

So here are the hummingbirds I promise to make last weekend but didn't because a lot of events cropped up and I didn't have much time to indulge in baking. Sneaked some time in last night though ;) The cake itself was relatively easy to make because it used oil instead of butter, so no mixer needed. The recipe called for a boatload of flour though, which perplexed me, because I ended up with batter for more than 12 muffins, and the cakes turned out GINORMOUS!

But I need to digress. Because the first time I heard about this cake was again at Whisk@ESG with my Austrahleean friend, and it turns out to be a banana and pineapple cake. So now I'm like, "I need a pretty name for my banana muffins", and she asks, "What did you have in mind?" So one of the names I came up with was 'peacock' because it's such a grand bird but she said, "I'm not going to eat a cake called Peacock." Fine lor...

How's 'Canary' then? :D

So back to my hummingbirds. They were this big...

As usual, I'd reduced the sugar and increased the fruits. Er...maybe less pineapples next time. They might look round and puffy and all...

but I needed to turn them over onto their (supposedly) flat tops. Since mine was round and puffy and all, I got this instead...

Admittedly very funny looking, but I don't think was intended to be that way. The picture in the book definitely did not look that way. They looked...tall and thin. Crap, I have short and pudgy muffins. I have baby chicks instead of elegant hummingbirds. 

But then they didn't look so bad after the icing and sprinkling of pecan nuts. So final output?

Cute, right...So cute, in fact, that I forgot to take a photo of what it looks like inside because I've given them all away =P 

New recipe book

Ho ho ho...found this book in MPH today. Can't wait to try out the recipes! There are 45 assorted recipes of cupcakes, muffins, cakes and buns. This weekend I shall make the Hummingbird cakes...wee...

Interested testers do leave a comment :D

Banana with White Chocolate Muffins

My bake this time is slightly less sinful than usual. Bananas! Which give you energy and keep you and your tummy happy and healthy =) Then let's just not harp on the fact that it has added white chocolate chunks in it, because I did cut back on the white sugar since I thought the bananas were sweet enough. Recipe from JoyofBaking.com, a site which I find to be superb. I would sing about it if I could, but er...I won't. So let's get on with the pictures...

So I wanted to show you how much I enjoy mashing bananas. Because you know, if you're feeling annoyed about something in particular, then man, this is the way to vent all that frustration. "I'll smush you, and smush you, and smush you somemore!!!" or "Take that!", mash, "Hah, you think you're so firm? Take somemore of that!" mash harder. 

But then, because I'm not the photographer, and the photographer wanted to take some artsy-fartsy motion shot, this is another picture of me mashing the bananas. Notice the fork which is now a blur - hence, the art 

>.<" 

And this is the first time I'm using these muffin cups. Which cost slightly more than the usual floppy ones, but these are actually great because they hold their shape very well, so you don't even need muffin pans. Ooh...which reminds me about some silicone baking ware I saw the other day and have to blog about soon. P/S: reminder to self. 

Them banana muffins baking in the oven. Took a while to rise and got me a bit worried. Got me to do my usual pacing. But then...

Ah...so plump in their cups now. Also, if you've never smelt freshly baked muffins before, you need to get over to my house. Really. Or the nearest bakery. If they'll let you into their kitchen.

These came out with a crisp crust but was super moist inside! Yes, that's a chunk of white chocolate peeking out the top of the muffin. 

 

Now excuse me while I enjoy them...because they're best eaten on the same day!