Strawberry Cupcakes and Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting!!!

X Cupcakes with white chocolate frosting???

Recipe got left in my little cupcake kit book!!! But overall yummy!!! Hehehe... Will copy recipe up later... too bad no copy-paste...

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Well to begin I shall confess my red velvet cupcakes went without the "red velvet" (because I didn't have so much food colouring...)

But it was YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY!!! Awesome recipe and oh-so-fluffy!!! I think it might be the cake flour used because it turned out really really soft and FLUFFY! I think I read somewhere about high protein or something content that makes it so different from plain flour... So yummy... and not too sweet at all! Add in the icing and its woahla~ yummm...

I made the exact portion as the recipe thinking it won't be that much until I read the part at the bottom that said "I made about 20"... but that was when I had already mixed in everything... haiii... I ended up with 12 big and 8 small cupcakes...

I was meant to split the batter and make choc-banana cupcakes, white chocolate swirl cupcakes, choc-chip cupcakes and so on... but I forgot -________-"" very genius I know ><" BUT I did remember to split the icing into different colours... hmmm... I used some of the plain cream coloured icing, and turned some pink... and as I couldn't be bothered to wash up I geniusly made purple!!! ^___^ and then I wanted brown... but after staring at the red, purple, yellow and green for a minute I still couldn't make up in my mind how to get brown -__- so COCOA POWDER!!! Now a private moment of "Ohhhh smart smart me"... kekeke...

And I FOUND GOLD at a local supermarket!!! MAXI! Yes... the place that looked a bit dodgy compared to the flashy Safeway 30 seconds down... But... THEY HAD REALLY AWESOME STUFF!!! I found this really really yummy thing called Vanilla Sugar... it smells divine... droolz... and also they had all these different types of flours, sugar and blah blah blah that was never seen at Safeway... (they had small sachets of baking powder and bi-carb soda in a proper container... aiii... note: I juse bought a container of baking powder that I needed 1% of and a paper box of bi-carb soda that leaked as soon as I bought it... sigh...)...

OH... Also I found this thing call marzipan which seem to supposed to work like fondant. So I tried it. It was sticky but seem to work well despite it smells kinda funny... I wonder who will try my one and only marzipan cupcake and tell me what it was like...

Hmmm... another highlight of the day was the $2 Dollar shop!!! After eBaying for ages for a cake holder I didn't see a satisfying one... BUTTTT I found one at the $2 Dollar Shop!!! For $4!!! And made in Melbourne!!! Hehehe... I also found cupcake cups - $2!!! Pastry brush - $2!!! Packet of 5 gift bags - $2.50!!! ... I shall stop before this starts to sound like one of those radios on repeat on Swanston St...

Okay... Recipe time... Degrees in F again... ><" (I'm so scarred...)

P.S. I only made half the frosting which frosted all 20 cupcakes ^___^"

P.P.S. 1 stick/quarter cup of butter is 113g

Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 oz. red food coloring (two bottles) or 4 oz beet juice (if you use unprocessed light cocoa you can leave out the food dyes and you'll get a warm red/brown color)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins or silicone pans with cupcake liners.

2. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a smaller bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste without lumps and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula.

4. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. Be careful as it will fizz so don't do it in a shallow bowl. Add vinegar mixture to the cake batter and stir well to combine. Fill cupcake cups with cake batter until they are a little under 3/4 full. I ended up with 20 cupcakes. Place muffin tins in your preheated oven. Bake for approximately 20, rotating pans halfway through. The cupcakes are done when you are able to pat the tops and the cake springs back up. If it sinks down they are not yet complete. Or you can insert a toothpick into the center of a cupcake in the center of the tin and if it comes out clean they are done!

5. Cool the cupcakes in their tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes then remove and allow to cool completely before frosting.

6. Enjoy!

http://bestcupcakerecipes.blogspot.com/2009/02/red-velvet-cupcake-recipe.html

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, room temperature

6-8 cups of powdered sugar

1/2 cup of milk

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

1. In an electric mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment or if you don't have an electric mixing bowl use a large bowl and an electric mixer, mix the butter until smooth and creamy (a few minutes).

2. Add 4 cups of the sugar, the milk and vanilla and on low speed mix until combined.

3.Add two more cups of sugar and on low speed mix until light and fluffy. If you need to, add the remaining two cups of powdered sugar.

http://bestcupcakerecipes.blogspot.com/search/label/frosting%20recipes

Coca Cola Cupcake with Coca Cola Frosting!

Yummmmm!!!

Sooooooo Coca Cola...

I wasn't quiet sure about the recipe at the start as the website looked quiet simple hence not so convincing... but it all turned out perfect!!! Trust and follow the recipe!!! I made half the portion of the recipe and it made 9 big cupcakes!!! But don't make the icing too early like me because it got dry and cold and became difficult to spread and sprinkles won't stick!!! But I overcame the problem by putting sugary water on the cupcakes (a brush would've been sooooo handy but too bad somebody's house doesn't have one >__<)!! Oh, it turned out fine without pecans too... (I wasn't quiet sure what they were...)

Note: when I read the recipe and it said they licked the frosting I was like ewwww... So fat and sweet... but I ended up doing it too. ><" It was soooo irresistable... sooo yummy... droolz...

Oh... the degrees... is not in celcius... so 162 Degree C!!! THANK YOU!!!

Coca Cola Cupcake Recipe

Ingredients

Part One

• 1 cup coca cola or other cola drink

• 1/2 cup butter (I used unsalted because it was 3 for $5...)

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 1/4 cup powdered cocoa

• 22 large marshmallows (Hehehe... I used the pink ones leftover from picking out the white ones to try making fondant with...)

Part two

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 2 cups sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking soda (bi-carb soda... I think I'm right...)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla (I used extract because they said the essence was the extract but diluted with other stuff...)

• 1 cup buttermilk

• 2 large eggs, beaten

Coca Cola Cupcake Recipe Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. These cupcakes work best with the silver metallic liners.

Part one

In a small saucepan mix cola, butter, vegetable oil and cocoa. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, and add marshmallows. Place lid on saucepan and leave until marshmallows begin to melt. Stir well.

Part two

Mix flour, sugar, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Add buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well.

Combine Part One and Part Two in the mixing bowl. Spoon cupcake
batter into cupcake pan liners until they are 1/2 to 2/3 full.

Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool cupcakes completely before frosting with Coca Cola frosting.

http://www.cupcakerecipes.com/cocacolacupcakerecipe.htm

Coca Cola Frosting

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup powdered cocoa

• 6 tablespoons coca cola or other cola

• 1/2 cup butter

• 3 and 3/4 cup powdered sugar (one 1 lb box) ---> (I used soft icing mixture...)

• 1 cup chopped pecans

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Coca Cola Frosting Directions

In a medium saucepan, mix together cocoa, cola, and butter. Heat over medium heat until melted then bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add powdered sugar, pecans and vanilla. Stir until blended well.

Let frosting cool until stiff enough to frost cupcakes. I've been know to eat the leftover frosting with a spoon!

http://www.cupcakerecipes.com/cocacolafrosting.htm

Green Tea Japanese Spongecake Kasutera & Green Tea Mousse

Very very pretty cake!!! Beautiful wet green transparent-ish colour ^___^ yummy!!!

Green tea mousse was put in between the green tea spongecake, and more green tea mousse was used to cover the whole cake in!!! Awesomely, this time I managed to get the top flat!!! So I sieved more matcha powder on top ^___^ BUT IT'S FLAT!!! Oh... the chocolate pieces were the as the sides I couldn't get flat... hmmm... ^___^"" (chocolate pieces made from rolling out melted milk chocolate between two pieces of parchment paper... no rolling pin so there might be finger marks on the choc pieces... and there's a lot of chocolate left over... -___-"")

Oh!!! And something really really retarded happened as I was baking the cake... the recipe said 320 DEGREES... Chin's oven went up to 250... normally the other cake uses about 220... so I thought to myself: Hmmmm spongecakes really need a hot oven to bake... hmmm... I'll just use 250... AND MY CAKE BURNT IN LIKE 15 MINUTES!!!! Arghhhhhhhh!!! American measurements!!! Soooo use 162 Degrees!!! Haiii... lucky I had ingredients to start over again...

End result - uber pretty cake!!! But a slight fall onto the sweet side... even after I used half honey than it mentioned... Hmmm... the green tea taste lacked quiet a bit too... both of the packets I bought didn't have a strong green tea taste... maybe use a lot less sugar next time... need to experiment a bit more with this recipe...

Oh... And as my 6" square was tiny I only used half the portion of ingredients for the green tea spongecake but the complete portion of green tea mousse was just enough!!!

Greent Tea Spongecake

Serves 8 - 10

Ingredients

1 cup white flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon green tea powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
7 large eggs
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions

1Separate the egg whites from yolks into two large bowls.

2Whisk sugar, honey, vanilla, green tea powder, and salt into egg yolks until everything is mixed together.

3Place bowl in a large pan of hot water.

4With an electric mixer, beat about 5 minutes on medium-high speed until pale yellow and doubled in volume.

5Gently fold in flour.

6In the large bowl, beat egg whites in electric mixer on a low speed 1 minute, increasing speed to medium-high until eggs are foamy.

7When the eggs are foamy, sprinkle in one tablespoon of sugar and cream of tartar.

8Beat until the egg mixture is stiff.

9Using a spatula, fold the egg whites gently so the bubbles in eggs are not destroyed.
10Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

11Use parchment to line the bottom of two loaf pans.

12Grease the parchment.

13Pour batter into pan.

14Place pans on middle rack of oven 35 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. When done, cake sides will pull away from pan slightly; top will be flat and feel spongy when pressed with finger.

15Cool for 20 minutes.

16Run a small knife between edge of cake and pan. Remove from pan carefully.

17Pull off parchment and cool completely.

18Cut, serve and enjoy!

http://www.recipezaar.com/Green-Tea-Japanese-Sponge-Cake-Kasutera-278615

Green Tea Mousse

SERVES 4

Ingredients

1 tablespoon gelatin, powder
4 tablespoons water
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon macha green tea powder
3 tablespoons warm water

Directions

1Dissolve gelatine powder in 4 tbsps of water and set aside.

2Mix egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. Heat milk in a pan and dissolve the gelatine in the milk. Gradually add the milk in the egg mixture.

3Dissolve green tea powder in 3 tbsps of warm water. Add the green tea in the egg and milk mixture and stir well, cooling the bowl in ice water.

4Further, add whipped heavy cream in the mixture.

5Pour the mixture into cups or glasses and chill them in the refrigerator minimum of 2 hours.

http://www.recipezaar.com/green-tea-mousse-382175

Baked Durian Cheesecake

Sooooo SMELLY!!! Was going to terrorise Sophia's house with a durian but she was smart and decided to reschedule... hehehe... so Chin's house was the end victim...

At the start, durian was yummy-ish, then it turned smelly, then it just felt like a fart bomb!!! Eeeeek... and Lisha loved it... eee... (and consequently bought and ate a durian a day after and ... gosh... I don't want to remember... ewwww... *scarred*)

To top the durian cake - which follows the exact recipe as the baked mango cheesecake (of course subsituting the mango for durian) - coconut was spread on top... because again the top of the cake wasn't flat... the topping burnt alot easier and faster than mango too... so stir stir stir!!!

End result - I HATE DURIAN!!! Hence Chin ate the whole cake... except for two slicers... as he's not the fat type... haiii... some people just automatically are skinny... they do all the slimming things without conciously thinking of it...

Baked Mango Cheesecake

This was sooooooo delicious!!! Not too sweet, just right!!! Great topping too... despite I couldn't be bothered with the whipped cream...

The amount of cookies for the base seemed a bit too much though... after two 20cm cakes there were still some left over... and OMG milk arrorw*&4ts are sooo bad for making the base... didn't mooosh with butter and didn't turn out wet sandy... and didn't make such a stable base ><" note to self: try arnott's nice next time...

The amount of batter seemed a bit over for a 20m cake tin too... managed to have a bit left over... about 1/3 ish?

Ingredients

250g plain biscuits
¼ cup desiccated coconut
100g butter, melted
500g cream cheese
¼ cup castor sugar
2 teaspoons grated orange rind
170g can mango pulp
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 large mango, sliced
1 cup cream, whipped <--- didn't use

Topping:

170g can mango pulp
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon gelatine
¼ cup sour cream

Directions

Preheat oven to moderate 180oC. Place biscuits and coconut in small mixing bowl; add butter. Stir until well combined. Press mixture evenly over the base and sides of deep 20cm round springform tin; smooth surface.

Using electric beater, beat cream cheese, sugar and orange rind in a small bowl until light and creamy. Add mango pulp; beat well. Add eggs gradually, beating thoroughly after each addition.

Pour mixture into prepared tin. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from heat; allow to cool completely. Spread with topping, decorate with sliced mango and pipe with whipped cream. Refrigerate several hours or overnight before serving.

To Make Topping: Combine pulp and sugar in small pan. Sprinkle over gelatine. Stir over low heat 1 minute until sugar dissolves and mixture boils. Simmer uncovered 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; transfer to small bowl; cool. Stir in sour cream.

http://www.grouprecipes.com/16583/baked-mango-cheesecake.html

In between...

FAILED - pretty but too moist... but pretty ^___^

Triple chocolate cheesecake

This was a very very yummy cake! The original had two layers, dark chocolate and white chocolate but mine had three layers!!! Instead of seperating the cream cheese mixture into two, seperate into three ^__^ and fold milk chocolate into it!!! Yummmm!!!

Using 2 1/2 tsp gelatine as recommended by reviews was great as the cake turned out just right! Nice, soft and mousse-ish... and the cocoa power on top... hehehe... because the top of my cake didn't turn out flat... maybe i should've ran over the top with a flat knive thing... So I covered it up with cocoa powder!!! But cocoa power didn't taste so nice though... maybe should've used powdered chocolate or milo... veryyyyy happy with end result despite i made wayyy too much... and was too lazy to give them out... kekeke...

Ingredients (serves 8)

200g plain chocolate biscuits
80g butter, melted
1/3 cup cold tap water
5 teaspoons gelatine
500g cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup milk
150g white chocolate, melted
150g dark chocolate, melted
1 1/2 cups thickened cream, whipped
100g milk chocolate, grated
cocoa powder, to serve

Method

Grease and line a 24cm (base) springform pan. Process biscuits in a food processor to fine crumbs. Transfer to a bowl. Add melted butter. Stir until well combined. Use your fingertips to press into base of prepared pan. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm.

Place water into a heatproof microwavesafe bowl. Sprinkle over gelatine. Stand for 1 minute. Microwave, uncovered, on HIGH (100%) power for 20 to 40 seconds or until gelatine dissolves. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar and milk until smooth. Stir in gelatine. Divide cream cheese mixture between 2 bowls.

Stir white chocolate into 1 cream cheese mixture. Stir dark chocolate into other.

Fold half the cream through white chocolate mixture and half through dark chocolate mixture.

Pour dark chocolate mixture over biscuit base. Freeze for 10 minutes or until firm to the touch. Carefully spread white chocolate mixture over dark. Cover. Refrigerate overnight.

Release sides of pan. Place cheesecake onto a serving platter. Sprinkle with grated milk chocolate. Dust with cocoa. Cut into slices with a warm knife. Serve.

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/1415/triple+chocolate+cheesecake

Choc Ripple Cheesecake

My first cheesecake! Yummm...

My version - added coffee to the cream cheese part to make a choco coffee ripple cheesecake... yummmmmm... (for those who love coffe... which doesn't exactly include me...)

End result - yummy despite less obvious ripples... and a bit hard after leaving it out in the air/fridge for a while... oh, the yummy chocolaty things on the side went soggy and unedible ever from the first night... but... awesome recipe!!!

Ingredients (serves 8)

150g Arnott's Choc Ripple Biscuits
60g butter, melted
375g cream cheese
55g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
100g dark chocolate, melted

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Grease a 13cm x 36cm rectangular tart tin. Place the biscuits and melted butter in the bowl of a food processor and blend until the mixture resembles wet sand. Place the mixture in the tart tin and press firmly over the base and sides of the tin. Bake in the oven for 10-12 mins or until firm. Allow to cool completely.

Place the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Divide the mixture into two equal amounts and add the melted chocolate to one portion. Spoon alternate amounts of the chocolate and vanilla mixture into the tart case and then, using the end of a spoon, swirl the two mixtures to create a 'ripple' effect. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until just set. Cool and serve.

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/21368/choc+ripple+cheesecake+tart

Wooohooo~

This blog shall serve the purpose of collecting all my favourate recipes so I don't lose them over time ^___^ (even after this surge of baking hysteria...)