Vacation duo
Sep 2, 2010 Cupcakes Bakery
Hello there! I’ve been on vacation since the last post and enjoying every minute of it, which means I’m behind on my blogging. Well on this very rainy day, I’m here to catch up and tell you I will start working and baking regularly again in September. In the mean time I have two cupcakes to show you!
The first cupcake is chai tea with orange icing. I tried a new chiffon cake recipe. I found it tasted very eggy, but that’s partly because the flavour of the chai didn’t come through enough. One of the ingredients listed was water, so I thought I would just infuse the water with tea, but that wasn’t enough. As my brother later suggested, I could have put spices like cinnamon that are in chai tea directly in the cake batter to bring the taste out more. The texture was great, soft and spongy. I will need to give this one another try!
The second cupcake is vanilla with lavender icing. I had trouble getting the lavender flavour in the icing. I tried making a lavender syrup, but that was always too subtle and overpowered by the butter. I ended up chopping some dried lavender flowers and putting that directly in the icing. That did the trick! The cake was a vanilla yogourt cake, the same I used for the mango and pomegranate cupcake.
Cheers 
Tags: Blogging, Brother, Cake Batter, Cheers, Chiffon Cake Recipe, Cinnamon, Cupcake, Cupcakes, Flavour, Hello, Lavender, Lavender Flowers, Mean Time, Orange Icing, Rainy Day, Spices, tea, Texture, Vanilla
Most Hated Cakes Ever?
May 29, 2010 Baked Cakes
Most hated cakes ever? Yes, I’m writing this based on my own personal assessment of my customers who have eaten my cakes so far. And who are my dear customers? They include my family members, my loved ones, people who actually ate my personally baked cakes. It’s not really that my cakes have failed but it is due to most people’s personal preference or taste buds or these cakes are just simply not appetizing enough to be their favorites.
Durian Cake
Durian is a kind stinky fruit that is quite popular in Asian region. The husk of the fruit is spiky, and the flesh of the fruit emits a very strong odor that most people could not even stand the smell. However, it is very delicious for most people and is even declared the “King of Fruit” in Asia. The flesh of fruit can be eaten plainly or served together with glutinous rice. But one of the more creative ways of using durian flesh is by combining the mashed durian flesh with your cake batter. It is normally made into durian butter cake. If butter cake is too dry, durian flesh can also be mixed together with fresh cream that is whipped to create a durian mousse cream that can be spread on a normal vanilla sponge cake. People who hated this cake is mostly due to their dislike of durian fruit’s strong odor. But it is definitely liked by me.
Ginger Based Cake
Ginger based cake is made from ginger juice or simply diced ginger root. Just like durian cake, ginger cake is sometimes avoided by people simply because of its signature ginger odor. Ginger based cake is normally made from ginger root that is finely diced or extracted ginger juice and normally complement with other fruit ingredients. Ginger cake is best served with tea.
Sugar Free Cake
I say any cakes that are sugar free, is simply boring and tasteless. Sugar free cakes are hugely popular for those who are health conscious or diabetic. Without using sugar in the process of making cake, the sweetness of the cake would have to be substituted by natural glucose from raisins, cherries, or any other fruit juices that can be added into the cake. That is why it makes more sense to make a sugar free fruit cake. Also, sugar free cakes are super-plain as we need to minimize any form of garnishing or icing cream on it. From my past experience, kids would likely avoid sugar free cakes.
After a countdown of most hated cakes, it is also time for me to write another article on what are the five most loved cakes ever. But till then, let’s not just avoid having the cakes I mentioned above, just because I said they are the most hated cakes. We should always be more adventurous by having these cakes. Who knows you may end up liking them very much.
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Tags: Asian Region, Baked Cakes, Butter Cake, Cake Batter, cakes, Durian Fruit, Ever, Fresh Cream, Fruit Cake Recipe, Ginger, Ginger Cake, Ginger Juice, Ginger Root, Glucose, Glutinous Rice, Hated, Husk, Most, Mousse, Personal Assessment, Personal Preference, Sponge Cake, Sugar Free Cake, Sugar Free Cakes, Taste Buds
Sneaky Chocolate Cupcakes
May 7, 2010 General
Do you love the sneaky chef? I go back and forth about this method, of trying to sneak vegetable and fruit purees into desserts. Today my son really wanted me to make cupcakes. I said I would and then I busted out some sweet potato puree and had him but it in the batter. I want to be a little less sneaky about what I feed him. YUCK! he said over and over again. Then he tried the cake batter and was all like, YUM!
Sneaky Chocolate Cupcakes- yields 20 cupcakes
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup sweet potato puree
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup baking cocoa
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- heat oven to 350*
- line muffin tines with cupcake liners
- beat all ingredients with electric mixer on high speed for 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
- bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool for 15 minutes before frosting.
chocolate cream cheese frosting
- 1 cup cream cheese
- 1 cup Nestle Quick
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Whip with electric mixer on high for 1 minute.
enjoy!
Tags: Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Cake Batter, Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting, Chocolate Frosting, Cream Cheese Frosting, Cup Butter, Cup Cream Cheese, Cup Sugar, Cupcake Liners, Cups Flour, Electric Mixer, Fruit Purees, Heat Oven, Heavy Cream, Sweet Potato Puree, Tablespoon Butter, Teaspoon Vanilla, Tines, Toothpick
