Super rich chocolate cupcakes~~

Super rich chocolate cupcaks~~ It was my mom's birthday so I thought I would like to make something special for her. I used my ultimate chocolate cake recipe but I turned it into cupcakes. Actually, the thing that makes me excited about this cake is the mirror glaze. 

As you can see the glaze is shiny and it stays that way. I baked these a day before my mom's birthday. People might think that I'm a chocolate addict as most of my recipe involve chocolate, but the truth is I'm a bigger fan of vanilla. However, people that I love mostly are either chocolate or coffee addict and I normally don't bake for myself, I bake for others. I love the smile after they have a bit of my cakes or cookies or bread. It gives me satisfaction and what makes me keep on baking after all these years!!

Engagement cupcakes!! ~~ L.O.V.E

This is a throwback post as these cute little cupcakes are long gone~~: P I made these for my engagement last year. It's vanilla cupcakes with strawberry filling and pink buttercream frosting. I totally love the blush pink colour of the frosting~~it gives of a cute  yet elegant feel to this basket full of cupcakes and flowers~~ I made 30 of these and each guest gets one <3 

At first I thought it would be difficult to pipe a rose on a cupcake, but it turned out so well. I also sprinkle white and pink sugar pearls on top of the rose~~just the finishing touch you know~~hehe. I should've take a close up photo of these cuties but I forgot, luckily my sister did take some photo of it.

Mini Cheese Tarts~~

 It's mini cheese tart this time~~ with fresh grapes~~ after a tiring day cleaning the house... phew~~I had a chance to make these cute little tarts for tea time~~it's creamy, sweet, and tangy with the nice fragrance from the lime zest~~ heavenly

Malay Version: Resepi Vanilla Cupcake

Cake

250 g mentega

220 g tepung halus- diayak * Kadang-kadang saya juga menggunakan tepung gandum, dengan jumlah yang sama

200 g gula kastor

50 ml susu sejat * boleh digantikan dengan susu segar, jumlah yang sama

4 biji telur (Gred A untuk keputusan yang terbaik)

1 sudu teh ekstrak vanila

 1/2 sudu kecil garam

1 sudu kecil serbuk penaik

1/2 sudu teh baking soda * jika anda menggunakan tepung kek, abaikan serbuk penaik dan soda

Filling

100 gm strawberi filling * piping bag

Hiasan

1 cawan strawberi segar * potong 2 

Cara membuat

1. Panaskan ketuhar kepada 150 darjah celcius.

2. Ayak tepung , serbuk penaik, baking soda dan garam bersama-sama dalam mangkuk.

3. Dalam mangkuk lain, pukul mentega dan gula dengan pengadun elektrik sehingga kembang.

4. Pukul satu telur pada satu masa sehingga sebati sebelum memasukkan telur yang seterusnya. (Sekitar 1 minit setiap satu)

5. Campurkan ekstrak vanila

6. Masukkan 1/3 campuran tepung ke dalam adunan tadi. Selang seli dengan 1/3 daripada susu. Ulangi sehingga anda telah memasukkan semua tepung dan susu. Jangan terlebih kacau.

7. Isikan adunan ke dalam bekas cupcake (3/4 penuh)

8. Bakar dalam ketuhar panas selama kira-kira 20 minit. Cucuk lidi, jika lidi keluar bersih, kek telah masak.

9. Biarkan cupcakes sejuk selama kira-kira 10 minit.

10. Selepas kek sejuk, paip filling. kemudian letakkan strawberi di atas cupcake.

English version: Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe~~

 (makes 20 cupcakes)

Cake

250 g butter

220 g fine flour-sifted *Sometimes I also use AP flour, but the amount is the same

200 g caster sugar

50 ml evaporated milk *can be substituted with fresh milk, same amount

4 eggs (Grade A for best result)

1 tsp vanilla extract *if you have vanilla bean, you can soak it in the milk overnight

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp baking soda *if you use cake flour, omit the baking powder and soda

Filling

100 gm strawberry filling *piping bag

Garnish

1 cup fresh strawberries  *halves

Let's get to work~

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees C. Line 20 cupcake pan cups with cupcake liners.

2. Sift the fine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl.

3. In another bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. 

4. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating each egg until incorporated before adding the next.(around 1 minute each)

5. Mix in the vanilla extract

6. Scoop 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Alternate with 1/3 of the milk. Repeat until you have incorporated all the flour and milk. Do not over mix.

7. Fill the prepared cupcake liners with batter 3/4 full

8. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and you can feel that the cupcake pans is light. (Be careful, it's hot)

9.  Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes.

10. After the cakes are cool, piped the filling. then place the strawberry on top of the cupcake. 

Vanilla and strawberry cupcake~~

Vanilla cupcake~ I've always love vanilla, and this time, it's filled with strawberry filling. I kept it simple and sweet. I baked these on Sports Day at my workplace. We were divided into groups which each was represented by colours and mine was red! So, I wanted to make some sweet and red treat for the members, so that's how I came up with the idea to make these cute little cupcakes. Besides, I saw some fresh little strawberries in a store near my house, so, I grabbed them. It's perfect~ 

As you can see these cupcakes are small, I baked them in aluminium cups which are a little bit bigger than the liners, so the cake didn't spread out on the sides but rise just above the cupcake liners but still in the aluminium cup. (Sorry for the childish drawing :p )

I have a foolproof recipe which I've tested over and over again and have made some changes to it along the way. It's a versatile recipe for a cake, where you can tweak here and there a little bit as long as you stay within the dry and wet ingredients ratio in the recipe. You can either use this recipe for a cake or cupcake. I've used the same recipe for marble cake, vanilla cake, chocolate cake, and coffee cake. And the most important thing is, it's easy with simple ingredients. The cake is light and the surface is  smooth and golden brown after it is baked. If you get the recipe right, the cake is fluffy and light, literally, as if you are holding cotton candy. But, it's best to eat it warm as it will get denser the longer you leave it exposed to the humidity. Maybe after 2 days I'd say. They normally do not survive that long at my home : ) If you want to keep the cake fresh, keep it in a tight container. I'll share the recipe with you so that you'll be able to bake a perfect cake or cupcakes too~~ : )

Click here for the recipe : English Version
                                             Malay Version
            

Coffee Mexican Bun~~

I made this in January, requested by my husband who is a coffee addict (since we got married, there is never a single day that he didn't have at least a cup of coffee). Ok, enough about my him, let's talk about this bun! I was so excited to try this recipe as I normally buy this from any bakery that I go to and to be able to make it on my own, is priceless. It started off with a normal bun recipe, sweet bun. Then, the sweet-delicious-sticky-coffee-y topping :) . There's also coffee-flavoured butter inside the buns. It melts beautifully.

Brownies~~

    

My husband requested this last weekend after he saw a post on facebook. So, knowing me, I wasted no time to get into the kitchen and start whipping up some Brownies. The thing about this recipe is that it's so simple, I just whisk everything by hand. All the mixing only took about 10 minutes. No need for any mixer (The fact that my kitchen is tiny, not having to move everything on the counter just to put my mixer is better :P ). 

For me, the taste of brownies depend a lot on the type of chocolate I use. I've always love Beryl's when it comes to chocolate and for this recipe, I'm using dark chocolate. It lends the deep dark chocolate taste to this decadent dessert. I drizzled this with milk chocolate (I basically draw a spider web on top of the brownies and I must admit it looks cute~before I cut the whole thing into squares, I just have to stick to the traditional brownies shape :) I also have some almond bits left from making the London Almond, so I sprinkle them on.  

The balance between bitter and sweet, the different textures from the fudgy brownies and crunchy almond bits leads one bite to another and the next thing you know, it's gone!