White-Cake Cupcakes

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KBB !!!!
Yeah September is a month full of something. Something that beautiful for me beside it's spring time, beautiful month Ramadan on this year, my daughter birthday, my birthday and KBB birthday. I think KBB is quite well known now days, its a bunch of wonderful people who share idea of baking, challenge and most all of friendship. Arfi is successfully brought this group into such an phenomenal group. So congrats Arfi, congrats KBB !!

Here's the baking dedicated to KBB for this month. White-cake Cupcakes. I first knew this cake from the Daring Bakers, that brought this Dorie's recipe for challenge. Most of all I love white cake. I searched white cake recipes and now I came to the end of search ^_^. I'm also wondering about the buttercream too, made from white egg, buttercream recipe I've never tried before. There are things that I love from Dorie Greenspan's recipe , she explained the steps clearly that you wouldn't go wrong with it.

Perfect Party Cake, adapted from Dorie Greenspan:
For the Cake
2 ½ cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Finishing
2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable

Getting Ready
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.
Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.
Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.
Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean
Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.
Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Buttercream
Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.
The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream.
Remove the bowl from the heat.
Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth.
Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes.
During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.
On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla.
You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake
Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half.
Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper.
Spread it with one third of the preserves.
Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream.
Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover).
Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top.
Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Serving:
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but it’s best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room – not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it’s cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.

Storing:
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.

Orange Cupcake

My entry for the event hosted by Arfie Binstead of Homemades, Cupcake Spectacular 2008. Well I don't thing my cupcake spectacular enough :( I baked this cupcake a week ago and reserved some of this on freezer and I decorated this special one for Arfie for this event. The cupcake itself using recipe of Chocolate-Orange Cupcakes. Chocolate and orange make fabulous combination.

The topper inspired by Debbie Brown, not so spectacular... part of learning (^_~)


Chocolate-Orange Cupcakes

• 1 ½ cup flour
• 1 ½ cup sugar
  
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 80 gr cocoa powder, dutch-process
• 125 hot boiled water
  
• 200 gr unsalted butter
• 250 ml buttermilk
• 4 egg
• 1 Orange (zested)
  

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C. Line 24 standard paper liners with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, stir the cocoa powder into the hot water until it dissolves; set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into a other bowl. Using the finest rasps of a handheld grater, grate the zest from the orange into the bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and granulated sugar until well combined. Whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla, then the dissolved cocoa. Whisk in the melted butter, then the dry ingredients.

Divide the batter among the paper liners filling each about half full. Bake until the cupcakes are puffed and a skewer inserted into the center of one comes out clean 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Remove the cupcakes from the pan.

Goes Pink Cupcake

xx : How closely do you follow fashion trends?

r : I don't ! I don't follow fashion trends. My cupcake does...

Orange Wedding Cupcakes

Wedding cupcakes designed specially for Serena, with her favourite colour, orange !

Dainty lace fondant adorn the chocolate cupcake.

White cupcake with orange daisy, made from fondant. Presented in 6 tiers cupcake tower.
Don't get me wrong these cupcakes doesn't have orange flavour at all.

Margarets and Serena, thanks for trusting in me. ^_^

Ricotta-Berry Muffins

Another muffin's recipe idea. This time using ricotta cheese. Lemon zest is added for some zing along with a blueberries.

As we are all know ricotta is low in fat and amazingly versatile.

Ricotta is a fresh unripened Italian cheese made from whey (the watery residue left over from making other cheeses, such as mozzarella).

The name ricotta is derived from the Italian word recocta, which means "recooked". This refers to the second stage of making ricotta, where the leftover whey is cooked again to make the final product.

Ricotta is a smooth cheese with a creamy mild taste and a thick texture. Its light flavour and low salt content make it perfect for using in sweet or savoury dishes. It can also be air-cured or dried in the oven to make it into a harder, sharp-tasting cheese that can be grated. From Australian Good Taste - June 2006

The dough was quite thick, I looked for another liquid ingredient in the recipe, there's none. I kept going and the muffins turned ok. They are soft and moist even after the next day, the sugar is just right for me. You can play along with the ingredients though, swap the ricotta with buttermilk, yogurt or milk. Use any kind of berries unless strawberry, it's too watery, that's what Dorie said ^_^. Play along friends...

Ricotta-Berry Muffins

- makes 12 muffins -

by: Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients:

3/4 cup ricotta, preferably at room temperature ---> it's about 200 gr
2 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 stick (4 ounces) 115 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 lime
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/3 cups blueberries

Procedure

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin tin, or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.

Whisk the ricotta, eggs and vanilla together, then stir in the melted butter.

Working in a large bowl and using your fingertips, rub the sugar and lime zest together until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Switch to a whisk and stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Put the ricotta mixture on top of the dry ingredients and, using a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend—don’t worry about being thorough. The batter will be thick and heavy and that’s fine. Stir in the blueberries.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin molds, slide the pan into the oven and bake 20 to 25 minutes. When fully baked, the tops of the muffins will be golden, springy to the touch and a knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Pull the pan from the oven and carefully lift each muffin out of its mold and onto a rack to cool.

Storing: These are best eaten the day they are made, but you can wrap them airtight and pop them into the freezer, where they’ll keep for about two months; re-warm in a 300°F oven or split them and toast.

Banana Apple Muffins (low fat)

As I did post before that muffins come up with the score that healthier food than cupcakes... here is the prove. This recipe use low amount of sugar, the adding sweetness comes from the natural goodness of bananas and apple.. To give a deeper color and flavor use brown sugar instead of caster sugar. I added a tablespoon of canola anyway to prevent dough from sticking to paper.
Hello ?? It's still low fat ... *defending...* even zero !

I baked this muffins at night and enjoying in the morning for breakfast. The flavour develops while you sleeping and dreaming about them ^_~ *smile and wink...* well seriously... !

Banana muffins

Makes 12

Ingredients:

• 2 cups self-raising flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 cup caster sugar----> I used brown sugar instead
  
• 1 cup mashed banana----> from two large bananas
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 140g can diced apple----> shred of one medium granny smith apple
  
• 1 tbs canola oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly grease a 12 x 1/3-cup capacity muffin pan or line with paper cases. Sift flour, cinnamon, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Add sugar and stir until well combined.
2. Place banana, egg and buttermilk into a jug. Whisk with a fork to combine.
3. Add banana mixture and apple to dry ingredients. Gently fold all ingredients together until just combined.
4. Spoon mixture into prepared muffin pan. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack. Serve warm.

Source

Super Food Ideas - September 2003

Flowery Cupcakes

I had two invitations last weekend...

One is dinner invitation from our family's friend. I knew for sure they love chocolate, I didn't turn up with chocolate dessert though... *giggle...* I tested my new white cupcake recipe. It much easier than chocolate one. ... I was playing with them a bit. One cupcake one design ^_~. I am very happy with the results, and had a blast making it. More than happy knowing they love them too. I got a huge hug from the daughter, well yeah she is twice my size.

On the other day, another gathering. These daisy cupcake came along with me. I'm quite happy with the frosting, my cream cheese frosting stayed in their shape on warm weather ... the cupcakes themselves didn't stay long in the dessert table. Will post the recipe in another entry. Insha'Allah.

Cupcake VS Muffin

A friend emailed me with the question, what's different between cupcake and muffin? I promised that I have good answer for that, from the article that I kept somewhere. Bad luck ! I can't find the article. :(
Here is I'm trying to distinguish between the two delectable foods, of course, please correct me if I'm wrong... ^_^

Cupcake

• Little cake
• Eat as dessert or treats on celebration
• Full of sugar
• Well decorated with icing or frosting or other decorations
• Have both flat and dome shape top, before frosting

Muffin

• Cakey bread
• Eat on breakfast or as a meal
• Full of nuts, fruity, healthy grain and some nutrients foods, well.. sometimes choc chips too
• Don’t need icing
• Can be both sweet and savoury
• Mostly have a dome shape (except English muffin)
• From the technical, muffin has less effort in the kitchen

However, there is an excellent definition of the difference on the formula, courtesy of Diana's Desserts:

"A basic formula for muffins is 2 cups flour, 2-4 tablespoons sugar, 2½ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 egg, ¼ cup oil, shortening or butter and 1 cup milk. When the fat, sugar and egg ratio in a recipe reaches double or more than this, you have reached the cake level."

'Polar Bears Picnic' Cupcakes

My little "old lady" was having a birthday party at her kindy, she was turning 5 !!

There is one thing in kindy that every kids sharing their love for, a little bear called "TIM", they take their turn to bring Tim home together with his nappy bag. Tell story, feed him, change the nappy, wrap him when in cold weather, all things to look after little Tim. Tim is a every kid's baby .

That's where the idea came up to me to make cupcakes with teddy bear on top. The thing is I still can't manage my chocolate modeling, I'm in the search to find good recipe. Anyway bear is not always brown, correct ? Even though I can't work with chocolate modeling paste , I didn't want fondant either. I was enthusiastic jumped straight into my favorite recipe, white chocolate modeling paste, that's pretty easier for me. And here they are polar bears picnic ! Do polar bears have picnic too ? *grins...*

Those little accessories made from fondant, the dots for eyes and nose is from dark chocolate. Not much to say folks, enjoy the pictures.

Quickie Cupcakes

I made this quickie cupcakes for last Sunday treats. The decoration was not quite fancy. I brushed inside the icing bag with the food coloring, making about 4 stripes. And filled the bag with white icing. Voilla... the icing came out stripy. And that's it . No flowers decoration no glitters. (do people put glitters on the cupcakes ?)

The cupcakes itself was in mini version. It's kinda cute already (^_^). The other good things is no butter in this cupcake recipe... Well, not good news for the taste buds though. I would say for this kinda recipe, the flavour will develop after the next day. However, the frosting adds a depth and a richness to it. It's Martha Stewart's cream cheese frosting. Yeah...with buttah absolutely...

One-bowl Cupcake
Martha Stewart

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 large whole eggs plus 1 large egg yolk----> rounded to 3 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk ----> I swap with vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup warm water

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line 2 standard 12 cup muffin pans with paper liners.
Into the bowl of an electric mixer, sift together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; add the eggs and yolk, the milk, oil, vanilla and warm water. Beat on low speed until smooth and combined, about 3 minutes; scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Divided batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center of a cupcake come out clean, 20-25 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool slightly. Invert cupcakes onto the rack; then reinvert and let them cool completely, top sides up. Frost cupcakes with buttercream, swirling to cover and garnish with chocolate curls.

Cupcakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes 3 Cups

* 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
* 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, slightly softened
* 4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle until smooth; scrape down sides of bowl. Add butter; mix, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until smooth, about 2 minutes. Gradually mix in confectioners' sugar; add vanilla. Mix until smooth, about 1 minute. Use immediately.( for me I'd like to refrigerate slightly before using on cake...)

Buttermilk Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cup cake ini hasilnya lembuut banget. Untung aku bikinnya 24 biji soalnya cepet banget larisnya. Pencampuran coklat bubuk dengan air panas bikin cupcake ini terasa banget nyoklat-nya, mirip dengan prosesnya devil's food cake.

Soal topping, pas maen ke dapurnya mbakyu Martha ada poll, tentang frosting mana yang paling favourite ? Ternyata frosting coklat paling banyak disukai, menyusul cream cheese frosting, baru kemudian vanilla. And here we go aku nyobain cream cheese frosting-nya, resepnya juga nyomot dari sini. Matur nuwun nggeh bu…

Buttermilk Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Resep asli dari Everyday Food Martha Stewart February 2005

Di buku ini resepnya untuk 12 biji cupcake. Sedeng yang aku tulis ini dibawah ini untuk 24 biji cupcake.

• 1 ½ cup tepung
• 1 ½ cup gula
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 80 gr (12 sdm) cocoa powder, dutch-process
• 200 gr unsalted butter
• 250 ml buttermilk
• 4 butir telur (resep asli 2 telur 2 putih->24 cuppies)

Panaskan oven 170derajat celcius. Siapkan cupcake paper melapisi 24 biji loyang muffin.

Didalam mangkuk besar, campur tepung, gula, baking powder, baking soda dan garam. Cuekin dulu

Dengan electric mixer campur cocoa (coklat bubuk) dengan 6 sdm air panas kocok sebentar sampai menjadi adonan yang kental, tambahkan butter, buttermilk, telur kocok sampai tercampur rata. Perlahan lahan masukkan campuran tepung dan kawan-kawan. Kocok pakek whisker atau low speed klo pake mixer besar. Seudah tercampur rata masukkan kedalam cetakan cupcake ¾ bagian sajah. Panggang 20 menit.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Aku pakek setengah resep

• 226 gr Cream cheese suhu ruangan
• 113 gr unsalted butter
• 225 gr Gula halus (soft icing mixture)
• 1 sdt vanilla powder

Kocok cream cheese dan butter setelah putih tambahkan gula secara bertahap. Terakhir tambahkan vanilla… teakhir sendiri di hiaskan ke cuppies trus difoto baru dimakan hehehe…. Smile….

Lil Story Of Me

9:30am... Sabtu pagi, bangun pagi (meaning ... 9:30. Klo abis subuh langsung melek gak kuku dah, musti tidur lagi baru jam 9:30 bangun lg) abis dari kamar mandi langsung nyalain mixer, krn bahannya dah nyemplung semalaman tinggal nyampur bahan basah (susu, telur en butter).... gak lama cupcake dah ready... aku pakek resep devil's food cupcakes Chockylit, topping juga dah disiapin pakek espresso choco punya, Mrs wonderful Lia. Tapi belom di semprot di atas cupcake , masih belom dingin seh...

12:00pm... antar si kecil ke Learningland, jam satu pulang, lunch terus semprotin topping ke cupcake, sederhana aza, hiasan hati dah siap pakek, hiasan bunga kecil juga emang dah disiapin sebelomnya, dari white chocolate modelling (lageee...)then... you know lha.... photo session hiahaha... Sambil nyicip-nyicip... hhhmmm... biasanya klo nyoba resep baru suka paranoid aza ma jumlah gula di resep. Tapi ternyata manisnya cukup kok, belom termasuk topping. Recommended buat yang mo bikin cupcake.

2:30pm... antar ngaji anak-anak, dah telat seh, tapi krn ngajinya satu-satu jadi masih keburu.

6:30pm... pergi ke undangan birthday, sambil bawa oleh-oleh "si cupcakes"...

Espresso Choco Glaze (Lia):

150 gr dark cooking chocolate, cincang kasar
100 ml susu kental manis
75 gr margarin
2 sdm kopi instan dilarutkan dengan 1 sdm air mendidih
Cara:
Tim coklat & susu kental sampe leleh, tambahkan margarin, larutan kopi. Aduk rata & diamkan sampe mengental. Aduk2 sampe terbentuk tekstur yang siap oles. (untung topping ini aku biarin sampe dingin, gak perlu sampe dimasukin kulkas)

Buttermilk Muffin with Corn (and choc chips too)

Pernah nyobain pancake pakek buttermilk ?? hmmm yum lho, kali ini aku nyobain muffin pakek buttermilk. Hasilnya lembuut trus manisnya pas deh buat keluargaku. Eh besoknya juga masih lembut kok asal klo nyimpan ditempat tertutup, aku selalu nutupin pakek plastik clingwrap aza. Satu resep aku bagi dua, satu bagian dikasih creamy corn kalengan satu bagian dikasih choc chips (yang ini aku bikin dikit aza, makanya gak bisa munjung, krn gak terlalu kental adonannya, tapi texturenya aluuuus banget, aku juga gak pakek paper cup/patty pan, krn pakek cetakan muffin bentuk hati ).

Buat yang lagi diet gak perlu kwatir deh, there is no butter in this recipe.

Resep aku ambil dari joy of baking, aku cuman rubah sedikit aza.

Buttermilk Muffin with Corn
Bahan:
2 1/2 cups (350 grams) tepung terigu (aku pakek self raising flour, jadi gak baking baking soda and baking powd)
3/4 cup (150 grams) gula
2 sendok teh baking powder
1/4 sendok teh baking soda
1/4 sendok teh garam
parutan kulit 1 biji lemon
2 butir telur
¾ cup (180 ml) buttermilk (aku pakek susu yang dicampur vinegar/cuka)
2/3 cup (160 ml) minyak canola ato bisa diganti minyak sehat laennya
1 sendok teh vanilla crystal/essence

Untuk corn muffin tambahkan:
1 cup creamy corn (aku pakek dari kalengan, bisa dibuat dari jagung manis pipil yang digodok sebentar trus diblender)
50 gr cheddar cheese (mau dibanyakin juga tambah sip.)

Sisa adonan dibikin choc chips muffin biar gak bosen heheh, tentunya tinggal ditambahin choc chips aza…begicu….Aku cuman sisain adonan buat 4 biji muffin choc chip krn lagi pengen muffin yang gak manis-manis banget kayak corn muffin ini. Jamin deh gak bakalan blenger klo mo buat bekal lunch.

Caranya:

Panas kan oven lebih dulu.
Campur semua bahan cair buttermilk, telur, dan minyak.
Di mangkuk lain campur tepung, gula, baking powder,baking soda,garam, parutan kulit jeruk lemon dan vanilla. Kemudian masukkan bahan cair, campur perlahan dengan menggunakan spatula. Jangan sampe kelamaan ngaduk.
Masukkan dalam dalam cetakan muffin 2/3nya aza klo kepenuhan bisa meluber adonannya. Masukan ke oven kurleb 20 menit gitu ato sampe matang.

Bella's Birthday

These photos are what's left from Bella's Birthday Feb 28 2006, Moist Devil's food cake turned to be strawberry shortcake.

Buttercream frosting made form mixture of dairy soft, vegetable shortening, soft icing mixture, fullcream milk powder and vanilla flavour. It taste sooo... soooft, melt.... hmm... like hmmm... what ? ice cream.........

Strawberry Cupcakes with raspberry flavoured buttercream

And some decorated cookies..........

Moist Devil's Food cake recipe ? Yes, here