cupcake Archives - Page 2 of 3

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes with Honey Buttercream

2|02|2016

I simply love February! All that pink, red, mush, chocolate, wine.. I love it! As I am growing older, I seem to have a renewed liking for V day (though I expect it to be otherwise). Food is an integral part of any big day so the fact that some of the major celebrations like Christmas, Australia day and V day fall in summer for us, makes my liking go up by a few levels. Raspberries, cherries, plums in Feb…more reasons to love! Red inspiration is right there at the fresh produce markets. I’ll come to all of that soon. I have many romantic desserts coming up for you but today I’m sharing something every day…something lunchbox or you can call it an after school treat. Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes. Yes, the Mum in me has to think of nutrition and healthy lunches as well.

When did cupcakes become healthy…you might be wondering. The cupcakes are actually great! Minus the frosting you may call them muffins. They are tasty and make a delicious apple filled snack. This is where the pastry lover in me steps in and wants to frost them. A treat once in a while is fine, don’t you think? My boys love cupcakes so when they are at their best behaviour, I do reward them….the muffins graduate into cupcakes. I select a frosting, out comes the piping bag and a treat is in the making. I know. Funny. But it makes Mum and kids happy:-)

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes with Honey Buttercream
Yields 12

2 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 medium (about 375 g) Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled, chopped
125 g butter, melted, cooled
2 eggs, lightly whisked
3/4 cup milk

Honey Buttercream
250 g unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup honey
4-5 cups icing sugar
1-2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C (180 degrees C for fan forced). Grease or line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper liners.

Sift the plain flour, baking powder and cinnamon together into a large bowl. Stir in the brown sugar, apples and raisins until well combined. Whisk together the butter, eggs and milk until well combined.

Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a large metal spoon until just combined. Do not over-mix or the resulting cupcakes will be dry. Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin pans.
Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through. To test if they are cooked, insert a skewer into the centre of one – if it comes out clean, it is ready If not, cook for a little longer before testing again. When cooked, remove from oven and stand for 2-3 minutes before turning onto a wire rack. Once cool, frost them.

To make the Honey buttercream, in the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and honey. Add half the icing sugar.
Start on low speed on the mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.

Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. Use milk to thin out frosting to reach desired consistency.

Date Cupcakes with White Chocolate Ganache Frosting

4|06|2014

Sticky Date Pudding. Just saying those words make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Puddings and winters are just so made for each other. This winter, I have been a bit obsessed with puddings. It just seems so easy when you leave it to the moulds or ramekins to give shape and structure to your desserts. And in this case, cupcake liners. I turned the date puddings into cupcakes. Instead of the butterscotch sauce, I frosted them with a white chocolate ganache.

These cupcakes are moist, buttery and taste like caramel which is what makes them so delicious. But they are not overly sweet which is why they can be paired with white chocolate ganache. I was a bit worried initially if the combination would work. Or the resulting cupcake would be too sweet. Coming to think of it, most buttercream frosted cupcakes are high on the sweet too. These were perfect for me because I am all about caramel and ganach-y goodness. If you are making this and you are worried about the sweetness, you can add a teaspoon of lemon or orange zest to the frosting. That should add a touch of citrus tang which balances out the sweet.

The date cupcakes are the same recipe as the sticky date puddings I had posted earlier. The puddings traditionally are cooked in a water bath so they are gooey and extra sticky. To make cupcakes, I baked them directly and they were the right consistency for a cupcake. The ganache is the one I used in this cake recipe. Since it was already tinted at the time I made the cake, it was just a matter of whipping it up and decorating with sugar flowers.

Date Cupcakes with White Chocolate Ganache Frosting
Yields 8

180g dates, pitted and roughly chopped

1 1/4 cups (310ml) water
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3/4 cup (165g) firmly packed brown sugar
60g butter, softened chopped
2 eggs
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
White Chocolate Ganache Frosting, to decorate (recipe below)
Sugar flowers, to decorate

For the White Chocolate Ganache Frosting
250 g good quality white chocolate, finely chopped
150 ml thickened or heavy cream
Blue Food Colouring (I used a gel based food colour)

For the Date Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees C fan-forced). Lightly grease a 12 capacity muffin tray or line with paper liners. Place dates and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a high heat. Remove from the heat. Add bicarbonate of soda, stir until dates start to break down, set aside to cool, stirring occasionally.
Beat butter and sugar in a bowl using a hand beater, gradually add eggs one at a time, beat until light and fluffy. Add date mixture, stir to combine. Carefully fold through sifted flour, divide mixture evenly between the muffin liners, until 2/3 full.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool to room temperature. Once cooled pipe frosting onto the cupcakes. Decorate with sugar flowers.

For the White Chocolate Ganache Frosting:

Place chocolate in a large mixing bowl. Heat cream over low-medium heat in saucepan until just boiling, pour over cream and set aside for 5 minutes. Use a whisk to combine mixture until smooth. Add food Colouring if using, little at a time till the desired shade is reached. Cool slightly in the refrigerator and whip up to a pipeable consistency using an electric mixer.

Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Muffins

11|02|2014

I think most of us have a favourite banana bread or muffin recipe. At a baker’s home, it’s not too difficult to predict the fate of ripened bananas. In my case, I can’t say that there have been too many instances that I have gone shopping for bananas for a particular recipe. Or maybe this is my first.

I’ve been meaning to make banana muffins with coconut in them for a while now. Actually I was looking for a desperate change from my usual banana plain or chocolate flavoured muffins. And I didn’t want a frosting this time, like the one I had posted earlier with Chocolate Malt Buttercream. So when I came across the recipe I knew I wanted to make it. It was by far the simplest banana muffin recipe that I tried out.

It turned out great. Moist with a bit of crunch from the desiccated coconut and sweet from the bananas. Chocolate chips almost always make their way into my muffins. There’s not much else to say about this recipe other than it is sure worth a try.

Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Muffins (adapted with variation from Taste.com)
Makes 12 large muffins

125g unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup (165 g) castor sugar
2 large ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup (100g) dark chocolate chips
Icing sugar, to dust

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Grease or line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper liners.

Place butter, sugar, banana, eggs and vanilla in a bowl and mix till well combined. Place flour, coconut and chocolate in a large bowl, then fold in banana mixture. Working in batches, place spoonfuls of mixture into the prepared pan (up to 2/3rd full). Bake for 25-30 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted into the centre of the muffin comes out clean.

Cool slightly in pan, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Serve dusted with icing sugar.

Candy Cane Cupcakes. White Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Buttercream

26|11|2013

I know I am starting early but it’s hard to resist with all the inspiration around. The shelves at the stores are filled with sweet holiday inspiration…Candies, cookies, puddings and so on..I am excited just looking at them. I so love this time of the year. And I plan to do a lot of baking in the next few days leading up to New Year’s.

I intended to post this along with my children’s favourite recipes last week but couldn’t do so. Kids and candies..classic pairing! So I had to do at least one candy based recipe. I’ve come across a lot of candy cane cupcakes mostly using dark chocolate, therefore I made mine using White chocolate. The frosting is a simple buttercream flavoured with peppermint extract. There is a subtle caramel flavour from the white chocolate in the cupcakes. I wouldn’t say I was blown away by the pairing, but it tasted good.

I have used my basic vanilla cupcake recipe (from Joy of Baking) with a little melted white chocolate added to it. I love the pink colour in the frosting…actually I love pink desserts. Which means you need to watch out for what is coming up next. Or can I say I have been painting the town pink.

I will be back with more of my pink creations shortly!

Candy Cane Cupcakes. White Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Buttercream
Yields 12

White Chocolate Cupcakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter (113 g), room temperature
1/2 cup castor sugar
3 large eggs
100 g white chocolate, melted
11/2 cups all-purpose flour
11/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and line a muffin tray with 12 paper liners. In the bowl of your electric mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the melted white chocolate and stir to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk in three additionss, scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 15-20 mins or just until set and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. (Do not over bake or the cupcakes will be dry). Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, frost with icing.

Peppermint Buttercream

2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp peppermint extract
3-4 drops pink food colouring

In an electric mixer or with a hand mixer, cream the butter until smooth and well blended. With the mixer on low-speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the milk and beat on high-speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). Add a little more sugar or milk as needed. Add the peppermint extract. Tint with pink food colouring.