Wednesday 30 July 2008

baking!!

I think this is the first post of something home-made :)

It all began during the brief 2-week holidays...there was a potluck for a friend's going away party, and I decided to bake a cheesecake (because that was the only thing I ever baked)...thought that would help to de-stress post-exams! Following that, I baked a couple more cheesecakes (with San on one occasion) and couldn't stop looking at cake recipes online.

Before long, I came across this great cupcake blog called Cupcake Bakeshop. Chockylit (who owns the blog) is just so creative with her combination of flavours and as importantly, presentation of her cupcakes. I was hooked after a quick scan and couldn't stop stalking her blog!! I read recipe after recipe, and just really wanted to try them out.

One fine day, I decided to take action and started my cupcake adventure with her chocolate ganache + fresh strawberries cupcakes. Hence, I went out, shopped, came home and baked. I left the buttercream frosting out because 1. I got too tired :P & 2. I reckon it would be too sweet for my liking

Just a small batch as an experiment :


was not happy with the cupcake holders...so went out and got new ones the next day...read on! :)


Verdict : not too bad except I perhaps burnt the cakes a bit.

I continued reading her blog and a cupcake that combines chocolate, red bean & green tea caught my eye. I love this combination! (e.g. green tea + red bean bun from bread top) and Chockylit is a genius!! :) This time round, I took photos as I worked...just thought I'll share some of them!

Some things I needed :





And now putting them together...

Batter :


beat butter and sugar together


mix the dry ingredients together (flour & all the powders)


add dry ingredients & wet ingredients (milk+vanilla essence) to butter+sugar mixture = batter completed!!


Red bean filling :


...after boiling the red beans for >1 hour (till soft)


bean puree...not the most appetising photo :)


cook the bean puree with some oil & sugar...doesn't look too good but yummy even at this stage :)


Then putting it all together...


one spoon of batter and sit a ball of red bean paste on top


top it up with enough batter to make the cup about 2/3 full


bake away...


out of the oven and cool...


top with green tea frosting + sprinkle some green tea powder :)


a 2nd batch I baked...made over 25 of them...


and a look inside :)


For a potluck, I made a huge batch of the chocolate ganache ones...the ganache was much lighter in colour because I did not have enough chocolate...haha. Hence, I made some alterations to the ganache recipe for frosting, to make it less runny. Worked pretty well actually...! But I forgot what I did exactly :P Definitely added some butter and icing sugar. Anyway, some photos!


fresh out of the oven


cut a cone-shaped bit out and fill the cupcake with chocolate ganache + fresh strawberries (diced)


cover the filling with the 'lid' :)


...and finally, top with frosting & half a strawberry (found it was difficult for a whole strawberry (especially since the ones in Melbourne are quite a decent size) to sit well on top of the cupcake) coated with chocolate


the lot :)


Weee!! I am on a cupcake-high! I made another batch since then - chocolate, banana, peanut butter combo (I love all these things!!) The red bean/green tea ones are a huge hit...very popular among my 'guinea pigs' :)

Once again, the recipes are from Cupcake Bakeshop. I don't claim any credit for these amazingly creative recipes :) I am totally in love with her blog and I read her recipes for fun. I know...I'm going mad. I just want to share the fun I had baking with everyone, and if you too like baking, perhaps you would enjoy trying out some of her 80+ cupcake recipes.

P.S. the reason I like cupcakes is because...they are so pretty!

-MM-

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

green tea n red bean just go so well together! love those. cant wait to taste another batch of cupcake on this weekend MM =)

Anonymous said...

thanks! n i like the carrot ones as well *muaks*

Mark by Chocolate said...

Speaking of fried oysters, you should try BBQed oyseters. Though, to my mind, raw is still best.

If you like cupcakes, you will love making a roulade. It's easy and I personally like a nice slice of roulade better than a cupcake. I'll have to post a recipe. I haven't made one in a bit. You would probably eat the entire roulade, O! Iron Eaters!

Anonymous said...

Bluu.. first time visit your blog. lol, one thing that I so so can't understand is how you manage to be so greedy.... darn envy you all. by the way, the cupcakes looks real great and seems same great in taste too. will try out some for the next pot luck. keep on! and great blog, look forward for your next post.

Jet said...

oh wow green tea frosting, thats a new one to me. will have to try that out!

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Spencer @ Moo-Lolly-Bar said...

Wow! How good do those strawberry cupcakes look? It had never previously crossed my mind to do that but I'll definitely try the recipe!