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-