Red Velvet Cupcakes

Long time no blog! I would say that I'm super busy and hardly have time to sit and write a post but that would be a lie because all I do is sit around and do nothing....okay maybe not nothing but you get the idea.

I have a bunch of exciting new projects lined up which I can't wait to blog about. If your not much of a reader and just want to see updated pictures of what I create, take a look at my Facebook page and while your there, might as well like the page to keep updated :) Shameless self promotion.... I know

Anyway, I took a crack at a Martha Stewart Red Velvet Cake recipe. I can't remember the exact link and forgot to take it down so I don't feel right sharing the recipe but I'm sure a simple Google search would yield the same results.

I decided to fancy them up with some gum paste flowers and try some two toned icing as well. This was also my first time trying Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I was pretty nervous about trying it because I'm quite comfortable with my super sweet buttercream icing but decided to take on the challenge. I only made half a batch at first and was surprised by how easy and yummy it was that I made another half batch to equal one batch :) I will blog about the process later but let me just tell you that the result tasted DIVINE! It tasted like silk and butter had a baby in my mouth. I could have ate the whole bowl myself!

HOWEVER, I didn't like how it tasted on the red velvet cupcakes. The cupcakes were quite sweet which made the SMBC taste not as sweet and too rich. I would like to try the SMBC on regular white or vanilla cupcakes and see how that works out. Or maybe I just didn't make it right and that's why it was that way.

Let me know what you guys think! And check out my Facebook page if you get a chance :)

Spring Flowers!

I feel like a bear that just came out of hibernation.

The weather has been soooo unpredictable! Back in fall, people were saying that we were going to have one of the hardest winters ever. So obviously I went and bought a really warm (and expensive) coat and a really sturdy (and expensive) pair of waterproof boots.
And then winter didn't come.

But I'm not disappointed. As I might have mentioned before, I wasn't really built for winter. Not one hair on my head likes winter or snow or cold.

And then all of a sudden it became really warm and breezy and sunny and just DELICIOUS!

After a long time, I was able to try something new in terms of baking and decorating to celebrate the good weather.

I baked some chocolate peanut butter cupcakes with a recipe I found in a cupcake book. I have to do a review on this book sometime soon.

I also watched a video on some pretty fondant flowers and was inspired to recreate the look. I gave it a try and it was pretty easy!! It took me a few tries to get the hang of it but the outcome is quite pretty.

If you want to try this and think the video is a little unclear, let me know and I'll do another post with step by step pictures and explanations.

I'm also really happy with how I photographed these. Obvious credits go to the sunlight but I like to think I had something to do with it too :)

Happy Baking!

Guest Blogging at Frosting for the Cause

I recently had the pleasure of putting together a post for Frosting for the Cause; an inspiring and wonderful online project to raise funds and awareness about breast cancer as well as being a tribute to all the brave women who have fought and are still fighting all forms of cancer. Every day is a new recipe and an inspiring story. Take a look through the blog and maybe you could sign up to be part of it? Pretty please? You won't regret it, I promise :)

I dedicated the post to my grandmother and my music teacher. Both these ladies have been huge influential figures in my life. The life lessons I have learned from them are invaluable. It still feels somewhat surreal that they are not physically here with us anymore but we all know they are still here with us in our thoughts and memories. I often have a hard time expressing myself about certain things because some emotions I like to keep to myself. Frosting for the Cause was a much needed outlet for these feelings and I was able to pour all my love into the making of these cupcakes. This may sound weird, but I guess these cupcakes are an expression of my love and gratitude to my grandma and my teacher.

I had initially wanted to put together a fundraiser as part of my posting responsibility. Unfortunately, due to time constraints and a lot of picky rules about food safety things got pushed back. I am still planning to have a bake sale but as of right now, its in the planning stages.

Take time this holiday to hang out with your family and friends. I know I definitely haven't been spending as much time as I would like to because crazy life gets in the way. Appreciate the people in your life, enjoy the present moment, and laugh as much as you can...everything else will fall into place.

Why Some Things Need to be on Paper and Not in My Head

Another post about a lesson learned, although this one not as harsh and ugly as the previous one :)

I recently made a bunch of cupcakes and a small cake for a friend's birthday. I used my usual chocolate cake recipe but for some reason, it didn't turn out the way it usually does. It was good...but just not as chocolatey.

I also made a small 6 inch cake because a birthday is not complete without cutting into a cake while everyone sings a very off key but loving rendition of Happy Birthday...in fact the only part of that song that everyone sings in sync is the very first Happy...if your lucky, it might be Happy Birthday toooooo.....

But I digress.

Initially I had wanted to design the cake to look like a falling spatter of tiny little flowers. Kind of like this.

And that's how the cake looked in my head.

However, since I was pressed for time and ASSUMED that it seemed like a simple design, I didn't draw a sketch or look up tutorials or helpful hints like I usually do.

The look I was going for didn't really translate onto the end cake I made. It doesn't look bad...it just wasn't the look I was going for. I guess I overestimated my abilities...it tends to happen. I also think the design would work better for a multi-tier cake.

Anyway...the cake still looked cute...the cupcakes also looked cute. And I loved the teal colour of the buttercream.

And I haven't given up on the splatter design...I will recreate it one day.

Moral of the story: plan, research, plan, sketch, and plan!

And thank you to my friend Emily for the pictures!!! You give my cupcakes a touch of magic :)

Happy Baking!

Vanilla Cupcakes

Since I am still in the early stages of my baking obsessions/passion/hobby/career/learning process, one of my goals is to test out recipes until I have a couple of tried and true go-to recipes.

I seem to have landed on a good foolproof chocolate cake recipe that works great in both cupcake and cake form. 

Vanilla is a bit more of a problem. I've tried out a few but have never been completely satisfied. 

Until I ordered this book. There are some mouthwatering recipes in that book as well as a whole lot of drool-worthy pictures. But more on that later in a review post.

I tried out a basic vanilla cupcake recipe in one of the first few pages. The first time I tried it, I added MnM's into the mix because my roommates are children and want candy and chocolate in everything. I didn't bother to dress them up too fancy because I was just testing them out. 

They came out really good. Soft and fluffy on the inside and just a tad crispy on the outside. They also rose very nicely. However the batter was not very liquidy...it was more doughy and thick...which isn't really a negative point, just an observation. Anyway, the trial went with no major catastrophes and the result was more than satisfactory.

The second time I decided to make them a little fancier. I had some frozen buttercream left over from the last birthday cake I made and it was already coloured purple. 

This time, the cupcakes rose TREMENDOUSLY...they could have passed for muffins. They also rose lopsided which probably has to do with how I filled the liners. Since the batter isn't as liquidy, I guess it didn't even out in the oven while baking like I expected it to....go figure -_-

I think what I did differently was mix it for longer in my mixer. This is the only thing I can think of that I did differently. 

They still tasted fine though which is a relief. 

I learned from this experience that having a ice cream scoop or some kind of device to distribute batter evenly would make the cupcakes more even and consistent. I used a measuring cup (I think it was a 1/4 cup scoop) and then used a spoon to help it into the liner....not very efficient and took 5 million times longer. 

All in all a good stepping stone. I will post the recipe soon....if I don't forget....what? I'm only human!

Oh and also I didn't do an MM post this week...midterm and no time....c'est la vie!

Happy Baking!

Chocolate Obsession

I have found a really good chocolate cupcake recipe that I'm addicted and can't bring myself to try a different version. I finally found another recipe to try but it was pretty much the EXACT same recipe I had with a bit of instant coffee paste thrown in!!

If you haven't caught on by now, I'm on a coffee/strawberries/chocolate cake rut. For some reason, strawberries are always my go to fruit for both decorative and flavour needs. I don't even think I like the taste of strawberries as much as the idea of strawberries. They're just so pretty! Like little red angels with green fringy wings.
As for the cupcakes...well I take chocolate over vanilla any day...including those in which I'm sick of chocolate.... wait there are no such days.
Coffee....just saying the word makes me smack my lips. I don't drink it often...well...not as often as other addicts. But when I do, I take my poison in iced form. What did I ever drink before they invented iced coffee? Oh that's right....crap.

I have a iced coffee recipe bookmarked that I am just ITCHING to try. But judging by the process and materials needed, I think I'll wait until I move back to school where I will be free to do whatever I want in the kitchen. Having a mother who is VERY picky about her kitchen (and the rest of the house for that matter) sometimes causes you to postpone certain projects.
So the point of this post? To show off some cupcakes I made a while ago for some friends. My fav chocolate cupcake recipe topped with chocolate buttercream and a chocolate covered almond....yum. Make these and have one... or nine. Go ahead, be good to yourself.
In other news, I'm thinking about taking some cake decorating classes. The Wilton ones sound good and are cheap but I think mycakeschool.com seems more flexible to my schedule. Will let you know what I decide and how it goes. Also if you have any experience with these, I would love to hear!

Whipped Cream Frosting: Take 2

I love whipped cream way too much. I like it a lot better than buttercream frosting. After my first failed batch of whipped cream frosting, I decided to try again with a little more patience. I baked a batch of chocolate cupcakes to which the recipe is below. This is such an easy recipe and it tastes amazing! I ate 3 in one sitting....okay you caught me, it was 4.  I've made them a few times and each time think of trying a different recipe but just cant bring myself to.

The frosting came out much better too. I remembered to stop whipping as soon as the cream started forming stiff peaks. The peaks weren't as stiff as some pictures I had seen on the internets but I didn't want to overmix. After mixing, I put it into the fridge for half an hour to firm up a bit so that it wouldn't melt when I piped them. This frosting doesn't seem to be ideal for piping. It doesn't hold its shape very well. It would be much better for spreading even using just a round tip for blobs of icing. Next time I think I might try to add a stabilizing agent to help it become more stiff. It tasted great though, not too sweet and not too plain.

Recipe for Chocolate Cupcake

Ingredients
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking power
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 3/4 cup AP flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Beat eggs, vanilla, milk, and vegetable oil
3. Sift and combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and beat until combined
5. Stir in boiling water until well combined and batter is thin
6. Pour batter into prelined baking tray
7. Bake 25 minutes and remove after testing with toothpick

Recipe for Whipped Cream Frosting

Ingredients

1 cup whipping cream

2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Procedure

1. Pour cream, sugar, and vanilla into a bowl. 

2. Start blending with mixer.

3. Stop blending when mixture becomes thick and forms stiff peaks. Take care not to over mix!

4. Chill in fridge for 30 min and then pipe onto cupcakes

You can adjust the sugar to your taste. I also added some food coloring to mine. 

Bon appetite!

Whipped Cream Frosting:Take 1

Frosting for cupcakes seems simple enough. However, there are many variations of different types of recipe and its kind of hurting my head trying to decide which to use for which cupcake. I thought I would try a basic buttercream first but upon perusing through a few recipes decided not to. Maybe its the cheap-o side of me that cries at the price of butter, or the side of me that doesn't really like a lot of frosting to begin or maybe just the fact that all the professionals on Youtube seem to be doing it with a stand mixer and I just have my measly hand mixer *pouts and runs into a corner to cry*

So anyway, my sister wanted me to make some cupcakes for her class pot luck and we decided to do a simple chocolate cupcake with a whipped cream Oreo frosting. I love whipped cream and who doesn't love Oreos? I figured I would just throw all the ingredients together and beat away until the cream was....well...whipped. Biggest. Mistake. Ever.....okay maybe not ever...but still pretty big.

I won't bother to post the recipe because it didn't work so well. I started to whip the cream after adding in icing sugar and it wasn't really taking a stiff whipped cream form. So then I started to add in more icing sugar. Some sort of divine being should have struck me with a thunderbolt right then because that was NOT a smart idea. Within seconds, the whipped cream turned into cheese. Lets have a moment of silence while we picture my very shocked face......

I don't think it was because I added more sugar but more so because I whipped it too long. As I was frantically searching on Google how to reverse the cheese concoction that I had made, I learned that a) the curdled cheese was here to stay and b) you must stop whipping as soon as you think its ready...don't give it a few more seconds thinking it will help...it won't...it will disintegrate before your eyes.

By this point I had also added in the Oreo crumbs and pretty much ended up with a grey mushy lumpy mess that started to 'weep'. Weeping means that water starts to leak out when the whipped cream starts to separate.

Since I was making this for my sister, I had to get some sort of frosting on them. So I whipped up a new bowl of frosting. Somehow these things always happen to me at night because once again I was up quite late praying and coaxing the frosting to come out semi-decent which it did. It wasn't stiff and didnt hold for piping but it didnt taste that bad. It looked.....weird....but at 1 in the morning, it could have looked like mud for all I cared.

I will definitely be trying this frosting out again. Hopefully, it turns out better. In the mean time, I'm staying away from Oreos!

Lemon Cupcakes: Take 1

The first cupcakes I made from scratch were lemon cupcakes. I guess I should have started with something a bit simpler but my big head got in the way of rational thinking...it tends to happen.

Anyway, I decided to make lemon cupcakes with a lemon cream cheese frosting. A bit ambitious but I spent many hours combing various websites to find a recipe that was simple, not too many ingredients, and relatively easy. I can't remember exactly where I got the recipe from but it was one of the simplest I found. So, shutting down my laptop and picking up my spatula, I set out to make the cupcakes.

Things were going pretty well at first. I followed the recipe to a T. Unfortunately, at this stage of my learning process, I hadn't really read up on how to mix ingredients to ensure fluffy moist cupcakes. The recipe called for mixing up the dry ingredients and then throwing in the wet ingredients and blending away. I thought that the longer I mixed, the more air would get incorporated, and the fluffier they would be and so I went to town with my little handheld mixer.

I pulled them out of the oven and they looked harmless enough. I should have taken the hint when they hadn't risen much. I made another mistake of trying one while it was still hot. I thought they tasted pretty good and was quite pleased with myself. I even started making plans for all sorts of fancy cupcakes with pretty little liners. Talk about counting your cupcakes before they're out of the oven....or something about chickens and hatching....anyway.

30 min later, they starting showing symptoms of dryness, dense-ness, and crumbiness. Yes those are all real words. I proceeded to make the icing, figuring that sugar would cure all! Unfortunately, I didn't think to bring the cream cheese to room temperature and proceeded to have a battle with the lump of cheesecake using my little handheld electric mixer as my only weapon. I don't think I need to tell you who won *blows smoke off finger gun*. I also invested in some cheap plastic tips thinking that if I stuck them in a ziplock bag, I could ice them like the pros. Oh how young and naive I was. 1 hour in and I had made a contraption out of a little purple funnel, several elastic bands, and a ziplock bag. Cake Boss would have cried.

It was late and I was tired and cranky and by this point I just wanted to ice the damn things and get to bed. I iced them as best I could and stuck on a few raspberries. Then I put them in the fridge and called it a day.

The next morning the cupcakes were extremely dense. There was pretty much no air in them and they had a buttery/eggy taste to them. The lemon cream cheese frosting tasted fine but a bit sugary. Regardless, I didn't think the cupcakes were edible at all.  I had to dump the lot out. My soul cried a little. I moped a bit. Sat down with my ego and researched methods, do's and don'ts of baking and was fine the next morning.

So the lesson I learned from this episode as well as this very long post is that if you want it to be simple, you have to be willing to compromise taste. And if you don't put in the time to figure out how your ingredients work with each other, its probably not going to go well.

I'm definitely going to try to make lemon cupcakes again. I will post the recipe once it works out. Wish me luck!