Thoughtfulness in the oven

It made my day when Saw Leng of “Treasure Memories" wrote to me on Quay Po's Facebook Page and informing me that she had successfully made my Orange Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes with orange vanilla custard cream. 

Later, we communicated through emails and she invited me to lunch. What a sweet lady she is. Of course I accepted her invitation and looked forward to meet her.

I got up very early on the day of our lunch and decided to bake banana chocolate cupcakes because I had some very nice bananas called "Pisang Raja" in my freezer. I thought it would be nice to let her taste my bake. At the same time, I could bring a box of the cupcakes to my good friend cum Insurance Agent whose office is in the same building with Saw Leng. I was happy I could killed two birds with one stone. LOL!

In return, I got a box of moon cakes from my Insurance Agent and butter cookies in the oven from Saw Leng of “Treasure Memories”.  She told me, she baked them. I love the cute box she put the cookies in. If I did not tell you, you might be thinking those cookies were really in the oven right?

Clicking on the picture will bring you to her recipe

The cookies were delicious and I really appreciate my new friend's thoughtfulness and her friendship. We had a wonderful lunch and it was so good to know her hometown is near to mine. No wonder, we had so much to share and talked about. 

I saved two of the cupcakes I baked, for my Quay Lo and he told me that this is one of the best cakes I have ever made. Then I reminded him about my carrot cake, 

Clicking on the photo will bring you to the recipe

butter cake, 

Clicking on the photo will bring you to the recipe

and white cake 

which he tasted and raved about. Is this sign of old age or what? LOL!

Later that day, my Insurance Agent’s secretary called to tell me that her boss had shared the cupcakes with her and she loved it. She found to be very moist.  Saw Leng also mentioned in my facebook page that she tasted it and would like to have the recipe. Like I always said, good things must be shared. Here is the recipe and trust me, you will love this super moist, chocolatey yummy banana chocolate cupcakes.

Banana chocolate cupcakes

Adapted from Joy of Baking with slight modification

Make 12 regular size cupcakes

Ingredients:

175 gm granulated white sugar

130 gms all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (regular or Dutch-processed)

3/4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 jumbo egg

1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 1 medium sized banana)

1/2 cup (120 ml) warm water

1/4 cup (60 ml) milk

1/4 cup (60 ml) canola, corn, or vegetable oil

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

100 gms unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

113 gms unsalted butter, room temperature

100 gms icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Line 12 regular-sized muffin cups with paper liners. Put sugar in a large bowl. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and sift them into the large bowl of sugar and whisk them together.

In another large bowl, whisk together the egg, mashed banana, water, milk, oil, and vanilla extract until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir, or whisk, until combined. (The batter is quite thin.)  Scoop the batter into the cupcakes liner to 3/4 full, and bake for about 20.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack before piping chocolate frosting.

Chocolate Frosting: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In an electric mixer bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy for about 1 minute. Add the icing sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add vanilla extract and mix well. Add the melted chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Beat for another 2 to 3 minutes on  medium-high speed until frosting is smooth and glossy.

Eating GOLD!

I have heard of parsnip but I have not seen one before. While I was shopping at the supermarket a few days ago, I came across these white carrots and they were labelled as parsnips. What came across my mind at that moment was, “Aiyoh! why so EXPENSIVE?, all these Quay Lo food stuff here are like eating GOLD!” The price is so outrageous and you don't want to know it. Usually, when something that expensive, I am able to pass and walk away. That time, it was kind of a situation of curiosity killed the cat. I grabbed one and put into my cart and did not even know what I was going to do with it. All I knew was I wanted to find out how parsnip taste like.

When I arrived home, I quickly googled on parsnip recipes and I got one on cupcakes.  Since I have all the other ingredients on hand and I wanted to submit one more cupcake entry to The Aspiring Bakers, I started baking straight away! 

Parsnips resemble carrots except that it is white. 

When I tasted some grated parsnip before I added them to the batter. It was more sweeter and more fragrant than carrots. What I found out was, when they are cooked, they have a buttery and slightly spicy sweet flavor that reminds you of butterscotch, honey, and subtle cardamom.  When the cupcakes were baked, I quickly tasted one before frosting but I am not sure if I get the all the flavors mentioned earlier. What a big disappointment! To me, the texture of the cake was not much different from the carrot cake.  It was rich and spicy and since I have cut down the amount of sugar and frosted the cake with lemon cream cheese, it was not too sweet and I like it that way. The only difference between this cake and my carrot cake was the addition of chopped apple and toasted pecan. The two ingredients gave some crunch and the pecan added nutty flavor to the cake.  Perhaps the next time I make this cake again, I will increase the amount of parsnip to 1 ¼ cup packed so as to get a more distinctive flavor of the parsnip.  To enhance the appearance of the small cupcakes, I added a thin slice of candied ginger to the frosting. For the medium size cupcakes, I sprinkle some orange color sugar and topped with a yellow sugared flower. They actually turned out quite lovely aren't they? 

Parsnip Apple Pecan Cupcake

Adapted from The Café Sucre Farine with modification

Make:
12 small cupcakes

12 medium cupcakes

Ingredients:

4 oz. butter

¾ cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

4 eggs

¾ cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ginger

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup grated parsnips, packed

1 ¼ cups peeled, diced apple, packed

1 cup toasted chopped pecans

Method:

Preheat oven to 350˚F. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars with electric mixer. Slowly add oil and mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract. Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to wet mixture. Stir in parsnips, apples and pecans. Pour into cupcake liners, bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Let cake be completely cool before frosting. Let you imagination runs wild. Add your own decos and colors to the frosting for better visual effects.


Note: squeeze out some of the juice of the parsnip before adding to the batter.

Lemon cream Cheese frosting

Ingredients:

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1/c cup sour cream

½ cup icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp lemon juice

Zest from 1 whole lemon

Method:

Beat cream cheese till smooth, add sour cream and mixed well. Add icing sugar, 1 teaspoon at a time. Add lemon juice and zest, mix well.


Note: I am submitting this cupcake recipe to Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes! (November 2011) which hosted by Min of Min's Blog

Angry Birds cupcake class

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of attending a class about making cupcakes, and using fondant to decorate the cakes with "angry bird" figures. Before I tell you more about it, I would like to thank Shyamala for the invitation to the Angry bird cupcake class. 


The instructor started the class by introducing fondant and its characteristics to us. She then went on to show us step by step how to make 2D and 3D figurines. After that she asked us to make the angry birds and a "piggie" on our own as she assisted us whenever necessary.

Step by step instruction by Nancy of Cake Connection

Her instruction was clear and precise. During her demonstration she had also cautioned us to pay attention to details when we work with fondant in order to get impressive figurines. I like that she also shared with us tips that we might never get if we just  followed instructions from a book. 

After spending a few hours working with the fondant to make the angry bird figurines, I now understand why these cupcakes sell at a high price.  So now, take a look at my Angry bird cupcakes and tell me if I have WOWED you.

2D angry bird

Brown bird (the eyebrow broke due to handling)

Yellow bird

My favorite Red bird

Cute green Piggy

Ta da!! My masterpieces at a glance

For those of you who would like to try making these angry bird figurines for your cupcakes, here are some of the tools you need.

A small paring.

A pizza cutter

A smooth, clean surface.  

A small rolling pin.

Plastic wrap or bags, to keep the extra bits of fondant from drying out while not in use.

A small paintbrush.

A small offset spatula, or other thin-bladed spatula

Round cutters and flower petal cutters


The ingredients you need to do the figurines:

Fondant

CMC powder

Flavoring essence

Food coloring, preferably gel or paste.

Powdered sugar to keep the fondant from sticking to everything.

Shortening, to repair small tears and to put on your hands.

Edible glue