poppy seed cupcakes with lemon drizzle

 

okay, okay...why come this poppy seed cupcake looks like a mini bundt, yes? wondering of this you must. yes? *motif tetiba nak jadi yoda?*

 

well, i bought this mini bundt pan yonks ago and haven't gotten around to using it. today, i decided to be a tad adventurous...ooooo....adventurous ler sesangat. haha!

 

i've been wanting to bake santing with lemon and poppy seed for the longest time. especially lemon poppy seed muffins, but i am too lazy to google the recipe. so, i went to my best friend, this book by fergal connolly, 500 cupcakes and muffins . this is a fantastic book and has yet to fail me. aiyork! i might just jinx the whole thing now that i've announced my love for this book. *crossing fingers*

 





aneehoo, as with all the recipes in this book it starts off with the basic cupcake recipe (the vanilla cupcake) and then you add on a few other stuff to make it different and in this case, you add on the poppy seed and some lemon zest. one thing i like about the recipes from this book is, you get to pop everything into the mixing bowl and beat away!

 

 

taste wise, i think this is the perfect cupcake you would want to have for tea on a hot day. the addition of the lemon zest somehow gives the cupcakes, or mini bundts in my case, a very refreshing twist compared to the normal vanilla ones. i also made the drizzle. the drizzle in my opinion compliments the cupcake. the tang from the lemon juice sort of balances the taste of the cupcake, which has a more mild lemon taste. i halved the drizzle recipe though because i don't think i would want to have each cupcake with the drizzle.

 

so, are we ready for the recipe? yes? let's go!!

 

you will need:

225g (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened

225g (8 oz) caster sugar

225g (8 oz) self-raising flour

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tbsp poppy seeds

1 tbsp grated lemon zest

 

the how to:

1)  preheat oven to 175°C (350°F/gas mark 4)

2)  line your muffin pans, or don't line them, or just use a mini bundt pan, like yours truly.

3)  *this is the best part* combine the butter, sugar, flour and eggs in your mixing bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until smooth and pale, say for about 2-3 minutes

4)  stir in the vanilla, lemon zest and poppy seeds until well combined.

5)  spoon the batter into the cases.

6)  bake for 20 minutes. (baking time may vary, so be sure to check once in a while)

7)  once done, remove the baking tin from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes, or if you can't wait that long, just take a bite already!!

for the drizzle:

125g (4 ½ oz) icing sugar
4 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp poppy seed *oopsie, i forgot to put this for the drizzle* :-p

the how to:
1)  sieve icing sugar into a bowl and stir in the lemon juice until it resembles the consistency of double cream.

2)  stir in the poppy seeds and drizzle over the cupcakes.

 

you can also freeze these cupcakes or mini bundts for up to 3 months...but why would you wanna do that?? they are delicious and should be eaten immediately!! IMMEDIATELY!!

well, what are you waiting for? go get some lemons and poppy seeds!!

luck luck!!

recipe taken from: 500 cupcakes and muffins by fergal connolly
book image taken from: sella.co.nz via every one's best friend, mr. google

 

wordless wednesday: blurry

ada apa dengan pink stacks?

 

 

i met a friend today. we had tea for brunch at this quaint little cafe called Whisk at Empire Subang. this is not my first time here. everytime i come here there seems to be this one particular cake called the whisk pink stacks, and it's ALWAYS sold out. there's a sign outside the cafe that says it's their bestselling cake. *please correct me if i didn't get the sign right*

 

aneehoo, imagine my excitement when i saw the cake. so, naturally i went for the cake...

only

to

find

that

it's

actually

stacks

of

cakes

colored

in

shades

of

pink

that

has

been

soaked

in

sirap.

 

yup! you read right. it tastes like sirap. period. i was, and still am a bit disappointed. i had high hopes for the 'best selling' cake. seriously. i did. and i think charging RM14.90 for this was a bit too steep. *double whammy*

 

my friend had the carrot pecan cake. it was sweet, too sweet for us.

 

 

 

like i said, it wasn't my first time here. i had the hummingbird cake, and THAT was super nice. i might go there again just for that.

 

i ended up not being able to finish the cake. and there was a couple who sat next to our table who also had the same cake, who did not (berapa banyak 'who' yang aku nak letak ni???) finish the cake as well. i even saw the lady pointing to the sign outside the shop. the sign about the bestselling whatever thingamajig.

 

 

would i go there again? yes. for the hummingbird cake. and i would also like to give their pecan pie a try. pecan pie a try. pecan pie a try. well, whaddaya know i'm rhyming! pecan pie a try. pecan pie a try. okay, okay....i'll stop.

 

oh and by the way, i was charged by mr.cashier guy 3 drinks instead of 2. i only noticed once i got back home.

 

mr. cashier guy, is there a chance that i could get my money back? :-p

 

oh well...

 

12.12.12.

 

 

 

i'm baaaaaackkkkk!!! miss me? no? never mind. I MISS ME!!

 

look at the date. it's such a beautiful date, and just the kind of date one would use to make a come back *bajet retis...siap nak buat come back tuuuu* and that even this late at night (late kah?) i cannot not blog or at least write something here. anything.

 

i haven't been blogging for the longest time. life took over. and i was travelling here and there and here and there. i was in LALA twice with only about a few weeks' of interval in between, to visit the wife, among other things. sampai pompuan tu dah muak ler gamaknya jumpa aku.

 

 

 

apart from that i have also been knitting. i made a scarf for my cousin who was recently bitten by the travel bug. i don't usually knit two scarves with the same pattern, but i decided to knit one for the wife. the pattern is quite easy and i think it suits them. it's called the Cotton Twirl Faggot Stitch Scarf. if you are interested, you can get the pattern from here.

 

 

i made the grey one for my cousin.

 

 

and this colorful one, for the wife.

 

 

 

i hope both of them will like their scarves.

 

what else? what else?? ahhh! i made brownies!!! cappuccino brownies. why isn't the recipe here? well, i was soooo happy to be baking again after such a long time, that out of excitement, i might have over did it with the batter and the batch turned into cake! and i was sooo upset that it gave me migraine. hahahaha!! i kid you not! but, i will attempt the recipe again and will let you know.

 

what else? what else? ohhh! i lost about 500+ of photos that i kept in this micro SD card thingamajig, one day it was there, and the next, the card went amnesiac and couldn't remember what happened to all the photos. alllll those shots....gone. just like that. one tip, when in akihabara, don't buy micro SD cards.

 

well, i guess this is it then. i can't believe that it's already december and in a few weeks' time, we'll be greeting a brand new year. wow...

 

have a nice night and i'll be seeing you soon.

 

photo of cousin, robbed from his facebook account. thank you your majesty.

knitting pattern taken from www.straw.com  thank you!!