very vanilla eggless cupcake

 

o-kaaaayyy...before anyone says anything about the frosting...lemme just tell you that I am not too happy at how it turned out to be...both on the cupcake and also the color. on the cupcake, swirled like that...it looked... *sigh* like...something...that...should...not...be...on a cupcake. hahahahaha!! forgive me and my limited frosting abilities. hahahahaha!!

 

good thing about this cupcake is that...it is SO tasty that i will be baking these again for class on Saturday. but this time, i will frost it with vanilla frosting...or...maybe tint it a bit...maybe.  well, what happened was, I made these yesterday and...yesterday I got a watsapp informing me that there would be no class today (Tuesday)...so i was left with 30 odd cupcakes. what's a girl to do? I did what any girl would do. i distributed them all over the place. haaaa... macam pandai je.

 

but, worry not, come saturday i will be bringing these for class...only with a different frosting so that it will not look as weird as the one on top. hehehahaha!!

 

i googled for an eggless recipe and found this one here.   it looked simple enough so i decided to give it a go. and true to the blog, these turned out wonderful!! not only was it easy to prepare and bake...it is delicious! this could very well be my go-to recipe when I need something simple and yet delicious to bake.

 

okay, as usual, I have converted all the ingredients into metric measurement but should you want to use the imperial measurement, please click here.

 

ready? let's go!!!

 

you will need:

219g all purpose flour

225g sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda



½ tsp salt
1 cup milk*
½ cup canola oil
2 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

for the vanilla frosting:
114g butter
188g icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla
1-3 tbsp milk*

I used the chocolate frosting that I googled and led me here.

*and again, I didn't go all vegan with this, I only went eggless, but if you want to go all vegan, go on over here.

the how to:
for the cupcakes,
1)  preheat the oven to 175°C, and line your pan with cupcake liners.

2)  in a bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients. I just used a fork to fork it. :-p

3)  in another bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients. okay, for this one, I had to use a whisk.

4)  pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk till just combined.
do.
not.
over mix. capische??? (tiba2 jadi gangster pulak)

5)  fill your cupcake liners and bake for 8-10 minutes.

for the vanilla frosting:
1)  using your mixer, beat the butter till light and fluffy

2)  reduce speed and slowly add your icing sugar (slowwwly...unless if you want to be powdered with sugar... :-p) vanilla, and the milk, one tablespoon at a time until the frosting reaches the consistency that you want.

3)  beat on high for about 2 minutes, till the frosting is really fluffy.**

**I will give this a go for Saturday's cuppies. tulah..sapa suruh pandai-pandai sangat cari kat tempat lain.

for me, the cupcake is super fantastic, super moist and most importantly, super easy to make and bake. I will definitely bake these again.

as for the frosting, the chocolate frosting that I used...I didn't particularly like how it turned out. the color was a bit off. I followed the instruction to a T...it says that sans liquid (in the form of milk) you should be able to beat the frosting till fluffy...but...what happened to mine was, without any form of liquid, except for that 1 tsp of vanilla, the whole mixture became almost flour-like. so, in the end, I ended up adding about 8 teaspoons of milk. :-( so...I don't think I will be attempting this frosting again. didn't like the texture, didn't like the color. sorry.

if you guys have your own favorite frosting, you guys can just go on ahead and use that. as for me, I will try the frosting that came with this recipe.

there. what a loooong entry.

I shall now leave you guys, to go and gather the ingredients for these really nice vanilla cupcakes. let me know how yours turned out to be okay?

luck luck!!

recipe for the cupcakes adapted from http://whippedbaking.com/ thank you!!
recipe for the chocolate frosting taken from http://www.averiecooks.com/ thank you!!





vegan red velvet cupcake

never in a million years would I thought i'd bake anything vegan. or eggless. never. but, as the famous saying goes, never say never. and today I am making a promise to myself, that I will never say never...well, okay...i'll say never to a few thingslah...but, I am open to suggestions.

 

a classmate of mine is allergic to eggs. how insensitive of me to not notice that each week, when I bring something to class, when the container of baked goods is being passed from one person to another, she would pass the container to the next person without taking anything. lucky for me, she told me about this last week, so...I promised her i'll bake her something without eggs.

 

I went online and found this recipe.  you know what? I think i'm on a lucky streak. why? well, this is yet another recipe that does NOT require the use of theGiant. except for the frosting though. so, this is a very easy and straightforward recipe as well. my kind of recipe. you know...the kind that requires you to combine the wet and the dry and voila! it's done!

 

tastewise, well, I was pleasantly surprised that these taste exactly like the normal red velvet cupcakes. only difference is the texture is not as soft as I would've wanted it to be and the color is more on the brownish side...I might want to make certain changes with the amount of red food color I use and also on the baking time and see what happens. first try maaahhh...

 

so, you wanna give this a go?

 

let's go!!

 

you will need:
200ml soya milk
20ml cider vinegar
200g self-raising flour
200g caster sugar
20g cocoa powder 

¼tsp salt
¼tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼tsp baking powder
80ml light rapeseed or other flavorless oil
1tbsp vanilla extract or essence
½-1 tsp red food coloring paste (not liquid)*

for the frosting:**
25g dairy free margarine
75g vegetable shortening
125g soya cream cheese
1tbsp vanilla extract
750g icing sugar (giler banyakkk!!!)
¼tsp salt
about 30-40 soya or rice milk
red sweets (decoration kot?) ini optional.

the how to:
1)  preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4

2)  line muffin tray with cupcake liners

3)  mix the soya milk with the cider vinegar and set aside for 10 minutes

4)  get a bowl and it in place the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt baking soda and baking powder. mix until combined.

5)  add the soya milk mixture, oil, vanilla and the red food coloring into the dry ingredients. using a metal spoon (I don't know why this is a requirement...) and quickly mix all these until they are just combined and the batter is still a bit lumpy.  tap the bowl of this mixture on your counter to stop the raising agents from working too quickly. observe some bubble popping action. I did. not too many, but gotlah. :-p

6)  spoon the batter into your muffin cups. (I used my every so faithful ice cream scoop) and then...tap the tray on your counter again...to witness more  fireworks   bubble popping action.

7)  bake for 15 minutes. (my oven only required about 8 minutes...yours?) let the cupcakes sit in the tray to cool and chill for about 10 minutes before transferring them on the cooling rack.

frosting:

1)  with an electric or hand-held mixer, whip together the margarine, vegetable fat, cream cheese and vanilla and they are creamy.

2)  add half of the icing sugar and 30ml (2tbsp) milk and continue mixing while gradually increasing the speed until all is combined.

3)  add the rest of the icing sugar until you get a smooth consistency.

4)  if the icing is too firm, you can add a bit more milk and if it's too soft, you add icing sugar lorrr...

*since I don't have any kind of food coloring paste I used liquid
** I didn't use this version of the frosting because...where the hell can I find soya cream cheese in puchong??? anyone?

All in all, I will definitely be baking these again and again and again, this recipe is a keeper!!!

what about you guys? trylah...ishhhh! :-p


thank you:
http://www.suma.coop for this wonderful recipe.

 

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

 

peanut butter cupcakes

there is something about peanut butter that you cannot resist. i don't know, maybe i am the only one who has this 'thing' about peanut butter, be it smooth or crunchy. even my  ex robot likes her 'dose' of peanut butter. hehehe...

i made these today. simply because it's friday, and since every friday is 'experimental (more on the mental side) friday' i thought why not give this recipe a go.

again, i took this recipe from my favorite 'kitab' the 500 series. a really, REALLY easy recipe (my kinda recipe) where you just dump everything in the mixer bowl and whisk away. you'd be crazy to not give this a try. believe you me.

the cupcake itself has a very mild peanut butter taste, and it is complimented by the frosting. i think without the frosting it will be a tad on the bland side. i added crushed (more like beaten to death, HAHA) toasted peanuts on top. just for fun!

ready for the recipe? let's go!

you will need:

for the cupcake,

225g (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened

225g (8 oz) caster sugar

225g (8 oz) self-raising flour

4 eggs

115g (4 oz) crunchy peanut butter

for the frosting,

60g (2½ oz) crunchy peanut butter

50g (2 oz) unsalted butter, softened

2 tsp vanilla essence

115g (4 oz) icing sugar, sieved

2 tbsp milk

the how to:

for the cupcakes,

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

2)  line your muffin tins with cupcake liners.

3)  combine the butter, sugar, flour and eggs your mixing bowl and whisk until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.

4)  stir in the peanut butter until well combined.

5)  spoon the batter into the cupcake liners. *i used a 4cm ice-cream scoop

6)  bake for 20 minutes. **this really depends on your oven, i baked mine for 15 minutes.

7)  remove muffin tin from oven and cool for 5 minutes, then cool on cooling rack.

for the frosting,

1)  combine the peanut butter, butter and vanilla in a medium bowl, beat till light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.

2)  add the icing sugar along with the milk, and beat till well combined.

3)  swirl the icing onto the cooled cupcakes.

You can store these, sans icing, in airtight container for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.

***if you use a 4cm ice-cream scoop, you'll get about 28 cupcakes.

try them homies!!! :-))) 

red velvet cupcakes

well...the mini version that is. i made mini red velvet cupcakes yesterday. that's one more recipe i can scratch off my list. the wife and her sister, on their trip to NYC years ago told me about this place called the magnolia bakery, that sells the best cupcakes ever. i think the place was made famous because of the few episodes of SATC. i haven't tasted anything from the bakery, BUT! the last time i was in LALA Land, the wife got me the banana bread pudding from the magnolia bakery branch in LA (that just opened) and lemme just tell you that every mouthful was a sinful experience to remember...sedap giler!!!!! it was 80% cream, 15% banana...and until now, i still cannot figure out where the 5% of bread is in that tub of happiness. haha!

MB Banana Bread Puddin'

 so, naturally, when i was looking for red velvet recipes and found the magnolia bakery version here, mestilah nak try, right? and so i did. lemme just tell you that the cupcake itself, was really moist, there were an isolated 2 or 3 cuppies that was a bit bitter tasting at the bottom, that was my bad, my fault entirely because i think i didn't mix the batter thoroughly and the bitter bits were the soda and vinegar mixture...maybe? haha! the cake itself was really moist and not that sweet...i think the recipe was made to compliment the frosting, so that the taste will not be too overpowering. another booboo i made was i didn't follow the frosting recipe from the same site. mainly because i had a whole chunk (read: all 500g of it) of cream cheese sitting in the fridge and i don't want it to go to waste, so, i took the frosting recipe from this other website...unfortunately, it didn't turn out too great, think once again, i overdid it with the beating of the cream (hmm...what exactly is my problem with cream??) and i had to redo the whole thing (only three letters can explain this action O.C.D.) but i decided to use a recipe from here instead. and, alhamdulillah..it turned out just fine.

waaahhhh...very long one my explanation...bla bla bla like that...are you headache? hahahaa!!

okay, to make a very, very long story short...(i haven't even told you how hard it was to find red food coloring...it seems as if half of malaysia is making this, and i had to go to a few places to find red food coloring...but, nemindlah, no needlah, yes?) i will now share with you the recipe, taken from sarahmeyerwalsh's blog.  since the recipe is not in metric, i have taken the liberty to convert it for you guys. as for the instructions and bla bla bla, you can guys go over here okay?

ingredients:
437½g cake flour
170g butter
562g caster sugar (the recipe didn't specify what kind of sugar, so i used caster)
3 large eggs, at room temperature
6 tbs red food coloring, i used up almost 3 tiny bottles of star brand food coloring
3 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ tsp vanilla extract
1½ tsp salt
1½ cups buttermilk*
1½ tsp cider vinegar
1½ tsp baking soda
1 batch creamy vanilla frosting, that i didn't do (stoopidstoopidstoopid *bang head to wall)

*if you don't have buttermilk, fret not, because who in malaysia has a stock of buttermilk in their fridges anyways, right? okaylah, if you're a hardcore baker, maybe you havelah...but i don't. so, i went online and found this guide on how to make your own buttermilk. easy, right? if you don't have milk and/or vinegar, then i cannot help you...but if you do, then you're all set. :-p

now for the frosting, i followed the recipe for the frosting taken from here. this is a very useful site because each recipe has its own metric converter.

wow! this is one heck of a long entry, i'm sure you guys are already sick and tired listening to my nonstop babble...i wish you all the best of luck in your red velvet adventure.

come back soon, aight?

red velvet recipe taken from: sarahmeyerwalsh.wordpress.com thank you!
1st frosting recipe taken from: www.joyofbaking.com thank you!
2nd frosting recipe taken from: allrecipes.com thank you and i LOVE you!!



 

chocolate meringue cupcakes

okay, if you look at the watermark in the picture, you can see that it was taken waaaaay back in 2009. that was the first time i tried this vanderful, VANDERFUL recipe. i was, as usual, very skeptical about recipe books, but, i was bored that day and decided to do something else for a change. let it be known that it was my first ever meringue anything. and to my surprise, it turned out great. there...you see? what your parents told you is *ehem* sometimes true, 'you never know until you try'.

okaylah, i share with you this recipe taken from here. a brilliant book and one that has yet to fail me. ready? let's go!!

ingredients:

for the cupcake

225g unsalted butter, softened

225g caster sugar

225g self-raising flour

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

for the filling

100g plain chocolate chips

for the meringue

3 egg whites

¼ tsp cream of tartar

75g granulated sugar

the how to:

1)  preheat oven to 175°C (350°F/Gas mark 4). line muffin tin with cups.

2)  place all the cupcake ingredients in a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk until smooth and pale, about 2 -3 minutes.  spoon batter into the muffin tin. bake for 20 minutes.

3)  remove tin from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. then, remove the cupcakes and cool on a rack.

4)  for the filling, melt the chocolate in a medium bowl over a pan of simmering water and cool slightly. (i sometimes cheat and 'nuke' the chocolate in the microwave).

5)  remove the top from each cupcake and hollow out a small hole. spoon the filling into the hole and replace the top. refrigerate until set.

6)  for the meringue, beat the eggs and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.

7)  add one-third of the sugar and beat for 1 minute. repeat until all the sugar has been added.

8)  increase the oven temperature to 230°C (450°F/Gas mark 8).

9)  spoon or pipe the meringue on top of the cupcakes. bake for 5 minutes or until golden.

10) store for no more than 1 day in an airtight container.

voila!

okay, okay...quite a lot of steps to follow for this particular one...but! it is ALL worth it. i'm tellin' ya.

i shall leave you to now so that you can pencil this recipe in your calendar.

come back soon, aight?

recipe source: 500 cupcake and muffins by fergal connolly
book image taken from: amazon.com.uk *thank you!*

vanilla cupcakes

sometimes you don't need to go all fancy schmancy to be happy.

i had the weirdest craving for vanilla cupcakes today. the whole day. no joke. i don’t know what brought it on. i shall blame it on the mones. they’ve been very naughty lately. very, very naughty. baaaaad mones.

so, what’s a girl to do, when she’s too lazy to go out and get herself that vanilla cupcake? well, she does something waaaay better, that is to whip ‘em up herself.

you guys wanna try this? this is a super easy super fantastic recipe. i’ll share it with you guys. ready?

ingredients:
225g unsalted butter, softened
225g caster sugar
225g self-raising flour (i used normal flour)
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
the how to:
1. preheat oven to 175°C (350°F/Gas mark 4). Line muffin tin with paper baking cases.
2. place all the ingredients in a medium bowl and beat with an electric whisk until smooth and pale, about 2 to 3 minutes.
3. spoon the mixture into the cases. Bake for 20 minutes.
4. remove muffin tin from oven and cool for 5 minutes. then remove the cupcakes and cool on a rack.
5. store in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.

Now, what did i tell you? easy peasy right? i managed to get about 18 2" cups. (boleh fehem?)
okay, another fantastabest thing about this cupcake recipe is that you can make variations out of it.
say, if you want to make
saffron cupcakes, all you need to do is to make the basic cupcake recipe, add a pinch of saffron to 2 tbsp of boiling water. infuse for 5 minutes. after creaming the cupcake ingredients, just stir in saffron and water.
you want another variation? how about almond cupcakes?
okay for this, again, you make the same basic cupcake recipe and add 3 tbsp of ground almond to the mixture and instead of vanilla essence, you substitute it with almond essence. easy, right?
or, if almond is not something that you fancy, you can make vanilla and sultana cupcakes. all you need to do is to stir in 75g (3oz) sultanas in the cupcake mixture. voila! if you noticed in the picture, i added coffee chips to the cupcake mixture. the possibilities are endless. (i sound like a dayum iklan...sowwy.)
okay, geng. luck luck. lemme know how your cupcakes turns out and hey, if you have other variations, perhaps you can share it with me?
recipe source: 500 cupcakes and muffins by fergal connolly