cupcakes

Easter Bunny Cupcakes

maki — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:08:55 +0200

It seems that quite a few people have been trying out the kasutera/castella recipe recently, and running into problems. Castella is not an easy cake. So, since it's Easter, I thought I'd haul this out of the archives attic. These little Rich Tea Cupcakes are much easier to make, and while they have an entirely different texture they are really quite delicious. I hope you'll give them a try! The cupcakes are delicious unadorned, but the icing is dead easy, and the fondant is not too hard if you can get a hold of the glycerin. Alternatively you could use store bought Easter themed cake decorations. Originally published in March 2005, as part of the late lamented Is My Blog Burning food blog event; edited and updated.

One of the first attempts at baking that I remember tackling on my own was cupcakes iced with pale pastel icing. I had seen a picture of them in one of my mother's magazines, and they looked so elegant to me. The one thing I remember about those cupcakes is that they tasted peculiarly like uncooked egg - I think I hadn't whipped the eggs enough or something. But the whole process of making the icing, tinting it with food coloring that I had begged my mother to buy for me, and swirling it on the tops of those cakes, was quite fascinating.

This isn't quite an attempt to remake those cupcakes. For one thing I now know how not to make cakes that taste overly eggy. But I did want to make something pastel colored and kawaii (cute) -- and, since it's Easter time, pink and blue bunnies and pastel colored mini-eggs seemed like perfect embellishments.

I'm not a big fan of buttercream icing unless it's very chocolatey, but chocolate was out of the question since I wanted that pastel color scheme. So I've avoided this usual cupcake topping; instead I've used a much easier icing, which is just powdered or icing sugar mixed with lemon juice. It's appropriately shiny and translucent and adds a little tang to the whole experience. And it's dead easy to apply - just drizzle a spoonful or two on top of each cupcake. At this point you can just leave it as is, or use any kind of colorful decoration that strikes your fancy: the icing acts like a sort of glue for the embellishments too. I made some bunny heads and eggs with fondant, but this is a bit fiddly. In Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess has all kinds of ideas for decorations on top of the icing (she uses plain water for the icing though) such as little candies, a cherry, a knot of cream, and so on. Of course standard cake decorations such as sprinkles and other sugar ornaments work too. I was originally planning on using small chocolate eggs, but then I thought of the bunny theme - and the cake decorating sections of the supermarket are sadly lacking in bunny-themed items. Besides, I just love that pale, half-translucent quality of fondant. The soft, melt-in-your-mouth sugariness is a perfect match for the top of this cupcake too.

I'm calling the base cake recipe without the adornments Rich Tea Cupcake, since the original cake recipe is adapted from one for a tea cake. I'm not sure what exactly a "tea cake" is -- I presume it means it's good for serving with tea. (For the matter, I'm unsure about what a "coffee cake" is either, and how it differs from any other cake....) This is rich yet fairly simple to make, apart from the beating the eggs and sugar vigorously over hot water (or bain marie ) part. This step is common in a lot of European cake recipes, and makes for a cake crumb that is quite crumbly and delicious, with not a trace of raw-egginess about it. The cupcake sans icing is delicious just plain or with an apricot or red currant jam glaze on top. It's very mildly spiced with lemon peel, nutmeg and vanilla, and is not overly sweet. Yes, it has 4 egg yolks plus 4 whole eggs in it.

Recipe: Rich Tea Cupcakes

250g / 8 oz unsalted or salted butter (I used unsalted, since salted butter is not common here)
2 tsp finely grated lemon peel
1 tsp real vanilla extract
4 egg yolks from 'large' eggs
4 whole 'large' eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plain white flour)
2 Tbs cornstarch (cornflour)
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt if you used unsalted butter
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 150°C / 350°F. Make ready the cupcake cups. Hint: if you stack 3 paper cupcake cups together, they are sturdy enough to hold their shape when you pour in the batter without needing muffin tins or something. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

Put the butter in a bowl and microwave it on low setting for a minute to soften it. You don't want to totally melt it but it should be easy to cream. Add the lemon peel and vanilla.

Heat up a pan of water to simmering point. In another bowl, beat together the egg yolks, eggs and sugar. Put the bowl over the water, and let it come to lukewarm temperature. Beat this mixture over the hot water vigorously (an electric hand mixer helps a lot, or you can think of it as good toning exercise for your arms) until it's about tripled in bulk and is a pale lemon yellow. When you lift your beater, the batter should form a thick ribbon.

Take off the heat and add the sifted together flour mixture slowly, Don't overbeat. Add the butter mixture bit by bit too until it's all incorporated.

Spoon or pipe the batter into the cupcake linings about 2/3rds full. (Hint: this goes a lot faster if you use a plastic bag as a "piping bag". Put the batter into a plastic zip bag, push the batter towards one corner, and holding the bag ready to go over a cupcake liner quickly cut off that corner with scissors - just a small hole does it! You'll fill the cupcakes up in no time.)

Bake in the preheated oven for about 15-25 minutes, depending on the size of the cupcakes, until a skewer inserted in the middle of one comes out clean. Let cool completely before applying the icing.

Recipe: Lemon Icing

This amount will be enough to cover 12-16 medium sized cupcakes, depending on how generous you are with the icing.

250g / 8 oz icing (powdered) sugar
2-3 Tbs lemon juice, strained of all pips and pulp
additional water or lemon juice if necessary

Mix together the sugar and juice until it's quite runny. The amount of juice or water seems to vary on how humid the weather is. It should form a slightly runny paste, and drop slowly but easily off your spoon when it's ready to go. You can color it with food coloring if you like.

Drizzle with a spoon over the tops of the cupcakes.

Recipe: Fondant

Fondant is the stuff that covers those almost unreal-looking, smooth wedding cakes that you see in glossy magazines. It's also used to cover petit fours. It's not that hard to make, though a bit fiddly. The only special ingredient you need is liquid glycerine, which you can get at a pharmacy (drugstore). Be sure you get pure liquid glycerine, which is safe to eat, not something pre-formulated for cosmetic use! You can use this as a cake icing, or to make cake decorations as I have here, or even on their own as little 'fancies' or candies.

500g / 8 oz icing (powdered) sugar
50g / 2oz liquid glycerine
1 Tbs. egg white (approximately the egg white of one 'large' egg)
Food coloring of your choice

Mix together the ingredients until all the liquid is incorporated. Knead for a few minutes until totally smooth. Don't worry if it's a bit sticky, but if it's too dry add a tiny bit more egg white. Let rest in a plastic bag for at least an hour or overnight in the refrigerator (this seems to make it a bit easier to handle).

To make the fondant decorations, take a small bit of the fondant and color with the food coloring. There are different kinds of coloring, but the key is to always add a tiny bit at a time. I prefer to use paste or powdered food coloring, which gives me more control than the liquid kind.

The bunny heads are made by making a small, thick sausage with a fat middle and tapering ends. Fold this over and pinch the middle to make the face. Pinch the ends to make the ears. Smooth out any cracks with your fingers. Prick out the eyes and mouth with a toothpick.

The eggs are rolled balls shaped a bit to resemble eggs.

Prepare these in advance and leave out to dry a bit. Apply to the cupcakes while the lemon icing is still wet.

Leftover fondant can be frozen; just defrost at room temperature - never defrost in the microwave! Knead well after it's defrosted until it's supple. Or, it will keep for a couple of days well wrapped in the refrigerator.

Spiced chocolate cupcakes

maki — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:31:47 +0100

In the movie Chocolat, Juliette Binoche plays a somewhat mysterious woman who opens a chocolate shop in a small French village. She uses ancient Aztec spices in her chocolate confectioneries, which soon prove to have almost magical, often aphrodesiac, properties. While Chocolat is not in my top 5, or even 10, favorite food-theme movies (see here for that list), the idea of spiced chocolates has intrigued me ever since I saw it. One of my favorite chocolate bars is the Masala one made by Dolfin.

Making a spicy chocolate confection is a bit of a tricky affair though. You don’t want the spices to overwhelm the chocolate - it should just form a sort of interesting background, yet provide a bit of a surprising bite and a warm, ‘what is that?’ quality.

These cupcakes have a rich but not too sweet bisquit (cake) base, with the warmth of curry powder and the bite of coarsely ground pepper. They are moistened with a teaspoon per cupcake of mocca liqueur, which increases its intensity and pushes it into the realm of an adult indulgence. The chocolate ganache has a pinch of cayenne pepper in it. The marriage is quite successful (or so the Tasters emphatically agreed). I’m not sure if they work at aphrodesiacs, but if your sweetheart is a chocoholic, you never know… They make a terrific Valentine’s Day dessert or treat in any case.

Spiced chocolate cupcakes

Makes about 16 medium cupcakes

For the cake:

Spices and almonds:

40g / 1 1/2 oz. ground almonds (about 1/3 cup)
1/2 Tbs. coarsely ground black or mixed-color peppercorns
1 tsp. curry powder

Dry:

80g / about 3 oz superfine raw cane sugar (you can also whirl granulated sugar in a food processor until it’s finer)
120g / 4 1/4 oz. cake flour (about 2/3 cup)
2 Tbs. best quality cocoa powder
1/8 tsp. (a big pinch) baking powder

Moist:

200g / 7 oz. (two standard bars) dark chocolate with at least 70% cacao content
150g / 5 1/4 oz. (1 stick plus 1 1/2 Tbs.) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 eggs yolks from ‘large’ eggs
1 Tbs. instant coffee granules

Egg white:

4 egg whites from ‘large’ eggs
1 pinch salt

Booze:

about 1/2 cup mocca liqueur or rum

For the chocolate ganache:

200g / 7 oz (2 standard bars) dark chocolate with at least 70% cacao content
100g / 3 1/2 oz (1 stick less 1 Tbs.) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 pinch salt
1/8th tsp. cayenne pepper (add more at your discretion, but be careful)
1 Tbs. mocca liqueur or rum

Special equipment and supplies: a standing or handheld electric mixer, sifter, cupcake cups

Preheat the oven to 150°C / 300°F. Put the cupcake cups in muffin tins, or line up double or triple-layered cups on a baking sheet (of your cupcake cups don’t fit your muffin tins or you don’t have muffin tins).

Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder). If you end up with some sugar grains in the sifter, just dump them back in.

Put the ground almonds in a clean, dry small frying pan over medium-high heat. Toast, stirring constantly, until a light brown in color. Add the curry powder and the pepper and stir until the whole smells like toasty curry. Remove immediately from the pan and put into another container (or it will continue cooking and may burn).

Chop or bash the 2 chocolate bars into small pieces. Put the pieces into a microwave-safe bowl, and nuke at medium-low level for 3 minutes. Take out, stir and nuke for an additional 2 minutes. By this time the chocolate should be melted; if not, nuke for additional minute or so - don’t overdo it or your chocolate will turn grainy and icky. Stir well.

Add the butter in pieces to the warm chocolate and stir very well - it should be smooth and glossy. Add the coffee granules and the almond-spice mix. Keep warm.

In a clean, totally dry bowl, mix together the egg whites and pinch of salt. Whip until it forms soft peaks (an electric mixer is a very good thing to have for this task).

Add about 1/3rrd of the whipped egg white into the chocolate-butter mixture, to lighten it. Now, add the dry mixture by the tablespoon or two to the wet mixture, folding it in - don’t overmix or your cake will be a bit tough. Fold in the rest of the egg whites gently (if the batter is a bit streaky it’s fine).

Fill the cupcake cups about 2/3-rds full with the batter, using two spoons - it’s about 1 very heaped tablespoon per cup. (Use one spoon for scooping, and the other one for sliding the batter off the first spoon.)

Put in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. The cake should rise a bit, and still look a bit moist.

While the cupcakes are still warm, drizzle each with a teaspoonful of mocca liqueur or rum. Let cool to room temperature.

In the meantime, make the ganache. Melt the chocolate as described before, and beat in the room temperature butter into the warm chocolate. Add the salt, cayenne pepper and liqeur, and beat very well. Put it in the refrigerator to firm up a bit.

When the cupcakes are cool, spoon on the ganache. Put the cupcakes in the refrigerater until the ganache is firm.

Notes

To make ahead, make the cupcakes, and spoon on the ganache about 1/2 hour before serving. Be sure to serve at room temperature or warmer (not cold straight out of the fridge).

Alternatively, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of heavy cream and/or liqueur to the ganache to make turn it into chocolate sauce.Pour the warm sauce over warm cupcakes (taken out of their cups, and nuked for 1 minute in a tucked in plastic bag in the microwave), and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

To make these kid-friendly, omit the liqueur.

Mini almond cupcake

maki — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 12:59:15 +0100

Is My Blog Burning? IMBB 13: Cupcakes and Muffins Galore!

maki — Fri, 25 Mar 2005 23:04:44 +0100

Update posted late Sunday, March 27th: I wasn't at my computer most of the weekend, and there were a few late or inadvertently omitted entries waiting in my mailbox. They've now all been posted I think, bringing the total to 89 entries. Wow.

It seems that this month's IMBB theme really struck a chord with many food bloggers, since there are, if I've managed to count correctly, 84 89 entries! Several people made more than one muffin or cupcake too, so there are 100 or so different cupcakes and muffins to try.

It's impossible for me to pick any favorites out of the wonderful entries. I'll be enjoying many, many hours trying out the different recipes.

Thanks to everyone who participated! I did get a bit overwhelmed by the number of submissions (to put it mildly), so my apologies for not replying to all your individual emails. If your entry is not listed, please let me know and I'll correct that ASAP.

And once again, a big thanks goes out to Alberto for starting IMBB. Every IMBB allows people to discover new food blogs and re-visit old favorites, and that's just a great thing. Also big thanks to Ronald for helping everyone keep track of all the food blogging events out there.

I've grouped the entries into groups by general category: sweet cupcakes, sweet muffins, savory muffins (and a couple of savory cupcakes), and last but not least, cupcakes that are probably not edible. So without further ado, here are the links to all the cupcakes and muffins.

Part One: Cupcakes

Samer made deep dark chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing.
Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness made Dulce De Leche-Filled Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting.
snackish made Pumpkin Cupcake (or muffin: I have arbitrarily put it in the cupcake category since it has an interesting coconut-custard topping.)
Alan and Jenny of Sweet & Savory made Banana Cupcake Surprise.
Tanvi of from the pantry made Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.
Matt made Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes.
Mia of The Skinny Epicurean made My Little Vanilla Gem. She's going to use these to kickstart her food business. Good luck Mia!
Nikiof Esurientes made Lazy persons' Black Forest Cakes.
Jocelyn aka McAuliflower of Brownie Points made Marzipan Topped Raspberry Filled Mocha Cupcakes, with gorgeous marzipan daffodils on top.
Stella of baby rambutan made two cupcakes: cocoa-cashew babycakes with raspberry puree and cashew-chocolate bark, and lemon poppyseed babycakes: plain, and with chocolate frosting and pearl suga. Check them both out here. She seems to have had a very good assistant!
Pickles of Pickles & Jams made Marble cupcakes with a Twist.
Mariko of super eggplant made Easy Birthday Cupcakes.
Nicole of delicious:days made Pasteis de Nata.
Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar made Triple Lemon Cupcakes.
Andy of Minor Gourmandry made Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream.
Alicat of Something So Clever made Lemon Cupcakes with lovely flower decorations.
Lyn of Lex Culinaria made Cupcakey Goodness, and recounts past encounters with cupcakes. (Let's hope the cupcakes don't cost her her job..)
pinkcocoa from Pinkcocoa Tabetai made My Little Chocolate Surprise Cupcake. See below for her muffins too.
Jessica of Su Good Eats made Fluffernutter Cupcakes.
bbrug of Brooklyn Bridge User Blog made Semolina Cupcakes with Rose Frosting: the icing is flavored with rose water.
Lynn of To Short Term Memories made Ginger Cupcake Triple Play.
Annalyn of ajay's writings on the wall made Peanut Butter Cupcakes, and banana macaroons too.
Dreska of Little Fancies made Easter Basket Cupcakes.
Santos of the scent of green bananas made matcha cupcakes with pistachio cream and totoro "truffles". Totoro truffles!!
He also made i should cocoa and naga cupcake.
Nicole of bakingsheet made Neapolitan Buttermilk Cupcakes.
Sarah of Cooking With The Headhunter made Decadent Blueberry Muffins.
Jenni of Pertelote made milk chocolate cupcakes with a passionfruit cheesecake filling. (Note: I couldn't find a permalink, so just look for the March 24th entry.)
Zara Maria of Food & Thoughts made Magnolia Cupcakes.
Molly of spicetart made Orange Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Lemon Cream-Cheese Frosting and a Star On Top and Sprinkles.
Caryn of Delicious! Delicious! made very colorful Flower Cupcakes.
Alan of ma'ona made Chocolate Curry Cupcakes with Lemongrass Infused Coconut Buttercream Frosting.
Carolyn of 18thC Cuisine made Biscuits de Chocolat (Small Cakes of Chocolate Biscuit).
Lisa made David Lebowitz's Black Bottoms Cupcakes: she doesn't hae a blog yet, so here is a picture of her holding a trayful of them.
Emily of baking beast made Marcel Desaulniers' Granny Twichell's Secret Chocolate Cupcake Recipe.
Moira of Who Wants Seconds? made Black Bottom Cupcakes.
Nicola of A Sprinkle of Sequins made Nigella Lawson's Carrot Cupcakes with Cream-Cheese Icing.
Gillian of The Queen of Tarts made Mrs. White's Cupcakes. The name does not adequately describe the visual impact of teal-colored cake with peach colored frosting!
Kate of Accidental Hedonist made Cream filled Cupcake with Dark Chocolate Ganache frosting.
Kelli Ann of avoir une famille n'est pas comme un téléroman made Everyday Food Easy Chocolate Cupcakes.
Alice of My Epicurean Debauchery made Tea Cupcakes with Anko filling. (Anko is a Japanese sweet bean paste.)
Robyn of Food Chronicles made dark chocolate cupcakes with white buttercream and chocolate buttercream frosting.
Brigitte of Sweetnicks made Cherry Baby Cakes.
Viv of Seattle Bon Vivant made Dark Chocolate Cupcakes.
Reid of 'Ono Kine Grindz made Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate Cupcakes.
Kelli of Lovescool made Easter Egg Cupcakes.
Chefdoc of A Perfect Pear made Rhubarb Streusel Cakes.
ST of Cheat Eat made Huat Kueh, Chinese Prosperity Cake.
Mollie, the 8 year old niece of Sam of Becks & Posh, made Fairy Cakes.
Here are my Easter Bunny Cupcakes.

Part Two: Sweet Muffins

Zorra of Kochtopf made Raffaello muffins (Raffaellos are white chocolate truffles covered with coconut.)
Laurie made fruity Muffins Tropicaux.
Christina of peasprout sprouts made sourdough muffins.
Augustus Gloop of Grab Your Fork made the very exotic sounding lime, white chocolate and coconut muffins.
Celia of English Patis made Simnel Muffins.
Julie of A Finger In Every Pie made two kinds of muffins: Chocolate-filled Chocolate Chip Chocolate Crumb Muffins and Apple Crumble Muffins.
Meg of Too Many Chefs also made two muffins: Coconut Banana Muffins and Apple Crumble Muffins.
pinkcocoa from Pinkcocoa Tabetai made Volcano Muffins. See above for her cupcakes!
Alberto of Il Forno made Hazelnut flavored Cinnamon Apple Muffins.
Clotilde of Chocolate and Zucchini made Muffins à la Framboise, Eclats de Fève de Cacao (Raspberry Muffins with Cacao Nibs, but of course it sounds much better in French.)
Stephanie of The Adventures of Pie Queen made A Bran Muffin That Doesn't Suck.
Petra of Chili und Ciabatta made Bee Sting Muffins.
Kathi aka Froschköningen made Egg liqueur muffins or muffins for princesses.
Amy of Cooking With Amy made Cranberry Zinger Muffins.
Ronald of Love Sicily made Muffin “Cioccolato Modicano agli Agrumi” e salsa di zabaione, which is chocolate muffins (he uses a special chocolate) in a zabaione (warm foamy custard) sauce, but of course it sounds much better in Italian.
Elise of Simply Recipes made Blackberry Muffins.
Anne of Anne's Food made Raspberry Marzipan Muffins.
Peggy of bouquet garni made Cherry Muffins.
Katie of Sharp Cookie made Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins.
knit wit of domestic affairs made Apple Oat Bran Muffins.
Miss Tenacity of Tenacity Flog made My Terrifying Bran Muffins, aka Tenacity of the Colon.
Gemma of Part-Time Pro Bono Baker made Banana Muffins.
Jacquez of Upside-Down-Pear made Banana Breakfast Muffins.
Sigfrid of Il Cavoletto di Bruxelles made Strawberry, balsamico & pink pepper muffins.

Part Three: Savory Muffins (or Cupcakes)

FoodNerd made ham-scallion-parmesan mini cakes.
Yoko of The Ballad of Yoko made her favorite muffins, corn muffins with green onions and sour cream.
Jeanne of Cook, Sister! made Peppadew and Parmesan muffins. She explains that peppadews are sweet piquant peppers from South Africa.
Dr. Biggles of MeatHenge made Chicken Curry Muffins.
Anthony of spiceblog made Manly Muffins, avoiding sugariness and thus preserving his manliness. :)
Irene of Cuisine Capers made Bacon and Cheese Puff Muffins.
Karen of The Pilgrim's Pots and Pans (what a great blog name!) made Savoury Tomato Muffins.
Daphne of Kitchen Crazy made the definitely not-crappy looking Crappy Cheese Carrot Cupcakes.
Gastronomie made Melted Leek Muffins with Cheddar, and adjusted the recipe later too.
Alice of My Adventures In The Breadbox made Radish Sandwiches on Zucchini Basil Muffins, turning muffins into sandwiches.
Mia of Nosh made The End-All Muffin, which has pears, goat cheese, and nuts in it...wow.

And finally, the not-quite-edible department...

Robyn of The Girl Who Ate Everything made this adorable felt cupcake. I'm in love!
Kelli Ann, who made edible cupcakes also (see above) also posted a picture of this extremely cute paper (?) cupcake.

IMBB 13: My Little Cupcake (or muffin)

maki — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 14:23:50 +0100

I was just really very hungry (the site you are reading right now) is proud to host the lucky 13th edition of Is My Blog Burning, the mother (father?) of blogging food events originated by Alberto of Il Forno. The theme for this month is: My Little Cupcake (or muffin).

I was originally going to do a chocolate theme, but cupcakes have been on my brain recently. Perhaps it's because Easter is close, and I have visions of little "fairy cakes", as they are called in England, with white icing and pale pink buttercream flowers. Or maybe I am just a food fashion victim caught up in the trendiness of cupcakes. In any case, cupcakes it is. And since I sort of regard a muffin (the American style muffin, not the English kind) as sort of a nude cupcake, they are included here too.

Should you choose to participate, the only requirements as follows:

Your creation should be approximately shaped like the cupcake-silhouette pictured in the logo for this event (above).
Please post a picture if possible, and the recipe if you made it yourself.
It can be sweet, or savory. (A savory 'cupcake' with a matching 'icing'? hmm...)
Pictures of particularly attractive cupcakes made by someone other than yourself are accepted, as long as it is accompanied by a story relating said cupcake(s) to yourself.

The deadline for this edition of IMBB is Thursday, March 24th. This will give me a day to compile and report the results, so that we may rush out to gather the ingredients for our favorites in time for Easter.

As usual, please email me the link to your entry (or your whole entry if you don't have a blog) or just do a trackback ping to this post.

Let's make cupcakes!