Hey there cupcake!

New Blog

2007-03-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

My new blog is up!
Veganini will be a much broader slice of my life.
The emphasis is on vegan food..
Knowing me, a lot of that will be the sweet variety.
Hope to see you there!

so long, farewell, I hate to say goodnight..

2007-03-06T17:27:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed.. hmmn.. nothing at all on this blog, for a very long time.

My inner-cupcake is now happy! :)
But I'm still having difficulty negotiating the health issues, of having a serious baking habit-
As far as I'm aware, such godsends as earthbalance, haven't made it to Australia yet..
(If you know where I can buy such an ingredient here, please let me know!!!!!!!!!!)
And too, it seems like the other ingredients required to make organic-vegan-low-fat-refined-sugar-free cupakes, are kind of expensive..
And well, there's always the case of my ever tightening clothes-
Maybe it's all those cupcakes, finally catching up with me and my thighs..

So-
Hey there cupcake! is saying good-bye.
I'm going to start a new food blog-
I have too much of a sweet tooth, for it not to be heavily erred on the side of wild abandon, chocolate and frosting..
So fear not, there will be many more cupcakes to come..

Thanks so much for stopping by here this past year!
I'd share cupcakes with all of you if I could..

I'll link the new blog here, when it's up and cooking..
Please stop by sometime..

Carrot, Coconut, Pineapple & Macadamia Cupcakes

2006-10-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

A very slow coming post!

Back in September, my favourite team- The Swans, got into the grand-final, the big kahuna of AFL..

K and I traveled down to Melbourne, to hang out with my brother and his g.f E, and go to the Grand-final game...

Before that they played Freemantle..

I made these tasty, tasty Carrot, Coconut, Pineapple & Macadamia Cupcakes, for the game.

I took the recipe from "Vegan with a Vengeance", and added pineapple chunks.

I had many tasters, and they all said- "hmmn maybe my favourite ever"..

These were SO good.

I used a vegan buttercream coconut milk frosting- ugh a wee little bit of hydrogenation, but tasty!

They were made, in part with coconut cream, desicated coconut, grated carrot, pineapple juice, pineapple chunks & crushed macadamia nuts- woah mamma! :)

I only had time to do a half-arse decoration job- paper..

Anyhoo, they won, and the cupcakes were de-lish..

Almost raspberry blackout cupcakes

2006-09-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I baked.
I baked with zeal and I baked with joy.

I made "VWAV" infamous raspberry blackout cake- with a few changes:
Apple juice concentrate instead of sugar, and strawberry jam, because I didn't have raspberry- oh and some prune puree, because I don't know why!!?

After seeing cake after beautiful cake- of the chocolate variety on flickr, I had a keen hankering for some good ol' chocolate cake.
Truth be told, I've always sucked at making chocolate cake, I'm not sure what it is, maybe because I'm not one of those 'chocolate people'.

It must have been that pesky habit of mine- recipe tweaking!:

As the cupcakes came out ok yummy.. just not as sensational as I imagined this cake should be..

But the big bad cake critic who is my husband gave them the thumbs up- even without frosting (!!?) as did my friends little family-

Her 3 year old son, gave me a big chocolate toothed grin, as he mumbled

"I like this"

The era of frosting is over..
I was going to make a combination frosting: ganache/buttercream..

As I reached for the partially hydrogenated vegetable spread, all the articles about the link between, hydrogenated fats and heart disease, flooded into my half baked brain..
They are believed to potentially increase ones chance of heart disease by 85%!!
So, no more buttercream for me.
And I wonder about the idealism of veganism- good for the environment, good for the animals.. just maybe I can't have my cupcake frosted, and eat it too..

The lady has not been fattened sufficiently..

2006-08-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

My inner cupcake has been a little down lately, and thus, 'Hey there cupcake!' posts, have been few and far between...

I've been patiently waiting for my inner cupcake to chirp up a bit- and start cranking out the cupcakes again.. but it's now been, I don't even know how many weeks, and still no cakes!

My little cupcake (and thus 'Hey there cupcake!') is going on a holiday..

There will be baking, but just not as much as before..

I was trying to bake at least once a week- but I think it just wore my little cupcake out..

I'm so chuffed, not to mention surprised, at how many of you sweeties check in on this blog- AND, from all corners of the globe to boot!

Please do keep coming on over, to see what's cooking in my kitchen, and leaving comments (it's good to hear from you)..

You can check in at my flickr account for updates- or head right back here, for new cupcakes- as they come, hot from the oven..

Citrus Almond Cupcakes with Zabaglione

2006-07-13T16:19:00.000-07:00

Citrus Almond Cupcakes with Zabaglione

2006-07-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

These were made for the Italia v. France world cup final.

No pretty picture with this one.

As you have to eat zabaglione right away, this shot is the best I got- because, you know, I couldn't be bothered for anything more at 4am..

Getting UP at 3:30am just to make the zabaglione was plenty effort enough!

My father has a small hobby farm.

On it he has 4 chickens, who are ridiculously well looked after- I mean, my little Nonna feeds them better than she feeds herself..

And they are asked nothing more, than to peck about the yard all day.

SO, althought vegan, I do not have an issue with eating their eggs.

That said I was all out on sunday afternoon, so went all out vegan with my cupcakes.

(haha, I got some later on- just in time for the zabaglione though!)

I had found a yummy Italian chestnut cake recipe- but discovered my chestnuts had gone mouldy already!! :(

So I used VWAV again, and made a cupcake, loosely based on the citrus rum syrup cake.

Basically lot's of almond meal, chopped almond slivers, citrus peel, and orange juice..

(I thought the flavours would go nicely with the zabaglione)

The cakes had a yummy taste, but were extremely dense.

They did not keep well at all - read:became rock like, by the next day.

Making zabaglione at 3:30am, all the while, trying to be quite, so as not to wake the non-soccer enthusiast- well, it was rather difficult.

I was again disappointed by the supposed Italian culinary bible "Silver Spoon", as although followed to the letter, the zabaglione had far too much marsala..

STILL-

The cakes did taste yummy with the zabaglione.

The flavours worked quite nicely together, and I was glad for the change-
A frostingless cupcake (my husband insists, they were therefore actually muffins) ..

At least Italia fared better than my cupcakes.

I guess you win some, lose some.

Soc-a-roos Soc-Soc-a-roos

2006-06-27T23:25:00.000-07:00

Sono italo-australiana.

Australia has not been in the World Cup (in my life time), and so, I've always cheered on the Azzurris.

This year, and whaddaya know-
Australia qualifies, makes it out of the first pool, and meets Italy at the quarter-final entry game.

And so, I baked cupcakes.

Blue for the Azzurris, and green & gold for the Socceroos.

My cupcake prediction was right on the money.

I made an even amount of batter, yet the Azzurri batter, yielded just one more cupcake than the Socceroos.

1:0

The Azzurri cupcakes used a sicilian cake recipe I found, and altered.

They were orange & almond cupcakes with orange buttercream frosting.

I basically followed VWaV's "Lemon Gems" cake recipe-

Substituting orange juice & rind, for lemon.

I also substituted some of the plain flour, with almond meal, and added some almond essence.

The canola oil was halved and compensated for, by the addition of apple sauce, and the sugar was substituted with apple juice concentrate & maple syrup.

I also added one egg into the mix (while VWaV recipes never use eggs).

The Australian Socceroos cupcakes were virtually the same, except they adhered to the lemony rules of the "Lemon Gems", and were finished with lemon buttercream frosting.

Their lemony-ness AND Australian-ness was heightened by the addition, of the Australian native herb- Lemon myrtle.

Last night, at 1am, while watching the game live, I appropriately ate 1/2 an Azzuri, and 1/2 a Socceroo.

They were deliciously light and fluffy, and infact the perfect midnight snack, as they weren't too flavourful, heavy or sweet- just right!

As fate would have it, it was my closet-crush of days gone by, scored the winning goal- Mr Francesco Totti..

A win for me either way, but still, I can't help wishing the Socceroos had won..

Carrot, Macadamia & Coconut Cupcakes

2006-06-22T16:17:00.000-07:00

I wanted something a little different this week, as I pondered my cupcake options.

Maybe it's not true, but sometimes it feels like everything is only ever, a variation of chocolate or vanilla cake.

So, I went again, to "Vegan with a Vengeance", and pulled out Isas' Carrot, Macadamia, Ginger & Coconut Cake recipe.

I was excited to use the preserved ginger gummy bears (yes gummy bears!!) I was given, but was very sad to discover, they contained gelatine :(

So, out went the ginger, the sugar (hello apple juice concentrate), and some of the canola oil (hello applesauce)..

I still had a small amount of delicious Hawaiian macadamia nuts left, and happily used them..

For the frosting, I made the usual buttercream frosting, adding some vanilla & coconut essence.

The cupcakes once frosted, were topped with some dessicated coconut.

These were DELICIOUS..

I seem to say that a lot. But really, they were.

Ever since I nixed the sugar, my husbands sweet glee has lessened..

He grew up, in the good ol' sweet tooth American way, and he likes his sugar.

Now he eats 1 or 2 cupcakes, before it was as many as I baked.

That aside, he said he liked these.

My Mum gave them 4 stars, and my therapist said they were "dee-lish-ous" (yes I eat cupcakes with my therapist)..

So, I think these will become one of my staples.

I think I'll stick to making them, sans ginger though.

YUM YUM YUM

Coconut Cupcakes with Rosewater Frosting

2006-06-09T18:55:00.000-07:00

This past Wednesday, it was my Mum's birthday.

As well as cooking the birthday dinner, I was asked to bake cupcakes.

She wanted something yummy & pink.

Considering she was a big fan of the almond meal cupcakes w/ rosewater frosting, and she has a love of coconut, I decided to make:

Coconut Cupcakes with Rosewater Frosting

I'm also eagre of course to try out ever more recipes from VWAV..

So, for the base, I made the coconut cake, substituting apple juice concentrate for the sugar, and apple sauce for a small portion of the canola oil.

I made my usual 'buttercream' frosting, using partially hydrogenated margarine and confectioners sugar, but used coconut milk instead of soy milk.

I flavoured the frosting with rosewater, and used beet juice to colour it.

I made a regular batch, and it yielded 11 cupcakes- oh how I should have made more! (or maybe not..)

At the party, the ladies and I quickly consumed one.. and then another.. and probably would another, except there wasn't enough, and it was already about midnight..

These were truly delicious, and I will definitely make them again-

Perhaps with a different frosting to mix it up a bit..

2006-06-05T15:11:00.000-07:00

Vegan Fauxtess Cupcakes

2006-06-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to find a copy of "Vegan with a Vengence" in one of my favourite book stores, 2nd hand section, last week..

Of course, I bought it right away!

I have long been eyeing off other net goers photos, of VWA's take on the American classic- Hostess Cupcakes..

Although it's going to be a big cupcake week, it's been so long since I last baked cupcakes, and I just couldn't wait any longer..

To cut down on the fat, I replaced the vast majority of canola oil, with prune puree.

I also subsituted the small amount of sugar, with apple juice concentrate.

Sadly the cakes came out rather rubbery, and lacking any real flavour or body :(

(I blame the least loveable ingredient- prune puree)

The fluffy white vanilla filling though (definitely not low fat), made with vegetable shortening, and margarine, was delicious.

I decided to make really big filling holes in the cupcakes, to try to balance out the blandness of the cakes.

The cupcakes were then dipped in a dark chocolate and soy milk ganache.

The traditional topping, is a squiggle of royal icing, however I didn't have soy milk powder, so my icing came out an unappetizing beige.

I decided to forgo the signature squiggle, and top with yet more fluffy white filling!

I just sampled 1/2 a complete and cooled cupcake-

Can you say: YUM!

Rhubarb Cupcakes

2006-05-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

Rhubarb Cupcakes

2006-05-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago my mother went to a BIG farmers market, and bought up BIG..

She has been struggling to use up all the beautiful produce, before it spoils..

Enter a spare bunch of rhubarb, delivered into my hot little hands..

Crumble or buckle you say?-

Hell no, it's cupcakes all the way :)

This ambitious gamble, turned out very well indeed.
I found a recipe on the net, for a rhubarb cake, which already used apple sauce..

I adjusted the rest accordingly, substituting apple juice concentrate for sugar & canola oil for butter ..

Hot from the oven, the cakes, although meeting the toothpick test-seemed moist to the point of- under done..
Today however, they are dense, moist as can be and delicious.

I made a simple vanilla buttercream frosting.
Sprinkled desicated coconut on top.

Made a rhubarb syrup with: stewed rhubarb, confectioners sugar & soy milk;

And lightly decorated the frosting with it..

A really delicious dessert.

The flavours are subtle, but together- they slowly creep up on you, until in one exctasy filled mouthful, you cry- mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmn

Apple & Dried Fruit Cupcakes with Orange & Cinnamon Buttercream

2006-05-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

Apple & Dried Fruit Cupcakes with Orange & Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

2006-05-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Melika, from Flickr sent me some chick peeps in the mail yesterday..

Delighted by their sunshine yellow appearance, I started scheming up potential cupcake ideas..

Sadly (still on the natural sweetener kick) I only had apple juice concentrate.

I didn't think marshmallow would be a good buddy with apple, so put the peeps away for another day..

Friends of apples:

*cinnamon *pear *rhubarb *raisins *orange peel *oats *ginger

SO-

Raisins & dried orange peel, pre-soaked in hot water & maple syrup, stirred through an apple batter.

The batter was given a slight apple edge, with the use of the juice concentrate (instead of sugar) and apple sauce (to lower the fat content).

The cakes had a nice texture, but could have been a little more moist (maybe more apple sauce?)..

The frosting used confectioners sugar and partially hydrogenated margarine.

In place of milk, I used orange juice, and added some orange essence for an extra boost.

I also sprinkled in some cinnamon, and a dash of vanilla essence.

All in all- delicious!

My sampler mother said they were the best so far..
My non fruity-loving husband, said they were good, but not his thing..

A real nice autumnal cupcake :)

Scandinavian Apple Chai Cupcakes

2006-05-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

Blue Birthday Boy Cupcakes

2006-05-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

Last week my brother flew in, from out of state, for a conference.

The week before was his birthday, and the plan was that our family, would celebrate his birthday, with dinner out.

As it turned out, my brother wasn't feeling too good, so we got take-out, but a birthday boy, is a birthday boy- so of course I made cupcakes..

As it happened, my dear friends partner, also celebrated his birthday that week-
And I was visiting with them the following day-
So cupcakes for 2 birthday boys..

Again I went with all natural sweeteners-
This time apple juice concentrate- I am in love!

The plan was a simple & basic vanilla on vanilla, with a little almond meal thrown in there..

To cut down the fat, I also used some apple sauce..

With the apple juice concentrate & sauce, the cakes took on an interesting apple-ish taste..

They were yummy- but not vanilla on vanilla.

The following day, I made a chai tea frosting, to use instead of the vanilla.

It used:

darjling tea, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and a small dollop of honey.

OH BOY! - heaven in a mouthful.

Teamed with the apple flavour of the cakes- is was divine.

Birthday boy #2 - C, joked that I didn't need to go off to NYC to study baking, I was all ready to open my shop!

In fact, a "Sallys Country Kitchen" is already operating down the road, and C thinks it's time to claim ownership! :)

Yummy Yummy Yummy!
I will definitely be making apple chai cupcakes again! :)

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

2006-04-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

I found some all natural, egg free, mini ice-cream cones, at my local supermarket the other week..

I decided I should try out the uber cute ice-cream cone cupcakes, that I've seen showing their cute faces about the web lately..

Simple and trusty magnolia vanilla cupcake base, with a twist..

No dairy. No hydrogenated fat. Low fat. No refined sugar.

So instead- canola non-hydrogenated spread, apple sauce, barley malt syrup & maple syrup..

Topped with a simple and not so saintly, good ol' vanilla buttercream frosting:

Partially hydrogenated vegetable spread & confectioners sugar..

If I'm eating ice-cream cones- which I almost never do- at least give it to me with ice-cream..

There is nothing worse, than a less than crisp ice-cream cone..
I found by pouring the batter straight into the cones for baking, it sogged them out a little..

And I re-discovered, that unless they're waffle cones, ice-cream cones aren't very nice to begin with..

SO-

Hubby and I ended up pulling the cupcakes out of the cones :)

Probably a Zero out of ten!

Retrospective look at a tea party..

2006-04-09T10:43:00.000-07:00

There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea. ~Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

On the 8th of April I had a tea party, for my succulent and foodie friends.

The tea party was organised as a way of giving thanks, and also revealing my little secret hatchling of a plan.

The plan is to go here, and study their chef training program.

The thanks given, was because of my belief, that without the succulents and foodies, it would have taken me a lot longer to discover my path..

So, the scene set, all I had to do was bake according to my envisaged future..

There was a smorgasboard of delectable goodies, but as this is a cupcake blog, I'll stick to talking cupcakes..

Vanilla & lemon zest cupcakes, dolloped with a serve of lemon curd..

These were everyones favourite.

The tartness of the curd, coupled with the subtle sweetness of the cake- divine! :)

The food was made with natural sweeteners, no hydrogenated fats and no dairy..

Except of course the frosting, which was made from partially hydrogenated margarine & confectioners sugar..

Tea Party cntd.

2006-04-09T10:41:00.000-07:00

Almond meal cupcakes with rosewater frosting, sprinkled with pistachios..

These were yummy too-

The frosting tasted like those old school musk stick lollies..

Graham Cracker Cupcakes take 2...

2006-03-30T11:44:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what happened this week-

I just seemed to end up in the kitchen, and before I knew it, fresh baked 'graham cracker' cupcakes, sat on the counter..

I swear I never decided on baking them..

Coming home last night, from dinner at my Dads, cakes (which I chickened out, on bringing in for dessert) sat on the back seat..

It was past midnight, and I was tired and snacky..

This time I used 1/2 white sugar, and the remaining 1/2 was mostly maple syrup, with a little honey in there too..

I liked the extra body of flavour, this gave the cake.

As it's autumn here, the cakes would be perfect with stewed pears or apples (which are now in abundance)..
And as my Dad passed on some giant organic apples from his farm, I just might do that for dessert tonight..

The rest of the cupcakes are destined for K's work, where they'll be topped with marshmallows and chocolates- for the complete smores experience..

I wanted to send some to my brother & his girlfriend, out of state- marshmallows and chocolates included, for self assembly..

But alas, just to send 2 regulars, & 2 minis is $6.80!

These 'graham cracker' cupcakes are definately a good thing!

Vegan & Sugar Free Chocolate & Vanilla Cupcakes

2006-03-21T18:11:00.000-08:00

I used Fran Costigan's great book: "Great, Good Desserts, Naturally!" for inspiration.

I began by adapting her "Chocolate Cake to Live for" recipe..

I wanted a vegan red velvet cake. I know you can buy vegan red food colouring, but I wanted to try an au natural alternative- with the much touted, beet(root) juice..

I substituted 1/2 the soy milk, with beet juice.

The tops of the cupcakes turned a nice raspberry brown colour, but the cake, was plain ol' brown..

For the cake I used barley malt syrup and maple syrup as sweeteners.

The cake was ok, but not the best.

The texture was great, especially for a dairy & egg free cake, but overall it was not chocolatey enough for my liking.

I attempted Frans basic tofu buttercream frosting.

I should have followed it to the letter-

Who the hell did I think I was, experimenting on this front!?

I paid dearly.

The results were interesting, and made me realise I could make my own yummy vegan fruit jello cups now..
But so far as frosting- Not even close..

So to redeem the cakes, I fell back on the usual vanilla buttercream.

The photo is terrible because it was all I could manage, in between being frosted, and whisked off with K, to his work.

No more sugar

2006-03-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

I never had much refined sugar in my diet..

Largely because, in Australia, being vegan, heavily restricts your consumption of processed & store bought foods.

So when I started to take this lil' personal challenge of mine, and make a batch of cupcakes every week- who knew the effect it would have..

Headaches, bad skin, lethargy

I thought I was morphing into Dr Sally a little too readily, and perhaps indeed, the changes could be attributed to something altogether.

So some weeks I didn't eat any cupcakes-

The symptoms disappeared, only to reappear again, with cupcake consumption.

Verdict # 2, refined sugar is pure evil!

So- I am making a conscious effort to eliminate the refined and added sugar from my diet.

Cupcakes, being the most logical target, were the first on the chopping block.

Although I've done all natural sweetener baking before, it became a new challenge when I contemplated frosting without sugar!!!

Above are my first results..

2006-03-16T16:28:00.001-08:00

Mocha Choca Cupcakes

2006-03-16T16:28:00.000-08:00

Before sending off the uber-package to my sister-in-law (birthday cupcake recipe included)-

I thought I should at least test run, the changes I made to the last recipe..

You can read below for the results of that one!

My findings are, that chilli in cupcakes is pure evil.

The new recipe used 1/2 the chilli than the former, and this time, I only used 3/4 of that amount = a lot less chilli!

Taste it less? NO! Less heat? NO!

Go figure.

This time as well, the coffee was really strong in the resulting cake- ???

So with a batch of chocolatey coffee cupcakes on my hands, I decided to change plans, and deviate from the intended mint frosting..

Seeing as St Pat's day is approaching, I thought hmmmn- irish coffee cream cupcake

Into basic buttercream frosting goes a slosh of irish cream..

I frosted a mini, took a bite, uck..

I went to bed, very depressed at the thought of throwing out a whole batch of cupcakes..

This afternoon, thinking I should at least take some nice photos of the minis, prepared to frost them..

Taking the buttercream frosting:

Fresh brewed coffee- slosh..

Taste. This isn't looking too hopeful..

Vanilla extract- slosh..

Taste. A little better, but I'm still not confident.

Frosted said minis, and whaddya know-

Not fantastic, but a remarked improvement from yesterday..

Instead of choc mint cupcakes, these mischievous minis turned into mocha chocas..

They have a mind of their own.

Or is it the leprechauns at play?

The verdict is in (smores update)

2006-03-13T21:21:00.000-08:00

Perhaps creating a cupcake for K, was not the most thoughtful gift idea..

He has recently lost a whopping 20+ pounds..

And too, I don't know where my brain was at, when I decided to double the batch, so he could take some extras into work- I baked on Friday!

So over the weekend, there the three of us were:
K, the cupcakes, and I..

Needless to say, now Monday, there are not too many left!

BUT-

It was his un-birthday after all, and he really, really, really loved em'!

I also got the resounding thumbs up, in regard to there smore-ness..

He even had me bring a couple over for his friends, when we went to their house on Saturday night..

SO-

A great success!

K and I agree, the cake would be lovely in a bundt pan or something, as a simple un-adorned tea cake..

Smore Cupcakes

2006-03-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

It's my husbands birthday today..

Well, he loathes birthdays, especially his own, so I have started a tradition-

The un-birthday..

This morning I even draped a "Happy Un-Birthday" banner up.

K is American, and never tires of espousing the glories of American food..

We're talking the so sweet your teeth hurt, and so full of fat your thighs wobble just looking at it- kind of food..

Smores are a favourite.

Here in Australia, us deprived people, don't have graham crackers, but being his un-birthday and all, I thought I should attempt the smore cupcake.

And oooh how pretty they turned out! :)

In place of graham crackers, I used Mcvites digestives-

With an added Tbs of honey, and cinnamon sprinkled til fragrant, to the mix to compensate..

For the cake- I replaced 1/2 the ordinary flour with crushed 'graham crackers'..

(I just played with my favourite magnolia vanilla recipe)

I'm a vegan, so won't go near marshmallows or chocolate..

(Yes, I occasionally eat honey)

I did have a plain mini cake however, and it was d e l i c i o u s!

I only had 3 eggs left, the recipe calls for 4-

(And yes, vegan watchers, I eat eggs laid by my Dads 4 very happy chickens)

Although moist and a good texture, the cakes would be even better with the 4..

I passed on one with the whole she-bang (infact the one pictured), to my mum..

She has never had a graham cracker, let alone a smore, but she thought they were t a s t y!

The real test is tonight, when K gets home..

The topping (for this mini) is simply one giant marshmallow, which I set under the broiler..

Topped with 'graham cracker' crumbs, and a drizzling of melted milk chocolate.

Please sir, can I have s'more!

Annie-Mae Cupcakes

2006-03-05T09:41:00.000-08:00

This week I was armed with a challenge-

To make a "Summer of the Goddess" * inspired cupcake.

*Summer of the Goddess- U.S summer of 2001, which was largely spent with my SIL: Miss Annie-Mae.

There were Prince concerts, UDF hot-fudge-brownie-sundaes, topless sunbaking, Lions-den visits and lot's, lot's more..

Miss Annie-Mae's Birthday is approaching, and I thought, although I couldn't make the cupcakes for her (as we're thousands of miles apart) I could at least make them here, and send her the recipe.

My agenda transformed along the way, and ended up being about designing a cupcake that epitomised it's namesake: Annie-Mae..

Sweet, surprising, sensual, fun, and a little wicked..

I came up with a chocolate chilli cupcake base, with white-chocolate buttercream frosting..

I wanted to inject a raspberry curd filling too- but raspberries are, exspensive as heck here!

I almost killed myself with an innocent enough looking mini-

Must have had some concentrated chilli- 2 days later and my throat still hurts!!

I couldn't breathe without gasping for about 2 hours!

Straight off their cooling trays, with some warm frosting (yes, I'm vegan, but I am dedicated to my art heh) they were delicious!!!

Minus the chilli, this will be my new chocolate cake recipe- oh the texture!!!!

None of my usual testers like chocolate cake- ok, they detest it, so we had to drop the rest of, at K's work.
When he warned them they were spicey, even though there were many "Yeah right!?"s, I think they were a little scared!

So, back to the drawing board-

I think I'll keep the cake- 1/2 the chilli content, so you just get a surprising warming of the mouth..

Definately want a filling, and want to change the frosting..

Next week it's smores cupcakes for my husband K's birthday...

The good, the bad, and the ugly..

2006-03-01T10:01:00.000-08:00

The banana cupcakes were a disaster!
Wanting to use all the bananas- I put in all 4, instead of the prescribed 2..
Yar, yar, that old 'too much of a good thing', again coming back to haunt me.
Straight out of the oven & slathered with vanilla buttercream frosting-they were incredibley tasty!!..
The next day on the other hand- muh, just like eating baked mashed banana- mmmmmn!

But you gotta take the good with the bad, and the good, is that K & I just got our very own cannon 350D- oh yeah baby!

So although I got crappy cupcakes, I can at least take pretty pictures of them now..

Cupcake Earrings

2006-02-27T11:45:00.000-08:00

Here are some little cupcake earring proto-types I made up a couple of months ago..

I envisage a whole cupcakery of earrings-

Sprinkles, cherries, chocolate buttercream etc..

Of course pancake meow does her own lovely version of these, hers even smell!

I prefer the look of polymer clay though.

All cupcakes, all the time

2006-02-27T10:45:00.000-08:00

I was so chuffed to see a photo of my key lime pie cupcakes on the delightful All Cupcakes, All the time blog..

The girls really know their stuff:

I visit the blog pretty much every day, and oggle longingly at the sumptious looking cupcakes!

Spread the cupcake love, I say!

I'm back into the test kitchen this afternoon, to make use of some sad looking bananas-

Oh the possibilities!

Key Lime Taste Test

2006-02-23T18:41:00.000-08:00

Taste testers M & C utterly enjoyed the key limes.

Apparently C is a total sucker for anything lime, as well as all things coconut- so, you can imagine his delight!

Lil A hasn't yet experienced sweet glee- so, like most things sweet, declined, even a taste.

So complete was M & C's enjoyment of the cupcakes-

They drove me all the way back (30 minutes drive) to my house!

Key lime pie cupcakes

2006-02-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

Woweeee

I decided to go a little crazy (and make use of the left over limes we bought for our coronas) and experiment..

The key lime pie cupcake was born.

I've seen various people around the net mention these, but I decided to wing the recipe myself.

I love lime, but the adage- 'Too much of a good thing' definately applies with lime..

SO-

-Old faithful Magnolia vanilla cupcake base

-A batch of lime curd

-A batch of vanilla buttercream tinted a pretty, shade of pale lime

-Tonnes of tiny meringue rosettes, set under the broiler.

Last night, in fits of exctasy, I moaned- 'This is the best cupcake I've ever eaten!'..

The lime curd popped out in a joyful, gooey explosion.

The vanilla was the perfect base choice, as it's 'plain-ness' balanced out the flavour-full curd, and it's tart tang as well.

For me- the buttercream was really important in the taste and texture of the cupcake though..

Admittedly, the cakes would even be tasty without the meringue topping- but it does look pretty, and fulfil the key lime pie criteria..

Transferring the rosettes from baking paper to cupcake top, was VERY difficult though..

As desired, the meringue was still goeey in side, the force of removing the rosettes, often made the edges crumble in- ruining the pretty rosette structure..

Perhaps with a culinary blow torch, if the meringue compleletey covered the buttercream- I could alievate these problems..

Overall- delicious!

Cupcake tester J is not a lime person, still she rather enjoyed the experience..

Coconut Cupcakes

2006-02-14T23:13:00.000-08:00

Baked these coconut cupcakes from Martha's website.
'Her' description lead me to believe they would be moist and lovely- I found them quite dry, but tasty, yes.

Flavour would be improved by using a titch less almond essence, as it is very strong and often overpowering.
Also, perhaps for a more coconutty taste, a small dash of coconut essence would help.
I only put about 1/2 the suggested coconut in- for texture, I liked it this way, but they weren't very coconutty.

I made my usual vanilla buttercream frosting, and then also a batch with no vanilla, but a heavy powdering of cocoa, and a drop of choc-rasberry essence.

Pistachio Choc-Chip Cupcakes with Vanilla Rose Buttercream Frosting

2006-02-14T14:51:00.000-08:00

K was pestering me to get more creative with cupcake innovation.

I don't think he understood what he was unleashing!

I just used the Magnolia Vanilla on Vanilla recipe.
I put in 1 cup of ground pistachios, reducing the combined flours by 1 cup.

The frosting simply had a small dash of rose water added to the traditional recipe, tinted pink.

At first bite, I thought- ack, what was I thinking!?
Then, as I chewed on, they grew on me considerabley.
Still, not my favourite.

I don't like the chocolate, but without it, as 52 Cupcakes said- the cake would lack flavour and real body.
Also as K said, the cake was quite dry.

I like the frosting- interesting twist, but as rose water usually does- it leaves one with a dry mouth= bad!..

Mini Magnolias

2006-02-05T19:52:00.000-08:00

Again, for M's party, I baked a batch of magnolia vanilla on vanilla, this time using a mini cupcake pan.

It was the last of the butter- so I didn't use quite as much for both the cake or frosting.
Hence they were both a little drier- and not as good.
BUT-
What an old faithful vanilla on vanilla is.
Everyone was well impressed and enjoyed them.
(Except K, the lack of butter, made them apparently taste like a different cupcake altogether for him)

Magnolia Vanilla Cupcakes Pt 2

2006-01-31T21:08:00.000-08:00

Day 2 of cupcake trial, and the ol' Magnolia's are definately growing on me..

I'm really enjoying their subtle flavouring, and with sprinkles, they are the best..

K tried the ol' cupcake suprise tonight, and said it was heaven in a mouthful (well 3- that's all it took!)

Must expand this idea some more.

Magnolia Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

2006-01-31T11:27:00.000-08:00

Magnolia Bakery recipe.

I only used 3/4 of the stated sugar quantity- and they turned out plenty sweet once the frosting was on.

The cake was nice and fluffy- good texture, density and moistness.

Frosting was luscious and creamy.

VERY reminiscent of childhood birthday parties.

For a vanilla on vanilla cupcake- these are good, but my personal preference is for something more flavoursome.