Wednesday 31 August 2011

Week 22-Veggies make it into the Cupcakes:)

Shhhh don't tell my husband or my kids, but veggies made it into the cupcakes this week. yahooo. After my Dad asked if I would make the famous (in our house) chickpea cookies to take to his old work. I had to throw in a batch up cupcakes. I make them every week anyways, it was perfect to have a purpose and a place for the cupcakes to go. I went threw a lot of recipes, and decided on the one that had beet puree in the filing and squash in the cupcake. Raspberry lemon cupcakes. I added a low fat cream cheese icing to the top. Is cream cheese icing ever low fat though??? Anyways, I only took a little nibble off of the one I gave to my husband for trial. They were pretty good. I have never put filling in cupcakes before. It recommended to put half the cupcake batter in the cup, then a dot of filing, then the rest of the batter on top. I did this, but would highly recommend putting much more filing in the middle. I was worried it would ooze everywhere and make a crazy mess while cooking. Quite the contrary. Now I am left with beet/raspberry filing in my fridge. What to do with it? Here is a pic, last minute taking on my Dad's itouch.

Sunday 28 August 2011

Week 21-Fresh Fruit hits the stands, and my cupcakes!

Wednesday, August 24th. The peaches on my counter are starting to attract a few fruit flies. I hate them, and instantly decide the peaches must be used today. (Note: there is aprox 8-10 peaches) I am home alone with the kids today. I don't see my little toddlers eating 4 peaches each, unless I want to clean up a nasty mess later. No comments necessary.

Peach cupcakes is the solution. Time to branch out and find a new recipe. I find a recipe that I tweak a little and will add a cream cheese icing too. The recipe is similar to a pound cake, but turns out to be a lovely moist cupcake. Diced fresh fruit is soooo delicious in the cake. I much prefer this over frozen fruit. I also love the way the cupcakes turnout in the baking stone. So much better than a conventional baking cups. Just seems they never burn or dry out. I pick my typical cream cheese icing but I add more butter to the recipe. Next time I may infuse peaches/lemon/zest of some kind into the icing. I sent the majority of the cupcakes with Tyson to work. Pictures, hmmmm I seem to need a reminder on that.

I am approaching my halfway mark. So exciting and still going strong. Any suggestions on a big AMAZING halfway mark cupcake????????

WEEK 20- I'll admit it, I'm a chocoholic.

This week my husband was requesting Chocolate. Huh, that's funny, he requests chocolate every week. No surprise. Since, I was making the cupcakes on Aug. 18th (thurs) my deadline day for the week. I checked the cupboards and low and behold, I have the ingredients for chocolate chocolate. I take this last minute challenge of the challenge to the test because I have not yet perfected my chocolate icing. I decide to follow my chocolate icing recipe that I have labeled 'perfect chocolate icing' in the recipe book. This is not always the case for this recipe. Or maybe I have never followed it perfectly. So I did this night of Aug. 18th. Go figure, the icing comes out perfectly (in my eyes) and voila. I keep the recipe.
I was on my way to book club meeting. Perfect, another opportunity to get the cupcakes out of the house. Not so great for my hubby, who is sulking before I am even finished baking. He is looking over at me, asking for a taste every two seconds. I let him lick the finished bowl and scoop. I also give him a mile high piled cupcake with icing. I think this was satisfying until he learns i will be giving all of the cupcakes away. We are better for it. So I hope they were yummy, I didn't try. I heard from two others that they were. I forgot to take a picture. Silly me. The chocolate swirl seemed to come out so lovely too. Perfectly sitting on top of the little cupcake.
Side note: I brought the cupcakes to a restaurant (where our book club was meeting), not the best idea to bring a dessert to a restaurant, where they want to serve you dessert. Opps sorry.

August 6th Chocolate meets Shark attack!

I know, I know, again. Yes, I did it again. I made chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing. I have the chocolate cupcake recipe that myself and others seem to love and the icing seems to be spot on lately. According to users;)
I will take a break from them, unless requested. It only took this long to perfect and make sure. Huge sigh. Now on to another perfection recipe.
This week was special though. I made cupcakes for a family party. Thank goodness for parties. It gives the cupcakes a purpose and a place for them to go, other than my belly! I don't want to give a true meaning the the phrase 'muffin top'. (Don't know what that is, look it up. It will be in the dictionary next to: overflowing belly, and cupcakes are my best friend. Probably with my picture beside it at week 52 of cupcakes:)
Anywho here are pics. They were super easy and fun to make. Tinted the icing blue. Made the shark fins 2 days ahead of time by melting blue baking chocolate and using an outline I drew of the fin. Refer back to the butterfly making in May for technique. The sand is icing rolled in graham cracker crumbs. I loved that I could just swish on the icing for waves and didn't have to get the tips and bags out this week. Easy.  P.S. Although I used the same icing recipe, it was a bit more fluffy and runny. I think when the butter is too warm it does this. Icing seems to be best when it is a little chunky or slightly cooled. TIP: If butter is room temp and soft. I put it in the freezer while I am making the cupcakes. Aprox 10min. It then seems to be perfect for the icing making.



August 3rd, Cupcakes turns muffins

Soooo we had a special visitor today at our house. Let's just say mum's the word on who the visitor was, but it was a nerve racking, interview like visitor. Sooooo anyone that knows me. When I have visitors, (or when I'm nervous for that matter) I bake:) I have a comfort food I bake for these occasions. Banana Chocolate Chip muffins. I make them for people when they've had a baby, when people are sick, when someone dies, or when I am nervous. They are my go-to all occasion muffins. Since I have played with a few muffin recipes as my cupcakes. I decided that they would fit into my cupcake challenge. I haven't made them yet this challenge. So my husband and I ate 2 each, the visitor, 0. Ha, go figure. So This week was Banana Chocolate chip. Classic and wonderful. Love it!

Wednesday 3 August 2011

July 26th, Chocolate Chip cookie Cupcakes


Let's just say mmmmmmm. Thanks to my sister in law, Glory for this recipe. Which I think came from Martha Stewart herself before that. I was thankful for a new recipe to try, also a little inspiration. First I had to make the chocolate chip cookie dough. Between you and me, I couldn't resist to pop a few of these cookies into the oven, just to see how they would taste on their own. Super yummy cookies on their own too! I made a few to decorate the tops of the cookies. Then I made the icing. Same icing as last week. White butter cream icing. I will say, that really soft, almost warm butter made the icing a little too soft/creamy. It worked for these cupcakes, but I wouldn't like it for a swirl top vanilla or chocolate cupcake. A few times before I used room temp butter, that I had put in the freezer for about 10min prior to whipping and it worked beautifully. Great tip!!! I refrigerated the dough and the icing overnight. Made the batter in the morning and baked them up. Oh assembly. Aprox 1tbs of cookie dough on the bottom of the cupcake liner, then aprox 2tbs of cupcake batter on top of that. Bake aprox 20min. Cool and then top with icing and a decoration cookie/half cookie.
These were delicious, I tasted one when they were just made and I loved it. I didn't have the chance to taste another because they were eaten so fast. I didn't hear anything negative about these cupcakes and will make them again. Actually the cookie dough is worth making on it's own. Here is a photo of the recipe used for the cookies. Enjoy:)

Happy Birthday to me cupcakes -July 18th

hmmmmm it's my birthday and what kind of cupcakes do you think i would make???? That's right, chocolate. Ha are we getting sick of chocolate yet? Nope! I made a new chocolate recipe though. Chocolate cupcakes and white butter cream icing. I seem to have the icing down pat now. I have written out the exact measurements and it seems to be right on each week. I am really happy about that. So I made myself cupcakes on my birthday. My family came over in the evening to enjoy them. Next week, new avenues!