Chocolate cupcake

I just wanted to share something simple and clean.

If you want to make it fancy, you can add some frosting like I previously did. This cake is not sweet, great for people who enjoys the taste of cocoa or people who like the combination of frosting. My recommendation is to have it with a dark espresso -- no milk and sugar.

Alright, less talk.

Timeline: 

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20-25 minutes

Ready time: about an hour

Ingredients: approx. 12 servings

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup cocoa powder

a pinch of salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk

1/2 cup half and half cream

1. Preheat the oven at 350°F. 

2. In a mixer, blend the vegetable oil with sugar.

3. Meanwhile, sift the cocoa powder, and mix with the all-purpose flour, salt and baking powder. 

4. Add the eggs to the vegetable oil and sugar mix. When it all looks smooth, add milk, cream and vanilla extract. 

5. Incorporate the dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients at once. When the batter looks smooth, transfer it in a cupcake pan. 

6. Bake it for 20-25 minutes. It is ready when you stick a skewer or toothpick in the cake and it comes out clean. Make sure to tap the bottom of the pan so that the hot air can escape from the cakes, which would prevent them from flattening and shrinking.

7. Let it sit for about half an hour. It is now ready to serve. 

If you want to add frosting, it would be ideal to wait for an hour, so that the cake is completely cooled. 

I decorated it in celebration of Spring, simply click on the image to learn how to do it! 

Good luck and enjoy! 

Spring cupcakes decorations (improvisation)

At last, we can see the green green grass! It is too bad that buds have not bloom yet, but I can already imagine butterflies flapping their wings to the sound of fresh breezes.

I've made cupcakes and I wanted to find a way to use the cream cheese, confetti candies and chocolate chip that I had at home. After thinking through and looking around, I came up with the idea of using them as decorations, in addition to using whatever I have at home. I usually don't enjoy frosting much due to the rich buttery texture, but this time, I find that it is pleasurable to the taste buds and palate. I have simply replaced butter with something lighter and healthier!

You will find below two recipes, one for the chocolate decoration and the other one is for the cream cheese frosting. They are both improvised recipes, meaning that I roughly measured everything.

Alright, less talk.

Chocolate butterflies
Timeline:
Preparation time: 2-5 minutes
Cooking time: 3-5 minutes
Ready time: 1 hours

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 tbsp milk
Confetti candies (optional and to your taste)

1. Draw a butterfly on a piece of paper and prepare parchment paper to imprint your decorations.
2. In a bain-marie, melt the chocolate with milk. If you want to get it done quicker, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave. To my experience, bain-marie has a better outcome.
3. Mix and when the chocolate and milk are well blended, transfer the mixture in a plastic sandwich bag. Cut a corner of the bag. Depending on how precise you want to draw, you can adjust the size of the hole.
4. While it is still very warm, draw your butterfly. Put the drawing underneath the parchment paper and squeeze the chocolate on the parchment paper. In order to reduce mistakes, it is better to draw the edges and fill the inside. This process would need some quick hands, as the chocolate becomes less malleable once slightly cooled down. I simply drew the wings and the antennae.
5. Sprinkle some confetti candies while it is still soft. You may press gently to have the confetti engraved in the decorations.
6. Let it sit in the freezer for 45 minutes and it should be ready to decorate.

Cream cheese frosting
Timeline:
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Ready time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
4 tbsp cream cheese
2 tbsp greek yogurt
2 tbsp sugar
tiny splash of vanilla extract

1. In a mixer, blend the cream cheese with greek yogurt.
2. When the dairy products are blended into one another, add the sugar and vanilla extract. Whip until everything looks smooth. It is now ready to serve.

How to decorate? 
1. Make sure that the cupcake is cooled to room temperature. With a spatula, spread the frosting on top of your cupcake.
2. Take the butterfly wings and position them as desired. Add the antenna.
3. Let them sit in the fridge for an hour so that the decorations can settle. They are now ready to serve.

There are many ways of drawing your butterfly wings, here is an alternative of method!

Want to know how to make a bitter-sweet cupcake? Simply click on the image below!

Good luck and enjoy! 

Tiramisu: The Cake of Homeliness and Love

Many of my friends have been asking my recipe for tiramisu. It looks like the secret is not longer one!

Known for it's ability to kick one's moral with its strong coffee flavour, or to soothe people's distress with the suave effect from coffee liqueur,* tiramisu is one of the most appreciated dessert in the world.

Different legends about this delicious treat has been conceived. Among the many that I have heard, my favourite one is the cake of home and love: at a time of war, a wife prepared a treat with mascarpone cheese, coffee and alcohol for her husband before he leaves for service. Prepared in a long rectangular shape, the husband would cut out a piece and eat the cake each day, thinking and missing his wife.

Although I cannot assert the genuineness of the legend, it fundamentally carries the etymological meaning of "Tiramisu," which according to many sources, is translated as "pick me up" in English from Italian. Whether it is a soldier consuming it before its assignment, a customer chugging it as a "ritual" in a café before engaging with a prostitute, or a husband savouring it while missing his wife, this cake strengthens the eater's mental and physical state and builds up the romantic conception of "homeliness." 

Alright, less talk.

Ingredients:
(Coffee mix)
4 tsp instant coffee
10 tbsp hot water
6 tbsp milk/cream
3 tbsp coffee liqueur

(cheese filling)
500 ml whipping cream
8 tbsp sugar
450-500 g mascarpone cheese
6 tbsp cocoa powder
3 tbsp coffee liqueur

600g (1 1/2 bag) Lady fingers

1. Boil water and prepare the coffee. When it is all mixed, let it cool down to room temperature.
2. In a mixer, beat the whipping cream. Add in 4 tbsp of sugar in three separate times. Ideally, the first time when the cream is not whipped. The second time when the cream reaches a thicker consistency and the last time when the whipped cream reaches soft peak. In total, it should take about 6 or 7 minutes at maximum speed to reach the ideal consistency, which is hard peak. Remove it and let it sit in the fridge.

3. Place the mascarpone cheese in the mixer and beat until it becomes creamy. then add in 4 tbsp of sugar. When the sugar is incorporated, add in coffee liqueur. After the coffee is well mixed with the cheese, it is time to add cocoa powder.

4. After mixing well the cocoa powder, add in the whipping cream in 3 separate times. When all is incorporated, it is ready to prepare the cake.
5. For a circle shaped cake, cut 1/4 of each lady fingers to define the edge.

6. Dip one side of each cookie in the cooled-to-room-temperature coffee mix and place the dipped part facing up. This will ensure that the cookie is not too mushy when serving. Make the first stack.

7. Add the mascarpone cheese filling and spread.
8. Repeat step 6-7 as needed for each layer.
9. When you finish all the layers, sprinkle a generous amount of cocoa powder -- for the aesthetic and for the taste.
10. When it is ready, let it sit in the fridge overnight for the alcohol to settle down.

Best serve with a dark espresso without sugar.

Good luck and enjoy!

* Please do not consume alcohol when distressed.

Chewy Matcha Mochi Cake

Can you imagine a chewy, soft and warm texture of a piece of cake? Very, very chewy. So chewy that you wonder whether your teeth are in Dreamland.

I actually got the recipe from another blog and just fell in love with the idea of using Mochiko to replace all purpose flour. Furthermore, having always been a fan of glutinous rice's chewiness, I just told myself "Eureka" when discovering this recipe.

I however have modified the recipe, to suit my own taste as well as people surrounding me; less sweet and less buttery than the original instructions. I have also added one step to make the mochi cake last longer. In a way, this mochi cake tastes quite similar to the Chinese Niangao (年糕). Easy, sweet and yummy!

I was in a rush that day, so I referred to cups instead of weighing the ingredients. This gives 12 matcha mochi cakes.

Alright, less talk. 

Ingredient:
1 1/2 cups glutinous rice flour
1 tsp green tea matcha powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
knob of melted butter

1. In a bowl, sift in matcha powder, baking power, salt and the glutinous rice flour.
2. In a big bowl, mix vegetable oil with sugar. When the sugar is dissolved in the oil, add in the egg and milk.
3. Combine the dry ingredient in the liquid ingredient. Stir well. You may feel that the batter consistency is very thick. Do not worry, it is the thickness that makes it chewy.
4. Leave the batter in the fridge for at least 6 hours, but ideally leave it overnight. This step consist in "activating" the glutinous rice powder, making it last longer and taste chewier after several days. If you cook it right away, the cake will become hard after a day or two (from my own experience).
5. After letting it sit for a few hours or overnight, take it out from the fridge and stir again. You may need to add a bit of milk if it is too thick, but I highly don't recommend it.
6. Preheat the oven at 350°F.
7. Melt a knob of butter and spread it in the cupcake cups or sheets. This will help make it easier to remove from pan or cupcake sheet.
8. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
9. Let it sit for 1 hour. It is best consumed within 4 days of baking it.

Good luck and enjoy!

Cake Pop with Fillings!

The excitement of unboxing a new cookware: the cake pop maker! Actually, the intention of getting the cake pop maker was mainly to make something else, something savoury that you will soon discover! As a test, cake pop is in the menu for today. A simple and adorable recipe that both adults and children will enjoy. For those who are curious, the result of my recipe is a bit like a mini size round shaped Taiyaki! And if you do not want fillings, you can just take this recipe and make regular cake pops, it works as well.

I initially found the idea of cake pop superficial, but overtime, discovering new diets, I concluded that cake pops are actually great due to its small size. To some, a smaller size is bad because they tend to gobble bites down one after another; to others, it allows them to take smaller bites in diminished quantities. It depends of the lifestyle that one adopts. Bigger bites and large quantities are usually the description of a stressful lifestyle, when taste becomes secondary and the need to eat is more prominent. I won't say more about this.

It looks like those cake bites have become trendy because of Sugar Crush Saga, a quite addictive game spreading all over social networks. I do not have any opinion over that, besides the remark that people do not seem to look at where they are standing or sitting when taking the bus or the subway. I sometimes wonder how they do not get motion sickness when the bus is moving (because I do). And when people play, they have the screen so close to their face that it reminds me of my childhood when mom told me not to sit too close to the TV because it would destroy my eyesight (damn you, Pokémon!). It looks like those people don't have their mom to tell them that (because I still do).

Alright, less talk.

Ingredients:
170 g all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
65 g sugar
50 g oil
1 1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

(optional)
red bean paste (or any desired fillings)

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together
2. Add in the egg. The more you whisk, the chewier the cake will be later.
3. Add in the oil, milk and vanilla extract and mix until everything is incorporated.
4. Preheat the cake pop maker. When ready, brush some oil and bake the cakes for 5 to 7 minutes.

** Details: cake pops with fillings, using only one side of the device**
1. You will need two skewers to make it work easily. Plug the cake pop maker.
2. When the cake pop maker indicates that it is ready, brush some oil on the lower surface only and fill each mould to about 1/3. Do not worry if the batter is expanding, but make sure you work quickly enough so that it does not cook fully. The best way to work is to make 5-6 at a time.

3. Add in the desired amount of fillings and pour in the batter to cover the fillings.

4. It takes approximately 2-3 minutes to cook the surface of the batter, so after that lap of time, use the skewer to turn the cakes to 90°, add batter and turn the cooked part to fully cover the newly added batter.
5. It will take 3-4 minutes to cook the cakes, so make sure to flip it from time to time.

6. When it is well browned, it is ready to serve. Repeat the steps to make more!

Good luck and enjoy!

PS: Sorry, someone forgot to take pictures with the inside of the cakes...

Lemon Curd Squares (Improvisation) – fillings only

These lemon curd squares are a result of looking in a cooking book, searching for something not too rich and easy to modify. These squares are a sign of appreciation for the person who borrowed me that book! (And don't expect this to happen again! Ahha! I'm kidding... Well, half.) However, despite all efforts, only the filling was successful. The crust was good but not awesome, which is why it is left out from this recipe. To make it easier, you may use pre-made pie crust.

After preparing the squares, the song “Lemon Tree” by Fool’s Garden came to my mind. It translates the sourness of loneliness, the desire to escape a bland life. The “Lemon Tree” is the picture of nothingness. Yet, the fruit itself represents so much. Its peel makes zest, bringing tastes to life. It’s juice, so sour that it makes our smiles twist. Although one may be alone, I subjectively believe that the lemon makes you feel that you are not so alone, because of its flashy yellow colour, its strange oval shape, its fragrant smell and its torturing yet pleasant taste. Is it wrong to think of this fruit this way?

Alright, less talk! 

Ingredients:

160g sugar

3 tbsp flour

Pinch of salt

2 tsp lemon zest

1 cup lemon juice

5 tbsp heavy cream

5 eggs

Mix everything together, pour the filling on top of the cooked pie crust and bake it for 20 minutes at 325°F. The cooked filling should gently jiggle when pulling out from the oven.

Good luck and enjoy!

Sambuca Beet Cake

I was in search of something nice to the smell and gentle to the look. It turns out that things didn’t go the way I expected. What I mean is that I was hoping that the beets cake would turn red velvet, but it did not at the end. However, the taste was really nice, considering that I have topped it with some liquor. 

Well, let aside the colour failure, I think the taste and the texture of this cake was satisfactory! Plus... Beets are really healthy vegetables, rich in iron, but not everyone likes it. To make it more acceptable to some palates, I understood that adding cocoa and liquor to it would wear off the earthy taste and allow those who are not fond of beets to, hopefully, learn to enjoy it gradually.  

Ingredients:

(cake)

65g granulated sugar

65g butter

3 eggs

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1 small beet

1 cup of milk

300g all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

3 tsp cocoa powder

1/3 cup yogurt

Sambuca con Piacere Liquor ( about 2 tbsp)

(glaze)

1 tsp Cocoa

3 tbsp Milk

1 cup Icing sugar

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. Sift it to obtain a finer texture and to prevent cocoa powder chunks.

2. Preheat the oven at 350°F. Grease the pan of choice, I have personally used the bundt cake pan.

3. In a mixer, blend the granulated sugar with the butter until it becomes fluffy.

4. In a blender, cut the beet into tiny pieces and beat it. Add milk in so that it becomes a juice.

5. In the mixture of butter and sugar, add the eggs and vanilla extract. When everything looks fluffy, add in the beets juice.

6. Add in the combination of dried ingredients indicated in (1). It is better mixing by hand using a spatula. Place it in the greased pan. Bake it for 50 minutes to 1 hour.

7. When retrieving the cake out of the oven, make sure to tap the bottom so that the hot air comes out and that the cake remains in its form. Reverse the pan to shake the cake out.

8. While the cake is still warm, brush some Sambuca con Piacere on the cake. Beware of the magically tempting smell of the cake!

11. Let it sit for 5 minutes so that the cake absorbs the liquor. Meanwhile you can prepare the glaze. Then spread it over the cake.

12. Add some hazelnuts (or any type of nut) and then let the cake sit for at least 4 hours before serving it. It lets enough time for the alcohol to settle down.

Good luck and enjoy! 

Of Whipping Cream and Sponge Cake: The Classic Fruit Birthday Cake

Kids like me who grew up eating the stereotypical Asian fruit birthday cake would feel nostalgic about it. I remember envying other kids who got a chocolate cake or a cake full of buttercream icing for their birthday, I told myself that I would get that one day. And when it happened, well, things have changed! Thereafter, never again, I envied those kids. I started to have a strong liking for that typical American Asian birthday cake.

The recipe itself contains 2 parts, one is a sponge cake and the other is the whipped cream.

I completely forgot to take a picture of a slice of cake, but I'm sure you can imagine how it looks, or at least, try to do it to see how it looks! For your information, it has two layers of sponge cake with a filling of fruits and whipping cream in between.

Ingredients:

For sponge cake:

120 g all-purpose flour

2 g baking powder

2 g vanilla sugar

4 large eggs (separated into egg white and egg yolks)

130 g granulated sugar (separated into 45 g and 85g)

50g milk

25g vegetable oil

1 g cream of tartar

For whipping cream:

500 mL heavy cream

100 mL granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar and sift them.

2. Then prepare a meringue: separate the egg white from the egg yolk. With a mixer, start beating the egg white. In a bowl, combine 85 g of granulated sugar with the cream of tartar. When the egg white starts to turn white, gradually add in the mixture of sugar and cream of tartar. Do not add it at once, add it in 3 or 4 times to let the dried ingredients mix well with the egg white. This will take approximately 10 to 15 minutes, until the meringue reaches stiff peak. Let it aside.

3. Now beat the egg yolks with the rest of the sugar (45 g). When it is well mixed, add in the vegetable oil. Let it beat for several minutes until the egg yolk mix becomes pale yellow and fluffy.

4. Preheat the oven at 375°F.

5. Add the milk and lightly beat it. Then by hand, mix the dried ingredients from step 1. When the batter is well mixed, add some meringue. The meringue must be added in at least 3 times. Gently fold in one direction. This step is very delicate, changing directions of folds or overdoing the mixing could cause the sponge cake to lose its volume while baking. Once the batter is mixed well, pour it in a 12 inches cake pan.

6. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until the top becomes golden brown. Once you take it out, do not forget to tap it from the bottom so that the hot air can escape and prevent the cake from flattening. Let it cool for an hour before manipulating it.

7. Meanwhile, wash some strawberries and kiwis and wipe them dry. You can use other fruits than strawberries and kiwis, it is all up to your taste. Select the best looking strawberries to decorate them on top. Slice the rest of the strawberries and the kiwi. Take some paper towel and tap on the sliced fruits to remove the extra moisture.

8. Now, let’s prepare the whipping cream. Pour the heavy cream in a mixer to beat it. Add in some vanilla extract and start adding sugar when the heavy cream gradually thickens. Add the sugar in several times. Beat until the whipping cream reaches the consistency that you desire and put it in the fridge until the cake is completely cool.

9. When the cake is cool, slice it horizontally. Spread a thin layer of whipping cream on the top of the bottom slice of cake. Then place the sliced strawberries. Then before placing the other slice of cake, spread some more whipping cream. When placing the second slice, gently pat to make it even. Now spread the rest of the whipping cream and decorate it with the rest of the fruits on top. To make it even better looking, sprinkle some powdered sugar and cocoa powder.

Good luck and enjoy! 

Kabocha Cheesecake

Someday in October, I came back home to the fragrant smell of spices. I could tell that it was the perfume of Thanksgiving, as the room stank like pumpkin. My sweet old landlady came to me and said: “[My neighbour]’s oven crashed and so I offered her to use mine instead!” Boy, it smelled so good that I needed to know how to cook that delicious thing in the oven!

A pumpkin coconut cheesecake was the treat. I must say that it tasted really good, but I wanted to add an exotic twist to it. Plus, I have a big preference in preparing everything from scratch and cutting pumpkin tends to be a difficult task. And so, I replaced the pumpkin with kabocha butter squash, and it turns out that the marriage between kabocha, coconut and cream cheese is perfect. In the case where you don’t like kabocha, you can always replace it with pumpkin.

It is a long recipe, but I find it totally worth it!

Ingredients:

(Purée)

1 cup steamed kabocha

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp sugar

½ tsp grinded ginger

½ tsp nutmeg and salt

1 tsp vanilla

(Base crust)

1 ½ cup oatmeal

½ cup all purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

A pinch of grounded cinnamon

½ cup shortening (soften at a room temperature)

1 egg

(Cheese filling)

4 eggs

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

500g mascarpone cheese

Shredded coconut

Whipping cream

1. Cut the kabocha into half and steam it for 30 minutes or until it becomes soft and tender.

2. When the kabocha is ready, cut it into pieces and place it in a blender to prepare the purée. Add all the ingredients for the purée and blend until smooth.

3. Preheat the oven at 350°F.

4. For the base crust, you will need to mix all the dry ingredients together. Use your hands to mix the shortening with the dry ingredients and finally add in the egg. Then in a 10 inch diameter cake pan, layer the crust. Press firmly and use a fork to poke the crust, it will help baking evenly. Bake it for 10-15 minutes, do not overcook it since you will need to bake it one more time later. Let it cool in a rack and now set the oven at 325°F for baking the cheesecake later.

5. While waiting for the crust, you shall prepare the cheese filling. With a mixer, beat the eggs, brown sugar and granulated sugar. When everything is combined, add in the mascarpone cheese. Beat until the texture becomes smooth and incorporate the kabocha purée. Then add the shredded coconut and whipping cream. When everything is mixed, pour the filling on the crust.

6. Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes or until the top becomes golden brown.

7. Let it cool for a few hours before placing it in the fridge for at least four hours. It tastes best if you let it cool overnight.

Good luck and enjoy!