Cupcake Galore on A Rainy Day

What happened to Summer ?? This week has been cold for a December. But I'm grateful for it. Given that Australia is very dry, cold rainy day like this is much better than the heat of Summer. When I checked the weather forecast on Sunday and found out that today would be raining, I decided that I shall try new cupcake recipes on Tuesday.

Round 1: Red Velvet
The first time I tried Red Velvet cupcake, I can't help but wonder why people (read: girls) love this particular cake so much. The one that i tried, was dry, the flavour didn't come out. It tasted like very bland chocolate cake. The icing was not good as well. Unsatisfied with what i tasted, I googled up "red velvet cake". This particular cake is originated from Southern United States of America. Supposedly, one should be able to taste a bit of tang in the cake because it contains vinegar, and buttermilk. When mixed with cocoa, the acidity of vinegar brings out the red colour in cocoa and to enhance this, a bit more red colouring is added.

red velvet

My version of red velvet, turned out VERY VERY good. I really like it. The cake is very moist and fluffy. Although i can't really taste the tang in the cake, the chocolate flavour is quite strong. Combined with the smooth cream cheese frosting, this cake is definitely a hit.
*Initially I wanted to make a chocolate velvet (not adding any red colouring whatsoever) but when I made the batter, the chocolate colour is very pale. So I added 1/2 tsp Wilton pink colouring. I was really surprised to find out that that amount was enough to make the whole batter RED !!!

Round 2: Black Bottom Cupcake
Julie introduced me to this cupcake. No, I've never tried it before, but she has! And according to her, this cupcake will melt you because it is really delicious. When I read the recipe, I knew it would be a little sweet with a BIG taste. Imagine rich chocolate base, topped with cheesecake mixture and frosted with smooth cream cheese icing! When I had a bite, it is indeed O M G !!! This cupcake is not for those who don't like heavy chocolate cake as the flavour is quite rich and the cake texture is also thick and gooey.

black bottom

Conclusion: Happy Bee! cupcakes test has been successful!! Whee !!! ^^v
waiting for some review from my testers :)

The Pursuit of Perfection

I have been baking lots of cupcakes recently. Not because I love eating them (honestly, I'm not a big fan), but because my friends love eating them. On top of that, cupcake is currently the HOT item of sweets. So, there's nothing wrong with trying to perfect my cupcakes. The Matcha cupcakes I made the other day, i believe, have the perfect texture. Very soft, moist and fluffy. But not too crumbly. Following its success, I'm experimenting to get the perfect yellow base cupcakes today. I am yet to try my latest cookies&creme batch that just came out of the oven. My house is very fragrant from the baking. I think, I smell like cookies and cream already! No kidding here!

I shared the previous batch I made with the church office staff for afternoon tea. Sharon, our dear admin assistant who have been patiently dealing with my venue-bookings & key borrowing, will be on leave until next year, meaning I won't get to see her until, God knows when. The cookies&creme icing is yummy. But I think, the texture of the cake is not OK yet. It was still a bit too chewy. I think I baked it for a tad bit too long. >.<" Despite the not so fluffy texture, Sharon still loved it much. She said, "Your cupcake is 10-fingers lickin' good!" ahahaha... Thank you dear! I've made 2 batches after the afternoon tea. I am yet to give some to my official cupcake tester, Ria, and get some review from her. This girl has tried a lot of cupcakes in Melbourne. So I'm looking forward to hearing her review.

the 6th batch of Cookies&Creme

Matcha Cupcake

b's mini cupcakes
photo courtesy of Andrew Soetiono

In all honesty, I'm not really a cupcake kind of girl. I don't deny that they are cute and pretty, but I just don't enjoy making them as much as I do making cakes. I don't mind trying recipes because I know my friends will be more than happy to devour them for me. There's another thing to be thankful for. Without them, I wouldn't be able to experiment as much. Thank you dear friends for volunteering to be my guinea pigs. XOXO

Green tea has sparked my curiosity. I'm a big fan of a cup of green tea, so I would like to be able to make green-tea flavoured desserts. Not everyone will like it, because I think the taste of green tea is an acquired taste. You need to get used to it before you can enjoy eating green-tea flavoured desserts. There are few more that I want to try making.

I recently bought Matcha (powdered Japanese green tea) and this is my first trial at making Matcha Cupcake. I love it! :) My friends also loved it. Even Julie, who doesn't like green tea-flavoured dessert (except for Il Dolce Fredo's green tea gelato), loved it much and said she can eat a million more.

Ria said, "It taste.....UTTERLY FANTASTIC & UNBELIVEABLY GOOD ! ! ! The green tea topping at the top compliments the green tea cupcake in the bottom & vice versa... You can eat them separately, but combining both elements will give you a COMPLETE satisfactory...It's T H E B E S T Matcha Cupcakes I have ever tasted ! ! ! ! :))"

It is my personal favourite so far because the cake is very fluffy and moist. I feel that this is how cupcakes should be. The combination of the icing and the cake is just perfect, delicate, right level of sweetness, and not overpowering. It passed the quality control, and has been added to my bakingbee menu.

Matcha is powdered Japanese green t made from shade-grown tea leaves also used to make gyokuro, unlike other forms of powdered tea, such as powdered sencha.

The preparation of matcha starts several weeks before harvest, when the tea bushes are covered to prevent direct sunlight. This slows down growth, turns the leaves a darker shade of green and causes the production of amino acids that make the resulting tea sweeter.

Only the finest tea buds are hand picked. After harvesting, if the leaves are rolled out before drying as usual, the result will be gyokuro (jewel dew) tea. However, if the leaves are laid out flat to dry, they will crumble somewhat and become known as tencha (碾茶). Tencha can then be de-veined, de-stemmed, and stone ground to the fine, bright green, talc-like powder known as matcha. It can take up to one hour to grind 30 grams of matcha.

Note that only ground tencha qualifies as matcha, and other powdered teas are known as konacha (粉茶, lit. "powder tea").

The flavour of matcha is dominated by its amino acids. The highest grades of matcha have more intense sweetness and deeper flavour than the standard or coarser grades of tea harvested later in the year (Wikipedia).

Matcha Cupcakes

Awesome weekend getaway with special friends, successful recipe trials, and pretty photographs of my babies make me one very happy girl! :)

Stick around for more updates from my kitchen!

Cupcake Craving

I am very encouraged that my friends do come to me and ask, "Bebe, if you have time, can I please have some more of this or that??" It is always my pleasure to cook/bake for them. I love the feeling of watching them eat, I love to see their smiles and satisfaction that they get from eating what I make for them. It is just very very rewarding.

A month ago, Andrew messaged me and said that he wanted some more Cookies and Cream cupcakes. I gave him some samples when I first made it. And you can guess the rest, it was love at the first BITE! ;) So yeah, i made him some more "Triple C Goodness" (that's how i call my cookies and cream cupcakes, in case you are wondering ;)....) This time around, he got to share it with his cell group friends and guess what? they all loved it too!! Andrew told me , "Rio ate so many of it and mind you, he's actually not a big fan of desserts..but in his words, (or somewhere along his words), Bebe made him like desserts!" AWWW.... *teary eyes*

Triple C Goodness

I love the icing. It tastes like Connoisseur's cookies and cream ice-cream. My fave ice cream!
The cupcakes itself still needs improvement. It's not as fluffy as how it should be, but I think I've found out how to make them fluffier. Whee... ^^v

Triple C Goodness

Cookies&Cream Cupcakes = Triple C Goodness !


^^v
Coles was having massive sales of OREO. This is the sole reason of the Triple C Goodness.
Note to self:
1. Don't over crush the OREOs. Chunky bits will give nicer texture.
2. Need to R&D excellent butter cream recipe.
3. The cupcake base was too sweet. Add a pinch of salt perhaps. :)

D*** loved it anyway. :)

bumblebees

I say, "Aren't they cute and adorable? Totally love 'em!!" ^^v


A friend of mine said, "Your bees are sooooooooooooo cute! They're so fat, and chubby, makes me want to squish them!"

What say you ?