Cupcake Hero: Baker's Choice
Cupcake Hero: Baker's ChoiceAfter a long hiatus from the Cupcake Hero.. hmph. no exact reason why but somehow things just didn't work out with every season come and go. However, with the Cupcake hero's new website and big birthday.. i knew i had to make an exception for this occasion!
The theme for this round is Baker's Choice. Meaning that we had to choose at least 2 themes from the past year and combine them into one wacky invention! I choose.. *hmph..swaying finger up and down the list* Lime, Clove, Mint and Liquor!!! I wonder if i qualify for Earth Day too since my cupcake is green in color. hehe. Presenting to you my Mojito Cupcake!!!
While frantically searching for ways to hold the crumbling themes together. Somehow they seem worlds apart when listed in a dotted list.. argh. A base recipe from the lovely 'Cakelove' book by Warren Brown caught my eye. It was the Mojito Cake recipe containing traces of pound up Clove, mint, Lime zest and juice as well as ardous amounts of rum and limoncello! I was psyched! this was it!!! Being set on not going down the path of chocolates and cocoa, i was elated to have found this recipe.. and all in time for cupcake hero too!
And to top the whole thing off, i swaggered a nice finish of italian meringue buttercream on the top.. and of course flavored heavily with MORE rum!!! With a dusting of lemon rimming sugar. This lovely cocktail cupcake was ready to go!!! the verdict... mum said it was nicer than my usual oreo cupcakes. That's a good sign, and the rum flavor was superb in the cake itself.. surprisingly... YAY! to be honest. I have only tried mojito as a cocktail once.. and that was eons again. Perhaps I should get myself a drink.. hmph...
That's all folks! Please visit the Cupcake Hero site for more goodies!
Cupcake Hero: RED, WHITE and BLUE
A Color theme for Cupcake Hero. I expected it to be a little easier as it would only mean having to gather ingredients of the different colors and putting them together. Right?
But upon careful inspection i noticed that BLUE was listed as one of the compulsory colors. We're talking about independence day over here guys. Arghs... If only i could omit that one, then we could shift to patriotism for my country instead ( f.y.i i come from Singapore). So that got me thinking.. blue..what in the world is blue?!?! blueberries (which technically are purple), blue cheese? argh..tt would taste terrible in a cupcake. haha. well, lets just say in the end i cheated a little. *sniggers*
my final product uses this...
as my base ingredient.and tada.. presenting you my glorious concoction of tomato soup cupcake blah blah blah (you can read the description from the picture below)
So that's red for the tomato soup cake, white for the white chocolate centre, sprinkle of sea salt flakes and milk pocky sticks and finally blue for the blue tinted pandan coconut tainted cream cheese frosting! Done deal!
the tomato soup cupcake surprisingly didn't taste much of the condensed tomato soup yet it held the smell of the sour base rather well. Aside from that the cakes produced were ridicously moist, probably due to the tomatos added. A recipe worth trying out if you're feeling adventorous. (recipe follows)
Tomato Soup Cupcakes
makes 10 regular cupcakes
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp mixed spice
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- half a can of Campbell Condensed Tomato Soup (155g)
- 60g softened butter (unsalted)
- 1 egg (lightly beaten)
- 1/8 cup water
- A bar of white chocolate ( i use Cadbury's Dream)
Baking Steps:
- Preheat the Oven to 180 degrees celsius
- Mix the butter and sugar together till fluffy and light
- sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl and add it into the butter mixture
- Add the egg, water and tomato soup to the mixture.
- Blend till smooth
- Divide batter into cupcake holders and push in a cube of white chocolate into the middle of every cupcake.
- Bake for 22 mins or till cakes are golden brown.
- Remove from oven and cool on rack for 5 mins.
and after a bit of dressing up.. you will get the final product..Hope that the others have just as much fun playing around this time round! looking forward to next month's theme!!!
Cupcake Hero: Marshmallow
and so for this round of cupcake hero, the theme as proudly presented to us by the cupcake hero team was MARSHMALLOW! *thinks twice*.. oh well, ain't got the hots for this one either except the occasional barbeque on a stick resulting in a toasty marshmallow, crusty on the outside and gooey on the inside. Just the way i like it...
and since i was in the mood for a single color (purple this time), i picked and altered several recipes along the way and combined it to form.. *drum roll*.. the Globe Thistle! named after a beautiful breed of purple colored flowers that looked like mini balls of fluff except that the fluff were replaced by miniature crests and peaks..
Blueberry Yogurt Cake (recipe makes 17 cupcakes)
Ingredients
2 eggs
2 tubs yogurt (equivalent to 250ml)
200g sugar
80ml vegetable oil
2 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla powder
1 tblspoon light rum
1 tblspoon strawberry creme liquor
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius
- Sift the dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, soda into a bowl.
- In your mixer, mix the eggs, sugar, yogurt, oil, vanilla, rum and liquor till well blended.
- Fold in the flour mixture till no streaks of white are visible. Make sure not to overwork your batter.
- Pour into Cupcake Tray. Filling each cup till 1/2 way full.
- Bake for 13-16 mins till skewer comes out clean and dry.
the cakes emerge from the oven, soft and springy plus incredibly moist. and they do stay that way even after being chilled. the beauties of using oil and yogurt instead of the usual butter, the moisture added just enhances the texture of the cake. The colors weren't as purple as i liked them to be though, infact they appeared a little closer to shade of black sesame macaron as opposed to the barney the dinosaur.
After cooling, i poked a hole throught the middle of the cakes and filled them up with the loveliest marshmallow frosting imaginable... *yumz*. followed by spreading some generously over the domed tops of the cakes and created little peaks to be scorched by the flames of the blowtorch. It was soo much fun!
Seven minute Marshmallow Frostingingredients
2 unbeaten egg whites
6 tbsp cold water
few grains salt
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
12 large marshmallows
- Combine the ingredients sans the marshmallows in the mixing bowl on the top of the double boiler over briskly boiling water. Stir with a whisk till mixture is blended.
- Add in the marshmallows into the hot mixture and whisk till completely melted.
- Add in 1 tsp of Vanilla extract.
- Immediately beat with beater until frosting stands in stiff peaks (approximately 7 mins)
finally. we can first pipe some of the ready frosting into the holes to fill the cupcakes and then spoon the frosting generously on top and arrange the spikes. then it comes the fun part. the blow-torching! it was overwhelming watching the peaks of marshmallow goodness swivel and shrink in the heat. almost enlightening i can say as the white tips slowly turn to charcoal, a crisp shell enveloping over the soft gooey centres of the toasted marshmallows.

with a dash of purple sanding sugar over the crowns of the cupcakes, they were all dressed up and ready to go. Like a troop of flowers, globe thistle in full bloom. in fact, this was the show-stopper at work. With many doubting my handiwork of course... oh well.. its not like an extrovert cannot find pleasure in baking ok? *bleah*.. the funny thing was that I never saw myself as an extrovert. haha. 
With this I wrap up the marshmallow saga. I have met the challenge with some purple monstrousity; blueberry yogurt cupcakes and toasted marshmallow frosting. moving on to the next Cupcake Hero soon! *cheers*

cupcake hero: mint
when the theme was announced.. lets just say i didn't flinch a muscle.. hmph.. guess mint was never one of my favourite flavors unless you're talking about mentos the sweet. then peppermint would be it for me. Other than the occasional sweet treats, mint never really appeared much in my lists of to-do bakes... up till now at least.
well, i kinda played it safe this time round and attempted the classic pairing of chocolate and mint. well, safe is good sometimes orite? and this lovely delicious beauty is here to testify it. Made using the new Baileys chocolate mint flavor, this gave the whole cake a very rich and luscious texture which served complimentary to the mint infused mascarpone cream on top. and of course.. wat goes better together then chocolate and strawberries? another classic combination at work here... If attempting this recipe, pls make preparations at least the day before for the best results!
RecipeIngredients
80g Butter
1 cup sugar (i used 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup white granulated sugar)
1 1/2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/8 cup cocoa powder (i used valrhona!)
1 tbsp espresso powder
120ml bailey's mint chocolate
60ml milk
1 tsp vanilla powder
2 tbsp sour cream
1 cup whipping cream
2 cups mascarpone cheese
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
Steps
- On the night before baking, toss an leave the strawberries in a bowl with plain sugar syrup and a dash of cointreau to infuse the flavor. Also, heat the 1 cup of cream and throw in a bunch of mint leaves. Stir till mixture bubbles and leave to cool before refrigerating, allow to steep for the night, till time for use.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and line the muffin trays with paper cups
- Beat Butter with sugar till smooth
- Add in vanilla essence and sour cream
- Add in eggs and beat till light and fluffy
- Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl
- Stir Baileys and milk together
- Stir in the baileys mixture and dry ingredients into the butter mixture alternatively by hand
- Drain the strawberries and pat dry
- Scoop the batter into the individual cups and stuff a strawberry in the centre of the cup
- Bake for 18mins in the oven
- Allow the ready cupcakes to sit and cool in the pan for 5 mins before removing them and placing them on the rack to cool completely
- Whip the cream till soft peaks, add in the mascarpone cheese and vanilla extract and sugar and whip till stiff and frosting is able to hold its shape.
- Frost the top of the cooled cupcakes and garnish with mint leaves and chocolate coated coffee beans (as i did!)
- ENJOY!

oh, trust me, i would be making these again soon! these were fabulous! the mascarpone was such an excellent match to the moist chocolate cupcake and the mint flavor was just about right in bringing out the festive mood in me! hehe.
since there was left over batter, i also made this in my mini crown cake pans.. and they turned out gorgeous! Filled in the little gap with cream and it was good to go!
orite.. now tt i'm finally done with the cupcake hero post.. its time to retire! gotta get myself for Spain and Portugal! here i come! its gonna be a rather long time till u enxt hear from me. hope u guys will miss me.. *wink*..
major-headache
The new ingredient for this upcoming round of Cupcake Hero is mint!! wow. kk, i'll make this a dedication to Lihui then since she loves mint ever so much. I think i might just have the perfect condiments for this little experiment. Can't wait to get started! to Claire: join this event!


kk, typed this entry halfway and had to stop to help my fren register her subjects. haha. Seemed to have lost my chain of thought. So its a wrap i guess. Gonna watch Beowulf with weiquany and babe later .*=)*
gosh.. it never fails to hit me. the craving for a square of dark chocolate. I creep towards the tib-bit basket.. oh no.. *groanz*
Cupcake Hero : Cranberry
Okie.. so back to the entry. Lets see. Cranberries! hmph.. when i first saw the theme ingredient posted by Laurie for this month's cupcake hero. i was lyke 'WOAH!', reason being tt i hardly ever dealt with cranberries in my baking. Partly because cranberries are soo expensive and that it is only available in dried form here in Singapore. Wld take an enormous effort to ship over the real juicy stuff from overseas. So oh well, i had to make do with whatever resources i had.

Brillance strikes and i tweaked a cupcake recipe which used milk as the moisturizing agent. Warmed it and put my tea bags in to allow the flavor to seep in. In a while, the room smelt of earl grey. *swoons*...

Gosh.. now... gotta get back to studies! haha. oh yesh.. and pple! do pls come for the TGEO party.. i gurantee it wld be a lot of fun!!!! *=)*
Checklist:
Buy Wine for the Party ( how many bottles u guys reckon i shld get?)
Order Birthday Cake (GOSH!!! small and quality stuff or big enough to feed the crowd yet lacking in substance? dilemma...)
Send out email invites to Guests.
quirky cupcake: Cloves
Blame it on my procastination and lousy ethics tt i took until the date of the deadline to submit my post for this month's quirky cupcake entry with Cloves as the theme.
When i first recieved the theme ingredient for this round, i was delighted. Cloves = spices and oh! how i adore spices. However this delight to slight dumbfoundness when i purchased a packet of cloves from the chinese spice section of my the local supermart. It was pungent and reeked of a certain familiarity. OH YESH! the lovely pineapple tarts baked by my aunt during the chinese new year periods; everything was good about tt EXCEPT for the little clove tt pierced the flaky pastry off the top. Often i wld find myself digging out this little hideous piece of treasure only to find tt that one little monster had managed to infuse its overwhelming flavor into the surrounding pastry. Wasn't too good in my impression.
I pondered hard over how i cld use this ingredient in a cupcake and yet not allow the flavor to overwhelm or intimidate the taster. Hence I stumbled upon the idea of steeping fresh pears in a mixture of sugar syrup, a tinge of rum, cloves and cinammon. Inspired by the making of peach snapps, i was determined tt this wld work. Spiced pear was the way to go.
Hence about 2 weeks back, i gathered my ingredients, cut up fresh bartley pears, cooked up a nice sugar syrup, and prepare my lovely mixture of raw cloves and cinammon sticks. Putting it into a heatproof glass jar, i mixed the sugar syrup, rum, cloves, cinammon and pears together, tightened the lid and gave it a good shake. After which i put it in a simmering water bath for 40mins to allow the flavor to seep into the pears. tt seemed to go down pretty well, the pears sooned turned light brown as it soaked in the goodness of all tt flavor. After cooling, i capped the jars and retire it to a cool part of the kitchen to lay until i was ready to make my cupcakes.
The recipe i used was a rather simple one adapted from 500 Cupcakes. In this recipe, no butter is needed. Sour cream is used to maintain the moisture within the finished cupcake. and tt indeed worked out beautifully. After the taste test, my tongue was tingly and a litle numb from all the spices used. But tts what it counts for doesn't it?Recipe for Spiced Sour Cream Poached Pear Cupcakes
95g Flour
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
85g Brown Sugar
90ml Sour Cream
1 Egg
A dash of cinnammon
3 tblspoon poached pear syrup
pear chunks (both attained from the poached pear syrup attained beforehand)
- Sift all the dry ingredient in one bowl
- Beat the Egg and Sour Cream together with an electric whisk
- Add the Brown Sugar and beat till incorporated
- Add the Pear Syrup
- Add the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl and stir
- Pour in the pear chunks and stir in.
- Line the muffin Trays and bake them in a pre-heated oven at 175 degrees celsius for 20mins
- Serve it with a poached pear, some pear syrup drizzled over the top and perhaps a dallop of cinammon ice-cream wld be good garnished with a mint leaf. DIG IN!
Recipe makes 8 Cupcakes
groovy baby

remember the cupcake event i mentioned a few weeks back? Cupcake Hero Challenge? finally got down to business in completing the task of baking these little beauties. The theme being set as lime made this no easy task since lime unlike its close cousin the lemon ain't widely used in baking except in key lime pie maybe? speaking of which, i definitely show preferential treatment for the latter, and am a self-confessed lemon lover!!! gosh.. after a few trial and error pairings, i finally decided upon the combo of almond and lime. Thinking tt the nutty taste of almond would help to soothe the sharp tastes as derived from the lime. Moreover, i yearned to put the swirling technique to test again, i last used it to make the nutella swirl cupcakes eons ago.
Why lime and almond then? erm.. as opposed to my other choices such as mango and lime, green tea and lime and others. I wanted something nutty, something a little more solid in flavor when it came to pairing. On the other hand, i was rather apprehensive as i were afraid tt the lovely tangy flavor of the limes wld be masked behind the stronger non-fruity flavor of the almond. But nonetheless i though tt it wld be a good combination despite i myself adopting not so high likes for the flavor itself. The mind is a strange thing ain't it?
Hence with little in mind, i set out to create a spectacular cupcake, with a flavor lyke non-other. With this i created GrOovY Baby. a cupcake made with lime-infused butter, swirled with almond cake batter. To finish off the beautiful job, i topped it off with lime-flavored cream cheese and almond nuts for that extra crunch.
Recipe makes 10 regular cupcakesIngredients
Lime Cake Batter
½ Cup flour
½ tsp baking powder
Pinch of Salt
40ml milk
juice of 3 small limes
2 tbl spoon butter
1 egg
½ cup Sugar
Green food colouring
A few drops of pandan essence
Milk to good consistency
Almond Cake Batter
½ cup flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
Salt
60g Butter
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
½ tsp almond extract
Milk to good consistency
Method
- Squeeze the limes and place the butter together with the lime juice, melt it and stir gently.
- Place zest of the limes with the butter and leave to cool
- Sift the dry ingredients together.
- Beat the egg and sugar till thicken
- Add the pandan essence.
- Add in the lime infused butter and mix.
- Fold in the Flour mixture.
- Add milk till a suitable consistency (it shld resemble egg yolk consistency)
- Spoon into the ready cupcake cups.
- Prepare the Almond Cake Batter.
- Beat the butter and sugar till creamy.
- Add in the egg and mix
- Add in the almond extract
- Fold in the sifted flour mixture.
- Add milk till right consistency.
- Spoon into the middle of the cupcake cups
- Using a tooth pick. Swirl the two batters together.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celcius for 22mins.
Recipe a proud creation of Sihan
verdict: lime flavor was a bit too subtle for my liking. Cld have been stronger with lesser almond extract being added. Adored the lovely hue of neon green...reminded me of the hulk. The Cream cheese topping did the fluffy cake justice. *yumz*..

btw, i totally adore the new cupcake hero mascot.. its lovely.. reminds me of a bandit though. but tt all the more increasings its appeal. Simple yet naughty. hehe.








