Monthly Archives: June 2008

Watermelon Cupcakes

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So I lied – I do have some cupcakes for you after all! Watermelon ones – cross section is pictured so it would look more watermelony.

Watermelon Cupcakes

I thought it was a cute idea that I had for these watermelon cupcakes, so had to try it out. I used Magnolia Bakery’s vanilla cupcake recipe, but halved it to get one dozen cupcakes instead of two (though I ended up with 14, actually). I added 10 drops of red food coloring (give or take a drop) and 1/4 cup plus a tablespoon or so of mini chocolate chips.

I then used the watermelon frosting I found here. Though the taste of the frosting was nice with a subtle hint of watermelon, I was disappointed that it was too liquidy to pipe at all, even after refrigerating, so had to just sort of pour it on the cupcake. Because there is cream cheese in the frosting, I am refrigerating the leftover cupcakes so it should harden up a little, I presume. And even though the watermelon juice turned the frosting a light pink color, I wanted it green so added a few drops of green food coloring to turn it this pastel green color.

I’d like to find a watermelon frosting that is pipeable, so if anyone knows of one, please tell me! If I could have piped this I would have liked to split the frosting into two parts – one the light pink color and the other the light green color, then put the two colors into a pastry bag to get a swirl effect. Also what might be nice is a cute little slice of watermelon made out of fondant, placed on top of the cupcake.

Thank you to Cupcakes Take The Cake for posting about my watermelon cupcakes on their blog!

My Canvas

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A kitchen is where a baker feels most at home. It holds the tools to create and bake masterpieces of sweetness. Some kitchens are small, some are large; some are beautiful, some are plain and ordinary. But it doesn’t matter what your kitchen looks like – you don’t need a beautiful kitchen to create beautiful food.

This is my kitchen, and a few of the tools I use to create my cupcakes, cookies and other tantalizing treats.

My Canvas

It is a small, standard subdivision kitchen, but it has the essentials and they get the job done.

Giant Cupcakes

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GiantCupcake
Originally uploaded by crasherbug

This is old news, and I’m sure everyone’s already seen these before, but I feel I need to post it since it concerns cupcakes – giant ones! Of course I’m talking about Wilton’s Giant Cupcake Pan.

I’ve been tossing around the idea of purchasing one, but I just can’t bring myself to do so. The giant cupcake sort of ruins what cupcakes are all about – small, mini cakes. I have seen some very beautifully decorated giant cupcakes, however.

Buy your Wilton Dimensions Large Cupcake Panhere.

Nutella Cupcakes

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I love Nutella. I can’t stand to be without it. And I am always on the search for new Nutella recipes. I decided to try, as my first Nutella recipe, the popular self-frosting Nutella cupcake from Donna Hay.

They turned out nicely, but here are some things I didn’t like about the cupcake. First, the batter was very sticky – I’m not sure if this is normal, but I am positive that I did everything as per instructions. I’ve never seen such sticky cupcake batter. Second, the Nutella was difficult to swirl around the top of the batter. Third, the cupcake is too dense for my liking; I much prefer light, fluffy, airy, moist cupcakes. This cupcake, in my opinion, is more similar in texture to a muffin.

Nutella Cupcakes
makes 12

Ingredients
10 tbsp(140 grams) butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups (200 grams) sifted ap flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Method
Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.

Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin liner with batter. They should be 3/4 full, if you’re not using a scoop. Top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella.
Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

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I am in search of a chocolate cupcake recipe with Nutella in the batter, but haven’t yet found one. Please let me know if you know where I can find one. In the meantime, I will be looking at all the gorgeous Nutella cupcakes on Flickr!

Mocha Cupcakes

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In my search for a coffee and banana cupcake, I decided to try the following combination.

Mocha Cupcake With Banana Frosting

Mocha cupcakes from Genius of a Cook: Obviously I did not use the Kahlua frosting, but I can say that these are the best mocha cupcakes. They were so soft, delicate and moist and had just a hint of coffee. I would have liked a stronger coffee flavor, but maybe my brewed coffee should have been stronger.

A personal note on these cupcakes – the recipe, I believe, should yield 12 cupcakes if you fill the liners 3/4 full. I did fill my liners to that recommended level, but had overflow while baking. If I make these again, I may try filling the liners a bit less than recommended and end up with a couple extra cupcakes.

Banana frosting from Chef Lilian: I was a bit disappointed with this frosting. While it did taste nice, it ended up looking nothing like the photo on the recipe page. It was very runny, too runny. After researching a bit more, I am wondering if that recipe could be missing an ingredient – perhaps, butter.

Overall, a great tasting cupcake. In future, I might try baking these cupcakes again with Nutella frosting. Also I will eventually try the reverse of this recipe – a banana cupcake with mocha or plain coffee frosting.

Via Cakespy: Blondies vs. Brownies

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This has not much to do with cupcakes, but at least it’s still in the baked sweet goods category. This topic is something I haven’t been able to clear up for myself – what is the difference between a blondie and a brownie. I personally had decided that a blondie was somewhere between a cookie and a brownie. Cakespy, however, really breaks it down.

Generally, a blondie is accepted as a type of brownie–but not so much a brownie flavor, more like an identical cousin. An identical, albino cousin. Generally, it uses vanilla or butterscotch base instead of chocolate, and thus has a lighter hue which gives it its name. In our opinion, the finest blondies will have a texture (though not taste) halfway between a cakey and a fudgy brownie: that is to say, delightfully chewy, rich, and dense.

Please read Cakespy’s full post on blondies vs. brownies.

Meatloaf Cupcakes

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For those of you who do not have a sweet tooth but still enjoy the occasional cupcake, here is a perfect solution – meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting.

Photo by Michele Humes @ Fine Furious Life

Michele Humes of Fine Furious Life created a three-meat meatloaf cupcake with plain mashed potato frosting and beet-tinted mashed potato frosting, sprinkled with finely diced green peppers. The recipe is included in her blog post.

Yet another ingenious creation in the world of cupcakes!