When I first saw the Zoku Quick Pop Maker, I thought it was pretty neat.  I contemplated on purchasing one, but eventually I talked myself out of it.  My reasoning was that it wasn’t much different than the traditional way of making popsicles… in that, you still have to freeze the Zoku base for 24 hours, but you only have to freeze popsicles 8-12 hours or so.  Plus, after waiting the 24 hours to freeze the base, you still have to wait another 7-9 minutes to freeze the actual popsicles.  I could just place my traditional plastic popsicle molds in the freezer overnight and have my popsicles sooner.

I could still see some flaws in my reasoning, but I couldn’t really afford the Zoku anyway, so I let the idea slip away for a while.

Until my mom gave me a $50 gift certificate to shop at Kitchenware Direct.  I contemplated for a couple of weeks on what to buy, placing things in my online shopping cart to see the total price, then emptying the cart and starting again with another collection of goodies.  Then I found that Kitchenware Direct stocked the Zoku Quick Pop Maker.  Hm.

A few days later, I was opening my package from Kitchenware Direct and placing my new Zoku Quick Pop Maker in the freezer.

We made a strawberry and raspberry yoghurt-based popsicle after the Zoku’s initial 24-hour freeze.  It was just a simple concoction of frozen strawberries, raspberry yoghurt, milk and honey.  We poured the “smoothie” into the three popsicle molds, waited for 7 minutes and checked them.  Not frozen solid.  I left them in about 3 minutes longer and they were frozen enough to pull out.  We screwed the orange knobby thing into the popsicle handles and they lifted out easily.

They had a great texture and I was really pleased with them.  I couldn’t wait to make something more fun.  I went searching online for fudgesicle recipes and came across a mocha one.  It looked really tasty and was based on a recipe from David Lebovitz (so I knew it had to be good).

Before I begin with the recipes, I want you to know that you don’t need to have a Zoku to make these.  You can just as well use the traditional popsicle molds!

This is basically a Vietnamese iced coffee popsicle with some cocoa powder mixed in.  It is super easy to make and you should already have all the ingredients (coffee, sweetened condensed milk and cocoa powder) in your pantry.

It took over 7 minutes for these popsicles to freeze as well.  I figured out that it could be that the Zoku base was not completely frozen, as when I gently tilted it back and forth I could hear a slight sloshing sound inside, which indicates that it’s not entirely frozen and that it may take longer to freeze popsicles.

These popsicles were just beautiful and tasted simply amazing.  This is one recipe I’ll be using over and over again.  They have a super strong hit of coffee, but it’s a lovely mocha taste.

The next recipe I wanted to try comes from Zoku’s own blog and is a super tropical treat.  I’m sure this particular popsicle would cool off anyone on a hot day with the refreshing tastes of pineapple and coconut.

These were super delicious as well and I’ll definitely be making this recipe again and again!  I suppose the only thing I didn’t like was the fact that the stringy fibers of the pineapple gave these popsicles a slightly odd texture and with some bites, made the popsicle look like it had hair sticking out of it!  Other than that though, the taste of these popsicles deserve a 10 out of 10!

Yes, we were very cold when we were done enjoying our popsicles (it is winter here, after all), but it’s worth it.

But is the Zoku worth it?  I suppose it is, after all, especially if you enjoy popsicles.  Just keep the Zoku base in your freezer at all times, and yes, you really can have popsicles in under 10 minutes (if you don’t count the time it takes you to make whatever is you’re making to pour in the molds).  The drawback is, you can only make 6 before you have to refreeze the base.  But unless you’re trying to make popsicles for a crowd, 6 should be plenty (or at least it is for our family of 5!).

Do you have a Zoku?  What is your favorite popsicle recipe?

 

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Mocha Popsicles
Adapted from A Cozy Kitchen, who adapted it from David Lebovitz
Makes 5 Zoku popsicles

Ingredients
1 cup extra strong coffee or espresso, chilled or at room temp
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 1/4 teaspoons unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder

Method
Pour the sweetened condensed milk into the coffee and stir until thoroughly combined.  Sift cocoa powder over the top and stir until combined.  I found this part a bit tricky because the cocoa powder kept clumping up!  Taste the mixture and add more milk or cocoa, depending on your taste.  I didn’t need to add any extra.

Pour into molds, as per the instructions for the Zoku, and wait up to 10 minutes to freeze (or just simply pour into plain old popsicle molds and freeze overnight).

 

 

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Pineapple Coconut Popsicles
Adapted from Zoku’s blog
Makes 4 Zoku popsicles

Ingredients
4 ounces fresh pineapple (I used canned pineapple in natural juice)
1/4 cup pineapple juice (I used the juice from the can)
2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons sweetened shredded coconut

Method
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  Pour into molds, as per the instructions for the Zoku, and wait up to 10 minutes to freeze (or just simply pour into plain old popsicle molds and freeze overnight).

Ballet class lasts only 30 minutes.  Luckily, if I practically run, I can make it over to the nearby Westfield shopping center for a special treat for myself.  I visit T2 Tea and sample all four of the teas they have on display that day and have a chat with the friendly ladies who work there.  And then I do a fast-walk to get back to ballet to pick up my daughter.

As it turns out, my daughter also likes to sample the teas at T2 Tea, so before the holidays I started going to T2 before ballet class so she could try the teas too, and I sat in the lobby area of the ballet studio and read magazines while she was in her class.  They only have a handful of magazines and always the same ones, but I did find an Australian Women’s Weekly magazine (from March 2009!) that I hadn’t seen before and flipped through the recipe section.  I found some beautiful mocha cupcakes and read the recipe for them.  I was immediately intrigued by it because it used real melted chocolate, almond meal and buttermilk.

When I got home, I searched the Australian Women’s Weekly website and found the recipe.  Within the next week I had made them and said that they were the best mocha cupcakes I have ever eaten.

I’m not happy with my photos, yet again.  But here we have the best mocha cupcakes ever, frosted with coffee buttercream and decorated with a chocolate covered espresso bean.  Let me tell you that these absolutely require a chocolate covered espresso bean, they taste amazing when you eat them along with a bite of the cupcake.

I ended up using hazelnut meal instead of the almond meal.  And you can sort of taste this in the cake.  As with any mocha cake I’ve ever had though, you cannot taste the coffee.  Remember my tip from my white chocolate mocha cupcakes though – if you want the actual cake to taste like coffee, a good idea would be to fill it with coffee flavored ganache.

I used Lindt 70% chocolate for the melted chocolate, and I had just enough Green & Black’s cocoa powder left to use in these cupcakes.

For the first time in ages, I also used real buttermilk instead of the vinegar + milk substitute.

For the coffee in this, I didn’t use regular instant coffee granules.  I chose a special espresso-style instant coffee from Nescafe.  I don’t know if this made the difference, but the coffee flavor in that buttercream is intense.  It seriously tastes like you’re drinking a cup of coffee when you eat these cupcakes.

Try to let these sit overnight before eating them, if you can, because I think the flavor is even better on the next day.

My final word, if you’re after some fantastic mocha cupcakes, this recipe is definitely the one to use.

Mocha Cupcakes
Adapted from Australian Women’s Weekly magazine, March 2009
Makes 12 cupcakes

Cupcakes
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
1/4 cup (60ml) hot water
125g butter, softened
3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
2/3 cup (80g) almond meal (I used hazelnut meal)
125g dark chocolate, melted
3/4 cup (180ml) buttermilk, room temperature
coffee beans, to decorate, optional

Coffee Buttercream
3 teaspoons instant coffee granules
1 1/2 tablespoons hot water
185g unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups (360g) icing sugar, sifted

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Line a 12-hole, 1/3-cup (80ml) capacity muffin pan with paper cases.

Combine coffee granules and hot water in a cup. Stir until dissolved.

Beat butter and sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined between additions.

Fold in half of the combined sifted cocoa and flour, all the almond meal and then the chocolate. Fold in the buttermilk, remaining flour mixture and the coffee mixture.

Divide mixture among paper cases. Bake for about 20 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool cakes on a wire rack.

Coffee buttercream
Combine coffee granules and hot water in a cup. Stir until dissolved. Beat butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until as pale as possible. Gradually beat in half the icing sugar, all the coffee mixture, then the remaining icing sugar.

Using a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle, decorate cakes with Coffee Buttercream. Top each cake with coffee beans, if desired.

I’m leaving my family behind here in Indiana and moving to Sydney, Australia this weekend.  I have lived in Sydney before, from 2001-2006 and it was fabulous.  It’s definitely a place I feel happy spending my life in.  I know my kids will love it as well.

This will be my last post from the US; expect all future posts to be from Australia and upside down! 

Anyway, a friend of mine requested one last batch of cupcakes from me before we left.  She wanted cookie dough cupcakes and chocolate/white chocolate cupcakes.  Of course I’ve done cookie dough cupcakes before, so I won’t post about them again, but I made the chocolate/white chocolate cupcakes into white chocolate mocha cupcakes.  I was inspired to do this because my friend is a big fan of Starbucks’ white chocolate mochas.  These were the last cupcakes I made in the US.

I know, the photos aren’t that great because it was late afternoon and there wasn’t enough natural light from the sun so I didn’t even bother with my usual set up.

These are chocolate cupcakes, filled with chocolate coffee ganache and frosted with white chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream (SMBC).  I’m really proud of these because while most mocha cupcakes have coffee in the cake where it cannot be tasted, I put my coffee into the ganache and the coffee flavor is quite prominent.  This isn’t just any chocolate coffee ganache, by the way.  It was made using the brand new Starbucks VIA Italian Roast instant coffee.

The white chocolate really came through in the SMBC, as well.  SMBC is always an extra effort to make, but the results are so rewarding.  The texture was silky smooth and full of white chocolate flavor.

My main point of this post is to share the coffee ganache tip with you.  If you want coffee flavor in your cupcakes, don’t put the coffee in the cake (or well, you can, just be aware that the taste isn’t going to be very noticeable) – fill the cupcakes with coffee-flavored ganache!

If you’d like to try the ultimate white chocolate cupcake, the recipes are below.  Just choose your own favorite chocolate cupcake recipe (mine is Hershey’s or Martha’s Devil’s food cupcakes) and follow these recipes.

Chocolate Coffee Ganache Filling
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes enough to fill 12 cupcakes (with a little leftover)

Ingredients
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 packet Starbucks VIA Italian Roast
1 tablespoon butter, room temperature

Method
Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering then empty the packet of Starbucks VIA into the cream and stir until dissolved.  Remove from heat and pour the cream over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and stir until combined.

White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Adapted from Whisk Kid
Makes enough to frost about 18 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
5 egg whites
18 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened slightly and sliced
1/4 cup white chocolate, melted and cooled

Method
Cook the egg whites and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved (test by rubbing some between your fingers. If it’s completely smooth, it’s done).

Pour into another bowl (a stand mixer is preferable) and whip on high speed until room temp.

Then, on a medium-slow speed, add the butter, waiting until each piece is completely incorporated before adding the next. The buttercream may turn into a soupy curdled mess, but I assure you it will be ok; just beat it for a few minutes longer. It’ll come together!

When the buttercream has reached the ideal consistency, add the melted and cooled white chocolate carefully. Try not to get any on the walls of the bowl as it will cool and harden there. Whip to incorporate.

Anyway, this post isn’t about coffee makers, it’s about a recipe for a cinnamon mocha that I adapted from my big Taste of Home cookbook.  The original recipe yields 6 cups, but I scaled it down to 1 cup.

The amounts of the ingredients can be changed according to your tastes, so feel free to experiment.

Cinnamon Spiced Mocha
Adapted from Taste of Home
Serves 1

Ingredients
3 tablespoons ground coffee
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
About 1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon light brown sugar, unpacked
1 tablespoon chocolate syrup

Mix nutmeg and cinnamon into coffee grounds and brew as usual.  In my coffee press, I brew this for 3 minutes.

While coffee is brewing, fill your coffee mug with the 1/2 cup milk, or about halfway.  Stir in brown sugar and chocolate syrup and warm in microwave for about 30-40 seconds.  Stir again.

When coffee is finished brewing, pour it into the milk in the mug and give it another stir.  Top with whipped cream and cocoa powder if desired.

This was going to be a bit of a dare, however, as the recipe asked for shortening – 1) I don’t have any shortening because 2) I don’t like shortening.  I had read many comments from people who always substitute butter for shortening with minimal or barely noticeable differences, so I took a chance and substituted unsalted butter for the shortening.

What I thought would happen though, ended up happening.  The recipe tells you to sift a flour mixture into a large mixing bowl, then put all the wet ingredients on top of that and mix for 2 minutes.  That’s a really strange way to make cake batter, in my opinion.  I thought that the butter wouldn’t mix in thoroughly and would leave butter chunks in the batter.  And, well, I was right.

I didn’t want to keep beating the batter so I wouldn’t overbeat it, so I poured it into a pan and sat it on the stove over gentle heat for just enough time to melt the butter.  I kept thinking I should have went with a different recipe, because this one would end up a disaster and I would have wasted a whole bar of that 100% cocao!

However, the cake ended up baking just fine, much to my surprise!

Note, number of candles not relative to my age (although some could argue that)

The buttercream was very strange to make as well, even though I did have all the required ingredients for that.  The recipe says to melt a bar of 100% cocao.  Then dissolve two teaspoons of instant coffee in 2 tablespoons of boiling water, and stir it into the melted chocolate.  This turned the melted chocolate into a sticky clump of chocolate and my first thought was that this would not be able to mix into the frosting without clumping.  And, well, I was right again.

I beat the frosting for quite a while (maybe two minutes?) at medium-high speed just to work out the clumps and this did actually work.  It’s a very light and creamy buttercream with a strong mocha taste.  I didn’t need to add all of the milk  the recipe asked for, I left about 2 teaspoons (give or take) of the milk out.  If I added more it would have been to wet to stick on the cake, I think!

So, how did this cake end up, overall?  First I will say that I will not be making this cake again, even with using shortening.  I personally don’t think this cake tastes all that great, but it isn’t bad.  I feel like I wasted my nice unsweetened chocolate on this cake, though.

View printer-friendly PDF recipes here.

The cupcake is a mocha cupcake, made with strong coffee and a scattering of ground coffee.  It is filled with straight Nutella.  The frosting is my Nutella coffee frosting that has been featured at Cupcakes Take The Cake.  The cupcake is finished off with a hazelnut, dipped in chocolate by my own self.

Do these taste like a hazelnut mocha?  They do.  A very rich hazelnut mocha!  The Nutella filling may have been a bit much.  The coffee taste isn’t very strong in the cupcake, and you cannot feel the crunchiness of the ground coffee.  The strongest coffee taste comes from the frosting, which smells absolutely gorgeous.  The cupcake itself is just a teensy bit dry, but very chocolatey.

Our February ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

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.