Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Ingredients:


For the filling:


• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the cake:


• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1 cup sour cream

• 2 tbsp. milk

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 
2 large eggs

For the peanut butter icing:

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two muffin tins with 12 cupcake liners.


To make the filling: Combine the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla extract in a bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls (at least 24) and set aside on a baking sheet.

To make the cake batter: Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; whisk together and set aside. In a liquid measuring cup, stir together the sour cream, milk and vanilla extract. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (I used a hand mixer), combine the butter and sugar, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed.  With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Mix just until incorporated.

Spoon a tablespoon or two of batter into the bottom of each cupcake liner.  Place a ball of the peanut butter filling in each cupcake well and top with the remaining batter so that all the cups are filled. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. When the cupcakes are completely cool, top with peanut butter icing.

To make the peanut butter icing:
Place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (again, I used a hand mixer). Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

Orange Poppyseed Cupcakes

And the orange binge continues.

These orange poppyseed mini cupcakes are officially my all-time favourite cupcakes and my all-time favourite orange cake too. I make them ALL the time. Anytime anyone asks me for a recipe for a light, delicious cake, I give them this one. It's that good. Trust me.

I've posted the original recipe for this orange poppyseed cake on this blog before. But that was a long time ago... about two years ago actually and I really feel the time has come for a revisit. The recipe is from Moroccan-born cook Nadine Abensur from her book Enjoy (a review of which is also posted on this blog).

Abensur's recipe is for a cake but I preferred to make mini cupcakes from the batter this time instead of a whole cake. Mini cupcakes are awesome.  You can just pop the whole thing in your mouth. It's that simple. And this one — with the orange and the poppyseed — literally pops in your mouth.

Pop. There goes another one in my mouth. Pop. And another.



Abensur's cake isn't sweet. It's delicious but it isn't sweet. But the cake comes with a spiced syrup which is drizzled over the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven. The syrup not only adds the necessary sweetness to the cake, it also keeps the cake nice and moist. And the spice adds another dimension to a basic orange cake.

Also, the original cake isn't frosted but I topped these mini cupcakes with a light cream cheese frosting which I feel goes well with the cake. Plus, frosting makes a cake looks so festive, right? (Oh ok, I'll come out and admit it. I am also practicing my skills at frosting and I am taking every opportunity I can get to master the art of frosting. Still it does add to the cake!)

Alright. Enough talk already. I hope I have convinced you to make this cake. The recipe follows.



Orange Poppyseed Cake
(adapted from Nadine Abensur's Enjoy)

For the cake
50g poppy seed
60ml milk
185g butter
200g Castor sugar
2 tbsp orange zest
3 eggs
175g self-raising flour, sifted
50g plain flour, sifted
50g ground almond
100ml orange juice

Soak the poppy seed in the milk for about 10 mins. (The poppy seeds need to absorb moisture from the milk or they may be too hard).

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Cream the butter, zest and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy. Lower the speed of your mixer and add the eggs (one at a time) and mix till incorporated.

Add the flour, orange juice and milk with the poppy seeds — alternating between the three — until everything is combined.

Fill the cupcake liners with batter.

Bake for 15-18 mins or till a toothpick comes out clean.

For the Syrup
3 tbsp Castor sugar
3 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp orange zest
3 tbsp water
1 star anise

Mix the ingredients in a small saucepan and heat till sugar dissolves and a thick syrup emerges.
Drizzle on the cakes once they're hot out of the oven.

For the Frosting
170g cream cheese
170g butter
11/2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Cream on high speed until light and very fluffy.

Red Velvet Cupcake

Chocolate cake should taste (and look) like chocolate, right? So what about red velvet cake then? What does velvet taste like, anyway? Well, since red velvet cake is essentially a chocolate cake ( a mild one, not a full-on one) that has been treated to come out looking red, you’d expect it to taste just like chocolate cake, right? Well, only kinda. There is the taste of cocoa but honestly, it tastes more like a mix of butter cake and cheese cake with just a hint of chocolate. Does that even make any sense?

One thing is for sure: when executed properly, the texture of a red velvet cake is really velvety — as in soft, smooth and ... well, like velvet. It's easy to dismiss the red velvet cake as being an overrated gimmick.  If it isn't well done, it just tastes like any cake, not a particularly nice cake, only red. But, if its well-made, the red velvet cake is a treat.

Believe me. I am a recent convert. I generally stay away from fads and since the red velvet cake has become a fad in the last few years, I avoided it. Particularly after tasting a few uninspiring versions of the cake. But then I tasted one gorgeous red velvet cake at a friend's party and, well, I changed my mind. I liked it. No, I loved it.

I’ve tried making red velvet cake once before and it tasted fine. No, it tasted a little better than fine. But, you know how it is with cake, right? You make a chocolate cake and the next week, you want to try another recipe that is a little different and this just goes on and on and on. We’re always looking for the perfect cake.... chocolate, butter, cheese, or whatever ... and when we find that perfect cake, we want something that tastes better! Right? It's human nature I guess.

OK. Enough postulating already. Fact is, I made the cake again after I spotted a recipe for it in this month’s issue of Saveur magazine. Actually I wanted to make ALL the cakes featured in the magazine’s focus on the great layer cakes from the South (really decadent cakes from the American south) but most of them required too much work and I wasn’t feeling up to it. The red velvet cake seemed the least complicated —  plus I was seduced by the picture and the recipe, although I wasn’t quite seduced by the whipped cream topping. I much prefer the traditional cream cheese frosting that is synonymous with red velvet cake. 

So, here's the deal with this red velvet cake: the important ingredients are cocoa, buttermilk, vinegar and baking powder. The chemical reaction between the four ingredients when combined is what causes the cake to come out red.

Most recipes call for Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa which is cocoa that has been treated with alkali to nutralise it's natural acidity. This type of cocoa has a reddish hue and when mixed with the vinegar, the red intensifies. I didn't have Dutch-processed cocoa. In fact I don't thin I've ever seen it — so I used regular unsweetened cocoa and, to get a dramatic or brilliant red, I added a little bit of red colouring. Some chefs/cooks prefer more natural colourants and rely on either beets or rhubarb for the colour.

I also didn't have buttermilk at home and I had no intention of buying a carton just for this cake. It's actually pretty easy to make do and create your own buttermilk with just plain milk and vinegar (1 cup milk + 1 tsp vinegar = I cup buttermilk). Because the recipe calls for vinegar, I was a little concerned that the vinegar I added to the milk to make buttermilk would add up to just too much vinegar in this cake. I mean, I didn't want a cake that ended up tasting like a pickle!

No, no ... I was confident it would turn out ok. I would channel positive thoughts and envision a beautiful and delicious cake.



The Saveur recipe turned out fantastic and the extra vinegar had no negative impact on the cake. Velvety? Hell yes! The cake looked rich and it tasted amazing: extremely moist, slightly tangy, rich, deep and helluva satisfying.

Try this. Seriously. Try this.

Oh. This recipe was originally for a two-layered cake but I'm a little mad for cupcakes at the moment and so I just filled the batter into cupcake tins rather than two round cake tins.

Red Velvet Cake
Adapted from Saveur (March 2012)

226g butter, softened
21/2 cups cake/superfine flour
2 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 tsp + 1 tbsp distilled vinegar (separated)
2 tbsp red food colouring
1 tsp vanilla extract
11/2 cups sugar
2 eggs

Heat oven to 180C.

Mix 1 tsp vinegar to the milk and set aside for at least 5 mins.

Sift the flour, baking powder, cocoa and salt and whisk to combine. Set aside.

After letting the milk and vinegar sit for 5 mins, whisk the mixture with the colouring, the remaining vinegar and vanilla extract. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer (high speed) until light, pale and fluffy. Lower the speed and add the eggs, one at a time, waiting till the eggs are incorporated into the butter each time.

Keeping the speed low, add the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, cocoa) and the liquid (milk, vinegar, colouring and extract) alternating between the two.

Turn the speed to high and beat till smooth for a few seconds.

Fill the cake pans (greased and floured)/cupcake tins with the batter (fill only 3/4 to the brim) and bake for 30 mins (for the cake pans) or 23-25 mins for the cupcakes or till a tester comes out clean.

Remove and let them cool.

Frosting
170g cream cheese, softened
170g butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
11/2 cups icing sugar

Beat butter till creamy. Add cream cheese and cream till well combined. Add sugar and extract and beat till light and fluffy.

Frost as desired.

Zucchini Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup organic coconut oil
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (found at Winco's bulk section)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves (I didn't have cloves so I used pumpkin pie spice instead-worked great)
1 1/2 cup shredded zucchini

Frosting:
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, cubed
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2-2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
In a large bowl (or stand mixer), beat the eggs, sugar, oil, orange juice and almond extract.  In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and gradually add to the egg mixture.  Mix well.  Stir in zucchini.  Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 
For frosting: Let cupcakes cool.  Combine brown sugar, butter, and milk in a sauce pain.  Bring to boil over medium heat.  Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Cool to lukewarm.  Gradually beat in powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency. 

牛头牌360度全能气炸锅 ～香橙老式鸡蛋糕

之前做原味的老式鸡蛋糕，总是做得不够理想，因为表面不够上色。这次做香橙味道的，用鲜橙汁代替牛奶，并加入一小匙橙皮屑，烘烤的时候，好香哦！由于家里刚好没有低筋面粉，所以我用香港面粉代替。还有，这次也用了橄榄油取代玉米油。

用了气炸锅，表面上色了，但是因为气流的关系，表面有点高低不平，像刚崛起的香菇，让作品变得有点美中不足。无论如何，无需预热，9分钟就烘好的蛋糕，而且没有一点回缩，阵阵香橙味，让人口水都流的蛋糕，有一点点的瑕疵，我还是很喜欢的。

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同时，随着巨星陨落 ～加巴星 [Karpal Singh s/o Ram Singh (28 June 1940 – 17 April 2014)]，你安息吧！你的精神将与马来西亚人永存！

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材料 (Ingredients)
2个           鸡蛋 (2 nos eggs)
40g          细砂糖 (40g caster sugar)
60g          香港面粉 － 过筛 (60g Hong Kong flour - sieved)
1小匙       橙皮屑 (1 tsp orange zest)
6g            橄榄油 (6g olive oil)
15g          鲜橙汁 (15g orange juice)



步骤
1. 鸡蛋打至起泡后分三次加入细砂糖打发至颜色变白。
     Beat the eggs until foamy, add in caster sugar in 3 batch and whip until peak forms.

2. 加入香港面粉，用手拌匀。
    Add in Hong Kong flour and mix well with a spatula.

3. 加入橙皮屑轻轻搅拌均匀。
    Add in orange zest and mix well.

3. 加入混合了的橄榄油和鲜橙汁，搅拌均匀。
    Stir in mixed olive oil and orange juice, mix well.

4. 用汤匙舀入纸杯里至八分满，放入预热170度的烤箱约15分钟。
    [备注：我用气炸锅，用低架，选择“烘焙”功能，180度9分钟，觉得8分钟也是可以的。]
    Scoop into paper cups until 80% full, bake in preheat oven at 170 degree for 15 minutes.
    [ Note: I use air fryer, no preheat required, use low rack, choose "bake" option, bake at
                180 degree for 9 minutes, I believe the cake is done at 8 minutes.]

Rainbow Cupcakes

I know what you're thinking. This looks nothing like a rainbow cupcake! Well, you're right. But beneath the white and yellow butter cream frosting is a burst of colour that's so absolutely vibrant, you're gonna need to prepare yourself.

You ready? You sure?

Well, alright now. No reason to dally.

I present to you ...<grab your shades> ...  the brightest batch of cupcakes I've ever seen.



Woah. Inspired by the famous rainbow cakes, these cupcakes are a festival of colour just exploding everywhere.

The best part? They taste fantastic. This was a surprise to me. I expected them to taste ok but look fabulous. Turns out, they taste fabulous and look ... well, garishly gorgeous.

I love em!



So why did I decide ok making a rainbow cupcake? Well, ever since I laid my eyes on Martha Stewart's rainbow cake  on her website, I've been itching to make it. Martha's cake comprises six (yeah, she's one colour short but who cares, right?) layers of colour layered and topped with a lemon meringue butter cream topping. It really is a beautiful cake. I have to post you a picture.


Martha Stewart's Rainbow Cake
See? Perfect! As much as I loved looking at it though, I didn't quite fancy the idea of making a 6-layer cake much less storing it in my fridge. I find any more than two layers in a cake too much to handle. So instead, I figured I'd make a cupcake version of the gorgeous cake.

Now Martha divides her batter into six portions, colours them and then bakes each coloured layer separately before assembling the cake. Good idea but impossible to execute in a cupcake.

So what I did was pour one layer of coloured batter (I only had five colours) upon another. The layers naturally bled into each other a little and so I didn't achieve the layered effect. What I ended up with was a burst of colours melding into each other.

I like it. I do. OK, now onto the recipe. And really, the cake tastes good. Soft, moist, buttery. Yum!



Rainbow (almost) Cupcakes
(Not Martha's Recipe)
For the cake
1 cup all purpose flour
11/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup butter milk (or milk + 1tsp vinegar)
1 tsp vanilla extract
colouring: blue, yellow, red, green, etc

For Butter cream frosting
60g butter, softened
3 tbsp milk
2 cups icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract



Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a cupcake tray with cupcake liner and grease them lightly with some butter.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Whisk together the butter, buttermilk, sugar, eggs and vanilla till well Incorporated. Stir in and mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Mix only till well incorporated. No lumps.




Divide the batter into five bowls and colour them respectively to your liking. Note: you can mix blue and red to get purple, etc.

Start with one colour. Fill a heaped teaspoonful of batter into each cupcake liner. The portion should be just right for 10 cupcakes. Repeat with the other colours. NOTE: Do not spread the batter with your spoon. Once you drop the second colour onto the first (right in the middle), the bottom layer will spread out to fill the cupcake liner by itself.

Magic? No! Science, yeah I guess.

Repeat till the last colour has been added.

Bake for 15 mins or until a tester comes out clean.

Meanwhile, prepare the frosting.



Beat the butter, sugar, milk and extract together until pale and fluffy, about 5 mins. Remove and chill frosting for at least 30 mins.

When they cakes are ready, remove them and cool them on a rack. Once they're COMPLETELY cook, remove the frosting (if it has hardened, whisk it with a fork a little) and start frosting!

Lemon Cupcakes

This recipe is for all the lemon lovers out there!  I won't tell you how many of these I ate today but it didn't help keep the pregnancy weight gain down!

Perfect Lemon Cupcakes

Cake:
1 package lemon cake mix
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
1 small package lemon instant pudding
1/4 cup flour (This extra flour is not necessary if you are making a cake, but if you are making cupcakes they will fall in the middle if you leave this out.)


Frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, soft
6-8 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

For the cake, mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. Mix with electric mixer on medium speed for about two minutes. Place cupcake liners in cupcake tin and fill half full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  If making a cake, bake 9×13 or two 9 in rounds 25-30 minutes. Don’t over-bake or the cake will be too dry.

For the frosting, place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of powdered sugar, then the juice and the zest. Beat until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the remaining powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency.  (May not need all 8 cups.) Use and then store at room temperature. (Don’t refrigerate and it will last in a covered container for about three days.)