Citrus Cupcakes

I can't believe I'm saying this - I'm so sick of chocolate. There, it's out.
I realised the past few recipes have been nothing but chocolate chips, chocolate powder, chunks... it's time for a refreshing break.

Refreshing is the key word here. Over in Singapore, it's summer all year round - meaning hot, rainy and humid all the time.

When I think refreshing, i think lemons, citrusy fruits. So i thought hey, let's put all my favourite citrus fruits into one cupcake.

funnily enough, I thought the fruits might 'fight' each other but no, it turned out to a lovely experience!

Recipe for Citrus Cupcakes after the jump.

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Muffin Tops

what is the perfect muffin?

The perfect muffin has a thin brown crust, a slightly rounded top with a pebbled appearance and a moist, even interior. There should be no peaks, no tunnels which are usually caused by excessive mixing and too much liquid (muffin batter should not be fluid).

- Diana Baker Woodall of Diana's Dessert

When I first made this recipe, i failed miserably. and sorry to break everyone's heart but it was nigella lawson's chocolate muffin recipe and the muffins came out kind of sad and depressed.

 

they tasted great but looked miserable! like a handsome sad man. almost like sad keanu (i said almost.).

 

so i searched for the perfect muffin recipe - baring in mind that the batter needed to be thick and and the end result needing to be crusty with a smooth and moist interior. I mixed and match, carefully making sure the flour and wet ingredients and none is up staging the other.

 

and i did it.

 

most beautiful batch of muffins:

 

 

Here's the Perfect Chocolate Muffin recipe - keep exactly to the measurements and you'll be surprised. oh, and no butter!

 

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Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

Ask anyone out there who knows me well, and they can tell you without a blistering doubt, I hate cheese. I just do - I don't eat fondue, I don't put extra Parmesan on my pasta, I don't even like grilled cheese sandwiches.

However, put cheese in a cake, and I would devour it in 5 seconds, regardless of size. This, ladies and gentlemen, is proof that cake is a cure all.

Now, add cheese with one of the world's favourite dunking cookies and you've got a winner! And fortunately for us all, the Oreo Cheesecake Cupcake is so simple that you could even rope in your kids or (shudder) boyfriends/husbands to help do all the work.

Best news ever: no bits of flour or butter were harmed in the making of this concoction.

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Sin-clairs

The eclair - a lovely French pastry which seems terribly difficult to achieve but as I found out, not that hard at all.

What i love about eclairs is that there's a science behind it all. It's using the very act of steaming to create that delicate crater in the middle of your pastry. The french call this art Pate A Choux (pa-teh-ah-shoe) and this is the same method used in cream puffs and ice cream sandwiches.

Basically, what we do is introduce water into the recipe and while the batter bakes, it steams, creating a hole right in the middle of the pastry. That hole, my friends, can be filled with anything. Strawberry jam, chocolate, ice-cream - ooo lah lah.

This is why, I stress, we need to use a very high protein flour, because proteins soak up more liquids. This recipe calls for Bread Flour - by all means stick to this.

Because I'm a traditionalist at heart, I stuck to the fairly traditional Chocolate Eclairs with Vanilla Cream Filling. Oh, there's a cheat in my recipe too ;)

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The Margaret Cupcake.

So my dear granny is 81 years old. She's extremely sweet, alluring and fabulous. She plays cards to pass the time and spends her weekends at slumber parties held by her equally rambuctious friends. They gossip, gamble and eat cupcakes to pass the time away.

Not only is she the coolest grandma, but she bakes the best cookies and desserts. Her signature is mini pineapple tarts that just take your breath away. That, is my goal in the near future, just soak in her goddess-like poweress in the kitchen and live like her - on the edge and grasping each day by the horns.

For now, I can only wish to be half as cool as she is in time to come.

She celebrates her 81st birthday this weekend, and to surprise her, I made her something that is uber sweet and satisfying. She loves them raisins, but unfortunately, she is not able to eat too much sugar so I had to think of a diabetic friendly recipe to help her out.

Great success folks, great success!

See the recipe for The Margaret Cupcake (diabetic friendly) after the jump.

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officially a foodgawker.

I'm mighty proud for being featured on foodgawker :)

it's one of things that warms my heart and lets me know i'm doing things right.

and to all my friends & family who willingly subject their stomachs to my sometimes questionable creations:

thank you! 

Love,

ms. k

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Peanut Butter Cupcakes + xtra love.

hello, my top heavy friend.

Making these cupcakes were a breeze - firstly, they are done in literally minutes. Secondly, they came out tasting like the way nature intended - a slow but pleasant and vicious attack on your tastebuds.

Everyone loved them, some even wanted seconds. It is one of those cupcakes that is made when you have no time and need to impress. The perfect "crush-turn-into-a-boyfriend" indulgence.

Plus, these cupcakes don't rise much so they turn out to look like mini cakes. I took mine out of the liners while serving them and that made them look oh-so-cute!

The surprising thing in this recipe is i added prune juice in - the tardiness of it brought out the saltiness of the peanut butter and it left that great fruity after taste. Trust me, this works like crazy.

sprinkles make me happy.

Peanut buttery goodness after the jump.

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