Monkey Devil's Food Cupcakes

Airy texture, intense flavor

 i L-O-V-E chocolate. It was almost impossible to me to pass this recipe without try it out. Besides, seeing people raved over it in reviews, I was curious how sour cream would make differneces in chocolate cakes. However, as I love the combination of Banana + Dark Chocolate, I added banana into the recipe. So these cake should rather be for 'monkey' devils. Lol.

Whenever working with chocolate recipes, use only the FINEST chocolate / cocoa powder you can find. Trust me, the results form different qualities are distinct. 

Maple Walnut Cupcakes

The original recipe can be found on Martha Stewart's website. Somehow I think coffee might complement the rich flavor of maple syrup in the frosting. So it was added into the milk required in the cake recipe. Also, I added more nuts than in the original recipe.

 { Bear in mind }

* Nuts should be gently heated in the oven before use. The heat releases the oil in nuts, enhancing their flavor and aroma. I like to 'roast' them either when preheating or cooling the oven. But be careful. Nuts can get easily burnt. Do not leave the oven unattended when roasting. Take them out once you smell the aroma.

* Frost buttercream less than usual, for this given recipe, due to its strong flavor especially the sweetness.

Barbapapa Cake

March is the birth month of my hubby. After listing the cake themes I wanna try out, I ended up with Barbapapa. Why? Because the characters are so adorable. Besides, the free-form look of their shapes seem attainable for a first-timer fondant "cakerator" like me. Brilliant. I'd go for it.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcakes

Scent of lemon is charming to me. It brings the sense of freshness and delight, brightening up those around them. So I decided to make birthday cupcakes of something lemon for my sister-in-law to reflect her being optimistic and gaily.

Lemon Zest // Butter & Cream Cheese

I paired lemon cream cheese frosting with cream cheese cupcakes. The subtle tang and creaminess of cream cheese goes well with lemon scent as well as lemon zest. Cream cheese cupcakes also taste nice on their own. So I made it more than needed to have it without frosting later. Hehehehe :P

The birthday girl, with her beloved son, at her vanilla moment

Pastry Cream / Crème Patisserie / Custard Cream

Pastry cream, aka. crème patisserie or custard cream, is bff to many desserts. Raymond Blanc, a highly respected French chef in Britain, once said "Pastry cream or crème patissière is to chefs what concrete is to builders."

With its satisfactory taste, sweet and creamy with pleasurable vanilla scent, the use of pastry cream is versatile. There are a numbers of desserts that are accompanied with pastry cream -- such as trifles, fruit tarts, Napoleons, cream pies, fruit crumbles, cream puffs (eclairs), or even cakes like Boston cream pie, etc.

Strawberry Cupcakes (with Recipes)

And so I did it again.... Strawberry Cupcakes from Spinkles Cupcakes Bakery.
But this time I only did one batch with lots of strawberries stirred in the batter as per request of strawbery-lovers. This earlier post shows the last time I baked it.

Above is how I puree strawberries for the buttercream with a knife. Such a labor work. I should consider getting a blender ;P

Strawberry Cupcakes

I live in tropical area. Winter is the season for strawberries. So I made some strawberry cupcakes as a 'test bake' for the upcoming Valentine's Day. The recipes are from the renowned Beverly Hills cupcakes bakery "Sprinkles Cupcakes".

Rilakkuma (リラックマ) Double Chocolate Cake

My nephew would turn 1 this month. I wanna to make a special cake for his very first birthday.

I chose Rilukkuma (リラックマ) as the theme. It is Japanese cartoon character. The name 'Rilukkuma' derives from Rilak (relax) + Kuma (bear) hence meaning bear in relaxing mood.

via (clockwise from top-left) : {1} {2} {3} {4}

For the cake, I went for chocolate cake with airy texture which would be a compliment to milk chocolate ganache. I used milk chocolate instead of my usual dark chocolate for the ganache to give light brown color to match the color of the bear. Also its sweeter and creamier taste should be more kid-friendly than dark chocolate ganache.

Then it's time to cover the cake. I decided to leave the texture unsmooth so that it looked like stuffed toy bear. At first I made a yellow circle from tinted white chocolate ganache at each of its ears but it was too runny. So I took it out and just left the ears plain brown. The white section at the nose was made from whipped cream. The eyes, nose and mouth was made from melted dark chocolate.

Now he's ready to wish the boy a very happy birthday!

Everyone especially the birthday boy's parents were so excited. Lol. They also enjoyed the double chocolate cake. Hope my nephew will be happy too when he grow up and see the picture of his first birthday.

I really love the vanilla moment a cake can bring to a special occasion :)

Great-grandfather was giving the boy a piece of cake.