Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Cupcake baking with Special guest: Cakestory!!!

I am so thankful to have the opportunity to work with Wen from Malaysia who is the founder of Cakestory in Malaysia ^__^ A cupcake catering business! hehe! Found out we have a lot of things in common (mainly baking) and I hope that I can set up my catering business one day! Or maybe even a collaboration~! You guys should check out her facebook page! Many yummy cakes there :D
Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes (with Cream cheese frosting)
Recipe adapted from Cakestory

Ingredients

Cupcakes
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups (195g) cake flour (I just used plain flour)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
Lemon zest for decoration

1. Preheat oven to 180oC and line 18 holes of muffin pan with cupcake cases.
2. Beat butter and sugar with electric beater until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture in three additions, beginning and ending with flour.
5. Toss the blueberries in 1 tsp plain flour to coat - this helps the blueberries maintain their shape. Fold the blueberries into the cake mix.
6. Fill cupcake cases with batter (~2/3 full) and bake for 15 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire rack.

Cream cheese frosting
500g cream cheese, softened at room temperature
160g soft icing sugar
160g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
Juice of 1/2 lemon

1. In stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese until smooth.
2. Add in icing sugar and butter and beat until smooth.
3. Squeeze in juice of 1/2 lemon and beat until incorporated.

Assembly
  • Fill piping bag with frosting and pipe swirls of frosting onto cupcake. If you have star tips, it would look even prettier! unfortunately I don't :(
  • Place blueberry on the top together with a sliced lemon zest.
Pro piping skills =p even without a tip!
pretty in blue :)
BakingTray & Cakestory
We had a great day baking! Also used the leftover cream cheese frosting for macaron filling~ Coffee flavoured macaron shell with cream cheese frosting! YUM! If you guys come up with any suggestions on what to call this new flavour... leave a comment below! We wanted to call in "Tiramisu" but realised that uses mascarpone cheese
.. not cream cheese! Oops!!
New macaron flavour that needs a name!!
Check out our feast!!! :D

Thank you Cakestory for sharing your knowledge and tips =) Hope to use this recipe again and try out other flavours!
Wen from Cakestory and her delicious cupcakes ^_^
So that's all from me in 2013!!! Off to Brisbane tonight! cannot wait!! :D
Still have so many posts yet to publish but that shall wait till next year =D 
Happy baking people!! 

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Fairy Bread Cake

This cake brought me back to my primary school days... eating fairy bread at kid's parties!
I used a simple vanilla cake recipe for a nice light cake and finished with buttercream frosting and sprinkles for decoration. It's supposed to look like a giant piece of bread :D I got this idea from Raspberri cupcakes Giant fairy bread cake.

Fairy Bread Cake
Recipe adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients

Cake
1 cup caster sugar
125g butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk

Buttercream frosting
40g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup soft icing sugar
1 tbs milk

1. Preheat oven to 180oC and line a 23xcm square cake tin.
2. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla essence.
3. Add flour and baking powder and mix well. Stir in milk until mixture is smooth. Pour into prepared pan.
4. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire rack.
5. For buttercream frosting, combine all ingredients in small bowl and beat with electric mixer until smooth. Spread icing onto cooled cake and decorate with coloured sprinkles.
Light, fluffy piece of cake =)

I brought this cake to work for a colleague's farewell because she said that she likes fairy bread ^_^" I'm glad she liked the cake~ it was nice and light =)

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Oreo Chiffon Cake

Another Oreo post ^_^ You can tell they were on SALE with the amount of recipes I have been baking with them! It's all about using what's in season/on sale right? =)

I haven't baked a chiffon cake in a while - that is my sister's current favourite thing to make - but saw this recipe and it looked yummy!

Oreo Chiffon Cake
Recipe adapted from Bakericious
Ingredients
A)
65g oreos, crushed

B)
5 egg yolks
50g caster sugar
60g milk
60g vegetable oil
100g cake flour (I used 95g plain flour + 5g corn flour)

C)
5 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
60g caster sugar

1. Preheat oven to 175oC.
2. Mix yolks and sugar together with whisk. Add in oil and milk and whisk. Then add sifted flour and mix until smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add in sugar and beat until stiff peaks (you should be able to turn the bowl upside down without anything falling).
4. Fold 1/2 egg whites into yolk batter, then fold in the rest until combined. Fold in crushed oreos and pour into chiffon cake pan. Bake for 45 minutes.
5. Invert cake pan immediately upon removal from oven. Allow to cool down totally before removing cake from pan. 
Lovely lightness =)
Enjoy!! The cake had a subtle oreo flavour but I love the lightness of the cake:)

Monday, December 2, 2013

Birthday Bake: Oreo Cheesecake Cake!

Another birthday bake!! :) I really enjoy these bakes! Baking for an occasion.. and this time it was for a friends' 25th birthday! She was having a birthday BBQ out in the open so couldn't really make anything frozen. I saw a post for this cake a while back and thought it looked pretty awesome, plus I had heaps of Oreo's at home XD


There may seem like a lot of steps for this cake but it's really not too bad. I would set aside 2 days to complete. One day for the cheesecake and the other day for the cake and frosting. Ultimately, 3 day is perfect.. one more day for the decoration =p

Oreo Cheesecake Cake
Recipe adapted from Family, food and fun

Cheesecake
500g cream cheese, softened at room temperature
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
3/4 sour cream
7 coarsely crushed Oreos

Cake
2 cups caster sugar
1 3/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp instant coffee granules

Frosting
85g white chocolate
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 cups soft icing sugar
1/4 cup thickened cream or milk

extra Oreos for decoration

CHEESECAKE
1. Preheat oven to 160oC. Grease and line 23cm spring form pan.
2. Beat cream cheese with electric beater until smooth. Gradually add sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in vanilla and salt.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time and then the sour cream. Fold in crushed Oreos.
4. Pour batter into pan, smoothing the top. Bake for 45 minutes for until just set in center. Let cool completely before removing from pan. Wrap in cling wrap and place in fridge overnight (or freezer if you wish to make this cake in one day).

CAKE
1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Grease and line 2 23cm round cake tins.
2. Stir sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt together in large bowl.
3. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed with electric beater for around 2 minutes or until well combined.
4. Dissolve coffee granules in boiling water. Stir coffee into batter (Batter will be thin but don't worry about it!). Pour batter into prepared pans.
5. Bake 30-35 minutes or until skewer inserted into center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes then remove from pans and place on wire racks to cool completely. You can also wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge for easier assembly.

FROSTING
1. Place white chocolate bowl over pot of simmering water. Stir until melted, remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly. 
2. Cream butter with electric beater. Once chocolate has cooled, beat in with butter. Add vanilla and beat.
3. Gradually add in cream/milk and icing sugar, alternating until frosting reaches desired consistency.
Ready for the assembly~~
ASSEMBLY
1. Place one layer of cake onto board. Frost with a thin layer of frosting and a sprinkle of crushed Oreos.

2. Remove cheesecake from freezer/fridge and place cheesecake layer on top of cake. If cheesecake is wider than the cake, it may be necessary to trip it. Frost with a thin layer of frosting and a sprinkle of crushed Oreos. 
3. Play top layer of cake on top of cheesecake. Coat entire cake with a layer of frosting. Top with mini Oreos and decorate as you like.

I suppose you want to see the inside of the cake =p It was a little crumbly to cut.. also because I forgot to bring a cake knife >__<" But we got there in the end!
I hope you all enjoyed the cake =) It was really fun making it! and I hope I will have many more opportunities in the future to bake birthday cakes!!! =D
Happy birthday Amy ^___^