a delicious combination of flavours...palm sugar cupcakes with vanilla rice pudding

so there has been this bag of palm sugar sitting in our cupboard for ages (because i think hubby bought it to use in an asian dish and just never did) and every time i open the cupboard i see it looking like little bee hives sitting in there patiently waiting to be turned into something scrumptious! it just also happened that i discovered that the Sugar High Friday food event was having Asian Sweet Invasion as their theme so it seemed right to do something with palm sugar.

what is palm sugar i hear you ask? well according to the great wikipedia...

Palm sugar was originally made from the sugary sap of the Palmyra palm or the date palm. Now it is also made from the sap of the sago and coconut palms and may be sold as "coconut sugar." The sugar is a golden brown paste, sold in tubes, blocks or tin cans. It may be light-coloured or dark, soft and gooey or hard. As a lightly-processed product of cottage industry, it varies greatly from batch to batch.

so, i searched around trying to find a recipe out there already for palm sugar cupcakes. but couldn't find one to my liking. got my baking cap on and thought about how i wanted it all to fit together. so basically, what i did was i just replaced my usual amount of sugar with palm sugar and added coconut milk instead of regular milk to enhance the 'asian' flavour of this combination. it seemed to work pretty well, because they smelled great when they came out of the oven and had this lovely golden brown colour to them that i had been hoping for.

then i needed to think about what to put on top? i felt like a change from regular icing and had seen this packet of arborio rice lying at the bottom of another cupboard (i swear that my mum's kitchen is like this treasure trove of undiscovered ingredients. one only has to seek and they shall discover a plethora of goodies to inspire baking hands!) so i thought that it might be interesting to make a vanilla rice pudding with the rice and put it on top of the cupcakes. the arborio rice was really easy to cook with. first you had to boil it in water until all liquid had been absorbed...

then, add the cooked rice to a saucepan of milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. the recipe i found did say vanilla extract but i found (yet again!) a vanilla pod lurking with intent and thought...that's going to make it taste SO much better!

after boiling it until almost all liquid was absorbed, i left it to cool and then began the filling up of each and every glorious cupcake! when each one had been 'stuffed' i sprinkled with some nutmeg (my grandma ALWAYS put nutmeg in her baked rice pudding and for me rice pudding just isn't the same without it!)

then came the moment of truth...the TASTE test! yes, i always allow myself one cupcake of every batch i make because i need to be able to judge the taste, consistency, texture, etc. otherwise how can i compare? well, this one i think is probably one of my favourites in the taste department. the flavours went so well together i was so pleased. there was this lovely almost burnt sugar taste of the cupcake that palm sugar often gives off (that's not a great description but hopefully you get what i mean here!) that contrasted so well with the sweet, creaminess of the vanilla rice pudding. i really couldn't have asked for anything better. just adored it! this would be a perfect choice for an asian dinner party because the flavours are not too strong of ginger or cardamom but still exotic and a joy to eat with the different textures of the spongey cupcake and the creamy rice pudding. i am, of course, seriously considering another one of these!

and the recipe...

Palm Sugar Cupcakes

1 3/4 c. all purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
200 g palm sugar, grated
2 eggs
1/2 c. butter
2/3 c. coconut milk
1 t. vanilla extract

preheat your oven to usual temperature. line your cupcake pan.
in a mixer, beat butter and palm sugar until light and fluffy (note : this will not be the same texture as when you use regular sugar)
add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
combine coconut milk and vanilla together.
sift flour, baking soda and salt together and add to the batter alternating with coconut milk mixture until fully incorporate.
spoon batter into cupcake cases and bake for 20 mins. cool on a wire rack.

Vanilla Rice Pudding

1 c. water
pinch of salt
1/2 T. butter
1/2 c. arborio rice
2 c. milk
4 T. sugar
1 t. vanilla extract or 1 vanilla pod
few dashes of ground cinnamon

bring water, salt and butter to the boil in a saucepan. add rice and return to the boil. reduce heat and using the lowest setting, cook the rice until rice has absorbed the water but is still al dente - about 15 mins.
bring milk, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon to a simmer in a separate saucepan. add cooked rice and simmer over medium-low heat until rice absorbs most of the milk and mixture starts to get thick and silky - about 15 mins.
transfer to a bowl to cool.

Assembly

using the cone method cut out a section from each cupcake, scooping out more cake if necessary. trim the top. fill each hole with the rice pudding and replace the top or put to one side. sprinkle with nutmeg.

i'm also going top enter this for Master Baker's event this month - where the special ingredient is vanilla. perfect!

cheeky chocolate cupcakes!

so what DO you make with cheeky chocolate sauce? CHEEKY CHOCOLATE cupcakes, of course! this were a whizz to make (i seem to be on a bit of an easy-baking trip after all that banana bread!) i used the magnolia bakery vanilla cupcake recipe (but any favourite vanilla cupcake recipe will do) and after i had spooned the batter into the cupcake cases i then just swirled on the top a tablespoon of cheeky chocolate sauce! this could be replaced with your own favourite chocolate spread/sauce of course!
the result was really pretty darn good. some of the chocolate sauce had seeped through the cupcake batter and formed a layer of chocolate on the bottom of some of the cupcakes. this was a nice surprise (note : when i made something similar to this with nutella, the nutella stayed only on top so it would depend on the density of your sauce!) the cheeky chocolate sauce was everything i could have hoped for...rich, flavour-full and was like baked on icing on the top of this cupcake! i liked the effect on the top of the cupcake...they looked marbled. again when i made these with nutella, it was easier to swirl the batter/nutella together and it stayed like that when baked. for this sauce because the consistency was runnier, the sauce and batter mixed together a little more and i lost the lovely swirly look. not to worry. it's all about the taste for these cupcakes and the taste was definitely there. so when you're feeling cheeky, make some of these cheeky chocolate cupcakes...what ya waiting for?

i think i'm going banana-nanas!

can you imagine?...i was ordered last night to make ANOTHER banana bread and believe you me, i am never one who is very good at orders...but it was that good and disappeared that fast that some of the unhappy population of the household felt that they would like some more. of course, me being me, i couldn't make it exactly the same as the day before (i really couldn't...i had no more of those honey roasted pecans!) so i thought i would experiment with something else i picked up at the market on sunday...some bewitching butterscotch sauce! i just had to get a jar of this (along with another one called 'cheeky chocolate'!) because not only did the packaging look so cute, but they had open jars for tasting and i was able to experience first hand the lovely buttery toffee flavour...scrumptious...

i especially liked the little warning on the side of the jar...

so, being the huge glutton that i am (well, at least i admit it!) i decided to make the basic recipe same as yesterday with just regular pecans but this time swirl some of the butterscotch sauce through the batter once it was in the mould. then of course, being the even bigger glutton that i am, i thought how lovely it would be to drizzle some (lots!) over the chopped pecans on TOP of the banana bread. so i did...and when it came out of the oven last night it was so shiny and glistening from where the butterscotch had heated up and attached the pecans very stickily to the top.

ONCE AGAIN, i was driven near mad to cut the bread before it had properly cooled (younger brothers, huh! who'd have them?) and he gobbled down two slices with a nice tall cold glass of milk. i thought i would refrain and have a nice piece for breakfast in the morning, when it had set properly and i sure am glad i did. this was lovely...bananas and butterscotch...do you really need to ask for anything more after that? i shall be back to pick up more of that butterscotch sauce for sure and perhaps some others i spied there including a passionfruit spread!

for the recipe please see below...i really am going bananas and think i have probably had my Recommended Yearly Allowance of bananas in the past 2 days! blame it on the Banana Bread Bakeoff, that's what i say!

cupcakes take a back seat while Banana Bread rides up front to the Banana Bread Bakeoff!

ok, so i'm ALWAYS up for a foodie event and when i encouraged my friend in blogdom, Not Quite Nigella to host a Banana Bread Bakeoff...well i couldn't very well NOT participate. so the event was for Banana Bread and to be honest, i've never made it before in the loaf form...i've made banana cupcakes but it didn't really feel like the same thing. there is something so wholesome and good about slicing up a loaf of bread. so i hid the cupcake cases away and dusted off a silicone loaf mould that i found abandoned and long since unused at the bottom of one of the cupboards. i also thought about what recipe i wanted to use. i searched the internet and found many, many recipes...how to choose? then i thought about looking for a recipe from closer to home. one of my favourite places to eat in Ireland is at the Avoca Cafes. there are a whole string of them around our island and the food is just so good and homely (you might remember that i posted about the one in Powerscourt which i visited on my birthday) so i figured their recipe in the Avoca Cafe Cookbook has got to be good.

so i located their banana bread recipe and set to work. the recipe was SUPER easy to follow and do...no mixer, nothing...just a little bit of arm work and then again, not much of that either. i must admit though that i started to freak out a bit when i saw the consistency of the batter...it was so...THICK! this serves me right for being a cupcake addict...i have obviously forgotten that one consistency does not suit all! i had this moment of 'oh no, my banana bread is going to be a banana brick...heavy and dense!' but was i ever wrong? the recipe called for pecans and i was lucky that while at the market (buying up the fudge store) i also spied the nut stall and bought some honey roasted pecans which really were to die for. they were crunchy, sweet and just perfect for putting in banana bread. you might just be able to make them out in the second row, extreme right of the photo.

the pecans were so good that as well as putting them in the batter i also sprinkled them on top of the banana bread before baking. the result when the bread came out of the oven was lovely!

then came the taste test...(it is so hard to leave anything to cool properly in my parents house, because there is a horde of hungry feasters who are always just dying to dig into the lastest creation!) i think i probably could have left it to cool longer, but as mentioned, there were tongues hanging out (after the amazing aroma that filled the house) waiting in anticipation. when i sliced in, the bread was still very soft and warm but very moist and again the aroma was fabulous. a rich banana smell twinged with cinnamon, take a peek-a-boo inside...

the taste was really really good. my brother demanded a second piece straight away! the amount of banana was perfect (i mean c'mon, i want my banana bread to taste of banana!) and with that bit of cinnamon, it gave you such a warm feeling. the honey roasted pecans were perfect! they made the outside of the bread crunchy and provided a lovely little crunch throughout the bread as well as a fantastic flavour. i'm guessing you could do these yourself in the oven, but i'm imagining mess and goo and everything else that usually comes with honey! i didn't mash up the bananas to the point of baby food, so there were still some obvious bits of banana throughout the bread. i like that! to me it feels more wholesome. i will DEFINITELY get that silicone mould out again to bake this because it was so good. i mean, really, anything that was baked by 9pm last night and was gone by 10 am this morning must be good. i'm also going to go back to the nut stall and experiment with some other varieties and maybe try some white chocolate chips in there too. oh, it could be so much fun! the possibilities are endless!

and now for the recipe...

Avoca Cafe Banana Bread

80z plain flour
1 t. salt
1 heaped t. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon
4oz sugar
1 egg
3 oz butter, melted
few drops of vanilla essence
2 1/2 oz pecan nuts, chopped
4 medium bananas, mashed

preheat your oven to whatever usually works best for you.
sift flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl, stir in sugar.
mix in egg, butter and vanilla essence, but do not beat.
fold in pecans and mashed bananas, using a fork. again do not beat.
spoon into loaf tin and bake for 50-60 mins. leave for 10 mins in the tin and then cool on a wire rack.

it doesn't get much easier than that! devour shamelessly!

a-fudge-tasting we will go!

woke up this morning to a lovely spring day, with blue skies and bright (not warm though!) sunshine. hubby said he wanted to treat me to brunch so we headed out to one of my favourite local lunch spots - the country market in howth. after i was well-fed and content, i naturally wanted to make my way down to the local market that runs there every sunday. it's a great little market with lots of homegrown produced goods and for me, i always believe that it is good to support local producers.

anyway, let me get to what this post is really about...FUDGE, FUDGE GLORIOUS FUDGE! now, many of you might not be that familiar with fudge. but according to wikipedia...

Fudge is a type of candy, usually extremely rich and sometimes flavored with cocoa. It is made by mixing sugar, butter, and milk and heating it to the soft-ball stage at 240 °F (116 °C), and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency.

sounds good, right? well, at our local market there is a stall there every week called Man of Aran Fudge and i have been eyeing it for some time because the fudge looks amazing...more like bars of fragrant soap than fudge. i guess i have grown up thinking of fudge in the traditional sense with that creamy brown colour so to see it like this is a real wonder and stimulation for the senses!

peppermint & choc chip fudge

cappucino fudge

strawberries and cream and banana chocolate twirl fudge

maple nut, nutty choc fudge and vanilla rum raisin

so i took the plunge today and bought a box. you get a box for 9.50 euros and you get to choose 4 different flavours to fill the box up with. it's a real tough decision...REAL tough as there is so much that catches your eye that you just constantly seem to get distracted. because we were buying it as a gift for my mum, i went with flavours that i felt she would enjoy and eventually settled on - banoffi fudge, cappucino fudge, bailey's fudge and maltesers fudge. the pieces were sliced up and fit perfectly in the box.

then came the taste test. it was hard to choose which one to try first because they all looked so creamy and delicious...but we went for the malteser fudge first...

this was quite sweet, but definitely had a distinct malteser taste off it. the fudge was very luscious and creamy and had a delightful melt-in-your mouth quality to it. this was my favourite. we then moved on to the cappucino fudge...

this was my mum's favourite. she loves cappucinos and will always have one when we are out and she felt that this had a lovely strong taste of cappucino. we both also really liked the way it looked...like an actual cup of cappucino! next came the banoffi fudge...


this looked delightful with the caramel coloured swirls in the yellow fudge. when you tasted it, initially you received an overwhelming taste of banana...i mean, i like banana and all, but when the taste is really overpowering sometimes i find it a bit too much. but then as the fudge started to melt, you tasted the toffee flavour coming through. i would have preferred to taste more of the toffee though because that's the part i really like about banoffi! finally we moved on to the bailey's fudge....

this was perhaps the least interesting taste-wise out of all the fudge. the baileys flavour definitely could have been stronger. to me it tasted rather bland and as if there wasn't much baileys in there which was kinda disappointing when that is the flavour it's being sold as.

all in all, the fudge was very enjoyable. however, i don't think i could eat heaps and heaps of it at a time because it is sweet and luscious. a box like this would probably last me awhile and i could enjoy a cube with a cup of tea or coffee. or maybe i might try chop some up in a cupcake...now there's a thought :)

butterscotch butterscotch cupcakes...yup that's right...double helping!

i love, love, love butterscotch but unfortunately here, in ireland, we seem to be rather deprived of those butterscotch chips that i see so many recipes using when butterscotch is called for. shame, shame! but not one to be deterred from a mission, i shall always seek out and explore with any alternative i can get my hands on.
some time ago i made banoffee cupcakes and in that recipe i used this amazing butterscotch spread for the filling of each cupcake. i really liked the taste of it...rich and creamy and very very devourable! so i figured i'd try this time just mixing it in with the batter to make some butterscotch cupcakes and then use some to add into the icing (many family members are also butterscotch fans so a double helping of the stuff might not seem so out of context if you know this!!!)
result...the cupcake smelled absolutely divine coming out of the oven...so much so, that the 13th cupcake i got out of the batter that i overfilled and spilled over, was used for an immediate taste test. it was so good warm. lovely butter-y taste with the caramel kick. soft, moist and speckled with dots of what i presume is the butterscotch (i didn't mix in the spread that much).
of course, while they were baking i tackled the icing. this was a tad more tricky. of course, the butterscotch is VERY sweet on it's own...add to this icing sugar and well, when i tasted it i worried that it was too much. so i cut back and tried to mix in as little as possible necessary to get to piping consistency. but so much for piping consistency...when i dolloped it all in the icing bag and actually started piping i noticed the icing started going a bit pear-shaped and looking like it was melting...gulp! i piped on, trying to get the stuff on as fast as possible. i think next time i'd need to re-think this...but on the other hand, the icing was so yummy...again that lovely butter-y taste and darn it! if only it didn't look so weird! not to worry...most probably won't notice as they gobble them down. so hurrah for that!

the recipe...

Butterscotch Cupcakes

1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
3 eggs
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
2/3 c. milk
1/2 jar butterscotch spread

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated and mixture is light and creamy.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in a separate bowl and add to the creamed mix, alternating with the milk until fully incorporated.
Stir in butterscotch spread. do not overmix. it's nice if there are some butterscotch swirls in there.
Scoop into cupcake cases and bake for 25 mins at whatever your usual temperature is. Remove and let stand for about 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack.

i'm not going to post the icing recipe because i am not entirely satisfied with it and would need to re-do before i can finalise the quantities.

even Martha Stewart likes my cupcakes!

so, remember this lovely creation...? well now it has a claim to fame...it's loved by Martha Stewart! Yes, THE Martha Stewart. recently there was a competition on her website for the cutest cupcakes, so i entered my easter nest cupcake and just saw today that it made it to one of the finalists! i was so excited and thrilled and....and.... (ya, ok that's enough, i know!)
anyway please click here and check out some of the other amazing entries. i feel in very honoured company!

it's all about the chocolate...gooey chocolate cupcakes to die for!

so, do you remember that charming old-school bar of handmade dark couverture chocolate i posted about here? well i finally found THE perfect recipe for it's true test...yes, gooey chocolate cupcakes! i found the recipe while browsing many of the baking blogs that i frequently haunt as this is a recipe from dorie greenspan's book 'baking from my home to yours'. and there is a food blogging group out there called 'tuesdays with dorie' who are currently working their way through this book baking all the recipes and this was one of them. well, when i saw this...i just knew...this would be the perfect recipe and it was! my gosh, if you don't bake this recipe at LEAST once in your lifetime, you are truly missing out on one of life's pure joys. this was to die for!!!! the delicious irish chocolate completely lived up to its baking and taste test and rose to the occasion. the flavour of the chocolate is rich and smooth and velvety in the mouth and just perfect in this little cake (and i'm so proud to be using irish chocolate!). i was so pleased with the result that i would definitely buy the chocolate again and will certainly be making these cupcakes again. i couldn't get them out of the wrappers fast enough and into bowls for everyone in the house to eat. and there were groans and sighs as mouthful after mouthful was devoured and enjoyed!

i served them with some strawberries (important to get those designated servings of fruit into the menu!) and honeycomb ice-cream which i discovered by accident in the supermarket and thought would be fun to try. it was! it tasted like cadbury's crunchie!

i really cannot sing the praises of this recipe enough. it was SO easy to make, SO fast to bake and even faster to eat! by the time i got around to photographing the one remaining cupcake, the gooey middle had firmed up a little (i guess it continued to bake even after coming out of the oven!) but everyone elses had their chocolate just ooze out like a lovely molten flow of lava. unfortunately i was so busy serving everyone that i didn't get to capture this on camera.

and the recipe...

Gooey Chocolate Cake

Recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From my home to yours

INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 oz bittersweet chocolate

– 4oz coarsely chopped

– 1oz very finely chopped

4 oz unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

6 tablespoons of sugar

INSTRUCTIONS
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Use 6 paper soufflé cups or buttered ramekins.
Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.
Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Divide the batter evenly among the cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.
Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)
After the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto a plate. Serve with ice-cream, strawberries or whatever takes your fancy!

the airy fairy gets her wings on a SOOPER delight from Blake Makes and McQuade's!

recently i signed up to be a part of the SOOPZ network on Blake Makes which as Blake himself describes it...

"I started SOOPZ as a way to give food bloggers free food. I, myself, am a food blogger, and I love getting free food. SOOPZ is a way for me to share the love. I like the fact that the idea is very simple: “Food bloggers get free food. Food companies get free publicity. Everyone’s happy."

this sounded perfect to me especially when i found out that anyone who signs up is called a "SOOPER HERO"...so cute! i love baking and have no problem trying something new out especially if it arrives at my door in a nicely wrapped package. no fuss but lots of fun tasting and experimenting!

anyway, on thursday, Blake had a giveaway planned for jars of McQuade's Celtic (Fig & Ginger) Chutney. you can read about the giveaway here. all you had to do was post a comment about what you wanted to make with the chutney. of course, i quickly put my baking cap on and came up with two suggestions involving both a sweet (ricotta and chutney) and savoury (goat's cheese and chutney) cupcake and guess what? it must have hit a tastebud with Blake because i was picked and shall be expecting a jar of the lovely stuff in the post sometime next week. you can read more about the other winners here and what they are going to cook up.

meanwhile, i shall be anxiously checking the post box every morning to make sure that the leprechuns don't steal away my SOOPER delight from me first!

cupcakes with a message go on film set again!

oh, god forgive me if i have committed some kind of insane sin by theming my precious cupcakes for a movie shoot about drugs...but what is one to do when one's younger brother asks for such a thing? so last week it was his movie shoot and this weekend it is one of his classmates. they are filming out in Co. Wicklow, in the middle of nowhere and because the cupcakes went down so well at the last shoot, he hinted wildly at the most welcome prospect of some for this weekend - to get that sugar kick and keep everyones energy up.

so, when he produced the script and i read a story about a drug dealer in an accident on a country road...i scratched my head. how to do something themed but still tasteful! the drugs involved in the story, heroin, were being transported in the dealers car in brick form (hence my three little bricks on one cupcake!) and involves the dealer being injured and getting out of the car and eventually leaving a trail of heroin behind him...hence the trail across the cupcakes. the one and only saving grace, i think, was the message to 'just say no'.

i used a caramel cupcake recipe for these ones, simply because they always turn out well and they are also my brothers favourite flavour. plus last week they all had chocolate ones so nice to have something different. iced them with vanilla buttercream. it's interesting because my brother specifically requested for the traditional cupcake cases, rather than the funky paper souffle cups that i have been using recently. he says the souffle ones are way to difficult to get the cupcake out of and make your fingers all messy with icing. so figuring where the crew will be i used traditional papers for ease of eating!

these are definitely the most 'interesting' theme i have ever had to work with, but hopefully, the crew will enjoy getting their hands on them out there in the midst of filming!

a surprising discovery - irish handmade dark couverture chocolate bar

i have just come back from the supermarket with a most surprising discovery...an irish handmade dark couverture chocolate bar! i'm sure most of you are probably wondering why this would be surprising...well, i do the rounds of dublin supermarkets looking for interesting ingredients to enhance and explore in my cupcakes and i have never seen this before in any of them. furthermore, in this day and age when most reputable chocolate comes from ghirardelli and valrhona, it was most encouraging to find a bar of couverture chocolate that was 'home' made here in Ireland (it's only available in Superquinn).
first and foremost let me say how impressed i am with the initial once over...the wrapping is absolutely lovely...a beige paper wrapper with brown writing that has an almost faded look and underneath this a gold foil wrapper covering the chocolate. it reminds me of what a bar of chocolate might have looked like 50 or 60 years ago. a real old-school feel to it. the bar itself is huge. very chunky and substantial so that you feel like 'hey, i'm gonna get a good few creations out of this!'
the company that make it, O'Conaill, are based in Co. Cork. no website that i could track down which again makes me feel like these guys like to kick it old-school style! brilliant, i love that concept...especially in this day and age where chocolate is all shiny-wrapped and comercialised to attract the customer by the way it looks on the outside with its fancy packaging. this bar definitely appeals to the traditional me.
nope, i'm not getting paid by them to blatantly promote their product - i'd never subject you all to that kind of treatment. i'm just so excited to be able to find irish chocolate that i just had to share it with you. and of course, i'm even more excited to start creating with it. hmmm, what shall i do first? maybe some good ol' fashioned chocolate cupcakes to really discover what irish chocolate tastes like.
stay tuned for taste-test, appearance-test and ultimately baking-test!

perfect party (cup)cake - my first 'daring bakers' challenge!

so this was my very first Daring Bakers challenge and the recipe was for the perfect party cake. the daring bakers are a group of bakers willing to challenge themselves to bake a recipe every month and post about their results on their food blogs. the group offers support and help throughout. definitely worth considering joining if you are interested in expanding your baking horizons.

so as this was my first challenge i wanted to do a good job. the recipe called for making a 'cake' but of course, me being me, wanted to make the recipe in cupcake form. wasn't sure if this would work so i really put myself to the challenge of being a true daring baker! i halved the recipe so as not to have gajillion cupcakes. initial results were interesting...the batter seemed very like my usual cupcake-type batter (there was no need for me to smooth it with a spatula) also the batter was a tad yellow for my liking. other photos i saw posted by other daring bakers showed a cake that was VERY white. i think this was due to the lemon rind. i might have added a tad too much and it turned the sugar very yellow. i'm bummed i didn't get that pristine white cake...shall definitely have to try again for that one! baked the cupcakes and took them out to cool. then removed the papers and let them cool some more. once they were cool enough. i sliced them up. this was a little tricky but definitely do-able.

then i attempted the icing. to be honest the last time i tried icing that involved egg whites, sugar and heat, it all ended a little disastrous. however, not to be deterred i began the process. things seemed to be going ok until it reached the point where i needed to beat the icing for 6-10 minutes. i was talking to my mum and then heard a strange clicking sound coming from the mixer. when i turned to look at the mixer there was smoke coming out. SERIOUS! i immediately switched it off and had to do the rest of the icing by hand. again, the final result was not a lovely pristine white buttercream icing (but then again i never seem to be able to achieve this with buttercream of any sort...could it be to do with the butter?) the icing tasted pretty lemon-y...so maybe i added too much lemon juice. but i soldiered on and iced the cupcakes and decorated them with the coconut and a fresh strawberry.

all who have tasted so far, said they really liked them (which is 4 willing candidates!) so that was good to hear. when i finished photographing, i tried the one i cut up for the photos. i cannot say it is the most delicious cake i have ever tasted and this makes me think that perhaps it wasn't made properly. i thought it was going to be really light and airy and actually it felt a little heavy and i was definitely more than satisfied with one cupcake. i think that my mixer dying in the midst of making the buttercream didn't help and mixing it by hand was quite a challenge. how intense...the first daring baker challenge challenged my mixer so much it died! now of course, i am without mixer...but the good news is that my mum just same into a little bit of money and has promised me that she is going to get me a kitchen aid...you cannot imagine the effect that the mere thought of this is having on me. i really am head over heels happy!

anyway, i am glad i gave this a go and put myself to the test. and i will definitely be looking forward to the next challenge. thanks to the daring bakers for this challenge though and the opportunity to bake outside my comfort zone!

PERFECT PARTY CAKE

For the Cake

2 ½ cups cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk (I prefer buttermilk with the lemon)

4 large egg whites

1 ½ cups sugar

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream

1 cup sugar

4 large egg whites

3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Finishing

2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves stirred vigorously or warmed gently

About 1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut

To Make the Cake

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.

Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.

Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.

Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.

Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.

Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.

Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean.

Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.

Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up.

To Make the Buttercream

Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.

The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream.

Remove the bowl from the heat.

Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes.

Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth.

Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes.

During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.

On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla.

You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream.

Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake

Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper.

Spread it with one third of the preserves.

Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream.

Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover).

Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top.

Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.