my very first order...baby cakes, baby!

we were at my friends place for dinner on wednesday and brought the lemon cupcakes pictured below. anyway, during the evening she mentioned that she was going to a christening over the weekend and would have loved to bring the little lemon cupcakes with her! well, never one to beat around the bush, i said that i would gladly take orders and, surprise, surprise, she jumped at the chance. i was so thrilled...my very first order! she chose 'caramel' as the flavour and for decorations just stipulated that they be something pink, because the baby is a girl! so this evening i set to work and had so much fun decorating these little baby cakes. they are almost too adorable to eat with everything matching in pink and white. hope she likes them when i pass them to her tomorrow and hope that this might be the start of more orders. a big thanks to her for having the faith in my baking!

also i want to say a big hooter-tooter, whopper-doo-dah of a 'thank you' to everyone who visits my blog and supports me with comments on how i'm doing. i have just received 1,000 visitors since starting to put my blog out there in february of this year and it feels so good to have made it to 4 figures! you guys ROCK!

little lemon delights!

so recently i have seen a number of posts on some of my favourite cuppycake blogs for lemon cupcakes and i don't know what it is about lemon, but i just love it. it's so refreshing but delicate and a real tongue-tantaliser...zingy! so later tonight, i'm going for dinner at a friends place. we met them through the singaporeans in ireland meet-up group and they have invited us over to what i can only imagine will be a true malay food fiesta. on the menu is nasi lemak (a traditional malay dish which consists of coconut rice, chilli paste, peanuts, fried anchovies, cucumber and fried egg), ayam goreng (fried chicken) and sambal udang (chilli prawns) and gosh, even writing about it is making me salivate. i miss singapore food so much and especially malay cooking so both hubby and i are REALLY looking forward to making absolute beasts of ourselves! but let's hope not to the extent where we are not invited back though!

so, with all that serious food, i figured that light, delicate lemon cupcakes would be more than ample for a dessert and i made mini ones because, i'm thinking that people might not have much room left for anything else after the main course! i found these lovely yellow and white sugar swirls at Tesco and thought they would look super dainty on these little cuppies and they really did, so i went with yellow and white icing and i must admit they look so delicate in the box waiting to go later to be shamelessly devoured by all in attendance...but then again, isn't that what every little cupcake strives for in life...to be shamelessly devoured?

so these are mini lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese icing and there were a few left over that couldn't fit into the box (much to the joy of my brother!) and they tasted so good...the cake light and moist and the cream cheese icing was just perfect...not too lemony but enough to enhance the flavour and leave you wanting more! perfect!

recipes for the cupcake you can find here and for the lemon cream cheese frosting combine 4 oz cream cheese, 1 T butter, 2 c sifted icing sugar, 1/2 t lemon extract and 4 drops of lemon food colouring. voila!

happy 'hatch' day to me - the airy fairy spreads her wings and gets out of the kitchen!

i have had just a fabulous day...what a wonderful birthday. some birthdays are just regular run-of-your-mill kinda days and then others just kinda take you by surprise because without having planned too much, the day just gets better and better. just adore when that happens.

so first of all, let's examine the presents...what does one give an airy fairy? well something cupcake-y for starters and hey, presto!...present #1 - a cupcake stand, two-tiered and decorated with cupcakes. i have wanted one of these for ages and was so excited to get one with cupcakes round the edges. my cupcakes are gonna look so darn cute on this!

then of course, i'm also a serious drama queen, hence present #2 - a drama queen mug! nobody but nobody is gonna be using this except for MOI! the one and only drama queen! love these mugs by jamie oliver, they're called 'cheeky mugs' and they are definitely cheeky!
then, something incredibly airy fairy, a 'bubble' necklace from the Museum of Modern Art...it's the most delicate and lovely thing that i have ever laid my eyes on and i have been longing for it for ages since my friend bought one...
and a fabulous silk scarf from BIN in Singapore, my fav batik shop. their designs are rich in colour and intricate in pattern and the silk...ahhhhh, so very smooth!ok so that's it for the pressies. now for how i actually spent the day. well the spatulas were down today for me...no baking but instead a trip to Co. Wicklow to the Powerscout Estate (one of my favourite places here) for lunch with a view.

lunch was in the Avoca Cafe there, an amazing restaurant with great home-cooked food, they have an amazing array of salads and you choose a main dish like lasagne, baked potato, etc and you get to choose three of the delicious salads to go along. i chose a mozarella tart and cous-cous, chickpea and feta salad. they were all so good, subtly flavoured with dressing and the vegetables were crisp and fresh. the portions are very generous as you can see...

so after all that, of course there was dessert and who needs to bake when you have a spread like this to choose from...i was spoilt for choice. it was a serious decision but someone's gotta do it.
so we went with two desserts - the meringue roulade, which was a little like eating fairylightness and fluff...the meringue just melted in your mouth, the strawberries and raspberries provided a lovely fruitiness and the cream just caressed it all. simply divine!
and the other was the ultimate chocolate cake, it was rich, moist and oh-so-chocolatey! do i really need to say more?

lunch was followed by a trip around the food shop there, a lovely shop full of tantalising gourmet food, baking equipment, kitchenware and lots of other surprises...just a taste to excite your senses!

and if that is really not enough to motivate you to visit this place...did i mention the view??? yes, it was definitely lunch with a view...just kinda takes your breath away.

all in all, a day well spent out of the kitchen! but of course, i am looking forward to baking the next batch of airy fairy cupcakes and placing them on that precious cake stand :)

berry chocolate cupcakes for birthday bunnies!

so, tomorrow is my birthday and i'm off out for the day to Co. Wicklow to visit the Powerscourt Estate - one of my favourite places to go - there are fabulous gardens, a great foody shop and of course a lovely restaurant to eat at so there'll be no baking for me on my birthday.
just recently i met someone - becs who shares my birthday with me 3rd March...my first time to meet someone born on the same day as me...i like that and the great thing was that the first time we met we had this instant connection (and didn't know at the time that we shared a birthday!) so can you imagine after finally meeting someone who shares the same birthday as me, i leave the place where they are living and traverse half the planet to set up home somewhere else...typical. anyway, i wanted to make something for becs, to let her know that i'll be thinking about her on our b-day. so honey...these are for you!

i have tried making black forest before a long time ago and wanted to experiment with a different recipe this time. this was also a chocolate based recipe (with a small addition of almond meal - which i didn't taste at all in the final result) and this time i added frozen mixed berried (as opposed to last time just plain black cherries) which consisted of black cherries, blackberries and black currants. nice and tangy...they hadn't been preserved in syrup and so weren't sweet. it created a nice balance with the sweetness of the chocolate. the recipe was pretty easy to follow however, when i added the frozen berried, the batter started getting really cold and clumpy...yikes...had to get them in the oven pronto!

smell in the oven was yummy-licious and they came out nicely shaped and looking good. i iced them with a cream cheese icing and smoothed over the top, decorating with sprinkles and a cherry for the true black forest 'look'.

the taste was very good. you enjoyed a mouthful of sweet, moist chocolate as well as soft, tangy berries, then rounded off with the creaminess of the cream cheese icing...what a taste explosion in the mouth...very good! my husband has been asking me to make these for ages so he tucked into a couple too. Happy Birthday to me and becs!

airy fairy cupcakes gets a makeover!

so, i finally decided to give my blog a fabulous makeover...well we all deserve one, don't we? and seeing as my blog has become such a part of my life i figured it was time to give it the treatment it deserves.

a huge thanks to jess at cuppycake designs for putting up with me and creating such a fabulous logo. i just adore that little cupcake dressed up as an airy fairy! if any of you are thinking of giving your precious spaces a do-over then definitely get in touch with her.

so now, tell me, what do y'all think???

Go Spectacularly Bananas with banoffee cupcakes!

ok, so i'm sure you have all heard of 'banoffee pie' and if you haven't, well, then my friends you have not tasted one of life's most simply divine desserts and i emphasise on 'simply' because it is probably the simplest dessert you could ever have the joy of making.

here's a description according to Wikipedia...

Banoffee pie is an English dessert made from bananas, cream and boiled condensed milk (or dulce de leche), either on a pastry base or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter. Its name is a portmanteau constructed from the words "banana" and "toffee".

so there you have it...banana, toffee and don't forget some cream on top too! what a perfect combination and i think a wonderful cupcake creation to enter into the Cupcakes Spectacular 2008 event hosted by HomeMadeS

i have made banoffee pie before many times, but now i wanted to capture the essence of it all in a cupcake, so i settled on a banana cupcake recipe, a toffee filling and a whipped cream topping with chocolate flakes sprinkled on top. i set to work and baked the banana cupcakes first...they turned out lovely with a nice strong banana taste. i let them cool and then using the cone method, cut out the centre of each cupcake and filled them with the toffee. finally topped them off with whipped double cream and sprinkled with a broken up cadbury's chocolate flake. the result...OH MY GOSH! if you don't make these, you are missing out on one of the finest creations i have ever had the joy to make. REALLY! these cupcakes rock. when you take a bite there is this gorgeus combination of spongy banana, smooth toffee, light cream and crumbly chocolate...if that doesn't make you fall to your knees then i don't know what will. recipe below as this is my very own creation. i also lucked out to find a jar of heavenly butterscotch spread that i used for the filling, but never mind if you can't find one, you can do-it-yourself too with condensed milk!

Cupcakes :
1 ½ c. plain flour
¾ c. sugar
1 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
¼ t. salt
½ c. melted butter
1 ½ c. mashed banana
2 large eggs
½ t. vanilla extract
¼ c. milk

Toffee:
1 can of condensed milk

Icing :
1 carton of whipping cream
1 chocolate Cadbury’s flake

For Cupcakes :
preheat oven to whatever you normally bake at. line your cupcake pan with cases.
sift flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl.
Mix together eggs, vanilla, melted butter and milk and pour into dry ingredients.
add in mashed banana. spoon batter into cupcake cases.
bake for 25 mins or until that toothpick comes out clean. let cool completely.

For Toffee :
place unopened tins of condensed milk in a heavy pot and cover the tins with water. boil for 3-4 hours. make sure the tins are covered at ALL times or you just might be licking the toffee off your ceiling! remove from water and let cool.

For Assembly :
using the cone method, cut the tops off the cupcakes and scoop out some extra cake. fill with the toffee. even off the tops and replace.
ice with whipped cream and decorate with crumbled chocolate flake.
devour!

apple crumble cupcakes

these cupcakes were featured on All Things Cupcake in their weekly cupcake collection

i have decided to get involved in the Master Baker challenge for this month, which specifies that you must bake something with cinnamon. well, i don't know about you...but i love apple crumble...always have, always will. there's just something so comforting and warm about apples and cinnamons. so after searching for a recipe...to my shock and horror, there were none! how can the wonders of apple crumble not yet been captured in the shape of a cupcake? oh, well, never one to be phased by these things, i set about doing it myself. so what does apple crumble need? something apple-y, something crumbly and something vanilla to top it all off! and by that we have our ingredients already! so i went with an apple cupcake, a crumble topping and some vanilla buttercream icing. what a perfect combination, if i do say so myself! i'm gonna post the recipe for this one (as i am yet to find one already out there) and as you have probably noticed for most of my other cupcakes i don't. well basically that is because i am already using recipes that are out there and don't see the purpose of re-publishing them on my blog so people think they are my own. if they are, i'll publish them, ok? so here is what i came up with....

Cupcakes :

1 1/2 c. plain flour
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground cloves
1/8 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. salt
1 c. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/2 c. butter
3 eggs
3/4 c. milk
1 c. grated apple

Crumble :

2 t. cold butter
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. plain flour
1/2 c. oatmeal
1/4 c. chopped walnuts

Icing :

4 oz. butter
3 1/2 c. icing sugar
1 t. vanilla essence

For Cupcakes :

preheat oven to whatever works best for you usually. line cupcake pan with cases.
in your electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
sift together dry ingredients - flour, spices, salt, baking powder in a small bowl.
add dry ingredients alternating with milk. beat until smooth.
add in grated apple.
scoop batter into cupcake pan and top with crumble then bake for 20-25 mins.

For Crumble :

combine butter, flour, sugar and oatmeal in a bowl. toss gently until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. add walnuts and sprinkle on cupcakes.

For Icing :

beat butter in electric mixer until fluffy. add vanilla essence. then slowly add icing sugar one cup at a time or until reach desired consistency. pipe it on! devour!

ok, so final result...i really liked it. the crumbly topping tasted so good with the oatmeal in it and had a slight crispy-ness to it (but perhaps could have been more crispy), the cupcake was fine, it didn't rise as much as i expected (could this have been the crumble topping?) and the vanilla buttercream...well, that speaks for itself! it definitely captured the essence of 'apple crumble' so in that respect...mission a-cupcake-d!

a cupcake-tastic special mention!

what a sweet cupcake-tastic start to the weekend i'm having! i received a message from CB over at All Things Cupcake to tell me that i'd been included in the weekly cupcake collection and when i followed the link, it brought me to the post where, sure enough, there was a piccie of my vegan chai cupcakes. what an honour to be mentioned on that site, which in case you haven't checked it out, is the absolute homage to all things cupcake! i love it! it's a cupcake addicts dream come true!

tag! you're it!

ok, so i got tagged by nikki at Nik Snacks and had NO idea what that meant until i popped by her blog to check it out and check out her blog too! it's a way to bring favourite blogs to other people's attention as well as share a little about yourself in the process. i must admit that although i've been cupcake blogging since last year, i've only really started putting my blog out there in the past few weeks, so this is all new to me...tagging (apart from the tagging i did in the playground!)
so there are a few rules to follow(not that i'm very good at rules, but i'll try):

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names, linking to them.
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

five things about lil' ol' ME! yikes! well, here goes...

1. i'm a TCK...that's a Third Culture Kid for all those not in the know, and it means a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents' culture. make that 16 years of my childhood in my case!

2. i'm a serious book-worm, when i go into bookshops i feel so overwhelmed sometimes when i think of all the books there are out there in the world and how little time there is to read them all!

3. i don't like capital letters...hence why my blog is in lower case letter. LONG LIVE lower case letters - i think i might start a campaign!

4. i love the ocean...i should have been a fish...but then, no, wait a minute, i'd never have been able to bake cupcakes! Hmmmm...

5. I love to story-tell - in public, private, to children, adults, truthful ones, fantastical ones...

ok, that's that! now 5 blogs that i like to visit(of course they are all cupcake blogs :)

not quite nigella

couture cupcakes

kuidaore

52 cupcakes

cupcake project

ok that's it, over and out x

white chocolate, cranberry & macadamia muffins...what a mouthful!

i have loved macadamia nuts ever since i first tried white chocolate-macadamia nut cookies from Subway. a sinfully long and often waist-expanding relationship ensued! i love the taste of them...this probably sounds weird (and don't let it put you off them), but the texture reminds me of candle wax and interestingly enough, my hubby recently cooked chicken kapitan and the recipe called for 'candle nuts' and i remember thinking that they reminded me of macadamias.

macadamia nut
noun
1. small Australian tree with racemes of pink flowers; widely cultivated (especially in Hawaii) for its sweet edible nuts
2. nutlike seed with sweet and crisp white meat

so i thought i'd like to try them in some muffins. then began my search to buy the delightful nuts. i searched health shops high and low, supermarkets near and far to no avail. why, oh why, do they NOT sell macadamia nuts in Dublin! are we nutty enough? then i discovered a wee modicum of hope...a bag of macadamia nut and cranberry mix. when one can no longer be picky, one must snap up what they can! never one to reject the humble cranberry, i decided that they could go in to the muffin...after all, who am i to say that the cranberry is not deserving of a presence? once i had prepared the batter, i was surprised because it was very thick. i know that muffin batters are usually more dense than cupcake batters, but this stuff wouldn't even drop off the spoon (was i heading for rock cakes???) anyway, i finally got the batter into the cases and baked the muffins. result...very very scrumptious. it has certainly satisfied my craving for the macadamias, the cranberries added a nice tangy element to the muffin and the white chocolate just continued to ensure i do my utmost in the waist-expanding department!

vegan chai cupcakes

these cupcakes were featured on All Things Cupcake in their weekly cupcake collection

i've been wanting to give these a try for ages - vegan cupcakes from the VCTOTW book, so today was the day. they were really simple to make - i didn't even need to take out the mixer for these. the smell of the batter was very very aromatic (there was cardamom in the recipe...again...i'm a glutton for punishment!) however, i was disappointed that the recipe only yielded 12 cupcakes. generally i can get anything from 16-24 cupcakes from most batters so it was weird to be stretching it to try and fit 12 because they weren't even filled up to the usual height. i like my cupcakes 'up-size' because generally i only want one and so i like to get the most-ess out of it! if i'd have up-sized this batter i might have gotten 6! anyway, popped them in the oven and the smell was just lovely...really smelled like chai that i remember drinking from Coffee Bean in Singapore.

once they were out, i let them cool and got to work on the icing. ok, so i know that they are supposed to be vegan, but no-one in my family is actually vegan so i could get away with it and my brother has a penchant for buttercream icing! i made chocolate this time and piped it on. the taste of the icing was delicious - very chocolate-y, very good! iced the cupcakes and then came the taste-test. my brother tucked in straight away and was happy. as for me, well, first of all, i was a bit disappointed by how much they stuck to the cupcake case...so much so, that the whole bottom was left behind on the paper and it seemed like half the cupcake had gone MIA. not very attractive. i wondered if it was because i had substituted the canola oil for sunflower oil in the recipe? wonder if anyone else has ever experienced this? i normally never have a problem with cupcakes sticking, and i have used both oil and butter in recipes and usually everything is fine. hmmmm, shall have to ponder this a little more. but back to the taste, it was very good, the spices tasted so warm and comforting and blended really well with the chocolate.

i really liked these and perhaps might use the recipe base again to make a non-vegan variety because i definitely noticed a difference in the texture of the cake - more dense and heavy than non-vegan varieties. you miss that airy fairy feel that you get when you cream butter and sugar and of course, add the eggs. but i think it's good to try these things out. educate yourself a bit. photos were taken in the garden (because Spring weather is still happily hanging around - but i am expecting it to go at any moment!) and i couldn't help but use some of the foliage.

a sweet salute to Spring - pistachio cardamom cupcakes

oh my, oh my, it seems like Spring might actually be here. the past few days have been really beautiful sunny days...still cold, but otherwise crisp and fresh and just really nice to be outdoors in. so in honorary celebration of the coming of Spring, i wanted to make some cupcakes. something exotic and spicy to put all and sundry in the mood. i found this recipe for pistachio cardamom cupcakes on vanilla garlic's blog (links on the menu to the right) and really wanted to try them. so, first let's talk about cardamom....cardamom, oh, cardamom, what do i think of thee? i'm very undecided on my feelings towards the mysterious cardamom....

car·da·mom /ˈkɑrdəməm/ [kahr-duh-muhm]
–noun
1.the aromatic seed capsules of a tropical Asian plant, Elettaria cardamomum, of the ginger family, used as a spice or condiment and in medicine.
2.the plant itself.
3.a related plant, Amomum compactum, or its seeds, used as a substitute for true cardamom.

so this is what the online dictionary tells us about it but, me...personally, well, i think when i was younger and living somewhere or other i had a very bad experience with the cardamom in that i ate a whole pod and decided it wasn't for me....the taste seemed too strong and pungent and left a very lasting impression (and not one of the good 'uns either!) however, never one to let past experiences rule the kitchen cake mixer, i decided to bite the bullet (not the cardamom!) and make some cupcakes using them. ok, ok, so i have to admit when i opened the spice jar and took a whiff i had a moment of post traumatic smell syndrome as memories came flooding back. but i baked on and followed the recipe and made the cupcakes (not exactly as listed though...recipe said 2 teaspoons of cardamom and i'm afraid i punked out...and put only 1...i know, i'm a lightweight...but once cardamom'd, twice shy!) smell when they were in the oven was very good...warm, aromatic and exotic. i was pleasantly surprised...could i finally be overcoming years of cardamom-phobia? once cooled, i iced them with a vanilla buttercream. i am currently in love with vanilla buttercream and how good it looks when squeezed out the piping bag and after the valentine cupcake incident, i wanted these ones to look....cupcake-tastic.

best of all, with the cometh of Spring, i had beautiful natural sunlight to bathe my cupcakes in...and i took so many photos...i just went wild...i couldn't help myself! it's the joy of seeing sunshine again! and cupcakes and sunshine, well, it doesn't get much better than that! so after all the hard work was done, it was time for the taste-test...i took a bite...and...i could really taste the cardamom (phew! to only putting in one teaspoon) but it seemed to blend really well with the pistachio and the overall flavour was very reminiscent of india. to my surprise though, everyone else just gobbled them up - even my brother who i always thought was pretty fussy on foods and who i suspected would be the first one to complain...didn't. so, in conclusion, i think it's just me. i'm guessing i must be super-sensitive to cardamom. but at least i can say today that i came, i saw, i cardamom'd!

have a Happy Valentine's with coconut milk cupcakes!

well, here's wishing everyone a happy V-day! for the occasion i tried a recipe that i have been wanting to taste for awhile - coconut milk cupcakes. the cupcake had both coconut milk and dessicated coconut in it. the final result was nice. the taste was subtle and light...very summery and tropical! the icing was a cream cheese coconut icing and i must admit that i was a little disappointed with it. first of all, it was impossible to ice nice designs with because it was a bit on the gooey side and also with the pieces of dessicated coconut in it, made it difficult to squeeze out evenly from the icing bag. also it looked lumpy and like the ingredients were not mixed in properly when really it was the bits of coconut...hmph! so i ended up just smearing it on the cupcakes and decorating with a foil-wrapped heart. not bad, but i would have preferred something a tad more spohisticated. also the pictures don't really do it justice - the icing was more pink but in the photos came out as looking salmon - hmph, again! overall not a bad result, but next time if i were to make these, i would make a buttercream icing, colour it so that it would be more delicately pink and use the icing bag to swirl it on with more finesse - leaving out the dessicated coconut from the actual icing and maybe sprinkling it on after. also a different flavour for the icing might have provided a better contrast to the end result...let's see what flavours might go nice with coconut - lime? chocolate? or just plain vanilla?

Gong Xi Fa Cai! - chinese new year cupcakes

so, very excited today because it is our first meet-up with the Singaporeans in Ireland group! we're going for a Chinese New Year party and of course, no guesses as to what i am bringing! yes, yes, chinese new year cupcakes of course and don't they look cute as a button? i completely lucked out after a long hunt for golden coins to actually find chinese gold coins in the oriental emporium here. they are just too perfect and without them...well they just wouldn't have looked so festive. i used a previous recipe for caramel cupcakes for these as i didn't want to experiment with anything new and the caramel cupcakes are pretty neutral in that most people like caramel (on other occasions when i have baked cupcakes with particular flavours people have not liked them i.e. gingerbread, black forest) so i wanted to have a flavour that most people like (have you ever heard anyone say they don't like caramel?) so hoping that these go down a treat today and for those celebrating, wishing you all Gong Xi Fa Cai!

devilishly undecided on these devil's food cupcakes

so my mum asked me to have a look and see if i could find any cupcake recipes that used brandy as she had a bottle of brandy that someone had given her as a present and thought it would be good to use some of it up....hmmmm, ok! so i found a recipe for a devil's food cupcake. now, i have made devil's food before, and it was really good, so i thought that the addition of brandy might work well. followed the recipe as stated and the batter was seriously RUNNY! i had to pour it into the cases (as opposed to scoop, spoon, etc.) when it came out of the oven, it looked decidedly interesting...very dark and heavy looking in the cases...gulp!...was this a sign of an impending cupcake-tastrophe! anyway i let them cool and iced them with vanilla buttercream icing - hubby even got in on the act and requested to try and ice a few...funny! then hubby grabbed one to try and i tasted some of the cake. the taste seemed fine but there was a strong presence of the brandy (hell, it IS strong stuff, right!) and this did seem to make the cupcakes heavy, in that, you didn't feel like you could just gobble another 4 or 5 of them down. for me, that's what i like so much about cupcakes, that they are usually so light and airy(fairy) but these cupcakes were not. i would recommend this one as a serious adult dessert only and alcohol-lovers at that! on the upside though, i got really creative with my icing designs and had the opportunity to try out ideas for the chinese new year cupcakes i'll be making on saturday for the Singapore expat group get-together.