yellow custard cupcake.

I made yellow custard cupcakes today as a trial. A few days back, I sent my girlfriends a message asking them for their favorite fruit/s. I was thinking of going on a cupcake challenge, and my first challenge was baking cupcakes taking inspiration from my friends’ favorite fruits. Most of them loved mango. I already bookmarked a few recipes online, and then another thought hit me. Why not bake my version of their favorite cupcake/cakes instead?

That sounded like a fun thing to do. And this is my first trial version.

This cupcake is for my friend, Simone. She told me that her favorite was custard cake, and asked me if it was possible to make it in cupcake form. I thought, why not? I already made black bottom cupcakes with custard filling sometime ago, that shouldn’t be hard.

I started searching for recipes yesterday. I didn’t find any recipe that’s close to what I have envisioned. I was thinking of a cupcake with custard, not really as a filling, but as part of the batter itself. There were some recipes that almost nailed it, but they called for custard powder. I wasn’t in the mood to look for that. I also didn’t want to make the real custard cake – that’s just too tasking for me.

Then I thought of making a cupcake base then just make custard filling and just assemble it. I initially wanted vanilla cupcakes with custard… but that would just taste too vanilla-y, right? I didn’t want a chocolate base cos that would just be like black bottom cupcakes. Maybe yellow cupcake would work.

There are a lot of versions for yellow cupcake. I settled for Kim’s version from Lovin’ from the Oven.

My original idea was incorporate the custard filling with the cupcake batter. I decided against it, and just sandwiched the custard filling with the cupcake.

They turned out delicious. The combination was just perfect! The only thing missing would be frosting – still
thinking of the best one to go with this.

The moment I bit into the cupcake, ohmy, the custard was just oozing out!

Plain or frosted, they’re still perfect. :)

The custard is somewhere in the middle.  

So, here’s my “original” version of yellow custard cupcake.

For the Custard Filling:
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
1 whole egg

For the Yellow Cupcakes:
Adapted from Lovin’ from the Oven

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 XL egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/8 cup sour cream

Make the custard filling:

In a bowl, beat egg yolks and whole egg. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk milk and flour until combined and no lumps remain.
In a double boiler (or a sauce pan over low heat), melt butter. Once butter has melted, pour in milk and bring to a slow boil. Stir constantly. Remove from heat once mixture has thickened. Add in eggs and vanilla, and whisk until combined. Bring back to stove top, and let custard thicken over low heat, around 5-10 minutes.

Cool mixture before using.

Make the cupcakes while the custard cools.

Preheat oven to 175C. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat melted butter and sugar until combined. Add in egg whites, and beat until smooth and pale. Add in vanilla. Add in flour mixture, alternate it with the sour cream, and add the remaining flour mixture. Scrape down sides of the bowl as needed. Beat until everything is combined. Do not overbeat!

Scoop batter into prepared tins, one scoop at a time. Using a spoon, pour a dollop of custard filling, then scoop batter once again to cover the filling. Don’t worry about the custard sinking to the bottom, it literally floats in the middle.

Custard filling floating in the middle. 

Bake at 175C for 20 to 25 minutes or until tops spring back when tapped.

  Almost done. In my turbo broiler.

Remove from oven, and cool on wire rack. Once the cupcakes are cooled, you can put them in the fridge to let the custard settle.

Fresh from the oven. Perfect tops. I love it!

 

Frost with your favorite frosting, left mine plain and simple.

Yellow Custard Cupcake

apple cupcakes.

Just before leaving work yesterday morning, I was feeling the itch to bake… Again. This happens almost daily, even though I’ve set a limit on myself that I can only bake on an every-other-day basis. But then baking is just so addicting that I can’t stop myself sometimes.

Today was one of those times. I just can’t stop. After settling the “to bake or not to bake today” question, I still have yet another question to answer: What do I bake? For me, this question is harder than the first one. I am always tempted to bake with chocolate, I’m a self-confessed chocolate lover bordering on addiction, what can I say.

I had some recipes bookmarked yesterday – chocolate crinkles, “Can’t Leave Alone” bars, chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes, to name a few. Right. They’re all chocolate. Yeah, I am so predictable that way.

I decided to take another route. Nothing chocolate, but still the same heavenly goodness in a cup.

Yes, it’s still a cupcake. I confess, that’s another one of my growing list of so-called addictions.

So what had I decided on?

Apple cupcakes!

For my 100th post, I baked apple cupcakes for my blog! LOL.

I tried this out about two weeks ago, but I wasn’t able to post it here. I am not a fan of apple pie, but I loved how this turned out. This is even more delish with caramel glaze, which I no longer had the time to make. Haha.

I got this recipe from Ming Makes Cupcakes, a very nice yet straightforward and minimalist blog.

Apple Cinnamon Cupcake
Adapted from Ming Makes Cupcakes

Yields 10-12 cupcakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
2 cups apples, peeled, cored, and diced

Preheat oven to 175C. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together brown sugar and egg. Once incorporated, add in oil, and whisk until incorporated.

Add wet ingredients to the flour mixture and whisk carefully until smooth. The batter is very thick, but don't worry, it's meant to be that way. Fold in apples until evenly distributed.

Using an ice cream scooper, scoop batter into each muffin tin. Pat the batter with a spatula to smooth it out.

Bake at 175C for 15 to 18 minutes, or until tester comes out clean and cupcake tops are nicely browned.

 

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes

eggless chocolate cupcake.

I wasn’t really planning on baking these eggless cupcakes, but what do you know, I forgot to check my “stock” before going to the supermarket last night. As it turned out, I only had 2 eggs left, and I still had an order of macaroons to make. That means I don’t have any spare eggs for my chocolate craving. I was bent on making brownies or another cupcake recipe but.. I didn’t have enough eggs. Gaaah.

So, what does one do to scratch the itch of baking another chocolate cupcake?

a. Go to the nearest sari-sari store (neighborhood store);
b. Search the WWW for eggless cupcakes;
c. Forget about the itch.

I could’ve easily chosen A as the store was just around the corner – a measly 2-3 minutes walk from my apartment. But I did not. I am too lazy for that.

I just can’t forget about my craving, can I?

Yes! I definitely went with option B. I searched high and low for a good eggless chocolate cupcake recipe. It wasn’t that hard, I came across one within minutes. I’m not sure if this will be a favorite when “eggless” situations happen. You know me, I am in constant search of the “best” recipes. ;)

  Look Ma, I finally piped frosting nicely!

I got this recipe from one of the posts I saw on Foodista.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup buttermilk (to substitute: 1 cup milk + 1 tsp vinegar/lemon juice, let sit for 10-15 minutes)
1 tsp vinegar
6 tbsp strong coffee (liquid)
6 tbsp canola oil (or any flavorless oil)
2 3/4 tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips / semi-sweet chocolate, chopped finely 

Preheat oven to 175C. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Prepare your favorite coffee. I just used strong instant coffee as I don't have any coffee maker (yet). Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, salt. and brown sugar.

In another bowl, mix milk, vinegar, coffee, and oil. Stir well to incorporate everything. Make sure that the oil no longer separates from the rest of the ingredients.

Mix wet ingredients with the dry ingredients. Stir slowly, in one direction. Once batter is incorporated, add in chopped chocolate chips.

Pour in batter into prepared muffin pan. You can use a liquid measuring cup (with a beak) or a 1/4 cup measuring cup. Only pour until 1/2 - 2/3 full.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.

Frost with your favorite frosting. In my case, I used my go-to rich chocolate frosting. :)

Which one’s better?

Eggless Chocolate Cake

devil’s food cupcakes with white chocolate ganache filling and frosting.

I’ve finally made it!

Made what, you ask?

A successful devil’s food cupcake with yummy filling and frosting!

right off the oven.

ready to be eaten.

one recipe = a dozen or more.

oooh, moist, chocolatey goodness!!!

white chocolate filling oozing out.

I used the same recipe as my previous devil’s food cupcake post. This resembles a choco lava cake, with a devil's food cake batter.

The filling is sandwiched by the batter, and was filled prior to baking. ;)

Easter bunny.

For the life of me, I cannot remember how my family spends Holy Week. Well, I do, but none of these memories relate to completing Visita Iglesia, Alay Lakad, or anything of that sort. You see, we’re not Catholics, and while we do commemorate what Jesus did on the Cross, we don’t have traditions pertaining to “Cuaresma.”

We commemorate Christ’s death and resurrection in Church all the time. In my opinion, we don’t need to wait for Holy Week to come to do just that. In our own little ways, in our daily life, we should always remember what Christ did – save us from our sins through the Cross.

I was talking to a friend earlier today, and we were recounting memories of Holy Week. I seriously cannot share anything, except for the fact that it’s during this time that our family goes on a short vacation – the beach, mountains, Del Monte, Baguio, just about anywhere.

It’s usually spent bonding with my family over food, long talks, or even quiet times. But like what I said, in the midst of all that fun, we don’t forget the reason for the season – Jesus Christ.

And since Easter is just around the corner, here’s what I have in my little corner in the WWW:

an Easter Bunny sitting on top of my monitor!

How do you spend your Holy Week?

Stay safe, everyone!

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macaroons.

Macaroons is synonymous to childhood summers spent in Malaybalay in my Lolo’s or Tito’s home. My Tita always made delicious macaroons, so much that I always went back for seconds, thirds, fourths, and more. Haha. I have not visited them in years and whenever I had the craving for this sweet coconut treat, I always rely on Goldilocks Bakeshop to satisfy the need. But Goldilocks’ macaroons don’t measure up to my childhood memory of macaroons, theirs was a bit hard and not moist. So, what to do to cure this craving?

Of course, make my own!

I got the recipe from Miss Connie’s site, but I tweaked the measurement a bit. I still used desiccated coconut, but the one with very tiny flakes that I had to scale the other ingredients in half. I’ve made this around six times, and on the third attempt, it was just perfect. :)

moist and golden brown.

You’ll need:

200g desiccated coconut, try to use the ones with smaller/tiny coconut flakes
1/2 of a regular condensed milk can, add more if the batter seems dry
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)
1 1/2 tbsp butter, softened
muffin cups, I used 3/4 oz cups

Mix all ingredients in a big bowl until incorporated.

Using an ice cream scoop or 2 teaspoons, scoop batter into muffin cups. You can also use a small tart tin as a molder, but make sure to line them with muffin papers for easy removal.

Bake at a 175C pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are golden.

I made around 32 macaroons, but that depends on how big you prefer them to be. I used a medium/2oz ice cream scooper.

who can resist something as yummy as this? definitely not me!

I swear I can finish a dozen (or more!) in one sitting!

Coconut Macaroons "Mini Cupcake"

famous chicken francaise.

Don’t be deceived by the title. This chicken dish is so easy to make, 20 minutes tops. I swear. I am not sure why it was called Chicken Francaise when there’s no French-sounding ingredient used. It could easily be called lemon chicken cos the main ingredient is lemon, but for whatever it’s worth, I am just borrowing the recipe, so why care about the name?



Anyway, all I know is that it’s delicious and would definitely be a part of my “kitchen repertoire.”

I got this recipe from AllRecipes – no revisions on my end. Followed the recipe to a T. Oh, wait… Except for the chicken broth part, I used 2 chicken cubes dissolved in a cup of hot water.

You’ll need:
1 egg, beaten
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 pinch garlic powder
1 pinch paprika
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons butter
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 lemon, juiced
6 slices lemon, for garnish
2 sprigs fresh parsley, for garnish

In a shallow dish or bowl, mix together the egg and juice of 1/2 lemon. In another shallow dish or bowl mix together the flour, garlic powder and paprika. Dip chicken breasts in egg mixture, then flour mixture.

Heat butter or margarine in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken breasts and cook until golden on each side.

In a medium bowl, mix together broth and juice of 1 lemon, and pour mixture over chicken in skillet. Reduce heat to medium low and let simmer for about 8 minutes. Place on serving platter, and garnish with fresh lemon slices and parsley sprigs.

And enjoy!

lunch pack for workmates :)

Barbie's Chicken Francaise

devil’s food cupcakes with a failed frosting.

Ever since I read Ree’s post on Devil Dogs, I knew I had to do a replica of my own. It looked easy, except that I didn’t have a cookie cutter like she did, and I hated cutting cakes and brownies cos I just couldn’t get it right. The frosting looked pretty easy, too, especially with the tag “The Best Frosting I’ve Ever Had,” I knew I just had to give it a go.

So, since I suck at cutting cakes and brownies, I had to come up with something… Until I read one comment from NanaBread --

According to Wikipedia:
Devil Dogs are an un-frosted devil’s food cake sandwich with vanilla creme with round edged cake wafers resembling a hot dog created by Drake’s Cakes.

Devil Dog = hot dog shaped devil’s food snack cake w/cream filling

So that was it!

I thought of creating a devil’s food cupcake with cream filling instead. I got the cupcake recipe from David Lebovitz’s site, and I adapted “The Best Frosting I’ve Ever Had.”

Making the cupcake batter was a breeze, but I couldn’t say the same for the filling. To cut the story short, yeah, my filling was a major fail. :( It just didn’t look the same as the one on Ree’s site. Oh well.

It doesn’t look appealing, does it? 

It’s a sin to throw the cupcakes away, so I came up with another bright idea: use an entirely different filling. That’s how the caramel glaze came into the picture.

Still doesn’t look very appealing, but WTH, it tastes good anyway.

Here goes the recipe. You might want to try it.. If it turns out well for you, I applaud you. ;)

Devil’s Food Cake
Adapted from David Lebovitz
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/4 cup strong coffee (or water)
1/4 cup whole milk

Adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.

In another bowl, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add the egg, mix until fully incorporated. Scrape the edges of the bowl as necessary.

Mix together the coffee and milk. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, the add the coffee and milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.

Divide the batter into individual muffin tins. You can use an ice cream scoop to make equal sizes.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

This was how they looked before frosting. (Poked holes on the tops for the filling.)

Ree’s “The Best Frosting I’ve Ever Had”:

5 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

Hmm, maybe I haven’t beaten it enough?

To assemble the cupcakes:

When the cupcakes are cool and are ready for frosting, poke a hole in the middle of the cupcakes. You can use an apple corer or a paring knife. I used a knife, and here’s how they look like:

Before removing the top.

This is where the filling goes. 

  
Pipe filling into holes. Unfortunately, piping isn’t something I do well.. So… That’s another reason why it was a fail. :))

Once all holes are filled, frost the cupcakes to hide the holes and to make your cupcakes pretty. Uh, okay, another fail.

See?!

 

I think I’ll go with the caramel ones :))

If you ever wanna try this, please let me know how it goes!

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easy eggless white chocolate banana cupcake.

I woke up late tonight. I kept on pressing the snooze button on my phones, and before I knew it, it was already past 7 in the evening. I should’ve woken up at 5 pm to give me enough time to prepare what I needed to bring to the office. So instead of having 4 full hours to prepare, I was left with two. Good job, me.

What was I planning to prepare, anyway? I had an order for macaroons and had to prepare spinach pesto pasta for lunch at work. Aside from that, I was planning to make white chocolate [banana] cupcakes. How would I be able to finish all that in two hours – plus cleaning up and taking a shower. I know, it doesn’t take a lot of time to prepare all three, but I don’t like doing things in a hurry – that’s a recipe for disaster. Trust me, I should know.

Anyhoo, I am thankful I was able to finish everything without being late for work. Yes!
 
The white chocolate banana cupcakes turned out great, if not for a little hitch: I forgot to add the egg. By the time I realized, it was too late. My gut was telling me it’s okay. I’ve seen a few recipes that didn’t call for eggs. Maybe it would work.





And it did! It just needed a longer time to cool, but they’re yummy nonetheless. And easy – one bowl is all you need. Or maybe two plus a sauce pan – no mixer needed! :)


I got the recipe for white chocolate cupcake from Cake on the Brain, but I adjusted some stuff. So here’s my version – with bananas!

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
about 60g white chocolate
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
2-3 bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda

• Preheat oven to 175C. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

• In a bowl, stir together flour and baking soda.

• In another bowl, mix sugars. Set aside.

• Melt milk, white chocolate, and butter in a sauce pan over low fire. Once the butter and white chocolate have melted, stir in sugars, bananas, and vanilla.

• Whisk carefully until everything is incorporated. Don’t overmix.

• Scoop batter into muffin tins until 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake at 175C (mine was at 125C) for 18-20 minutes.

• You would notice that the bottom of the cupcakes are a bit light after coming out of the oven. Don’t fret, it would all come together after cooling for 30 minutes to an hour.

• You can frost the cupcakes with white chocolate ganache or any frosting you prefer. I didn’t have enough time to frost, so they’re plain – but still very delish. ;)

It doesn’t taste like a white chocolate cupcake, there’s just a very, very light hint of the chocolate flavor, which I think is good cos it’s not very overwhelming to the palate.



Eggless White Chocolate Banana Cake

chocolate banana cupcakes with white chocolate ganache.

 

I wanted to try a new recipe, but was too tired to go over the gazillion recipes (and counting) I have compiled over the past few months. Truth be told, I have not stopped looking for new recipes, and I don’t really care if I have a lot clipped/glued on my notebooks. Each day, I come across a cool food/recipe blog, and I always, always find new recipes or new tips and tricks for old/traditional ones. My newest favorite is Savory Sweet Life by Alice. I have bookmarked and copied a few recipes, but I couldn’t choose the “right” one to try earlier.

So… Enough talking. All I wanted to say really is that… Today, I baked one of my favorites – chocolate banana cake in cupcake form. And instead of the usual chocolate ganache, I tried white chocolate this time. The result?

Ta-da!

 

• I’m trying out Windows Live Writer at the suggestion of my friend Vera, and she’s right, it’s amazing! (See the photos and the watermark? Thanks to WLW, it’s so easy to tweak stuff!)
• View original recipe here.

stress-busters by my bedside.

devotional, the Bible, and a stress ball.

Sometimes, all you need is a little quiet time to calm the storm.

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my fave: oreo-graham marshmallow cupcakes.

This is probably the best cupcake I've ever made... So far. And this is my most favorite out of everything I've baked. After my first bite into the un-frosted cupcake, I felt like I died and went to cupcake heaven. Seriously. It was that heavenly. For me, at least. ;)

I got the inspiration from my friend Res, who made her own version of S'mores Cupcakes yesterday. The moment I saw her cuppies, I knew I just couldn't say no to baking these. Then on I went to search for other recipes for this yummy Girl Scout treat.

My version is adapted from three different recipes: S'mores Cupcakes = Delicious from Cupcakes Take The Cake, Res' recipe, and another one from Yummy's Bake, Give, Sell! cookbook.

So, this is mine. :)

1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup crushed oreo cookies
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs (separate yolks from white)
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup cream
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup mini marshmallows, plus more for garnish

Preheat oven to 175C. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Stir cream and warm water in a measuring cup/small bowl/cup. Set aside.

In a bowl, mix together all-purpose flour, graham cracker crumbs, crushed Oreo cookies, baking powder, and cocoa powder.

In another bowl, cream butter and white sugar until light and fluffy on low speed. Gradually add brown sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla.

Alternately add flour mixture and cream mixture, starting and ending with the flour. Beat batter until incorporated.

In another bowl, whisk egg whites with mixer, it doesn't need to be super fluffy. I just beat it for a few minutes and then fold them into the batter.

Fold chocolate chips and mini marshmallows into the batter until evenly incorporated.

Using an ice cream scooper, evenly divide batter into muffin tins. Fill muffin tins up to 1/2 to 2/3 full. I used 2 scoops per tin -- but that depends on the size of your scooper, mine was medium. ;)

Bake at 175C (mine was at 125C -- worked like a charm) for 15-18 minutes, or until toothpick tester comes out with a few crumbs.

Cool cupcakes in pan for 3-5 minutes before transferring to wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Before frosting.

I used a very rich chocolate frosting... but I forgot where I got it from. I think it's someone from FoodBuzz. Whoops.

1 cup chopped semisweet chocolate (or chocolate chips)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup milk (lowfat is fine)
1 tsp vanilla extract

On a double-boiler, melt together butter and chocolate in a medium-sized, heatproof bowl. Stir frequently, until the mixture is smooth. Let cool slightly (about 3-5 minutes).

Add in confectioners’ sugar, milk and vanilla and beat on medium-high speed with an electric mixer until smooth.

Frost cupcakes -- I used a star tip. My first time! Top with mini-marshmallows.

Oreo-Graham Marshmallow Cupcakes

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