An Asian Spin

After being in Vietnam I deperately wanted to make some cupcakes that were even a tiny bit Asian...which is kind of a big ask, as they don't do cupcakes at all, and even cakes or muffins are not done well - everything's spongy and bland, with maybe a hint of lemon or coconut. The closest thing to cupcakes was donuts - for their interesting toppings and funky icing designs. But even then, you get a dry donut underneath not a moist delicious cupcake.

Anyway, much googling ensued, and the most popular "Asian" cupcake I could find was a cherry blossom design, which is very Japanese, not Vietnamese, but close enough! In Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess", there are several cupcake recipes, so I thought I'd try my hand at chocolate-cherry cupcakes. The promise of melting chocolate to add to the batter was certainly tempting me.

The only ingredient not usually in my pantry was the cherry jam, which was expensive and delicious, so I begrudged using it all. I ended up substituting some plum jam and adding some chopped glace cherries to keep up the cherry-ness.

For the icing, I started with a swirl of plain vanilla icing.

Then I piped chocolate icing, a few lines on each cake, to look like branches.
The final step was to add delicate little pink blossom's, some ended up quite messy, but I decided that I rather liked the messy look rather than perfect identical little flowers. Since when are all the flowers on a tree the same anyway?

As I've done many times, I tested the taste and icing design on my only-too-willing homegroup, who were all satisfied, and the girls, especially, loved the pretty blossom design.

Bon Appetit!

a belated Easter post

Apologies for the lateness of this post, but I've been overseas in Vietnam for a 3 week holiday, and meant to do this before I went...oops. Just wanted to share a simple decorating idea for Easter. Below is the picture of a chocolate cupcake with chocolate butter frosting, topped with 3 tiny Easter eggs. I found these eggs at the supermarket, and also saw similar ones at The Warehouse (New Zealand). They're chocolate inside, coated with candy, like m&m's, but are cute pastel colours with speckles, so look quite realistic!

I made these for a church fundraiser, and they were very popular. Also popular were my choc-mint cupcakes. Also VERY easy, simple chocolate cupcake recipe, butter frosting with a splash of mint essence and tiny amounts of blue and yellow food colouring (if you're smart enough to buy green then kudos to you!).

I decorate these with chocolate chips and a mint-leaf lolly. I couldn't find these in any supermarket bulk bins or packets, but found them at a local dairy.

Here is the chocolate cupcakes recipe I use. It looks long but it's not so bad - just takes two stages as you melt cocoa into hot water first (best done earlier as it needs to cool before adding to reat of mixture).

Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe
1/2 cup (50 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 cup (240 ml) boiling hot water
1 1/3 cups (175 grams) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (113 grams) butter, room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Fudge Frosting:
120 grams unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
150 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly butter, or line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.
In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature.
In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.
Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full with batter and bake for about 16-20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing. You can either spread the frosting on the cupcakes with a small spatula or if piping, use a large Wilton 1M open star tip to make lovely swirls.
Chocolate Frosting: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy (about 2 -3 minutes).