Strawberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

This is my second post in a row featuring strawberries, which might or might not be due to the abundance of these berries at the moment. I just love how they freshen up a baked good and add a slightly tart flavour to take away some of the sweetness. You might notice that I'm always trying to come up with a way to reduce the amount of sweetness in a dessert or baked treat - because, in reality, nobody likes sickly sweet food. In my early baking days, all of my sweets were either full of butter or sugar. Like this multi-coloured rainbow cake I made a few years ago. On a side note, it's my 3rd blogiversary! It's hard to believe that three years ago, I was once a 15 year old girl with a burning passion to bake and whip up desserts. I remember being successful at my first attempt at making macarons with my very first blog post back in 2012 and I've always been baking since. Had cherries been in season right now, I would've made some cherry chocolate cupcakes to celebrate. But there's always a next time right?

So, on to these cupcakes! I decided to use this recipe from the Cupcake Project for the vanilla cupcakes. Although I did get mostly vanilla-y, fluffy and moist cupcakes, I had a problem with some of the cupcakes shrinking from their cases. I dismissed the thought that it was the recipe and opted to blame the cupcake liners instead. Putting that aside, I made the cupcakes according to the recipe and mixed in chopped white chocolate and fresh strawberries to the finished batter. Viola! Mixing in white chocolate and strawberries makes ordinary vanilla cupcakes so much more special. 

For the frosting, I used my beloved swiss meringue buttercream for its silky texture and slight sweetness. And since baking is loads more fun with friends, I let my two best buddies decorate the cupcakes with swirls of icing and strawberry roses. Cupcakes to me, are truly the epitome of elegance and beauty. They are also small enough to not be guilty about the amount of sugar or fat eaten. With that being said, how can anyone reject a cupcake anyway?

And of course I would like to end this post with a smile from K and a peace sign. Peace out! 

Black Forest Cake

I never expected the amount of excitement that would come around getting a new camera. Before its arrival, I spent countless hours watching videos and reading tutorials to prepare myself to step into the wonderful world of DSLR photography. Additionally, I signed up for a food photography e-course by Minimalist Baker and can say that it has been an extremely helpful asset towards exploring the new possibilities brought up by the camera. Prior to that, I used a point-and-shoot camera, which served me well for a few years as a beginner, until I began to recognise its limitations in both image quality and shooting speed. After finally completing school, I gathered the money I saved up for the past few years to invest in a good camera, forming an admiration for the Canon 100D as the smallest and lightest DLSR camera on the market; perfect for my small hands. The camera exceeded my expectations and hopes for beautiful photography, so much so, that I baked my own version of a Black Forest Cake to welcome it as the first of many posts to feature pictures taken with my camera.

The cake itself is adapted from Sweetapolita's one-bowl chocolate cake recipe, wherein it beholds a moist, dark chocolate crumb that is easy to bake as it is to eat. Although the intensity of the chocolate depends on the cocoa powder, it is a great cake to whip up for those sudden chocolate cravings. It is also one of those cakes that stays moist in the fridge for days (if it even lasts that long!), so it is perfectly fine to bake and freeze the cake layers ahead before frosting and decorating. And the frosting, is non other than swiss meringue buttercream flavoured with dark chocolate. Luckily I had planned ahead, using the egg yolks for salted caramel ice cream, which was unfortunately out of the running to be photographed. While the buttercream turned out with a lighter chocolate colour and intensity, it was heavenly silky, smooth and melted in the mouth as if it was made out of chocolate clouds. It's amazing how swiss meringue buttercream can be so delicious without being all gritty and unpleasant like the sugary powdered-sugar frosting.  

Inside the cake is layers of vanilla whipped cream filling with fresh cherries, adding a juicy burst of cherry goodness in every bite. Light, airy, whipped cream accentuating subtle sweetness is a traditional component, yet the combination of it with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream adds a modern take on the classic Black Forest cake. The chocolate trees I had piped for the collar is somewhat borderline between messy and elegant. I mean, it's pretty inconsistent regarding the design and size of each tree. But it does kind of cover up my impatience on getting a perfectly smooth and even surface. Plus I was running out of time to take advantage of the beautiful sunlight streaming through the window. In the end, the piping was messy as the buttercream had become soft by the time I had frosted the cake, but the cake overall tasted pretty good. Also, I noticed that the frosting on the outside of the cake was too thin and needed more frosting to cover up. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with it, and hopefully you may want to give this cake a try; its worth the extra time and effort!

One-bowl chocolate cake

Makes one 6-inch, 3 layer cake 

Adapted from Sweetapolita

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups of plain (all-purpose) flour (180 g)
• 1 cup of sugar (225 g)
• 1/2 cup of cocoa powder (60 g)
• 1 and 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder (6 g)
• 1 and 1/4 teaspoons of baking soda (6 g)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt (2.5 g)
• 140 ml of milk
• 130 ml of strong, hot brewed coffee OR boiled water
• 75 ml of vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, room temperature 
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract (15 ml)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). Grease three 6-inch round cake tins with melted butter, placing baking paper rounds on the base of each tin.
2. Sift all the dry ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer.
3. Briefly whisk together all the remaining wet ingredients in a jug for easy pouring.
4. Using the paddle attachment on the mixer, mix the dry ingredients on medium speed for 2 minutes.
5. Slowly pour the liquid from the jug prepared earlier into the mixture and mix until combined. If there are any lumps, continue mixing until the batter is smooth. 
6. Evenly divide the mixture between the three pans using an electronic scale, and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. 
7. Rotate the pans in the oven, and continue baking for about another ten minutes. The cakes are ready when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs.
8. Cool the cake layers on a wired rack for 15 minutes, turning them out to completely cool. If the cakes are domed, you may try to use a clean tea towel to gently push down on the dome to flatten it immediately after they have come out of the oven.

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 5 large, fresh egg whites (150 g)
• 1 cup of sugar (225 g) with two teaspoons taken out
• 200 g of unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into cubes
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (5 ml)
• 200 g of chopped dark chocolate (300 g if you want a more intense chocolate flavour)

Method:

1. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water, or in a microwave, stirring at 20 second intervals until smooth. Set aside to cool.
2. In a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, whisk the egg whites and sugar together until the temperature reaches 65.5 degrees C (150 degrees F) or until the sugar has dissolved completely and the egg whites are hot to touch.
3. Transfer the egg whites to the bowl of an electric mixer. Using the whisk attachment of the mixer, whisk the mixture at high speed to firm peaks until the meringue is thick, glossy and the bottom of the bowl feels neutral (not warm).
4. At medium speed, add the butter cubes one at a time, until incorporated. Mix until it reaches a silky smooth texture. If the mixture has curdled, continue mixing until it becomes smooth again. If the mixture is runny, refrigerate it for about 15 minutes and continue mixing until it comes back together.
5. Add vanilla, and then add the melted and cooled chocolate at medium speed until combined.

For the vanilla whipped cream filling, whisk 420 ml of cold thickened cream, 1/4 cup of powdered (icing) sugar and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract with an electric mixer to firm peaks (it should hold its shape) until combined. 

For the chocolate trees, melt 200 g of dark/milk chocolate and fill it into a piping bag with a small, round tip. Pipe trees of about 3 inches tall on a baking tray lined with baking (parchment) paper. Extra chocolate may be melted again and reused for other purposes.

Assembly of Black Forest Cake

1. Using a cake turntable, place a cake layer on a circular cake board. With an ice cream scoop, add one scoop of whipped cream filling onto the cake and evenly spread it out with an offset palette knife. Spread a few pitted fresh cherries on top and add another scoop of cream on top of the cherries, smoothing it out. 
2. Repeat the step for another layer, placing a cake layer on top of the cream and adding the cherries.
3. Fill the spaces in between the cake layers with more whipped cream.
4. Refrigerate the cake for about 15 minutes.
5. Add a scoop of chocolate swiss meringue buttercream on top of the cake, smoothing out and applying to the sides of the cake until thinly covered to seal in the crumbs. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
6. Add more buttercream to the sides of the cake to form a somewhat thick layer, using an offset palette knife and bench scraper to achieve a smooth surface.
7. Pipe a buttercream border using a 1M star tip.
8. Chill the cake to set for at least 2 hours.
9. When ready to serve, carefully peel the chocolate trees from the baking paper and place them on the sides of the cake.
10. Serve the cake at room temperature, carefully slicing the cake in between each chocolate tree.

Neapolitan Layer Cake

 

So I was invited to a party last week. I was so excited about it that I planned what to make 3 days in advance. It only seemed fitting that a neapolitan cake would wow the guests and act as a thank you gift to the party host for inviting us. Distinctive layers of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry that is most familiar to me in my childhood (actually in ice cream form and yes, I was spoilt for the amount of ice cream I was allowed to have). Strangely enough, I remember only eating the chocolate part and leaving out the rest for my mum. But now, I love neapolitan ice cream in its whole form and eat every part of it (my favourite is still chocolate!).

I was only able to take photos of the cake before transferring it to the cake carrier so that's why the frosting-covered baking paper is still stuck to the cake (I use it to easily lift the cake onto the container). So I would like to apologise for the mess I had to capture, which honestly is quite embarrasing to me...but the main component in the pictures is the cake, right?

So would you like to see what's hidden in this cake? Here it is, the three neapolitan layers! I was surprised to see it look so similar to its ice cream form, and it seems that my hard work has paid off. I had some problems with the strawberry swiss meringue buttercream, but it came out all right at the end. I think it was due to the amount of strawberry puree and butter it had in it. The cake was also a little dense, but it was a real crowd pleaser and by the end of the day, there was none left...not even crumbs. I was so happy to see people enjoying the cake and commenting on how good it looked. Looks like I'll have to make this cake again soon, applying some changes to the recipe.

Since I followed the recipe from Annie's Eats and only made minor changes to the cake (I didn't add strawberry gelatin to the strawberry layer), I will direct you to her site which has all the detailed instructions and information you need to make this. Check it out HERE.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream

Hello! I've been absent for the past few weeks (again) but during that time, I was searching for a new mixer since my old one became useless for baking. I was thinking of getting a KitchenAid mixer, since so many bakers own one, but its expensive price put me off. So when I couldn't decide between the Sunbeam Planetary Mixmaster and the Breville Scraper Mixer Pro, I chose Breville because of the great reviews it had and the features which stood out to me. And can I tell you that was the best decision I have ever made! I am so happy and proud to be the owner of such an amazing mixer. It does all the work for me and makes baking a breeze. Now I have a second helper in the kitchen. So to celebrate the purchase of my new mixer, I made some vanilla cupcakes with caramel swiss meringue buttercream.

The picture above is of course, none other than my shiny new mixer! I am so in love with it and the sound of the motor is so quiet that I can concentrate on doing other things. It also has a count up or down timer which is handy to prevent overmixing and to indicate how long it has been mixing. It whips icing wonderfully, creams butter and sugar until light and fluffy in seconds, and mixes cake batter thoroughly. Oh and did I mention that it came with an ice cream bowl? Yep, it makes ice cream in just 10-20 minutes. I'm getting a little carried away here with my mixer, so let's talk cupcakes!

I had found The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake bookmarked in my browser which I intended to try before but didn't have the chance to, so it was a great opportunity to try the recipe with my new mixer. It requires quite a few more ingredients than your average vanilla cupcake, but when mixed together, it produces vanilla-y, light and fluffy cupcakes that matches really well with the caramel buttercream. Talking about swiss meringue buttercream, adding caramel sauce to it transforms it from ordinary to something special with a rich caramel flavour that melts in your mouth. The unbelievably silky smooth, not too sweet texture makes swiss meringue buttercream among the best frostings to use for cakes and cupcakes.

The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake adapted from the Cupcake Project.

Makes 16 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 and 3/4 cups of cake flour (plain/all-purpose flour is fine)

1 cup of sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

57 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup of sour cream

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup of milk

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F). Prepare the cupcake pans with paper cupcake liners.

2. In a medium bowl or bowl of an electric mixer, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar and salt until well combined.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, sour cream and vanilla extract until combined and smooth.

4. Add the butter and mix on a medium-low speed for about three minutes. This will turn into a fine crumb texture.

5. Slowly add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, beating on a medium speed until just incorporated.

6. Slowly add the milk to the batter and mix on a low speed until just combined.

7. Fill the cupcake liners until just over half full. Bake in the oven for 14 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. If they are not done, check them again in 2 minutes. They should be white in colour but not golden brown. Remove them from the pan immediately and allow to cool completely before decorating.

Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream adapted from Martha Stewart.

Ingredients:

4 large egg whites, at room temperature

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of sugar

1/4 cup of heavy cream

1/4 cup of water

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

180 grams of unsalted butter, chopped into pieces and softened at room temperature

Method:

1. Place 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of sugar and the water in a medium saucepan and boil at a medium heat. Cook, swirling the pan ocasionally until it turns into a dark amber caramel. Wash the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent the sugar crystals from forming. Remove from the heat, and whisk the cream into the caramel until smooth. Set aside to cool.

2. Place the egg whites and remaining sugar into a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk the egg whites until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is hot to touch. If you have a candy thermometer, it should reach 160 degrees when inserted into the mixture.

3. Remove from the heat, and transfer the mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk on a medium speed for about 5 minutes. Increase the speed to medium high and whisk until glossy, stiff peaks form for about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium, and add the pieces of butter one at a time, waiting for them to incorporate before adding the next piece. Whisk in the vanilla until combined. If the mixture is soupy, put it in the fridge for 15 minutes and whisk again. It will likely to come to the curdled stage, but keep whisking until it turns into a smooth buttercream. 

4. Switch to the paddle attachment. Mixing on a low speed, add the caramel slowly and beat until smooth, for about 3-5 minutes. Best used immediately.

Decorate the cooled cupcakes with the buttercream, using a 1M star tip. Top with sprinkles if desired.

Ruffled Vanilla Celebration Cake

Since I wrote my last post on how to make macarons, I turned 16...yes, I aged a year! My birthday was this past weekend and even though I stayed home with my friends and family, I wanted to make a cake that has all the things I have ever wanted in one, including ruffles. I have always admired all the ruffle cakes I saw in the past, like this, this and this! Aren't they all pretty and perfect? Mine isn't too pretty like those ones, but I am happy enough with my first attempt. The strawberry swiss meringue buttercream was the real highlight of the cake because it was so delicious that it tasted like fresh strawberry ice cream. It was really light in texture and not too sweet or buttery (I decreased the amount of butter to only 200 grams and it worked!). It was the perfect choice for making ruffles on this cake. The traditional buttercreams use too much icing sugar to stiffen it up, which gives it an unpleasant gritty, overly sweet and buttery taste. That's why I rarely use it anymore.

At first, I couldn't decide what cake to bake since it was only going to be for me and my little family. I had some strawberries leftover so it became the perfect opportunity to try piping ruffles with strawberry swiss meringue buttercream. My main inspiration for this cake came from Diamonds for Dessert's ruffle blogiversary cake. Her post convinced me that ruffles aren't that hard or time consuming to create and perfect. But really, I had some difficulties with it since it was my first attempt. I piped the ruffles the first time and it ended up looking messy and uneven, so I scraped it off and started again. The second time round it came out okay but was still not as perfect as I wanted it to be. I figured out that it already looked good enough and I was tired of the thought of doing it again. 

I used the same white cake recipe from the White Vanilla Cake with Macarons because it turned out fluffy, moist and vanilla-y which would pair really well with the strawberry swiss meringue buttercream. But this time the cake turned out a little dry, so maybe next time I should try another recipe. Nonetheless, the strawberry jam in between the layers helped moisten it a little and added a beautiful flavour to the cake. The cake really did taste wonderful and I was very happy to have finally made a ruffle cake. The ruffles took up so much frosting though, so you would need to make a lot more for a larger cake. Just in case you were wondering, this mini cake is 5 and 3/4 inches in size which is perfect for a celebration to serve a small (I mean tiny) crowd of people.

White Vanilla Cake from Joy of Baking.

Makes 4 thin layer, 5 and 3/4 inch cake (if you want a larger cake, you should increase the recipe by 1.5 or 2 times)

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1 and 3/4 cups of cake/plain flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

113 grams of unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/2 cup of milk

1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 177 degrees C (350 degrees F). Line with baking paper the bottom and grease one 31.1 x 20.6 cm rectangular sheet pan. If you're doing a larger cake, prepare two or three 8 inch cake pans.

2. Separate the egg whites and egg yolks into different bowls and set aside.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl and set aside.

4. Beat the butter with an electric mixer until soft for about 1-2 minutes and add 3/4 cups of sugar to the butter, beating until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and mix again.

5. Alternately add the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture in three additions, starting and ending with the flour.

6. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Slowly add 1/4 cup of sugar to the egg whites and beat until stiff peaks form.

7. Gently fold a little of the meringue into the cake batter to lighten it first with a rubber spatula, and then fold in the remaining egg whites into the mixture until combined. Try not to over-mix or the batter will deflate.

8. Put the batter into the prepared pan/pans and smooth the surface with a small offset spatula. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

9. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes before turning it onto a wire rack to cool completely before assembling.

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Adapted from Diamonds for Dessert. (You would have to increase the recipe by about 1.5 or 2 times for a larger cake since the ruffles use lot of frosting)

Ingredients:

4 egg whites at room temperature

1 and 1/4 cups of sugar

200 grams of unsalted butter, at room temperature (the original recipe stated 339 grams of butter which is totally unnecessary since I tried adding a little less than 2 sticks of butter, which still worked perfectly!)

1 and 1/2 cups of fresh strawberries, pureed

Method:

1. Simmer some water in a small saucepan on the stove. Mix the egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl and put it over the pot so that it fits well. Whisk the mixture until it is hot and the sugar has fully dissolved (dip your fingers into the egg whites and rub them together, if it feels gritty, keep whisking).

2. Remove the bowl from the heat and pour into a bowl of an electric mixer. Alternatively, you could just leave it in the bowl if you are using a hand-held electric mixer. Beat on a medium high speed until stiff peaks form and the bowl has cooled down to room temperature for about 10 minutes.

3. Cut up the butter into small pieces and add them to the mixture a few pieces at a time, waiting for the butter pieces to incorporate before adding any more. Continue beating for a few minutes, and add the strawberry puree a little at a time to allow it to slowly incorporate. If the mixture turns out soupy after a couple of minutes of beating, put it in the fridge for 15 minutes. After beating again it might curdle, but just keep your hopes high and continue to beat the mixture until it turns into a silky smooth buttercream. Add a few drops of pink food colouring if desired. Best used immediately.

Assembly:

1. If making a small cake, create a template for the cakes on a sheet of paper. Use a compass to draw a circle of 5 and 3/4 inches in diameter and cut the stencil out. Then use a knife to cut out 2 circles from the rectangular cake and cut both circles horizontally in half. If making a larger cake, skip this step.

2. Put a cake layer on a cake board or a baking paper circle. Spread a small amount of strawberry jam on the cake and smooth it out with an ofset spatula.

3. Now dollop a scoop of frosting using an ice cream scoop or a large spoon and smooth the frosting out evenly.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 with the other layers until you have a nice staked tower of cake. Apply a thin layer of frosting on the outside of the whole cake to act as a crumb coat. It doesn't have to be too neat, the ruffles will cover it up later. This also keeps the crumbs from mixing into the frosting. Refridgerate the cake for 30 minutes or until firm.

5. Place a petal tip (I used no.104) in a piping bag. Fill the piping bag with the remaining buttercream.

6. Hold the piping bag vertically along the side of the cake with the fat part of the tip facing towards the cake and the thin part facing towards you. Apply pressure and squeeze the bag while piping in a back and forth motion until you reach the top, while making sure that the ruffles stick to the cake. Repeat until the whole cake is covered. If you would like to see how it is being done, check out this helpful video by Sweet and Saucy. She made it look so easy!

7. To finish, pipe ruffles on the top as a border (I would have liked to fully cover the top of the cake, but I had no more frosting left. Instead, I scattered the top with some multi-coloured heart confetti. Sprinkles makes everything look better!