Posts filed under 'Children's Cupcakes'
Hazelnut Freckle Cupcake - tender cupcake speckled with bittersweet chocolate; with chopped hazelnuts and sugar at the bottom, ganache on top and decorated with a glistening caramel-dipped hazelnut spikes. Price available upon request.
freckles and candy
The idea for this cupcake started with a chocolate-speckled cake. I wanted to make something quirky but flavorful. Again, I used my go-to basic cupcake recipe and adjusted it to make a hazelnut-flavored one. Frangelico is so expensive so I used a hazelnut syrup. I also added a combo of chopped hazelnuts and sugar and dumped a heaping teaspoon of this mixture on the bottom of each cupcake liner to create a crunchy base. For the frosting, chocolate goes well with hazelnuts so ganache is the only way (my way, actually!) to go.
I’ve long wanted to make the caramel-dipped hazelnuts since I saw them in Alice Medrich’s book Bittersweet. But for some reason, I could not cook a perfect caramel; if it’s not undercooked, the syrup gets burnt. I think I’m the only one who has trouble with cooking caramel—sigh. The project I was working on before this was actually a caramel cupcake but since I always had disastrous results with the syrup, I ditched cooking the caramel from scratch. I was still able to create a luscious caramel cupcake but that’s another story.
Coming to this project, I still had no confidence making caramel so I made another topper, sort of a chocolate bark with hazelnuts. It looked good and tasted good but I was still dreaming of those shiny, nutty and spiky gems so I decided to give caramel another go. I followed Ms. Medrich’s recipe but halved it as I anticipated another failure and I do not want to waste valuable sugar especially at this time when sugar prices are skyrocketing. The syrup cooked to a beautiful amber color and following instructions, I put the pan on an ice water bath to stop the cooking. Stop the cooking indeed as I heard the caramel cracking and hardening. I think I left the pan in the ice bath for too long. What to do, what to do? I rewarmed the solid caramel on low heat and it turned syrupy again. Whew, lucky me. This time, no more ice bath. I just worked quickly.
Now how did I get those spiky tips? As per Ms. Medrich’s instructions with some of my modifications, I pierced the side of the hazelnuts with a pointy toothpick, dipped them in the caramel and stuck them on a piece of styrofoam. At that point, the caramel will begin to drip and create a long string. I did this on the kitchen sink with a newspaper directly below the skewered nuts to catch the caramel drippings. The pan with the cooked caramel can also catch the drippings so there will be no wastage.
It looks daunting to make but it is really quite easy. Just make sure to use these candied nuts at once preferably on the same day they are prepared.
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skinning hazelnuts the foolproof way
Home bakers are used to skinning hazelnuts by roasting them first in an oven and then rubbing off the skins with a dish towel. But there is another way that will ensure that the entire skin on each hazelnut will be removed. This foolproof method comes from Rose Levy Beranbaum who learned this from Carl Sontheimer (the man who brought the food processor to America from France and called it Cuisinart). Boil 1 1/2 cups water in a large saucepan and add 2 tablespoons baking soda. Add 1/2 cups nuts and boil for 3 minutes. Test a nut by running it under cold water. The skin should slip off easily. If not, boil a few minutes longer. Rinse the nuts under cold water and toast them in a 350 degrees F oven for 20 minutes or so. Watch carefully so they don’t burn.
December 17th, 2009
Vanilla Bean Heaven Cupcake - soft vanilla bean cupcake frosted with whipped white chocolate ganache and topped with a chocolate crescent moon. Price available upon request.
real vanilla
I am not really a fan of vanilla but when vanilla beans became readily available here, I thought it’s time I add vanilla cupcakes to my repertoire. I developed my own version—soft and light, just the way I like it. In addition to the vanilla bean, I also used vanilla sugar to further boost the vanilla flavor.
I chose to frost this with white chocolate ganache that is not cloyingly sweet (only 3 ounces of chocolate per 1 cup of cream) because white chocolate also has shades of vanilla. I whipped the ganache to match the cupcake’s delicate flavor and light texture. And I think a chocolate crescent moon is the perfect topper for this ethereal dessert.
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the real thing
Vanilla may seem like a common flavoring but do you know that it is the second most expensive spice after saffron? Real vanilla, that is. But why is it so expensive?
Growing vanilla is so labor-intensive. A member of the orchid family, it was originally cultivated in Mexico and can only be pollinated by the Melipone bee which is endemic to that country. When vanilla was brought outside Mexico, the vines grew but did not bear any fruit because no other insect would pollinate the flowers. Several attempts to transport the Melipone bees proved futile. It took a 12-year-old slave named Edmond Albius to develop a simple method of hand pollination and that led to the successful cultivation of the plant outside Mexico. That method is still being used today and it is the only way to produce fruits without the bees.
The vanilla flower also just blooms for a day so growers are always rounding out the farm for open flowers. And each flower must be hand-pollinated within 12 hours of opening. Harvesting the bean is also as labor-intensive as pollinating the flowers. Each pod must be picked by hand just as its end begins to split to ensure the finest flavor.
Vanillin, one of several hundred aromatic components of vanilla, can be produced synthetically making it a cheaper alternative to the real extract. Cooks Illustrated conducted an experiment comparing natural and artificial vanilla extracts in prepared food. The experiment concluded that if you use vanilla mainly for baking, imitation vanilla is at par with the real thing, but natural vanilla is best for custards, ice creams and savory dishes. I think in the end, it depends on one’s preference: if you want vanilla to be the standout flavor and you have the budget, then go for the real thing.
October 2nd, 2009
Citrusy Sunflower Cupcakes - soft cupcakes flavored with freshly squeezed orange and lemon juices and crunchy poppy seeds. Iced with semisweet chocolate glaze and decorated with marshmallow petals dipped in yellow sugar. With a sprinkling of mini chocolate chips in the center. Price available upon request.
more flavors to come!
It slipped my mind that this blog just turned a year old this August. Wow. And I thought I would have ran out of cupcake ideas within a year’s time. The truth is, I have a growing list of cupcake flavors that I want to try. One of my recent successful experiments was the atis (sugar apple) cupcake. I am still improving on it though and I still haven’t thought of an appropriate frosting so stay tuned. My niece M._, the middle of our family’s tres Marias, also requested a ginger cupcake so this flavor is in the queue as well.
I have been working on citrus flavors lately. I was happy with my orange cupcake and calamansi cupcake. Next up, the tried and tested orange and lemon combo.
Most of the recipes for citrus cakes call for poppy seeds so I decided I want those in these cupcakes as well. I just didn’t know where to get them. The bakery supply store I go to has stopped stocking it. What to do, what to do? Since my search was becoming futile by the day, I put this project in the back burner and started on other flavors in my list. After several months or so, I chanced upon a blog that mentioned that poppy seeds are available at Santis Deli—wonderful!
I used my orange cupcake recipe (an iteration of a sour cream cupcake that I have been using to create other flavors as well), replacing half of the orange juice and zest with lemon juice and zest. While the baked cupcakes were flavorful and moist, they didn’t rise as much. I never had this problem with the orange cupcake so I was bewildered. What worked after several tests was an adjustment in the amount of baking soda—I doubled it. For the chocolate glaze on top, I used semisweet chocolate which perfectly complemented the citrus flavor of the cupcake.
I could not find any yellow marshmallows to make the sunflower petals so I just dipped the white ones in yellow sugar crystals. A better alternative I should say as the sugar added a nice sparkle and shine to the “flower.” If you don’t have any colored sugar on hand but have food coloring, you can make your own. Put enough sugar in a small, clear plastic bag such as a ziplock bag and add small drops of food color (liquid or gel are fine). Seal the bag and massage the sugar until the color evens out. I thought of using chocolate sprinkles in the center to resemble the sunflower seeds but the mini chocolate chips look better and taste better.
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the poppy seed drug test
Hold that poppy seed bagel if you are applying for a job or a driver’s license and have a scheduled drug test coming up. That inocuous treat can show up in the test as—gasp!—morphine.
Poppy seeds used in culinary dishes come from Papaver somniferum, aka the opium poppy. Yes, it is the same plant from which opium is extracted. Although opium is produced by “milking” the seed pods rather than the seeds, all parts of the plant can still contain opium alkaloids such as morphine and codeine. Therefore, if you still insist on eating that poppy seed bagel prior to your urinalysis, it can result to a false positive. In the US people have been fired, job applicants rejected and lawsuits filed because of poppy seed influenced-drug test results. To weed out the false positives, the test threshold for morphine and codeine have been raised from 300 nanograms (ng)/milliliter (mL) to 2,000 ng/mL. I just don’t know if these problems have been encountered here in the Philippines. Probably not as poppy seeds-studded food are not exactly staples here.
Wait, since the seeds have traces of opium alkaloids, can that poppy seed-covered bagel make you high? No. The seeds have very low level of opiates and because they are contained in food, there is no danger of you suddenly bursting into a giggling frenzy even if you eat a whole poppy seed cake.
Sources: The Straight Dope, Wikipedia, Snopes.com
September 6th, 2009
Confetti Cupcake - golden butter cream cupcake with a colorful confetti explosion inside, topped with slightly sweetened whipped cream with squiggles of colored chocolate. Price available upon request.
let’s party!
My nephew P._ told me these should be named Crayola cupcakes. No, there are no crayons inside the cupcake and they don’t taste like crayons, either. So how did this colorful explosion came about? Sugar sprinkles are thrown in the batter and they melt as the cupcakes bake leaving behind bright splashes of color.
I started with a golden butter cream cupcake to make sure the multihued sprinkles pop out against the light background. Most baking books extol the pairing of butter/vanilla/yellow cupcake with chocolate frosting (classic, as described). However, the whipped chocolate ganache I made as topping overwhelmed the lovely, delicate flavor of the cupcake. On its own, this cupcake tastes like a butter cookie (yum!) and is just as wonderful to eat plain.
So I went for a whipped cream topping and it worked well. Slightly sweet, yes, but the delectable flavor of the cupcake is not lost. The feathered design is white chocolate tinted with candy colors. The brown crust that forms at the bottom and side of the cupcake as it bakes tastes like butter cookie crumbs. Mmmm!
June 28th, 2009
Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes - soft cupcakes with a refreshing orange flavor, topped with orange whipped cream and sprinkles. Price available upon request.
freshly squeezed
I am loving oranges right now. This cupcake has the most wonderful orange flavor, from the frosting to the cupcake. Methinks the orange sprinkles have some hint of orange taste, too. The cupcake base is similar to the Mimosa and Chocolate Naranja, soft and bursting with orange goodness and heady aroma. The whipped cream topping, infused with freshly squeezed orange juice and zest, intensifies the overall citrusy flavor. The “orange segments” and “seeds” are made with white chocolate and filled with the sprinkles.
With extra cupcakes to frost, I tried a Lindt Excellence Intense Orange dark chocolate bar for the glaze to make Chocolate Naranja cupcakes. The chocolate has pieces of orange and almond slivers and while these added an interesting texture to the glaze, somehow the “intense” orange flavor diminished. Verdict: I will reserve the Lindt chocolate for my chocolate binge and will stick to using orange oil to flavor my Chocolate Naranja topping.
With the success of these orange cupcakes, I will be trying a calamansi version soon. 
May 19th, 2009
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