Posts filed under 'Children’s Cupcakes'
Good Golly Miss Holly Cupcake – fudgy brownie cupcake frosted with shiny chocolate glaze and decorated with chocolate candy gift box and silver and gold dragees. Price available upon request.
inspired by Tiffany; necklace not included!
I was making some chocolate truffle gift box candies when I noticed the similarity of the candy box to the famed Tiffany jewelry box. I thought it would make a great cupcake topper. I call this cupcake “Good Golly Miss Holly” after the character Holly Golightly from the book and film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. I haven’t read the book nor seen the movie but I know that the opening scene of the film shows Holly (as played by Audrey Hepburn) alighting from a cab in front of Tiffany and Co. jewelry store in Manhattan’s 5th Ave. Holly eats a pastry and drinks coffee while looking through the window display. Is this the title’s explanation?
My cake base is actually a brownie in cupcake form, crusty on the sides and soft and very fudgy in the middle. More chocolate, less flour. I am very partial to ganache and chocolate on chocolate is always a winning combination so I frosted the cupcake with ganache. I also sprinkled some silver and gold dragees to represent the “jewels.”
This cupcake is perfect for bridal showers, debuts, or for girls who adore jewelry. For men out there who want to impress, a box of these cupcakes and a box of Tiffany jewelry will surely endear you to your lady love.
As for the Loving Heart Tiffany necklace in the above photo, it is one of my cherished possessions and therefore does not come with the cupcake! 
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bring on the (cupcake) war!
Who knew that the term “cupcake wars” will be taken so seriously by two Utah cupcakeries? The cupcake in dispute is a Breakfast at Tiffany’s-inspired cupcake. One baker accused another of trade dress infringement (translation: copycatting). You can read the details here. Reminds me of the lawsuit filed years ago by San Miguel Corp. against Asia Brewery regarding the “suspicious” similarities between one established beer and a market newcomer.
So much for the idea that cupcakes bring happiness!
July 5th, 2010
Fortune Cookie Cupcake – soft, caramel cupcake iced with ganache and topped with white chocolate coated fortune cookie. Price available upon request.
what’s your fortune today?
I had been thinking about making this cupcake for so long but I could not find the right recipe. For this project, I figured caramel flavor goes with fortune cookies. I know I could be wrong but I like caramel so caramel it is. I tried lots of recipes but they did not yield the flavor I was looking for.
Just as I finished one test, I thought of just using a basic recipe that I had successfully adapted to create different cupcake flavors. I was glad that once again, that recipe did not fail me. The resulting cupcake was heavenly—soft and caramel-y.
Initially, I planned this to be a fortune cupcake, literally. Instead of the cookie, the fortune will be buried in the cupcake with one end tied to a ribbon to facilitate its pulling out. But I was wary of the ribbon as it is not food grade. Besides, I will be breaking my cupcake cardinal rule—everything on the cupcake I bake must be edible.
Caramel and chocolate is a tried and tested combination so a ganache icing is the best thing. The ganache is not overpowering and one can still taste the caramel flavor of the cupcake. I’m glad I was able to find fortune cookies to use as toppers—what’s a fortune cookie cupcake without real fortune cookies? To make them special, I dipped the cookies in white chocolate to create a protective albeit delicious shell.
I first dipped a cookie in dark chocolate but when this is put atop a cupcake, it “disappears” in the darkness of the ganache. The white chocolate coated ones look better and the vanilla notes of the chocolate complements the vanilla-almond flavor of the cookies.
These cupcakes are fun treats to serve at weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries. Guests will love cracking open a cookie to find out what their “fortune” is. My fortune cookie supplier can also customize the messages to fit the occasion. Who knows, the lucky numbers at the back of the fortune might pave the way for a future lotto jackpot winner!
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un-made in China
Nowadays when you acquire a gadget, apparel or toy, chances are they are made in China. Astonishingly, the one item we believe to be of Chinese origin—the fortune cookie—did not have its roots in China and is in fact almost—gasp!— unknown in that country. It is said to be of Japanese origin which eventually found its way to the US. Check out this amusing video made by Jennifer 8. Lee as part of her research for her book “The Fortune Cookie Chronicles”.
May 23rd, 2010
Billiard Balls Cupcakes- buttery mocha cupcakes with chocolate coffee candies inside, frosted with whipped cream and decorated with colored sugar crystals and white chocolate buttons. Price available upon request.
rack ‘em up!
Just when I think I’m running out of ideas to decorate a cupcake, I get an inquiry that gets my creative juices flowing. I was working on another cupcake project when someone texted me about billiard balls cupcakes. I have never done them and so the challenge was on.
I figured men are most likely to be gifted with these so I chose my mocha cupcake recipe. Each cupcake rises to a dome when baked so they’re perfect to sub for billiard balls. For decoration ideas, I surfed the net. Some decorations were made of fondant and from my search I found someone who shares my sentiments with this popular decorator’s medium.
From the blogs I read, I found out that the book “Hello Cupcake” has instructions on how to make cupcakes look like billiard balls using colored sugar. I do not have a copy of the book so I just did the decorating on my own. I also made my own colored sugar. The numbers on the balls are written with melted chocolate on white chocolate buttons.
I think the cupcakes look awesome and they taste great too. The bits of chocolate coffee candies inside the cupcakes boost the coffee flavor. To make the sugar adhere to the tops, I used unsweetened whipped cream. With the sugar coating, I thought there might be major sugar overload but suprisingly, the cupcakes are not toothache-inducing at all. And the sugar topping turns to a delightful crunchy covering. The 8-ball by the way is covered with chocolate sprinkles.
These cupcakes come in 16 pieces—15 “billiard balls” and one white sugar-topped “cue ball” . My niece K._ asked if there is also a cue stick. Well, sorry to disappoint but I cannot provide that!
April 29th, 2010
These are the cupcakes I recently made for a precious baby girl’s christening celebration. Her mother E._ chose chocolate banana and devil’s food chocolate as cake base and wanted an assortment of decoration. In addition to the baby icon toppers made of hand-molded chocolate (see Sweet Baby), there were also marshmallow flowers (see Blooming Garden) atop the ganache-slathered cupcakes.
E._ also wanted her daughter’s name spelled out on the cupcakes. Fortunately, I was able to find an alphabet chocolate mold.
When I made the delivery and was setting up, E._ asked me if I had a hard time making all those cupcakes (there were 96 in all). Not really, I said. Ok, molding chocolate candies is admittedly tedious especially if there are details and colors involved but as long as you do them ahead of time, then there is no problem. I always believe that if you love what you are doing, then the work becomes less of a chore and more of a labor of love. And seeing your handiwork being appreciated by the person receiving them erases all the tiredness and aches and makes your sleep-deprived days worth it.
Thank you very much E._!
March 29th, 2010
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
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