Milk and Cheese Cupcake

I joined a baking community in facebook (Bake Happy Manila) wherein members share their achievements and woes in baking plus tips and recipes of course and Milk and Cheese Cupcake was just trending last quarter so I just got to try it and it was one of the simplest yet tastiest cupcake I ever tried (and everybody loves it).  The sweetness of the condense milk and the saltiness of the cheese are perfect match and the soft yet dense "cake" makes you forget about frosting that fansifies a cupcake.

Milk and Cheese Cupcake

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs
2 330ml cans condensed milk
2 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup grated cheese

How to:
1.  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2.  Beat in eggs one at a time.
3.  Add condensed milk and mix well.
4.  Sift in all purpose flour and baking powder and mix until combined.
5.  Stir in vanilla.
6.  Add 3/4 cups of the grated cheese and mix well (but don't overmix.)
7.  Pour into lined muffin/cupcake pans and sprinkle the remaining grated cheese on top.
8.  Bake on a pre-heated oven (350 degrees F) for 20 to 25 minutes or until cupcakes are golden brown and toothpick inserted comes off clean.
9.  Let it cool and dig in!

this batch needs more cheese on top

Pair with tea or black coffee!

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Angel's Food Cupcakes...well almost!

Angel's Food Cupcake

Even if the frosting still haven't settled, I already put it on the cupcake because I'm very eager to eat like 3 of the above light and fluffy Angel's Food Cupcake.  In my entire life I haven't tasted one until I first baked  them last week of January and then made another batch last last week.

The frosting is a failure though because I can't find a whipping cream in the grocery :(  Decided to try these light cupcakes when I saw Emma's Birthday Cake over A Beautiful Mess.  I do not have a cake pan so why not make them in a cupcake form :)

the ones with toasted top are the best

Angels's Food Cupcake

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cake flour
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
6 egg whites
1 tbsp warm water (you can omit this if you want your cake to be denser)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp cream of tarter

How to:
1.  Sift or dry whick cake flour and half of the sugar 2 to 4 times to make the cake fluffy and airy.
2.  In a large bowl, whisk together egg whites, water, vanilla extract and cream of tartar until wee combined (takes around 2 minutes).
3.  Swith to hand mixer and beat the mixture on medium speed while slowly adding the remaining sugar until medium peaks form.
4.  In 4 to 5 small batches, fold the sifted flour mixture into the meringue using a spatula.
5.  Fill lined cupcake pan with the batter and bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes.

Top the cupcake with a light icing like whipped cream with powdered sugar and vanilla extract plus maybe your favorite fruit on top.

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!

Naked No More: Velvety Red Velvet

I couln't resist anymore not to post this because finally, I made a decent cupcake with a FROSTING (pronouncing in high pitch tone) that everybody (promise, I'm not exaggerating)  like!.  Introducing my very own, moist and yummy Red Velvet!

my very own red velvet cupcake

Funny how I panicked when I suddenly realize that my butter in the fridge is not enough so I search for another recipe that calls for a canola oil (thanks goodness we use canola oil in the house).  Also, funny that the main reason why I baked is to not to spoil a cup of sour cream.  I derived my red velvet cupcake recipe from Bake Happy and Yummy.Ph

red and moist

Red Velvet

1 cup sour cream

3/4 bottle red food coloring

1  1/2 teaspoons white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups canola oil

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 large eggs

1.  Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line muffin/cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

2.  Combine sour cream, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla extract.  Set aside

3.  Sift or dry whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.  Set aside

4.  Combine canola oil and sugar until sugar is slightly melted, then with a whisk add in the eggs one at a time

5.  Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients (from step 3) and slightly mix using a spatula.

6.  Add half of the wet ingredient (from step 2) and again slightly mix

7.  Repeat steps 5 and 6 and slightly mix until everything is combined and free of lumps.

8.  Fill liners; 2/3 full, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let it cool before topping these babies with frosting

As you can see in the above picture, I poked a lot of the cupcakes and they are so red.  Now for the frosting, I found a recipe from A Beautiful Mess.  Had a little hard time since I do not have an electric mixer, so my whisk (yup, it's now my whisk and not my brother's anymore bwahahaha) and I had a lot of bonding time with a little help from my sister (thanks for slowly adding the sugar and holding the bowl when I'm so tired to hold it)

this is a hit frosting in the office

Cream Cheese Frosting

250g cream cheese spread (it's the only cream cheese available in the grocery, Magnolia)

1 stick salted butter

2 to 3 cups powdered sugar (I have to use 3 cups in order for the frosting to "pick" a little)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1.  Soften butter and cream cheese then beat together until creamy.

2.  Add vanilla extract then beat again for a minute.

3.  Slowly add the powdered sugar while beating (thank goodness my sister helped me) or add 1 cup at a time then beat for 1 minute (if you do not have a companion).  Repeat until the frosting is smooth and creamy and a little fluffy or if already has the "pick".  I only used a whisk but if you have an electric mixer then congrats, the process will be much easier and faster.

At first I thought the frosting is too sweet but when I already put it in the cupcakes, the sweetness is "tamang tama lang" (just right sweetness).

And here I am practicing to put frosting.  Anyway the cupcakes and frosting is worth the effort.

I need to practice more!!!

Happy weekend everyone!

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!

Naked Cupcake #2: Another Choco

I know, I know the photo below is not appetizing but believe me, these cupcakes the I made are chocolatey thanks to Bake Happy!  Ohh just in case you're wondering why I call my cupcakes naked, well simply because I can't make any decent frosting but I'll try to look for good tricks on how to make some basics and maybe in the future my cupcakes will no longer me naked.

Basic Chocolate Cupcake

To be honest, I thought that my chocolate cupcakes are a total failure, tasting 5 minutes after baking.  But after around 3 hours, they become really moist.  Also found out that a cake flour really makes a difference:  no after taste and cupcakes are fluffier!

Recipe can be found here.  The recipe that Aikko share from her blog Bake Happy is for a cake but I made mine into cupcakes (I do not have a pan for a cake).

Moist Chocolate Cake

recipe from Bake Happy

Ingredients:

2 cups flour (all purpose flour is okay, but you can find cake flour, it would be better)

1 ½ cup sugar

½ cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 ½ cup water

1 cup mayonnaise

1 tsp vanilla extract

Procedure

1. In a bowl, mix mayonnaise and sugar until smooth

2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder. It's up to you if you'd like to sift or dry whisk. Just make sure all four ingredients are well mixed.  (I used the dry whisk method)

3. Add a third of the flour mixture to the mayonnaise mixture

4. Add 1/2 of the water required. Now don't be discouraged if it looks sloppy once the water is added. It'll come together.

5. Repeat #3 and #4 until the flour mixture and water has been added to the mayonnaise mixture. Add the vanilla extract last.

6. Pour into a well greased pan and bake at 350F for 40-50 mins for cakes and 12-15 minutes for cupcakes. Make sure to tap the pans used to let the air out before baking.

Yields 12 medium size and 6 small size of cupcakes.  I added some chocolate bits on the smaller ones to make them more chocolatey~  And don't worry about the mayo ^_*

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!

Naked Cupcakes in Choco Banana

I love sweets and pastries and what better way to have them thank making them with my own 2 fat hands.  My first bake was a so/so (some are underbake) but this cupcake recipe that I found here is yummy enough to wow my family.  So why Naked Cupcake?  Because it doesn't have any frosting (I don't know how to make one).

Naked Cupcake

Banana Chocolate Cupcake
recipe adopted from yummy.ph

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

2 large eggs    

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour or whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon rock salt

1 cup or 2 cups (depending on your preference) very ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup to 1 cup (depending on your preference) chocolate chips

Procedure:

1  Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter or line with paper cups cupcake molds.

2  Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, beating well. 

3  Sift the dry ingredients together and combine with the butter mixture. Blend well.

4  Add the bananas, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Stir well. Add the chocolate chips and pour into the prepared pan.

5  Bake for 30 minutes to 1 hour or until a cake tester comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

Serve and enjoy.  Best when freshly bake!