No Comments »
This is my first time joining the Iron Cupcake: Earth Challenge. This month’s theme is SUMMER BERRIES and since blueberries are the closest ones that I could get my hand on at the moment, so I decided to give it a go.
While lemon blueberry cupcakes, or vanilla blueberry cupcakes are the most common ones you can find nowdays, I was intrigued to come up with something unusual. And since I was craving for some gingerbread cookies the other day ( I know, it’s summer :p ), so I thought..why not Gingerbread Cupcakes with Blueberries??
So here’s my take on this month’s ICE Challenge.I present to you:
GINGERBREAD CUPCAKES WITH BLUEBERRY FILLING AND *ALMOST* SUGARLESS CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
INGREDIENTS:
(makes 12 cupcakes)
70 g unsalted butter, softened
70 g white sugar
100ml unsulfured molasses
1 egg
1 egg yolk
160 g cups all-purpose flour
15 g cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
120ml hot milk
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter or line with paper liners a 12-cup muffin tin.
- Cream butter with the white sugar. Add the molasses, egg and egg yolk.
- Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot milk. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the hot milk mixture. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared tin.
- Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes or until slightly springy to the touch. Allow to cool a few minutes in the pan and remove to a rack to cool.
- Recipe adapted from AllRecipe.com’s GingerBread Cupcakes with a few alterations in quantity and ingredients.
For the *Almost* Sugarless Cream Cheese Frosting:
INGREDIENTS:
250 g cream cheese
1/2 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
6 tablespoons of milk, 2 tablespoons to be combined with gelatin
3 tablespoons of powder sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
DIRECTIONS:
- Heat 2 tablespoons of milk and add in gelatin. Mix until dissolved. Set aside.
- Cream the cream cheese with 4 tablespoons of milk in blender/food processor.
- Add in the milk+gelatin mixture and vanilla essence and lemon juice. Blend for 20-30 seconds. Pour in bowl.
- Sift in powder sugar and mix well. Place in refrigerator for 30-60mins for it to set.
- Transfer to piping bag and pipe over cooled cupcakes. (Make sure to give the frosting a stir before transfering to piping bag)
This month’s prize to grab:
Our June ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:
Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers:
Category(s): Newcomers, Recipes
Tag(s): gingerbread blueberry cream cheese
5 Comments »
I was playing around with some ideas of how to make Japanese-flavored cupcakes. Yes, of course the usually Matcha (green tea) comes to mind but then what else is there to it? Just green tea powder dumped in a vanilla based cupcake batter? No, there must be something more.
Azuki beans. Azuki paste.
Yess, now we’re getting somewhere. Now, how about if I add these yummy sweet paste to the cupcake? Ok..how about balling them up and dump ‘em in the batter? Great!
So yes, here you are, Matcha Cupcake with azuki balls. Oh, the frosting was White Chocolate Buttercream. I thought they matched each other well. Another thing, I thought it would be fun to have the ying-yang thing going on, so I made Vanilla Cupcake with azuki balls and frosted them with Matcha Buttercream instead. They looked and tasted pretty good.
Love the contrast.
Category(s): Newcomers
1 Comment »
Sometimes the simplest flavor tastes the best.
I find myself devouring this simple Vanilla Cupcake with fresh Strawberry and Whipped cream like it was nobody’s business. It was pretty. It was delicious. It was satisfying.
It was Fair Cake Cupcakes’ Vanilla Cupcake.
See what I mean?
note: I did add milk to her original recipe the second time I made them. Superb outcome.
Category(s): Misc
Tag(s): vanilla cupcake whipped cream
No Comments »
I’m sure I’m not the only one on this (endless) search. What do I look in THE perfect Chocolate Cupcake?
Moisture.
Texture.
Flavor.
Yes, indeed those are what everyone seek in a good cupcake. But it’s not as easy as it seems. It’s not easy to get just the right amount of these three basic things. Sure you can get them all in most of the cupcake recipes out there, but balancing these three factors is far more difficult than I thought it would be.
So far I’ve tried quite a few numbers of recipe. And I’ve come to a few conclusions when it comes to making THE perfect Chocolate Cupcake:
- Butter vs Oil - I personally prefer butter though I know nothings beats the moistness you’ll get from using oil. And as much as I’d like to take the short cut in making cupcakes, I realized that there in NO short cut to making a really nice chocolate cupcake other than the old fashioned creaming method. So yes, definitely butter.
- Baking soda – Although I don’t like the soapy taste I get from using baking soda, not adding it to the batter makes it lacking of something for sure. I try not to add to much though – usually just 1/3 of the original recipe and add baking powder for the remaining amount if the recipe only calls for baking soda.
- Milk, Buttermilk, Hot water - Out of the three I usually use whole milk. Buttermilk is hard to come by in Japan (though you can make it yourself by just adding vinegar to whole milk) so I always just resort to whole milk in recipes calling for buttermilk . I also read somewhere that hot water gives the batter a whole lot more moisture. I think probably so because the recipes that I tried using hot water did come out moist most of the time.
- Cocoa powder or melted chocolate – I’m always the kind that prefers using cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate in my cupcakes. Why? Because being me, I’m at least sure that I don’t need it in my batter just to make them taste chocolaty. A good cocoa powder will do the job just fine.
The above cupcake was an oil-eggless version cupcake I got from AllRecipes.com. They were good and moist, but then I miss the fluffyness and the airyness I’d normally get from using butter. So yeah, they were ok, but still not perfect.
So the next one was an altered version of Fair Cake Cucpake recipe – which I find is SUPER DUPER easy but at the end, still lacking something – that I’m not really sure of. Perhaps some sort of liquid should be added to the batter.
I also tried Magnolia’s Chocolate Cupcake & Billy Reece’s Chocolate Cupcake (which both called for melted chocolate) and finding myself enjoying the cupcakes and still left feeling a little bit unsatisfied with the taste.
So it’s safe to say that I am still on the search for that perfect Chocolate Cupcake recipe and I probably won’t stop looking for one, not anytime soon.
Sometimes it feels like Chemistry Lab, all over again but A LOT MORE FUN! 
Category(s): RnD
Tag(s): chocolate, cupcake
5 Comments »
So yesterday I was blog-hopping through the-ever-so-many cupcake blogs on the net I came across a few very interesting cupcake flavors and decided to give them a go.
The first flavor that I tried is not a stranger among the usual cuppie flavors you see around – Lemony Lemon cupcakes. These cupcakes were then filled with a tangy-sweet lemon curd filling, and later topped with rich cream cheese frosting.
My Lemony Lemon cupcakes cooling on the rack
The cupcake tasted really gooood and the extra tangy-ness from the lemon curd made it even yummier! And of course, you can never go wrong with Cream Cheese Frosting rite? 
Lemony Lemon Cupcake
Next is a cupcake recipe inspired by Howtoeatacupcake.net’s French Toast Cupcakes. I made these cupcakes to go with a nice Coffee Buttercream that really compliments the sweet maple smell coming from the cupcake. Absolutely cup-alicious!
Maple Coffee Cupcake
And so I will be adding these two flavors to the menu so you can go ahead and have a taste of them as well!
And now off I go cupcake-blog-hopping again! Hope to get my hands on some more fun flavors!
Cuppie love,
Zack
Category(s): Newcomers
3 Comments »
Today I shipped Little Bowl’s 1st order to Wakayama Prefecture. I’m pretty satisfied with the outcome; cuppies and frostings were made the whole night last night and hubby dearest helped out with the box to put in the cuppies.
To commemarate my 1st customer, I came up with this Super Combo Pack for her to have a taste of what’s availabe at Little Bowl so far. I hope she will be happy with what I’ve placed in this pack.
In the box are 4 flavors of cupcakes; Vanilla, Chocolate, Matcha and Cinnamon. And topping these cuppies were Vanilla Buttercream, Chocolate Buttercream, Strawberry Cream Cheese, Plain Cream Cheese, Peanut Butter Buttercream and Chocolate&Peanut Butter Buttercream.
I’m still coming up with other flavors, and so far I’m thinking Peanut Butter, Melon and Banana cuppies to be added to the menu.
If you have any ideas of what cuppie flavor might be interesting, lemme know! I’m sure it would be a great addition to Little Bowl’s cuppie gang.
Good job, Cheffy *pat at the back* (hey, sometimes you’ve gotta praise yourself right? hihi)
Now, let’s wait for more orders to come in aye? 
Have a great day everyone!
Category(s): Misc, Newcomers
No Comments »
Cupcakes have seemed to be taking over the world this past few years, with many different flavors and frostings to choose from. Simple flavors like Vanilla or Chocolate are now competing with exotic flavors like Mohito or Kahlua, Cinnamon or Mocha. All time classic cake flavors like Red Velvet Cake or Carrot Cake are also no longer strangers of the cupcake gang.
Frostings that top a cupcake are not just the sweet Classic American Buttercream anymore; Smooth Swiss/Italian Meringue Buttercream, Rich Cream Cheese Frosting, and the simple-yet-ever-so-complimenting Whipped Cream make the world of cupcakes filled with millions of possible flavor combinations,leaving cupcake cravers chances to explore the unknown.
And so my love for cupcakes was born from this. The chance to explore this wonderful world of sweetness that I’m sure will warm any heart and put a smile on any face.
So here I will begin my journey into the fabulous world of Cupcakes and I hope to begin this wonderful journey with you.
Category(s): Misc
