Little Bowl

Hello everyone!

（皆さんこんにちは！しばらくこのブログを更新しなくて、すみませんでした！いろんなことで、ついつい手がいっぱいになってしまい、なかなか更新する暇がなくて。。（反省）けど、これから、できるだけたくさん更新するように頑張ります～）

I know, I know..when was the last time I actually updated this blog? Say…2 months ago? Although I’m fully aware that I made a promise to update this blog but I7ve been so distracted with so many things, that I neglected my promise.

Well, hubby dear wanted me to at least upload some pictures of the latest cupcakes and things I’ve been cooking this past few months, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do

So, where should we start.

Okay, September. Yes, we went back to Malaysia for a short holiday and I was asked to make my brother-in-law’s wedding cake!

Oh heck yeah, was I excited! My first Wedding!! I thought it was going to turn out just as I いmagined it would be, I had everything planned (well, in my head at least) and turns out..errkkh, well, let’s just say that I had higher hopes. But after settling with the ingredients I could get my hands on back home ( and several blackouts ) I made close to 80 cupcakes for the cupcake tower. The color was suppose to be a bit more maroonish but somehow the icing turned rather pinkish instead :p

My sister came to the rescue and helped me make the tower, in which I know that If I had done it, trust me, it probably wouldn’t look as good as that. Hee.

（こちらは主人のお兄ちゃんの結婚式に作ったカップケーキです。カップケーキお味はチョコレートとバニラで、とてもシンプルに仕上げしてみました。トッピイングは普通のバタークリームで、少し色を足してみました。カップケーキのタワーが私のお姉ちゃんが作ってくれました。本当に助かりました。ありがとう、姉ちゃん！（＾＾））

Still it was a great experience. And I have a whole new respect for cupcake bakers in Malaysia for being able to make cupcakes with the quality of ingredients that they have (well, it’s not that they’re THAT bad, but my mom was correct about the flour in Japan is VERY different from Malaysia)

Then, of course I also made some cupcakes for my family’s open house (It’s a thing we Malaysians do during Eidul Fitri). I made a couple of flavors, which my favorite were the Peanut Butter Cupcakes and Lemonny Lemon Cupcakes.

I also had a couple of orders while I was back, but again, due to the uncertainess of the ingredients, they didn’t turn out the way I expected them to be. My apologies to who ordered from me the other day, I now know that I need to work on the measurements if I ever want to apply my usual recipes using the stuff back home.

（そして実家に戻って、友達や親戚が来る日に作ったカップケーキはこちらです。今回はピーナツバター、チョコーとレモン味を作ってみました。自分的にはやっぱり、ピーナツバター味が一番うまかったですね。ピーナツバターとチョコレートの相性は期待に応えて、すごく美味しかったです。レモンとクリームチーズの組合でも美味しかったけどね）

The recipe I used for these cupcakes are from my usual recipes, but with some minor changes in measurements.

So that’s it for the first part of my quicky update

(それでは、その続きを。。。）

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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!