Strawberry Matcha Éclairs

Well, since my Totoro puffs didn't turn out the way I imagined them to, I thought I would work on some éclairs instead. The good thing is, the choux dough recipe is the same (so refer back to the Totoro post), the only thing you do differently is how you pipe them out.

And you know what? You're supposed to use a star tip, but I couldn't find mine. It's probably at my parent's house - all my baking supplies are now split apart because my condo can't fit everything. But the éclairs turned out just fine with a round piping tip.

After the éclairs cool, cut them in half so that you have your elongated boats. If you made the choux dough correctly, the interiors should be semi-hollow.

It's strawberry season again (yay) so I chopped them up into tiny little cubes. Then sprinkled a teaspoon of sugar on it, gave it a toss, and had it macerate for a bit. It's sitting in a sieve so that any excess liquids can drain off.

Using tiny dessert spoons, I filled the with the strawberries I so painstakingly sliced.

Then came the fun part, decorating with matcha buttercream! I was originally going to make matcha pastry cream, but realized I finished using all the milk on the choux dough. Oops! Oh well, it worked out in the end as buttercream is so much easier to make and also pipes out beautifully.

Doesn't the smooth matcha buttercream look like avocado? In fact, these éclairs remind me of sub sandwiches or avocado toast. I know you're supposed to put the tops back on the éclairs . . . but they're so much prettier when they're like an open-faced sandwich!

You can also pipe the buttercream in first and then top it with strawberries. Don't forget to decorate! I had sprinkles and milk chocolate crispearls on hand. You can also switch out your piping tip for different designs.

Howard's colleagues are going to have a happy Monday eating these (I hope)! There's too many for Howard and I to finish. There's also a key lime pie in the freezer, but more about that later.

One Million

Hello friends! Something special happened this weekend . . . our all time history count tells us that we've reached over one million views! It's a little unbelievable, but hopefully the stat isn't tricking us, because we we want to thank you.

Thank you for visiting our blog. Thank you for commenting on our posts. Thank you for following us on facebook, twitter, instagram, pinterest, and all of the other neat platforms. Thanks for sticking around and reading about our food adventures and kitchen stories. We wish we could give each and every one of you a bouquet of cupcakes. Since no one has invented a cupcake-teleportation device, we hope that you'll accept this for now:

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart Cupcakes
(Makes about 22 cupcakes)

2 large eggs
3/4 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup of warm water
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
3/4 cup of cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
3/4 teaspoon of baking powder
3/4 teaspoon of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F) and line your tray with cupcake liners.
2. In your bowl, mix the eggs, milk, vanilla extract, warm water, and vegetable oil together.
3. Sift in the cocoa powder, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the mixture. Mix until incorporated (don't over mix).
4. Using an ice cream scoop, evenly distribute the batter into the cupcake liners.
5. Bake for about 20-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cook before frosting.

You can use your favourite buttercream or frosting recipe. Make sure the consistency is firm enough to hold the shape of the flowers.

Vanilla Buttercream

1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups of icing sugar
1/4 cup of milk
2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
Gel colour dyes

1. Using a stand mixer, put the butter into the bowl and cream until smooth. Add in the icing sugar in three batches. Slowly start the mixer as you don't want the icing sugar to fly out! When it is all incorporated, add the vanilla extract.
2. You will need to use your own judgement here, add the milk a tablespoon at a time and check the consistency of the buttercream. It should not be so stiff that your spatula can stand upright if you stuck it in the middle of the ball of buttercream. It shouldn't be so soft that it won't hold it's shape after piping.
3. Add the gel colour you prefer and scoop the buttercream into your piping bag. Fit it with a large petal decorating tip (we used Wilton 127).

Holding both the cupcake and your piping bag, with the wider end of the tip on the bottom, rotate the cupcake as you pipe a small volcano. There should be a small opening on the top and a wide base at the bottom.

Then, pipe three petals around the middle, notice that these are not full petals. They don't go all the way around. Try surrounding the middle tip in three overlapping parts.

Continue and slightly angle your piping tip so that the petals eventually lay flat on the edge of the cupcake.

Even if the buttercream ruffles, tips over, or doesn't fold exactly where you want it to, it'll still look beautiful!

Try a different colour! It is almost spring!

We can't say it enough. Thank you!

Now let's eat cake!

Matcha Macarons

I made these matcha macarons for my dad today. He has to attend a holiday potluck party tomorrow and he asked me to make him macarons. He claims that with all these macarons I've made, he's only eaten three. Which is possible as I haven't had that many myself. I keep giving them away! In fact, I only got to snack on two of these matcha macarons. My mom stole one and my dad prevented my brother from taken any. I hope dad's party guests appreciate how much we refrained!

French Meringue Macarons
(Makes about 40-50 macarons)

2 3/4 cups of almond flour
2 3/4 cups of powdered sugar
3 tablespoons of matcha powder
1 cup of egg whites (from 6-7 eggs)
A pinch of salt
3/4 cups of granulated sugar
Festive sprinkles for decoration (optional)

1. Line your baking trays with parchment paper.
2. Separate your egg whites 2-3 days before baking. Cover and store them in the refrigerator. Two hours before you start making your macarons, take the egg whites out of the refrigerator, uncover them, and let them come to room temperature.
3. Sift the almond flour, powdered sugar, and matcha powder together. If you have a food processor, put the ingredients in to create as fine as a texture as possible. This will help create smooth macaron shells.
4. Using the whisk attachment on your mixer, whisk the egg whites with the salt. Pour the granulated sugar in three stages. Dumping it all in can deflate the egg whites, so you want to add a little bit at a time. When the egg whites reach stiff peaks, turn the mixer off.
5. Fold the sifted almond mixture with the egg whites. You want to end up with a smooth batter that creates a ribbon when you lift it up from your spatula.
6. When the batter is ready, fill your piping bag and pipe equal rounds on the parchment paper.
7. Carefully tap your tray against the table or counter to eliminate air bubbles.
8. After piping, add the sprinkles on top. Let the macarons rest in room temperature for 15-30 minutes.
9. Preheat the oven to 300°F/150°C (325°F/160°C for a non-convection oven, although a convection oven is preferred for baking macarons).
10. Bake your first tray of macarons for 14-15 minutes. After the first five minutes, open the oven doors to let out some of the steam.
11. When the macarons are done, let them cool and then gently peel the macarons off the parchment paper.

After all the macarons have cooled, I usually pair them up and store them in a container while I prepare the filling:

Matcha Buttercream
(Makes enough to fill 40-50 macarons)

1/2 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 stick of cream cheese
3 tablespoons of matcha powder
2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of milk

1. Using a mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth.
2. Add in the matcha powder and powdered sugar. Mix until incorporated.
3. If you find the consistency to be too stiff, add a teaspoon of milk and mix until the buttercream is smooth. Fill your piping bag and pipe out a dollop on the bottom of the macarons. Add the top of the macaron and gently sandwich the buttercream in between.

Yum! I can see these being a repeated favourite with my parents. I'm actually tempted to make another batch already...

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve tomorrow!

Gingerbread Cupcake Kit

A friend of ours gave us this Gingerbread Cupcake Kit for the holidays. I thought it would be fun to take it out for a quick treat today.

The kit included gingerbread cake mix, cinnamon frosting mix, sprinkles, and 8 gingerbread people picks. I had to bring the cupcake liners, vegetable oil, egg, water, unsalted butter, milk, and icing sugar to the table.

The cupcakes were easy to make, but I ended up with enough batter for 7 cupcakes instead of the promised 8! I also found it hilarious that the image on the kit shows white-coloured frosting for the cinnamon frosting! Regardless, the gingerbread decorations are really cute.

Look at Ms. Bow here.

This one's my favourite. Earmuffs and a scarf!

Cute little hat for the mister here.

And the lucky guy above is the only one with shoes/socks! Keep those toes toasty!

Happy holidays everyone! If you're looking for cupcake kits, you can probably find them in grocery and department stores during this time of year!

Green Tea Cupcakes

I also made these cupcakes during my weekend. You're probably wondering, What? There's only one photograph?

Yes. I had just started to take the photos when my doorbell rang. One of my best friends was at my door, having just come back from an interview! So I put my camera down so we could catch up and eat cupcakes instead!

Green Tea Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from The Primrose Bakery Book
(Makes about 12 cupcakes)

150 millilitres of semi-skimmed milk
4 green tea teabags
2 1/2 teaspoon of matcha powder
1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
225 grams of granulated sugar
2 large eggs
255 grams of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder

1. Heat the milk in a saucepan over a medium heat until it starts to boil. Remove it from the heat and add in the green tea teabags. Cover and let the tea steep for at least 30 minutes or leave overnight in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F) and line your tray with cupcake liners.
3. Remove the teabags from the milk and squeeze out any excess milk. Add in the matcha powder and stir.
4. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until smooth. 
5. Add in the eggs, one at a time.
6. The original recipe calls for self-raising flour, if you don't have it, add the baking powder to your all-purpose flour. Alternating between the flour and the milk, pour them into the butter and sugar mixture. 
7. Use an ice cream scoop to evenly distribute the batter into the cupcake liners. Fill the liners to about 2/3 full and bake for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

I did jot down some notes for this recipe though. Make sure you plan ahead and steep the milk beforehand. Also, having self-raising flour would be useful again! But, unlike the Maple and Pecan Cupcakes, these ones did rise to a good height. Yet, the cupcake could be a lot lighter, it was still too dense in my opinion.

Green Tea Buttercream Icing
(Makes enough to ice 12 cupcakes)

1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups of icing sugar
60 millilitres of semi-skimmed milk
1 teaspoon of matcha powder

1. Using a mixture, beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth. 
2. Add in the matcha powder and milk. Mix until smooth and creamy.

Maple and Pecan Cupcakes

Today, I had a very ambitious Monday afternoon. I made two batches of cupcakes and did a whole lot of washing. I have dry hands to prove it. But I think the results were worth it in the end. There is some tweaking  to do if I were to make them again, but right now, I'm happy that I can just sit back, listen to holiday music on the radio, and enjoy a cupcake.

Maple and Pecan Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from The Primrose Bakery Book
(Makes about 12 cupcakes)

60 grams of pecans, chopped
1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
50 grams of brown sugar
160 millilitres of pure maple syrup
2 large eggs
115 grams of all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

1. Measure out 60 grams of pecans and carefully chop them into pieces. The chopped pecans should be about 0.5 centimetres wide (see photo above).
2. Preheat your oven to 180°C (355°C) and line your tray with cupcake liners.
3. Using a mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar until smooth. 
4. Pour in the maple syrup and mix well.
5. Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated.
6. Gently fold in the flour and baking powder into the batter. The original recipe calls for self-raising flour and next time, I would stick to it and omit the baking powder. I didn't have self-raising flour and guessed at how much baking powder would be needed - I should have used more, the cupcakes did not rise very much.
7. Then, fold in the chopped pecans.
8. Use an ice cream scoop to evenly distribute your batter into the liners, filling them about 2/3 full.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Caramelized Pecans
60 grams of granulated sugar
12 pecans, halved

1. Heat the granulated sugar in a heavy-based saucepan until the sugar has melted and is a pale golden colour.
2. Spread out the pecans on a silicone baking mat, then pour the melted sugar over the nuts.
3. Leave to cool and harden. Once the caramel is ready, break into pieces.

You know what I learned? I am terrible at pouring hot sugar over pecans. Furthermore, I am terrible at breaking them into even shards.

Maple Syrup Buttercream Icing
(Makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes)

1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups of icing sugar
1/4 cup of pure maple syrup

1. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth. 
2. Gradually add in the maple syrup until creamy and smooth.

Like I said in my notes above, not having self-raising flour was my downfall! The cupcake turned out short and dense.

They're also very sweet, so I would omit some of the brown sugar and maple syrup in the future. I did enjoy the crunch of the pecans inside the cupcake though.

I also loved the caramelized pecan toppings. All those extra shards without a pecan made lovely snacks for me. Ha! I know, I shouldn't be eating so much sugar.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting

It's almost Valentine's Day! Do you have any plans for tomorrow? I'm going to work... so the highlights will probably be my lunch date with friends and my dinner date with Howard.

Regardless if it were Valentine's Day or not, why not make something sweet and pink?

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
(Makes about 20-22 cupcakes)

1 stick of unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
Seeds from one vanilla bean
4 large egg whites
1/4 cups of milk
2 1/4 cups of cake flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F) and have your liners ready in the cupcake tray.
2. Using a stand-mixer, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds together.
3. Meanwhile, use a hand-mixer to whisk the egg whites until soft peaks are formed. Slowly add in the milk. It will be light and frothy. Pour 1/3 of this mixture with the butter mixture along with the vanilla extract and mix until incorporate.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Pour 1/3 into the butter mixture and incorporate. 
5. Alternate between adding the egg/milk and flour/baking powder/salt into the butter/sugar/vanilla bean mixture until they are all incorporated.
6. Use an ice cream scoop to evenly distribute the batter into the cupcake liners.
7. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
8. Let the cupcakes cool before frosting.

Strawberry Frosting
(Makes enough for 22 cupcakes)

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter
3 1/2 cups of confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons of puréed and strained strawberries

1. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until smooth. About 4-5 minutes.
2. If you're using fresh strawberries, cut off the stem and the leaves. Give the strawberries a wash and pat them dry with a paper tower. 
3. Purée the strawberries and strain them through a sieve to separate the seeds. If you look at the photo above, we made about 1 cup, but you only need 3 tablespoons - otherwise the frosting's consistency will be too runny.
4. Add the seedless purée and mix until incorporated.
5. Fill your piping bag or use a metal spatula to frost your cooled cupcakes.

The strawberry frosting doesn't have a strong strawberry flavour, but it is there. We couldn't add anymore strawberry purée because the frosting would have been too runny. I think the solution is to use really ripe strawberries (so plan ahead) or to maybe boil it down so that some of the water content evaporates?

And if you want the frosting to have a stronger pink colour, you'll have to add some food colouring to it. We kept the pale pink since we didn't want to add any other chemicals to it. Seriously, strawberry frosting is a tough one to figure out. Do bakeries use strawberry extract to get a stronger flavour?

Overall, the strawberry frosting works with these light and airy vanilla cupcakes. The cupcakes are really soft and fluffy! Adding vanilla beans make it taste so much better, but I'll probably use less sugar next time.

Woof! I couldn't resist.

Decorating Cupcakes for EverythingMom

This took some time, but I think it was all worth it in the end. Through twitter DM and e-mail troubles, Carrie Anne was finally able to get in touch with me. I'm glad she did, because she had a fun idea for me! Carrie Anne Badov is Partner and Editor-in-Chief at EverythingMom, I actually know her from work because she is an avid reader and helps promote books and literacy. Long story short, she wanted to know if I would be interested in doing a Christmas/Holiday cupcake article. I said yes!

I spent the weekend brainstorming some simple, but fun ideas for families to make. I even went out and bought some holiday sprinkles. Trees, stars, snowflakes, and candy canes - all in miniature sugar form - perfect!

I took out some colourful cupcake liners (thank you Mike and Megan) and baked some old-fashioned chocolate cupcakes. Then took out the piping bag, my piping tips, and some candies.

Click here to see the cupcake creations on EverythingMom.com!

Blackout Spider Cupcakes

I don't like spiders at all! But when I spotted these spider cupcake holders at Crate and Barrel, I couldn't resist getting one. They make spiders look cute instead of creepy, of course, you could make them creepy too. But I'm going to stick with something I can handle without running away in terror:

Blackout Spider Cupcakes
Adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
(Makes about 14 regular cupcakes)

1 stick of unsalted butter
1 cup of brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/3 cup of cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon of baking powder
3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 1/3 cups of all-purpose flour
2/3 cup of milk

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and have all ingredients at room temperature. Place your black or dark brown cupcake liners in the tray.
2. Add in the eggs one at a time. Mix well and scrape the bowl as needed.
3. On a slow speed, add in the vanilla, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until combined.
4. Alternate between the flour and milk. Mix until the batter is well combined.
5. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into your cupcake liners.
6. Bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan before taking them out to frost and decorate.
   

Chocolate Ganache Buttercream
(Makes enough to frost the 12 regular cupcakes)

1 stick of unsalted butter
2 1/2 cup of icing sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 cup of chocolate ganache

1. Using your stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until combined.
2. Add in the vanilla and mix until smooth.
3. Slowly pour in the chocolate ganache and mix until it is well combined, fluffy, and smooth.

Chocolate Crumbs
(Makes enough to cover the 12 regular cupcakes)

2 extra chocolate cupcakes

1. Peel the cupcake liner off your extra baked cupcakes.
2. Using a food processor, break apart the 2 cupcakes and process into crumbs.

Are you ready to assemble your blackout spider cupcake? I do realize that if you don't have the spider legs, it'll be blackout eyes cupcakes. =)

However, you can always use black liquorice candy to be legs.

After you pipe on the chocolate ganache buttercream, use a spatula to create a dome with the frosting. Spread the frosting right to the edge and make sure that the top is higher. I used Reese's Pieces for the eyes, but you can easily substitute that with Smarties or M&M's. Add the eyes before you dip the cupcake in cake crumbs.

Firmly hold the cupcake and lower it into the bowl.

Keep diving in...

Evenly coat the frosting with cake crumbs to create the blackout or furry spider look. If you need to, use a spoon to help you cover spots you missed.

Place your cupcake on the spider legs!

Have a happy Halloween this year! If you also bought the spider cupcake holder, please share your photos with me!