Humming Scooters

Yayyy Civic long weekend! What did you do? We did a day trip to Buffalo, celebrated a couple's new house and engagement (congratulations again Kurt & Diana), and I made cupcakes.

Hummingbird cupcakes! I was missing pecans from this recipe, so I don't know if that makes it less of a Hummingbird? Hopefully not! Oh, and one more change to the recipe. I didn't have enough sugar. I know, me without a fully stocked bag of sugar? So, instead of 2 cups of sugar, I did brown sugar and granulated sugar. The result? A not so overly sweet cake that balanced with the sweet frosting pretty well.

Above left, going clockwise: Cream cheese frosting on Hummingbird Cupcakes; fresh from the oven; cupcake batter; batter up for the oven!

I did manage to crack myself up while cracking the eggs. I attempted to do it one-hand style like the chefs on television. I did it once before and thought I could do a repeat performance. Nope. I think I'll stick to two-hands egg cracking from now on.

Hummingbird Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from the amazing Chockylit
(Makes about 24 cupcakes)

3 cups of flour
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup of vegetable oil
1-1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 8oz can crushed pineapple, with liquid
2 mashed bananas

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and have all ingredients at room temperature. Also have your cupcake liners and pans ready.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt in a good sized bowl.
3. Beat the eggs.
4. Add oil and vanilla to the beaten eggs and mix until somewhat combined.
5. Add egg/oil/vanilla mixture to flour/sugar/baking soda/cinnamon/salt mixture.
6. Mix together the pineapples and bananas.
7. Add the pineapples/bananas with the previous mixture and mix well.
   
8. Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden and a cake tester comes out clean.
   

The cupcakes are in between a cupcake and a muffin. I can see this being very good for breakfast, especially if they're fresh from the oven. They smell very much like banana cakes to me, perhaps my 2 mashed bananas were larger in size? It also has a nice chewy texture from the bananas. Yumm.

Cream Cheese Frosting
(Makes enough for about 24 cupcakes)

3 cups of icing sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 package of cream cheese
1 stick of butter

1. Cream the butter until smooth.
2. Add in the icing sugar and mix. Include the vanilla extract.
3. Add in the cream cheese and mix until smooth.
   

I also made two small scooters out of fondant. Yes, two. I am insane sometimes. A yellow one and a red one. My mom randomly gave me the fruit to accessorize my photoshoot. Please note, the only fruits in this cupcake are bananas and pineapples!

I would like to dedicate the yellow one to the Scootabaker!

Her shout-out on twitter and her blog made it so worth it!

The red one goes to Jen and everyone else who loves scooters. <3

Bon Bon Cupcake

Isn't she cute?

"Born on Valentine's Day, Bon Bon is an ultra-mod Japanese-French girl
who's ultra-mad for Vespas, Pop Art, space age lounge, and 60s sounds."

Bon Bon was created by Noel Tolentino, a staff artist at Cosmic Debris.

Mod Target for a Mod girl.

He Said/She Said: Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes

Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes

Written by Martha Stewart and Wendy Kromer

ISBN 13: 9780307394538

ISBN 10: 0307394530

Publisher: Clarkson Potter

Hardcover: 260 Pages

S: Summer time! Weddings! Cakes! Don't forget the popular wedding cupcakes too!
H: This is a great ideas books to me. It contains page after page of great designs.
S: The subtitle is More than 100 inspiring cakes, an indispensable guide for the bride and the baker. And that is exactly what the book delivers. A very helpful guide book that informs brides on choosing their wedding cake. Or, if you're daring or experienced, you can make your own wedding cake! There are instructions and recipes in this guide.

H: What really sells this book is the beautiful food styling. The photography and design of the book is done with care. I really like the full pages of coloured photographs. Something we look for in all cookbooks. Especially if the book is going to focus on decorations - you just have to see the final outcome.
S: You can get a quick sample of her designs by doing a photo search of "Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes." Dozens of beautifully decorated cakes will immediately show up.

H: This book is in three main parts: choosing your cake, the large and important section of cake designs, and "making a wedding cake."

S: The first section is really a useful guide. For those who don't know that much about cakes, it tells you a cake's component, about how a cake should be presented, and tips for finding the perfect baker to collaborate with.

H: Next, the "album of cake" is sure to astonish you! The tiny, tiny piping details and the intricate (oops, almost typed intricake there) designs will have you shake your head and wonder how long it must have taken.

S: The cake on the cover is a seven-tier classic cake... seven! (page 49) This cake is seriously a test of skill and patience. The bottom tier has royal icing roses and drop strings, the next tier has ruffles, tiny grapes, and shells, the next level has the impressive cross-hatching, etc. etc!!!!
H: The wedding cupcake tower is on page 83. The cupcake stand is quite beautiful and I was surprised to read that it was only made from Styrofoam, cake boards, and doily. Overall, the book is very handy and has so much information in it.

S: The information is all presented in a great way and the photographs aren't there for the sake of it, they do help enhance what is being said. This book is a great addition and with minor tweeking, the cakes don't have to be categorized as only for "weddings."

H: We both agree that this is a 5/5 guide book.

Dust Ball Cupcake

Hello there! This is a cute little dust ball from My Neighbour Totoro.
I've lost count of how many times I have watched this wonderful film.

This little character was fun to make!

1. First, dye your fondant black. If you have pre-coloured fondant (we highly recommend getting red and black fondant, everything else can be easily dyed from white fondant), roll it into a nice ball, about the size of a slightly larger marble.
2. This is optional, but I added some texture by rolling on a dimpled pattern.
3. Two small pieces of white fondant for the eyes. Rolled them into tiny balls and flattened it on the "body."
4. Pressed in brown sprinkles for the eyes. Finally, the fun part, sticking pieces of sprinkles randomly onto the dust ball!

Iron Cupcake: Earth - Summer Berries

Happy Father's Day!
Happy first day of summer!

Here we fused the two celebrations for our Iron Cupcake: Earth entry! This month's ingredient is Summer Berries! Me thinks you know which berry we picked:
Delicious, fresh, sweet red strawberries. We had tried strawberry buttercream for a previous Iron Cupcake challenge, so this time we decided to bake the strawberry in the cupcake!

Pineapple-Strawberry Upside-Down Cupcakes

Recipe adapted from John Barricelli and Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook
(Makes about 24 regular cupcakes)

1 1/4 stick of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 cup of strawberry yogurt

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and have all ingredients at room temperature. Also have your cupcake liners and pans ready.
2. Using a 2-inch cookie cutter, cut out rounds from pineapple slices. Then use a 1-inch cookie cutter to cut out a hole in the center of the pineapple.
   
3. Using the 1-inch cookie cutter again, cut out rounds from strawberry slices.
4. Place the cut fruits in a sieve to drain any juices.
5. Using an electric mixer, beat 2 tablespoons of butter with the brown sugar until light and fluffy. Using a spoon, divide the mixture into your baking cups to create an even base. Set aside.
   
   
6. In a bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
   
   
7. Place the 2-inch pineapple round into your baking cup. Add the 1-inch strawberry round into the center.
   
   
8. Using an electric mixer, beat the remaining butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla. Then on the lowest speed, add the flour mixture in two parts. Add in the strawberry yogurt between the two flour mixtures.
   
   
9. Pour the cake mixture into your baking cups, on top of the pineapple and strawberry slices.
10. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. There may be lovely caramel bubbling out, this was a good sign for us that it was ready!
    
    
11. Let the cupcakes cool for a tiny bit, invert, and serve with vanilla ice cream! The perfect summer and Father's day treat!
    The pineapple-strawberry upside-down cupcake was so good! Loved this easy way to make caramel with the melted brown sugar base! The pineapple and strawberry combination was delicious and the cupcake was nice and fluffy. This fruity treat was great with or without the ice cream topping!
    

You can vote for us HERE between June 28th to July 6th. The winner will receive the awesome June Prize-Pack:

• A cupcake ID bracelet from Etsy artist INSANEJELLYFISH
• A groovy linocut piece from Etsy artist BLOCKHEAD PRESS
• A sweet surprise from SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY
• Artwork from Etsy artist CAKESPY
  
• Head Chefs from FIESTA PRODUCTS
• HELLO, CUPCAKE, by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
• An apron from JESSIE STEELE APRONS
• Books from TASTE OF HOME
• A T-shirt from UP WITH CUPCAKES

Iron Cupcake: Earth is sponsored by 1-800-Flowers. You can also join in on the fun yourself! Click here to learn more about Iron Cupcake: Earth.

Yummm! This was berry good!