Cupcakes
Just testing how embedding looks on here, really. This is one of my fave pics of late, from my Flickr site.
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Cupcakes
Been searching for a great Cupcake recipe where the texture is light and fluffy.
I came across http://www.eggshellgreen.com and found it!
Scout Cupcakes
2 eggs
Small bottle of cream (125mL will do)
1/4 tsp of Vanilla
3/4 cups of Caster Sugar
1 cup of Self-Raising flour
Method
- Break 2 eggs into a cup measure and fill to the top with fresh cream.
- Pour into a large mixing bowl and beat on high with electric mixers for 1 minute.
- Add 1/4 teaspon of vanilla essence and 3/4 cup caster sugar.
- Beat for another 3 minutes.
- Sift in 1 cup of self raising flour (I normally use standard flour plus 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt).
- Fold to combine taking care not to over mix.
- Spoon into 12 cupcake cases (or more if you have extra batter) and bake for about 12-15 minutes at 180 degrees celcius until golden and springy to the touch.
- Remove after baking and cool on wire racks before icing.
To make Chocolate cupcakes, add 2 tablespoons of Cocoa when sifting flour.
Butter-cream Icing
150g butter
3-1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp cream
Few drops red food colouring
Method
1. Beat butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add vanilla and cream to achieve light and fluffy consistency. If it is a little thick, add water drop by drop.
*For chocolate butter-cream icing, add 1 tbsp cocoa when sifting icing sugar.
Once made, divide the butter-cream icing in half. Add a few drops of red food colouring to one half, leaving the remaining half white. Decorate alternate cupcakes pink and white.
I’ve just made pink cupcakes and added fresh Strawberries on top!
Estimated 20% growth in cupcakeries + Sprinkles moving to NYC?!
Interesting article by the NYTimes about cupcakes.
"For each cupcake she sells, Ms. Lovely figures she spends 60 cents on ingredients, 57 cents on mortgage payments and utilities, 48 cents on labor, 18 cents on packaging and merchant fees, 16 cents on loan repayment, 24 cents for marketing, 18 cents for miscellaneous expenses and 4 cents for insurance. That totals $2.45, leaving a potential profit of 55 cents on each $3 cupcake."( Lovely Confections Bakery)
Cupcake Hell
I can hardly believe I am typing this but the new (ish) cupcakes at M&S are vile, vile, vile. They look nice, which is how they suckered me in...twice (Raspberry &White Chocolate and then Chocolate). At £2.99 for four they are not exactly cheapy cheap but not horrendously over-priced compared to say, Krispy Kreme (UK only, obviously where we pay over the odds for just about everything).
Where should I start? Perhaps the heavy, crumbly suet-like sponge that feels greasy on your tongue, the tasteless jam that has soaked into the aforementioned sponge creating a gag-inducing texture, all topped with the buttercream that tastes of almost nothing but feels like gritty margarine sliding around your mouth. Yuck! I was a fool to think the Chocolate variety might be better. They were not. Avoid.
Ignite Waterloo was a sweet affair
Where to start? Last night was a blast from start to finish. Every single speaker went above and beyond: they were obviously passionate and knowledgeable about their topics. Everyone looked confident and even comfortable on the stage. From talking with a few speakers afterward, I understand they didn't feel as confident as they looked but they sure pulled it off ... with flying colours. Listening to the speakers, I had many a moment where I learned something new.
Ignite Waterloo was a solid event. The venue was perfect: the Children's Museum has a cool, modern vibe that's both spacious and perfectly laid out. The museum staff were incredibly helpful and responsive to requests and they set-up a great bar. Having the GPS exhibit upstairs was a nice touch, too. And then there was the food, crafted by the Exhibit Cafe. It was divine: an honest #nomnomnom is definitely in order here.
A serious highlight of the evening included cupcakes. Yes, cupcakes. And, as you can tell from my pictures, I was enthralled; we live in a land of hidden, artistic talents.
Being part of the elite, judging team, I can confirm that we deliberated and considered and weighed the options. This was a serious decision. We finally decided on a quite reasonable facsimile of a hamburger made from cupcakes. Kevin, the cupcake artist who won, walked away with a new laptop, complements of Communitech. Well done!
Of course there are several honourable cupcake-artistry mentions including a piranha-like Nemo, a volcano which was a natural disaster in more ways than one (it started off as something else entirely), a globe that included the equator, tilted axis, and reasonable representations of the continents in green on blue icing ~it coulda been a contendah!~ and a seriously disturbing rendition of gummy bears bitten in half. It was all good.
Anyway, I'll let my photos speak for themselves. All I can say is, Ignite Waterloo is one hot event. Watch for it next spring. Personally, I can't wait!
Oh, if you want to learn more about the general vibe of the event, you can do two things: first check out the blog at www.ignitewaterloo.ca, and second, check out the twitter feed using the hashtag #ignitewaterloo.
Cheers!
I Need Some Comfort. Food.
As many of you may know from reading my other blog, An Inconvenient Tumor, my husband, Bryan, was diagnosed with a brain tumor last April. It's been a long eight months filled with fear, determination and hope. Bryan has fought through radiation and several rounds of chemotherapy, and the tumor has shrunk by more than half (great news!). He's doing really well but during his chemotherapy weeks, e.g. right now, he's exhausted. He sleeps about twelve hours per night and several hours during the day, leaving me with lots of time on my hands.
This whole period has forced me to re-evaluate what is important in my life and understand what I truly love. Because doing the things that I love gives me comfort, and being comforted helps me recharge my emotional and physical batteries. Hence starting this blog. I've found great comfort in food, and most recently, in baking. Over the past few weeks I've been a baking maniac, whipping up dozens of cookies, brownies and as of last night, pumpkin cupcakes. I always start with a base recipe and then make it my own, because frankly it's more fun that way and I love to experiment with ingredients and flavors. So that's just what I did with last night's pumpkin cupcakes. Pumpkin is seriously one of my all time favorite flavors, so when Fall arrives and I start to see fresh and canned pumpkin lining grocery store shelves, I squeal with delight and start to clap. It doesn't matter who sees me; it's my little cheer to "welcome" the amazing fall flavors. Here's the pumpkin cupcake recipe:Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup salted butter, melted and cooled
- 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree (I used Libby's but you can use Trader Joes brand, etc.)
Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and the spices. In another bowl, whisk together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and eggs. Add dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Then whisk in pumpkin puree.
Line the cupcake pan with liners and fill each about halfway with batter. To avoid mess, I scooped all the batter into a gallon Ziploc bag, cut off the corner and essentially piped the batter into each cup liner. Bake until tops spring back when touched and a cake tester comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes (I did 23 minutes). Transfer to wire rack and let cool completely before icing.
Cream Cheese Buttercream
- 4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
thinking about hyperlocal green business you could start at conkers.
via tumblr.com
i just saw these natty little cupcakes. that look amazing posted over on tumblr by hunsonisgroovy and it got me thinking again about a local bakery fused with a great design house and some web 2.0 social media action on the side to promote and vote on different cakes. would you not like to get a cupcake in a box like this on a friday crowdsourced from your friends?
