Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Whipped Chocolate Frosting

I was a peanut butter fan when I was younger, and then I stopped eating it for the longest time. Recently I bought a natural jar of it and couldn't stop indulging myself in it. I love spreading it on whole wheat bread. It's creamy and gooey; it brings me back to childhood memory of it every time.

Anyhow, so I decided to test and make some peanut butter cupcakes. I know it's going to be tricky since the consistency of the peanut butter itself is already oily, gooey and buttery...the amount of butter added would be a challenge. Indeed, my peanut butter cupcake turned out super de-duper moist and dense in the center but perfect texture outside. It's still edible but just a little too dense for my taste. I probably need to re-test this next time. But other than that I really like the flavor of it.

I decided to frost the cupcake with a lighter frosting. Instead of using a buttercream, I just used whipped cream...with chocolate! Chocolate peanut butter equals yummy!

Thomas Keller's Oreo Take Two...

I decided to make a third batch of TKO because I was not completely satisfied with the previous one. After experimenting with the dough a bit, I finally got the edge of the cookies to set better, and the cream filling better!

Never the less, this batch was 10X better than previous, look-wise especially! I do notice though the cream filling tastes better and gets a bit firmer after being in the fridge a bit. And after a couple days in the fridge, the cookies started to get lighter in color but they still tasted great! Yay!



Thomas Keller's Oreo

One of my favorite bakery is Bouchon! They made amazing macarons on top of other delightful treats such as their cookies and TKO...Thomas Keller's version of Oreos.

TKO from Bouchon

So I found a recipe in his Ad Hoc cookbook that results in similiar cookies as the TKO! All I had to do is try to make a cream filling for it! I decided to make one with white chocolate in it. Dark chocolate cookies and white chocolate fillings, yum!

MDO!

So I made and tested two different batches that resulted in different texture of the cookie. One of the batch tasted exactly like an Oreo cookie! Bingo! The other one resulted in flakier cookies, which I actually prefer if it's not cream-filled. The only trouble I had making these was shaping them right. I used the right cookie cutter and it looked perfect before they hit the oven. But while they are baking, they start mishaping.

After taste testing and baking these cookies, I am feeling a bit sick from overdosage of chocolate and sweetness. So, I decided to try making these again in the near future to try to perfect the shape then.

"Bloody Embryo" + Red Velvet

I hope my title didn't scare you away from reading this. I wasn't referring to a real embryo. See picture below! "Bloody" huh? Get it? Oh yeah, there's blue one too if you refer back to my "Blueberry Velvet" post from December 16. Okay...anyways...

So yesterday, I'd decided to make my favorite cupcakes of all time, Red Velvet. It was for my friend, Lily. It was her birthday yesterday!

The cream cheese frosting turned out really well, it was light, very fluffy and not overly sweet. In fact it was better than usual for some reasons. I have no idea why, I always make it the way I usually make it. My boyfriend said he could easily do a frosting shot with it. Yay!

I was glad my friends enjoyed it. Janny complimented that it wasn't super sweet, and it tasted better than some of the cupcake shops she'd been to. I couldn't been happier!

The cake also turned out very moist and fluffy, and not undercooked-dense at all. I will be making this again in a couple days for my cousin's friend since it's her birthday and it's her favorite cupcake as well. This is the same cousin who told me to make the Winnie the Pooh & Bunny cake for her mom. So this upcoming cupcake batch is going to be my first paid order! (I only charged for materials since I'm still practicing and experimenting my recipes and techniques.) But yes, my first real order! Maybe one day, I'll make my dream come true by opening a cafe/bakery. In the meantime, I'll patiently wait, do my biotech job, earn money and bake more goodies.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcake with Non-Vegan Bailey Buttercream

Tonight I decided to make chocolate cupcakes. But then I felt lazy and didn't want to work with butter with a handheld mixer, so I went vegan. Most vegan cupcake recipes call for vegetable oil, which to me is easier to work with when I'm not using a stand mixer. The recipe was super fast and easy; I didn't even use a handheld mixer, I just use a spatula and my hand to mix it. The recipe makes super duper moist cupcakes. I mean it's so moist that it feels undercooked even though the toothpick comes out clean.

So making vegan cupcakes have nothing to do with me being vegan, since I do plan to make a buttercream with butter. Finally I met the inevitable...I need to make buttercream with a handheld mixer or a stand mixer. I finally opened my stand mixer from its box. I didn't want to use handheld mixer this time since I injured my wrist a few days ago. Anyhow, I love my stand mixer. It makes buttercream so fast and work-free.

Elle's Birthday Cake

So for my friend, Elle's, birthday, I decided to make her a cake. Knowing that she has a cat and loves cat, I decided to make a cat cake. My original plan was to make a cat cake like her cat Freiya, which is black. But I changed my mind after awhile because I do not want to give her a black cat on her birthday. I know I know, I sound superstitious right? Maybe.

I drew a sketch of how I want the cake to be during lunch time two days before the cake was due. My sketch included a two tiers cake. I started baking the cakes Friday night after work, which was a day before the cake was due. Unfortunately, my cake for the first tier did not turned out the way I wanted. I gave up around 3am in the morning. The next day, I woke up and baked another cake, but this time it was too dense, so with time restrain, I decided to just make it one tier. I was glad it turned out alright.  

 This was the cake 7 hours before due time at dinner. I was stressing a bit after taking this photo because it resembled a rat as well. Oh no! So I added some extra things later.

And this is the finished cake. I added the paws and the fish 2 hours before dinner. I'm glad it made it look more like a cat.

Here is the birthday girl, Elle, and her cake. She looks so pretty from the orangy red glow. The waiter did an awesome job in putting the cake on a plate and putting candles on it for me. Yay!

It's a dark chocolate cake with raspberry preserve and raspberry buttercream frosting. I added very little buttercream because the cake itself is pretty rich already. I just need that fruity flavor from the raspberry to balance it out.

The party of 7 ended up finishing half of the cake, which comforted me a little about failing on the 2nd tier. I also got some great compliments about the look of the cakes and the taste of it as well. I was also glad that Elle knew it was a cat! Yay! Happy Birthday Elle!

Happy Valentine's Day

I am always glad that strawberries are in seasons around Valentine's Day. Strawberries are perfect for chocolate dipped strawberries or any dessert on Valentine's Day since they are brightly red!

So with all the excess boxes of fresh strawberries I have, I decided to make cupcakes with them. First thing I wanted to include into this cupcake is chocolate! So I am going to make a strawberry cupcake with whipped cream filling and white chocolate frosting.

I garnished it with a strawberry. Then I decided to smother some melted white chocolate onto the strawberry to make it even chocolatier. I should have dip the strawberry first. Next time!

Sorry for the image of the short cupcake. I chose the most imperfect one out of the batch to cut open so I can share the prettier ones with my little cousins. Haha. The strawberry whipped cream just ooozes out...delicious!

Gimme Gimme S'more!

Oh! What's one goodie goodness that's crunchy on the outside and gooey and chewy in the inside? S'more!

S'more makes a great holiday treat! It's a delightful treat that's simple and perfect for a comfort dessert!
Hmmm, warm gooey center and a crunchy outter layer! It makes a great little gift to bring to work as well as a party!
Although I must say, it's super hard to wrap this baby up without the bag being sticky! Sooo, I have turned it into a cupcake!
A s'more is not a s'more without it's components! A crunchy graham cracker outter layer!
Gooey chocolate center!
Still chocolatey and moist!
Last but not least, top it off with sticky gooey marshmallow meringue frosting!
Can serve it the way it is.
Or semi-burnt if you like!

This is how it looks like in the inside!
Stay Warm & Happy Holidays!