On decorating

I find I am getting a little tired of eating cupcakes, and hence more critical of the final results. This can only be good for the cuspcake quest, of course, but I'm starting to find that after a whole day of plotting, baking, filling then frosting cupcakes, when I'm done, all I really want to sink my teeth into is an apple.

One other thing I have realised is, I do not like buttercream. My shortlived urge to learn to create buttercream flowers is dying. I would be happy to master enough skills so all my cupcakes looked liked this:

(vanillabakeshop.com, check it out!)

which look fairly minimal. I dislike handling it in this weather, feeling it get too-soft-to-handle after just three cupcakes. I dislike the taste of buttercream. And I really hate the cleaning up. Pastry bags are impossible to clean!

I am however still quite keen to learn to handle fondant, which looks simpler (how wrong can you go with cutters?) and cleaner. I love these cupcakes from therepressedpastrychef's review of Leda's Bake Shop, with the simple, layered fondant shapes, and slightly off-centre placement. So pretty and modern. And they look like the cream bits are straightforward to do too!

Anyway I'm off to find out if I can take Wilton course 2 (fondant), without taking course 1 (buttercream!) first, although I somehow suspect I can't...

Lavender Blue Dilly Dilly

Lavender cream-filled cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Cuspcake rating: 3

Started with the same batch of Amy Sedaris vanilla cupcakes as the Bellini cupcakes, just wanted to experiment with a different combination.

The cream and frosting are from cupcakeblog. Liked these quite alot, they taste very refined and dainty. Botched the lavender cream recipe by adding twice the amount of cream, so made up for it by drizzling a few drops of the lavender syrup and dropping a flower or two in each cupcake's filling. That worked out well to make up for the oversight, with little pops of lavender fragrance when you bite into a bud.

Added only about 3/4 the sugar to the cream cheese frosting, and more lemon juice (no zest though as it seems to be an acquired taste and I'm taking these to the office) in an attempt to cut the sweetness of the cake. The overall result is still a little sweeter than I'd like, probably because of the lavender syrup, but I like the delicacy of the flavours, and would just improve on the cake.

Break out the bubbly

Bellini cupcakes
Cuspcake rating: 2.5 (3 if not for the filling!)

Started with Amy Sedaris' recipe for vanilla cupcakes, was wary of overfilling cups so filled them only about half, as a result, most of them didn't rise to the tops of the cups as I'd hoped. They are tasty, a little too sweet for me, and had a fine texture after baking. Unfortunately after keeping them overnight in the fridge, the texture seems to have changed quite alot and they are rather dense now. Will leave them to come fully to room temperature and report back.

To compensate for the cakes' sweetness, and to more quickly satisfy my curiosity about the recipes I study all week and wait till the weekend to try, I tried two combinations: The first, an attempt at the Bellini cupcake I spoke of. I had in mind a sourish roasted peach filling with a champagne whipped cream. The second is the Lavender cream filled cupcake with citrus cream cheese frosting, in the post after this.

It's such a tough juggling act – how do you make frostings that stand up to 30ºC+ weather, which aren't too sweet? It seems like all the nice light, less-sweet frostings need to be fridged, in which case, the cakes turn hard and cold. Hard cakes with nice frosting? Or nice cakes with toe-curlingly sweet frostings?

Scared off by the too-sweet honey buttercream of my mid-week attempt, I decided to err on the side of taste this time. Adapted the champagne curd recipe from cupcakeblog, and combined it with a filling of pureed roasted peaches, which I heated with a little brown sugar and lemon juice.

First, my caveat – I have never tasted a Bellini before. But from a cupcake point of view, my off-season white peaches were unfortunately rather tasteless, and I rather wish I could taste them more. Perhaps I should use tinned ones next time – sadly enough, tinned peaches are what most of us in this tropical country think of when you say "peach" anyhow. The curd however is quite yummy, despite not being a champagne drinker, (or liking alcohol at all) I find it enjoyable. The bite of the curd did successfully offset the sweetness of the cake, pity it also overtook my poor peach puree.

Well, at least this one seems to be an easy fix.

In search of frostings that are good to eat

Roasted banana cupcakes with honey (Martha Stewart's Cupcakes)

Cuspcake rating: 2

Very spur of the moment attempt – returned home after work to discover bananas on the verge of overripeness, so decided to look up a banana cupcake and settled on my first-ever Martha recipe.

It's likely that I baked the cupcakes too long – I used my new smaller cups for the first time and tried to adjust the time accordingly, but think I got it wrong. Also forgot the vanilla essence in the cakes, so added it to the icing instead. So much for successful after-work baking! Think in future I'll leave it to weekends when I'm concentrating a little more.

The cakes were a tiny bit too dry, and since I left out the essence, tasted a little salty. The frosting on the other hand, while it does smell and taste quite satisfying of honey (I'd thought the icing sugar would have covered the little bit of honey), is way too sweet for my taste.

Which leads me to my main thought today. Are there no frostings that are good to eat? So far, I've not met a cupcake frosting which wasn't too oily, too sweet, too rich or too heavy, either of my own making or not. I wonder about the limitations, because icing has to hold its shape at room temperature etc. I'm sure there must be a way to create icings I'd actually want to lick off my fingers (or the bowl), and am bent on finding it. Guess some experimenting is on the cards!

Have also wondered if perhaps my standards are too high. Will any cupcake ever attain the elusive 5 cuspcakes rating? The closest so far, the lemon curd-filled cupcakes with cream cheese frosting seemed to have been a 5 in everyone else's books. But I just can't bring myself to give them a 5 till the cakes are corrected...

Well, if nothing else, I should have a repertoire of pretty great cupcake recipes when this is over.

No cakes, just plans

Didn't have time to make anymore cupcakes, but did manage to make it down to the baking store and have been savouring cupcake blogs for ideas. Discovered thecupcaketologist – few recipes but some great ideas and all the cupcakes are beautiful, very sophisticated. I like how she frequently frosts the cakes and then pipes a little buttercream on top, it's both decadent and minimalist, and lends the opportunity for another layer of flavours. Must try that sometime. Lovely photos and poetic musings to match.

It all got me dreaming of a Bellini-inspired cupcake, a very light white cake, almost chiffon-like, with a peach puree filling and champagne cream. I also want to do something with ginger and toffee in it (and perhaps finely chopped dates).

Am going to have to start doing smaller batches of cupcakes. There aren't enough people in my weight-conscious office to offload my treats on as it is.

Bought mini cups and somewhere-between-mini-and-reg cups, the long-awaited icecream scoop and oven thermometer, gel food colouring and confetti. Plan to teach myself cake decorating (all the weekend courses are filled till next year) – first, borders and simple designs with my starter set of tips, and then I'll invest in a flower nail and tips for flowers. I have a vision of spending weekends covered in confectioner's sugar creating temperamental flower sculptures with my piping bag.

After that, I'll try my hand at fondant (which seems by comparison, easy, especially with all the pretty moulds and cutters I spied at the store).

Looks like this is turning out to be a full-fledged hobby!

Bottoms up

Black bottom cupcakes (The Great Book of Chocolate)

Cuspcake rating: 3

Second batch today, think I'm starting to understand the general principles of baking cupcakes. Cleanup's gotten alot easier too, although I lack a few pieces of equipment which will streamline things. Must head to the baking supplies store soon, also to buy decorating bits. Am toying with the idea of taking a course in cake decorating, something I never thought I'd say.

Been curious about Black bottom cupcakes, the chocolate-and-cheese combination is still new to me as I used to think it sounded quite appalling. Used David Lebovitz's recipe, which was simple enough to do, and followed it to the T, as I had all the ingredients on hand.

They're tasty, the sort of treat which could become a family favourite. Nice contrast of creamy cheese, bittersweet chocolate chip, and light fluffy chocolate cake. Ate one for dinner – a recent TV appearance made me realise I should lose a little weight, so a cupcake diet it is.

One main problem though – most of the cheesecake centres erupted up and all over the tops while baking, even though I'd dropped them quite neatly in the centres and pressed them in a little. I've long suspected my oven's temperature is off (note to self: buy oven thermometer) as I never get pretty cupcake tops – they're always bumpy or cracked. But in the case of these cupcakes though, the problem is two-fold – these don't need icing so there's no covering-up, and the cheesecake filling when exposed to heat turns dry and crumbly and tastes of egg, instead of staying creamy and cheesy.

Next time I try these I'll push the filling in more and maybe spoon a little more chocolate batter over the top, so it'll hopefully it'll be completely hidden, which should improve both taste and appearance.

And I'll be sure to have my thermometer by then too.

Boring breakfast cupcakes

Apricot-glazed almond cupcakes (Vegan Cupcakes)

Cuspcake rating: 2

A long weekend, during which I happily plan to pack in as many cupcake tryouts as I can.

First up, my second attempt from Vegan Cupcakes. Mine weren't vegan though, I used sour cream instead of soy yoghurt, which I can't find in my local super. Was tempted to replace the oil with brown butter but decided not to deviate too far from the recipe for a start. Also replaced almond essence with a little more vanilla and soy, as I have not been able to get organic essences and cannot stomach artificial almond flavours.

Wasn't too crazy about the cupcakes on first tasting, although I suppose they'd make a decent breakfast. They lack dimension. The almond meal in the cupcake batter is indiscernible, and the taste of soy milk was more obvious this time around. Of course this is probably because I didn't have almond essence. The baked-in apricot preserve filling is a nice surprise though, except the cupcake isn't flavourful enough to offer any contrast.

Since the cupcakes tasted of just soy and sugar, I added lemon juice instead of water to the glaze for some contrast, and topped with toasted sliced almonds. Ending up doubling the amount of glaze on each cupcake, and the end result was pleasant enough but forgettable, like eating any plain cupcake with apricot jam.

Disappointed since apricot and almonds promised to be such a great combination, but it just didn't come together. Will research other almond cupcake recipes and definitely seek out some almond essence. Suspect the omnivore in me will win out – I just feel like browned butter, slightly toasted almond meal, perhaps mixed with some ground hazelnuts, and milk might elevate this recipe to match my imagination – a buttery, fragrant, flavourful cake with a pleasant, grainy bite and surprise centre of sticky sour-sweet apricot.

The Cuspcakes rating system

Cuspcake Rating: 1
Edible, but barely. Too sweet, dense, oily, bland or dry.
Fatal weakness in one component.

Cuspcake Rating: 2
Too sweet or dense. Combination does not work.

Cuspcake Rating: 3
Good blend of flavours, all components at least average in quality. Textures or combination may not be perfect yet. Must have one other plus, eg. health benefits, one component is above-average etc

Cuspcake Rating: 4
Good overall flavour and texture. Yummy, but missing a few final tweaks to hit fullfledged Cuspcake status.

Cuspcake Rating: 5
Crowdpleasing overall flavour and texture. Satisfying without being rich. Components each good on their own. The sort of mouthwatering recipe you'd make to sell, if you were into that sort of thing.
Craveworthy.

Eating her curds and whey

Lemon curd-filled vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (cupcakeblog)

Cuspcake Rating: 3.5/5

So I outdid myself this weekend with two batches of cupcakes, the second being more complicated than any I've tried – the Lemon Curd-filled Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting from Cheryl Porro's cupcakeblog, a delicious blog I'm forcing myself to devour bit by bit. She's got a great, scientific approach to cupcaking, really unusual flavour combinations and by the looks of this one – superb recipes!

The people at work, tired out by rich chocolatey desserts, had requested something fruity for a change, and I love tart flavours so I zoomed in on this recipe. Plus, the chance to try my hand at making curd and stuffing cupcakes was irresistible.

I used evaporated milk in the vanilla cupcakes as that's all I had on hand, not sure how that affected flavour and texture. Also doubled the vanilla as I wanted it discernible to contrast with the lemon, and used a 1:4 ratio of cake flour to all-purpose, as I'd read reviews where cupcakes had turned out dense. The batter half-filled 16 2-inch cups.

The cupcakes turned out very tasty, and moist in a slightly sticky way, which may have been the evap milk talking. They also mostly had round bumps just in the centre, which was odd, but worked out alright as they lent a base to the eventual mound of frosting. I plan to experiment – just a little lighter (the weather is always hot here) and this'll be my go-to vanilla cupcake recipe.

Added more lemon juice to the curd with no apparent ill-effects, as I wanted something really tangy. The curd was yummy, I'd love to eat it over icecream, and could see myself just glazing plain cupcakes with it in a pinch. Wonder how a mango version'd work out, think mango juice might not hold up to heat as well as lemon? I added the leftover curd to the frosting, with some more lemon juice to counter all the sugar (didn't use it all in the end).

The results got good reviews at work (except from a dieter who went unhappily without). But honestly I didn't really care since, most importantly, they pleased a picky almost-five-year-old (who ate mostly the frosting and the coloured hundreds-and-thousands I'd bought expressly for her pleasure) and a perhaps-pickier 37-year-old, which pleased me no end.

There's nothing quite like baking for people you love. And no baked good says love quite like a cupcake, don't you think?

Animal-free cupcakes

Basic Chocolate Cupcake and Rich Chocolate Ganache Topping (Vegan Cupcakes)

Cuspcake Rating: 3/5
 

Perfect chance to try a vegan cupcake recipe today – I'm heading to a family gathering later and as with most modern families, I too have some relatives with medical conditions and the related dietary concerns, so I'd feel guilty bringing dessert if it weren't a somewhat healthier option.

While most of the reviews of Vegan Cupcakes I read raved about the fact that omnivores wouldn't be able to tell the difference between these and regular cupcake recipes, I beg to differ.

The cupcakes are like chocolate cupcake lite – with a lighter and less crumbly texture, almost like an Asian steamed rice cake. The closest description I can think of is the difference between drinking soy milk and full-cream milk – similarly, these are less cloying in the mouth and the stomach, and leave you feeling virtuous, and like you're on a diet. Which unfortunately for me means my omni relatives will probably need more than one each to feel satisfied.

The Ganache was good, not too rich, despite its name, and a welcome touch to the breathy cupcakes. I'm glad I opted for it instead of a cream frosting, which I think would have made the eating even more fleeting.

Will definitely try more recipes from the book, which as far as I can tell mostly replaces dairy products with their soy equivalents, and magically makes up for the missing eggs, I have not yet figured out what replaces them. I like the convenience of not having to look out for the expiry dates on a dozen packages of dairy perishables, and think these vegan recipes will make a great pulled-these-together-last-minute option since all the main ingredients involved keep quite well.

Will perhaps look for soy milk powder and try that out too, as currently soy milk is the only fresh refrigerated ingredient I'll have to remember to keep on hand.

Update on the vegan chocolate cupcakes: They were well-received, said to be very moist and enjoyable. There were lots of I-can't-believe-it's-vegan!-type responses and expressions. Will try more soon, especially since there's loads of soy milk in the fridge! Perhaps the Apricot-glazed Almond Cupcakes this weekend, since I've an opened package of almonds as well.

Second try

Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting (Ina Garten)

Cuspcake Rating: 2.5/5

Used cake flour in place of all-purpose, which made them almost velvety in texture, and very crumbly after refrigeration, even when warmed up to room temperature before eating.

The frosting was a hit though, much better than the too-heavy cream cheese frosting which was my last attempt. Definitely a do-again.

Am wondering if I should get some muffin pans, even though I've already stocked up on several packets of what my baking supplies store calls mini souffle cups, firm waxed white cups which hold their own so I can use them on a baking sheet.

Bought Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero, and Crazy About Cupcakes by Krystina Castella today, curious about the difference using soy milk and other vegan alternatives will make to cupcakes – from reviews of the book it seems like the recipes turn out amazingly well, keen to give one a shot! So far the introductory chapters are an amusing and spunky read, great fun and most cupcake-passion-igniting.

Update: Realised where the fatal error lay with the cream cheese frosting recipe I last tried. A US stick of butter is half the size of one here. So there was twice the amount of butter in my recipe than there should have been! Bring on standardisation already! 

Make cupcakes, not war

Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (Paula Deen)

Cuspcake Rating: 1/5

I'm about three years late on the craze, but I made my first batch of cupcakes last night.

Red velvet with cream cheese frosting. The icing was too sweet and too oily, badly piped. The ziplock bag I was using to frost them burst and dripped messily on the floor.

But it was great, like the best childhood craft project imaginable, with edible results.

I've found my cooking niche.

I've noticed that a number of cupcake bloggers aren't at all what you'd picture cupcake bloggers to be. And while I have no tattooes, I daresay I wouldn't match your mental picture either. I work in fashion, and most of my contemporaries spend most of their spare time at the manicure salon or at the latest trendy fusion fitness class.

One certainly does not expect me to love dessert. Most don't even expect me to eat. Perhaps even less than they'd expect I spend weekends elbow deep in batter.

I never pictured myself as a hobby baker, and I've never really liked cupcakes, finding them much better to look at than to eat. Give me something heartier and uglier for dessert every time – a whopping slice of cold cheesecake, icecream, brownies. Preferably messy to eat, rather than nibble off a china saucer with a silver fork.

An amateur home-cook at best, I'm more used to jointing a chicken than to piping delicate cream swirls. Yet I somehow arrived at this after a nine-month search for a new hobby, which took me through stovetop cooking (curries from scratch, stews and braises), to a short flirtation with roasting, then baking whole cakes.

So my perfect cupcakes may not be anyone else's perfect. But here's what I'm on a quest for: Cupcakes that taste great first, and look good second. Each one should offer the satisfaction of a hearty, full-sized dessert, in a cup. A good blend of the flavours and tasty textures everyone somehow finds nostalgic and comforting. Fun to do, and they must, must make the eater feel special. 

Ceux-ci sont mes petites génoises individuelles parfaites.