White Winter Cupcakes.

Behold....I'm back!!!!!

It's been a little over two months since I last blogged. Two months.

(On a side note, I kind of forgot how to blog. Didn't know that was possible, but I guess it happened.)

Anyway, now that I'm FINALLY done with finals and have some free time back on my hands, I get to bake! I not-so-jokingly declared that the first thing I'd do after exams week was sleep. I meant it when I said it. But I guess my body didn't get the memo because on the first day of break, I woke up at seven. Yikes.

Not to make you all feel left out or anything, but I'm not gonna lie, I've been blogging way more on another blog. (How scandalous!) It'd be awesome if you took the time to check it out here! Honestly, that blog is a compilation of my thoughts and favorite things (minus baking because it exists here), so I guess it's natural that I'd be posting over there a lot more. Anyhow, this blog is NOT going to be neglected. It'd probably be poorly attended, but definitely 100% not neglected.

Today's cupcakes are a delightful marriage of egg whites two ways. First, half a dozen whites were mixed in the angel food cupcake batter. Then, another three whites were used for the meringue frosting which I made over a bain-marie (the classy French term for double boiler). 

Honestly, if there was a cupcake that was the epitome of winter, it'd be this. Snowy, light, fluffy, white, and delightful all at once.

The meringue frosting was quite simple to make. Egg whites, sugar, and a little bit of flavoring were tossed into a metal bowl, then placed over a bain-marie to whisk for a couple minutes until it got nice and frothy. Then, the meringue was placed into an electric mixer and whisked for a couple minutes to achieve a fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth consistency. I swear, the fluffiness of this frosting is un-real.

I dressed the fluffy white frosting in some dainty silver sugar pearls, which is totally optional but highly recommended to achieve a real, authentic "wintery" look. I think these'd pass for wedding cupcakes, too!

Really, everything in this cupcake could be described with the word "fluff." I don't think I've ever tasted anything nearly as light and fluffy as this. Also, can I just say that one cupcake weighs nearly nothing? I held one in my hand and it was as if I wasn't holding anything at all!

As always, I'll leave you with the recipes. 

Angel Food Cupcakes: http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2014/04/angel-food-cupcakes.html
Meringue Frosting: http://cakejournal.com/recipes/white-meringue-frosting/

Happy baking! 

Happy Birthday Cupcakes!

Did I mention how much I loved birthdays?

……and cupcakes?

Did I mention how much I loved birthday cupcakes?

I bake a lot of cakes, but if I had a choice, I would choose a cupcake over a cake. Come on, who could resist an adorable dainty little cupcake?

If you could, you can't be my friend.

Today's birthday cupcakes were made from the same chocolate cupcake base and the same vanilla frosting. What sets each individual cupcake apart was the add-on I sprinkled onto it. 

I have an abundance of sprinkles, nonpareils, and other sugary toppings lying in my kitchen cupboard (<---I literally JUST typed that as cupcake) and I figured WHY NOT?

Because…….

Why not.

Sprinkles and sugary toppings will change the world. No objections.

I sincerely love every single one of the cupcakes with all of my heart and I don't like picking favorites, but the one pictured above is my favorite.

I love the contrast of black/white and chocolate/vanilla. It's just so pretty. Die. 

I now also have the obsession of naming my possessions. This one's called Avalon. Dark, mysterious, but sweet inside like…..Avalon. I totally just made that up. The name Avalon has nothing to do with one being dark, mysterious, and sweet……but you get the idea.

Love, love, LOVE.

This one above is called Sienna. She likes having parties. And Sienna sounds like fiesta. No it doesn't. But anyway. Next. 

Well hello there Miss Lila. Summery, princess-y, and girly. I like it.

This one looks like a Kirsten. I don't know why but Kirsten sounds wintery and silver (?). Yeah, most of the time I don't know what's running through my head either.

Emersyn. Because, why not. I've never met an Emersyn in my entire life but if I did meet one she'd look like a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting and nonpareils. That's just how I judge people.

Juliette. Pink, girly, princessy and fairy-ish. I really don't know how my brain works and how it thinks of things like this, but it just does. Don't question the ability of my brain.

Let's just call it a day, folks

I'm pretty sure I'll be making these in the near future.

But anyway, I shall continue with naming my possessions……moving on…….

Happy baking!

Skinny Chocolate Fudge Muffins--and Recipe!!!

After a short break from the blog, I'm back!

So I did mention that I'd be taking a long break on my previous post, but since today is typhoon day and school is cancelled, I get to do what I love most (of course, without finishing my math homework first!)      

I am SUPER proud of these chocolate fudge muffins today. Although they technically could qualify as cupcakes, I don't really care what they're called as long as they taste good. And boy, do they. 

The best part about these cupcakes is that there's NO butter/oil/shortening involved whatsoever, a super sensible amount of sugar, and no artificial anything. Basically, they're perfect. And I do not say this lightly. Chocolate is something that I'm quite familiar with and I am just around it 24/7. Louise, if you're reading, you'll know ;) 

If I were ever asked to write a love letter to chocolate, I would. Call me crazy, but I just love chocolate that much. Hashtag don't judge. 

The color you see in the pictures are EXACTLY the color they are. I'm not even kidding. I ate one right out of the oven and it was so warm and delicious. Told you I loved chocolate.

There is MUCH more chocolate in this than you think, and there's MUCH less calories than you think. It's basically almost a triple-chocolate recipe, because there's chocolate chips in the batter, cocoa powder also in the batter, and more chocolate chips sprinkled on top. You're welcome. 

This recipe was also super duper easy. All you have to do is combine the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients. Give it a stir, and you have it! 

The original recipe was also a bit different from the one I'm posting. I tweaked it a little to make it a little easier to find all your ingredients and I also dropped one or two ingredients that I felt were totally unnecessary. I also added a tad more chocolate (: 

My batter came out a touch dry the first time I made this, so I added a teaspoon of milk to thin it out a bit. The batter you get WILL be very thick, but it shouldn't be so thick to the point where there are still dry ingredients showing in your batter. If you need to add extra milk, be sure to add it in parts so that you don't make your batter too wet.

One last piece of advice: don't overmix! I want density in my muffins, and I'm sure most people will want that too! 

The recipe is at the bottom of this post. Give it a shot, because I'm sure you'll love it!

Happy baking!

Skinny Chocolate Fudge Muffins These muffins are very easy to make and it comes together in one bowl. There is no butter, shortening, or eggs in this recipe! Makes 10 muffins Ingredients: -3/4 cup all-purpose flour -1/3 cup cocoa powder -2 tsp baking powder -1/2 tsp baking soda -1/2 cup sugar (more or less, to taste) -1/2 tsp salt -1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus an extra handful for sprinkling -1 cup unsweetened applesauce -1 tsp vanilla extract -1-2 tsp milk, if needed Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, 190 degrees Celsius. Line a standard 12-hole muffin tin with paper liners, Set aside. 2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl (flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, and chocolate chips.) 3. Add all the wet ingredients (applesauce and vanilla). Stir just until the batter comes together. DO NOT OVERMIX. If batter is too dry, add milk, 1/2 tsp at a time, until the all the ingredients are combined. 4. Spoon batter into the tin, filling each hole just 3/4 full. Just before baking, press a couple of chocolate chips onto the tops of the muffin batter. 5. Bake for 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy warm or let cool.  Recipe adapted from theyummy.blogspot.com 

Jasmine Tea Cupcakes

Boy am I proud of what I'm bringing to the table today! Honestly, these jasmine tea cupcakes are probably, if not most likely the prettiest cupcakes I've ever made. I'm by no means a great froster/cake decorator, but these turned out way better than I thought they would!

I never thought I'd pull myself to make tea cupcakes. First of all, I'm not a big tea drinker. I enjoy myself some iced tea, but not straight up "tea" tea. And....after reading through the recipe which told me that I had to steep the tea bags twice, I really didn't know if I should do it. I do have a lot of extra time, but.....no one really wants to waste 60 minutes for a tea bag.

However, after some consideration, I checked our cupboards and found 25 jasmine tea bags. I knew it had to be a sign from heaven telling me to make these. I must say, that sign must've come from an angel or God Himself, because my goodness was it a great one!

These cupcakes were dressed in a simple jasmine tea buttercream. While it definitely is heavenly to look at, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in the cream because there was definitely a lack of that bold jasmine tea flavor no matter how many times I squeeze the steeped teabag into the mixing bowl. Otherwise, it definitely made the cupcakes look stunning!

For the piping itself. I used a Wilton 1M tip and made little swirls. I've always had horrible piping skills, so this was definitely a successful experiment! I was a little afraid to try it at first because it never really worked out for me, but I guess I got lucky this time!

There is no recipe this time because it was from a cookbook and I think it still needs some tweaking, but when I get it ready I'll let you guys know!

Happy baking!

Chocolate Sprinkles Cupcakes

Now, I think I did mention in my lemon cupcakes post that I am OBSESSED with sprinkles. These little chocolate cupcakes that I made are yet another example of my sprinkles obsession. These cupcakes were SO cute, and they were a HUGE hit! I actually found a recipe and had to TRIPLE because my friend asked for 27 cupcakes, so I knew I had to deliver!! They were so, so easy to make, and it does help that the quantities can be easily tripled with simple math :)

 Definitely could've brushed up on the decorations, but hey, I had to make 36, what do you expect? :)

 Don't you just want to dig in for one???

I searched up a frosting recipe especially for these cupcakes, and that frosting recipe has now become a favorite. Since I made these cupcakes last month, I've already used the buttercream recipe thrice! That one's definitely a keeper! I'm not revealing the KILLER vanilla buttercream recipe just yet, but I will share the cupcakes recipe with you guys!

Chocolate Cupcakes

Active time: approx. 20 mins

Makes: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

-4 tbsp unsalted butter (no need to soften)

-1/4 cup vegetable oil

-1/2 cup water

-1 cup all-purpose flour

-1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

-3/4 tsp baking soda

-a pinch of salt

-1 egg

-1/4 cup milk

-1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with liners.

2. In a saucepan, melt the butter with the vegetable oil and water over low heat.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer (or just a large bowl if you don't have a stand mixer), sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add the butter-oil-water mixture, and mix on low speed until smooth. 

4. Add the egg, and beat until mixed up nicely. Then, add the milk and vanilla and beat until smooth, stopping the mixer halfway to scrape the sides and bottom. 

5. Fill the cases about 3/4 full with batter.

6. Bake in the center of the oven for about 25 minutes, until they spring back when touched and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool slightly, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Frost and decorate. 

Happy baking!

Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy!

A while ago I made these SUPER easy lemon cupcakes, and they were definitely a hit! I didn't do so much with the decorating because I was a little short on time, but I thought they still turned out quite cute!

Before they were frosted...I still thought they were cute and couldn't resist an Instagram!

After! Aren't they just the cutest things?

You may or may not have realized that I'm just a "little" obsessed with sprinkles, but seriously, how can you say no to these cute little cupcakes! They didn't take very long, and the quantity measurements were SO accurate. I let you in on a little secret though: I actually made 11 cupcakes and not 12, because I was one cupcake liner short! For those of you who want to give it a go, you can find the recipe here.

Happy baking!