Busy Weekend of Baking

Do you know what I love the most about long weekends? Aside from being able to sleep in, relax and do whatever you want, it also means an extra day for baking :D

I tried a few different recipes and flavours over the weekend and some were nice, some interesting and some tasted funny…





I got the inspiration for the avocado coconut cupcake from a drink I had at an Indonesian restaurant (I cant remember what it was called, but it had avocado, brown sugar and milk…). I thought I’d give it a bit more flavour by using coconut milk… the result? It was a bit too coconutty for me and the avocado filling made the whole cupcake feel really creamy. I thought I’d offset that by putting pistachios on top but unfortunately that didn’t help :( One of my friends did like it though, so he got to take all of them home.





The Brie and White Chocolate strawberry turned out surprisingly well. the Brie wasn’t too strong and was a nice savory touch to a sweet cupcake.





The gingerbread cupcake with cream cheese frosting turned out well. it tasted just like Christmas :D







The matchamisu cupcake in my opinion was just ok. Don’t get me wrong, it tasted good and had great texture but there just wasn’t enough green tea flavour in it. I think next time I will mix the matcha paste straight into the cream filling.



I also made some Gingerbread Rabbid cookies this weekend. I was so hooked on the idea the moment I saw them in the Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 game… I had to make them :D

It’s been a busy weekend!

Tiramisu Cupcake Recipe

What you’ll need: (Makes 12)

Your favorite vanilla cupcake recipe or a box or vanilla cake mix

2 eggs

250g mascarpone cheese

1 heaped tablespoon icing sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 heaped tablespoon espresso coffee (more if you’d like a stronger coffee taste)

1 cup boiling water

2 tablespoons Kaluha (or any other coffee/ chocolate liquor)

1 tablespoon caster sugar

Cocoa powder

Mix the vanilla cupcake batter following the instructions on the pack. Fill the cupcake cup with about 3/4 batter. Bake for about 15 to 20 mins until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

When the cupcakes have cooled, carve a large hole in the middle. Crumble the carved bits and keep in a separate bowl.

Tiramisu Filling

Separate the eggs. Mix the yolks, mascarpone cheese, vanilla extract and icing sugar together.

Mix the espresso coffee with the boiling water. Allow to cool before adding the liquor.

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the caster sugar and continue beating until it is mixed in.

Fold the mascarpone mixture into the egg whites.

Assembling the Cupcake

Drizzle the coffee and liquor mixture along the sides and bottom of the cupcake.

Scoop a small amount of the tiramisu filling into the bottom of the cupcake and sprinkle some cocoa powder.

Add a layer of the crumbed bits and drizzle with coffee mixture. Cover with tiramisu filling and coca power.

Repeat this process until the cupcake hole is filled. Spread the remaining tiramisu filling on top of the cupcake and sprinkle with cocoa powder.

Mon Petit Macaron

I've been trying to find a good macaron recipe for awhile now, after seeing them all over Paris…

The ones have previously tried don’t come out as pretty as the ones I saw in the shops. Then yesterday I stumbled upon Kitchen Wench's blog where she has posted pictures of her very tasty looking macarons and the recipe she swears by. I had to try it!

It turned out great! There are still I few things I have to work out, but they looked great and had the little feet :D I had 4 trays and only a handful turned out well… the rest were broken or had burst… and the middle was still gooey. I shall try it again this weekend and this time I think I’ll pipe it with more care (so no air bubbles) and maybe bake it for a little longer so that the middles aren’t gooey.

You can find the recipe at Kitchen Wench’s blog…

Baileys Bombshell Recipe

So I log on to Cupcakes Takes the Cake this morning (like I do every morning) and I’m surprised to find my cupcakes staring back at me!

How exciting :D I got blogged on Cupcakes Takes the Cake! Someone mentioned recipes and I was thinking of adding something up here but just haven’t been very organized to do it. But here I am trying :)

Recipe for Baileys Bombshell

What you’ll need: (Makes 12)

Your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe or a box of chocolate cake mix

1/4 cup Baileys or any Irish cream - I used Baileys Creme Caramel (Feel free to add more or less to suit your taste)

100 - 150g White Chocolate

Milk (to help achieve consistency)

1/3 cup Caramel

600ml Thickened Cream

Coca Powder (Optional)

Mix the chocolate cupcake batter following the instructions on the pack. Fill the cupcake cup with about 3/4 batter.

Bake for about 15 to 20 mins until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

When the cupcakes have cooled, carve a hole in the middle. Keep the carved bits in a separate bowl.

Baileys filling

Melt white chocolate and let it cool before adding the Baileys.

Stir thoroughly and add milk to achieve the right consistency. Add a little at a time until the filling achieves a thickened cream texture.

If you find the filling too runny, refrigerate for awhile until it thickens. Scoop the filling into the cupcake holes.

Baileys Cake Ball

Crumble the leftover filling and add to the remaining Baileys filling. Add more Baileys until the mixture becomes sticky.

With your hands, roll out 12 small cake balls. Refrigerate until firm and then roll in cocoa powder.

Caramel Whipped Cream

Beat the thickened cream until it becomes stiff. Add caramel and stir through.

Place cream in a plastic bag and cut off the tip. Pipe the cream onto the cupcakes and top it off with a Baileys cake ball.

Bwaaaaaaa!

I've been wanting to make Rayman Bunny cupcakes for a long time. And after playing the game again last week with my friends, i was inspired! The Rabbids are just too cute :D They did take quite awhile to make though but i think it was worth it...

For more pictures check out: http://www.flickr.com/lotsofsprinkles

Baileys Bombshell

I just made this last night for a lunch gathering I had today. They are chocolate cupcakes with a gooey centre. The gooey centre is made from Caramel Baileys and white chocolate centre. The cupcake is then topped off with whipped cream which was laced with a hint of caramel. It was a hit and everyone seemed to love it :)

Back in Action

Well I know it’s been awhile since I last updated this but I am trying to be good and update this more regularly.

March has been very busy! I think I baked about 200 cupcakes in total. A friend’s sister asked me to make some for charity. She was trying to raise money for aboriginal children in the Daintree Forest (or somewhere along the lines of that.) and wanted 100 cupcakes to sell at work. I made five different flavours for her (cosmo, caramel macchiato, chocolate mud, green tea and chai and banana). It was a success… she sold all of them and auctioned the last one off.

The next week I had my best friend from highschool visit from Brisbane for her birthday. I made her a bunch of Chainana (Chai and Banana) cupcakes which she and another friend also helped to decorate. This was also the first time I’ve been happy with my sugar figurine of people (a big thanks to Aine 2 for the inspiration). It was lots of fun catching up with her and it’s been almost 10 years since we’ve all been at high school so there was A LOT of reminiscing.

That same weekend I had a friend’s 21st which he asked me to make the cupcakes for. He initially wanted a boob cake but I felt like making cupcakes so I decided to make boob cupcakes. I wasn’t too happy with them as the cupcakes came out a bit flat but manage to conceal most of it with icing… Everyone at the party loved them and I think the use of the beer cans to hold up the stands worked out well.

I thought I’d take a rest this week but after 2 days I’m already itching to make more cakes/cupcakes! For more photos, check out: www.flickr.com/lotsofsprinkles