Easter desserts week 3: Easter Bunny Carrot Cupcake

Happy Monday! It's a 4-day work week and we'll be having a long weekend to celebrate Good Friday and Easter at the end of the week.

Following the previous posts on Chocolate and Coconut Sugar Easter cupcakes, I have decided to make some Bunny carrot cupcakes. I had fun making my own coloured sugar and decorating the cupcakes with marshmallows and chocolate buttons. Hope you will have as much fun.

Carrot cake (recipe adapted from here)

150g melted butter
150g soft light brown sugar
3 large eggs
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp grated nutmeg
Zest of 1 orange
100g sultanas or raisins
200g carrots, peeled and grated
100g walnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C 

2. Put the melted butter, sugar and eggs into a large mixing bowl and whisk well until the ingredients are thoroughly combined and the mixture has almost doubled in volume.

3. Sift together the flour, bicarbornate, salt and spices and then fold very gently into the liquid mixture. Be careful not to deflate the batter. 

4. Fold in the orange zest and grated carrots gently and divide between the cupcake cases. 

5. Bake for about 30 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool cupcakes before frosting.

Decoration

Red or Orange Mini M&Ms
Chocolate Chips
Marshmallows
Fruit rolls
Pink coloured sugar (put a drop of red food colouring into some caster sugar and shake vigorously)
Cream Cheese frosting (refer to Red Velvet cupcake recipe)

1. Cut the marshmallows into 3 and then into halves

2. Coat one side of the marshmallow with the pink sugar

3. Pipe a layer of cream cheese on each cupcake and smooth with a spatula

4. Put 2 cut marshmallows as bunny ears, 2 chocolate chips for eyes and one mini M&M for nose.

5. Cut the fruit rolls into smaller pieces to use as whiskers.

Have fun!

In memory of LKY

In memory of the first prime minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew who passed away on 23 March 2015.

Thank you, sir for your great contributions to Singapore!

Easter desserts week 2: Gula Melaka (coconut sugar) Easter cupcakes

Have you ever woken up one morning with a brilliant idea? Well I had one when I woke up last Monday morning. I had a very nice Gula Melaka sugee cake over the weekend and it inspired me to adapt the Red Velvet cupcakes recipe to make Gula Melaka cupcakes! I wasn't very sure if I should add vinegar to coconut milk to make "buttermilk". I did some research online and it seems it can be done so I went ahead to try the recipe by replacing sugar with coconut sugar and milk with coconut milk. Since we are still in the Easter season, I have decided to localise the flavour of my frosting too.

Coconut Sugar (Gula Melaka) Easter Cupcakes (Makes 16 cupcakes)

Cupcakes:

250g self-raising flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

100g soft unsalted butter

180g coconut sugar (Gula Melaka)

2 large eggs

175 ml coconut milk

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare cupcake cases.

2.    Mix 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar into the coconut milk and let it stand for 5 minutes.

3.    Sieve the self-rising flour and baking soda together in a bowl.

4.    In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar, till a soft, pale mixture forms.

5.    Into the mixture, fold 1 spoonful of the flour, then 1 egg, followed by some flour, then the other egg, followed by the rest of the flour.

6.  Pour in the milk mixture into the batter. Mix well and divide the batter into the 14 cases.  Bake in the oven for about 18 - 20 minutes.

7.    Leave them to cool before frosting or storing.

Cream Cheese frosting and decorating:

250g cream cheese

125g butter

½ - 1 cup icing sugar (to your taste)
2-3 tbsp of coconut sugar syrup

Pandan food paste 

1/2 cup desiccated coconut 

Chocolate eggs (I used peanut M&Ms)

1.    Leave the cream cheese and butter to soften at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

2.    Beat the cream cheese and butter together in a mixer till smooth.

3.    Add the icing sugar and coconut sugar syrup to the mixture and beat till smooth.

4. Fill a piping bag with the frosting and pipe all over the cupcake.

5. Put a drop of Pandan food paste into the desiccated coconut and mix well. Coat each cupcake with the coloured desiccated coconut.

6.Chill the cupcakes and put 3 peanut M&Ms on each cupcake before serving. 

Note: Do not put the M&Ms into fridge as the condensation will cause dis-colouration. 

The flavour reminds me of onde onde with the coconut and gula melaka. I frosted only half the batch of cupcakes as I was finishing up my leftover cream cheese frosting. My family prefers the cupcakes without the coconut as they are not fans.The unfrosted cupcakes were gone by the end of the day! Looks like I have to try another frosting for these cupcakes.

Easter desserts week 1: Red Velvet Easter Cupcakes

After 2 weeks of celebration and feasting, the Lunar New Year come to a close last week. However, I seem to have celebrations to attend post Lunar New Year! A few friends have moved into new homes in the past 2-3 months and I have attended 2 house-warming celebrations during the last 2 Sundays. Since I am baker, I have baked a cake for each of the celebration using the giant cupcake mould gift that I received last Christmas. I have chosen the favourite colours of the hostess for each cake. The colours reminds me of Spring! I was amazed at how lovely the cakes turn out.

The giant cupcakes were baked and frosted using the Red Velvet cupcake recipe that I am sharing with you today. Each recipe makes about 14 cupcakes and you will need 1.5 recipes for the giant cupcake. I used 2 recipes for the giant cupcake and usually have enough batter for about 6 cupcakes. As Easter is coming, I have decided to make some Easter themed cupcakes. The children at the party were rushing for these 6 cupcakes!

Red Velvet Cupcakes (Makes 14 cupcakes)

Cupcakes:

250g self-raising flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

100g soft unsalted butter

180g caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

175 ml milk

1 tbsp + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp red food colouring

4 tbsp cocoa powder

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare cupcake cases.

2.    Mix 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar into the milk and let it stand for 5 minutes.

3.    Sieve the self-rising flour, cocoa powder and baking soda together in a bowl.

4.    In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar, till a soft, pale mixture forms. Beat in the vanilla extract.

5.    Into the mixture, fold 1 spoonful of the dry ingredients, then 1 egg, followed by some more dry ingredients, then the other egg, followed by the rest of the dry ingredients.

6.    Mix in the additional 1 teaspoon of cider vinegar into the milk and pour in the milk mixture into the batter. Mix well and divide the batter into the 14 cases.  Bake in the oven for about 18 - 20 minutes.

7.    Leave them to cool before frosting or storing.

Cream Cheese frosting and decorating:

250g cream cheese

125g butter

½ - 1 cup icing sugar (to your taste)

1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Green Food colouring 

Piping bag fitted with Wilton #233 piping tip

Chocolate eggs (I used peanut M&Ms)

1.    Leave the cream cheese and butter to soften at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

2.    Beat the cream cheese and butter together in a mixer till smooth.

3.    Add the icing sugar and vanilla essence to the mixture and beat till smooth.

4.    Mix in the food colouring a little at a time till desired colour is achieved.

5. Fill a piping bag with the frosting and pipe all over the cupcake.

6. Chill the cupcakes and put 3 peanut M&Ms on each cupcake before serving. 

Note: Do not put the M&Ms into fridge as the condensation will cause dis-colouration. 

You can involve the children in piping the frosting and placing the chocolate eggs. Happy Spring!

Assorted nuts & fruits bread

While having lunch with 2 friends last week, we decided to bake our own fruits and nuts bread with wholemeal flour. Though I have baked quite a few breads, this is the 2nd time I am using wholemeal flour. With the different dried fruits, nuts and wholemeal flour, this is a hearty type of bread. We used the recipe from here and added sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds,walnuts, raisins, orange peel, cranberries and wolfberries in the bread. Please feel free to substitute the nuts and fruits with your favourites.

For friends who are Catholic, you may consume this bread for fasting during the season of Lent. Due to its heartiness, it can sustain one for a bread and water fast.

Multi nuts & fruits bread
3 cups wholemeal flour 
4 cups bread flour 
1 packet instant yeast 
1/2 cup of lukewarm water 
2 cups of very hot water 
1 beaten egg 
1 Tablespoon Salt 
2 Tablespoons Sugar or Honey 
2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil 
1 teaspoon of butter 
1 cup dry fruits (raisins/orange peel/cranberries/apricot) 
1 cup nuts (walnuts/pumpkin seeds/sunflower seeds/almonds)
1 cup Plain Oats (I substituted it with more nuts and fruits)

1) Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of lukewarm water and wait for a few minutes for it to become bubbly.

2) Combine the flours and make a well in the center. Slowly pour the yeast solution into the well and mix in the flours.
3) Mix the egg, salt, sugar, olive oil, butter, dried fruits and nuts together. Add into the flour and yeast mixture. Slowly add in the hot water bit by bit and knead the dough. Stop when the dough comes clean from the bowl.
4) Knead the dough till it becomes elastic. Leave the dough in a oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave it in a warm place to double (I set the oven on the lowest temp and put the bowl on the door of the oven for about half hour)

5) Punch out the air and let the dough double again.

6) Flour both hands and shape the dough into desired sizes. You may use a knife to make some cuts on the bread if desired
7) Leave the shaped breads for half hour and brush some egg or milk on the bread. Bake at 180 degs C for 25-35 minutes till golden brown.

For those who find the bread hard, you can substitute the wholemeal flour with plain flour. The bread will be softer.