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Love for Lemon: Ottolenghi Lust & Lemon Lime Cream Truffles

diva — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:01:47 +0000

Earlier this week I was moaning about how quickly I get through my fruit. I can never buy them as fast or faster than I eat them which means by the end of the week, I’m usually lacking in my 5 a day and feeling a little stuffed up and unrefreshed. I depend on fruit acids to cleanse my system and keep me awake. My sugarfree polos tend to help a little but nothing like something fruity to complete my day, add a little colour to my life and jazz up any pudding I’ve prepared.

Last summer, I waxed lyrical about pears in my Pear and Cranberry Upside-Down Cake (recipe from Ottolenghi). Pears surely are one of my favourites but I’m never without a bag of apples (Pink Lady if I can) and a whole fruit bowl of clementines (you know if I’ve been gorging on clementines when I start getting the orange-peeling thumb nail). With the right seasons, I love golden kiwi fruit, papayas, pineapples and plums. In the summer, I live off berries on ice and a side of fruit sorbet. I love the way they easily cleanse your palate and almost get your system to reboot. Also, I can’t deny how good they taste.

A firm favourite is the lemon. What a sexy, chirpy-looking yellow fruit to bring some sunshine to you winter or summer, night or day. It tastes great in just about anything from sweet to savoury. It’s bloody gorgeous with fish (and I love my seafood). It looks awesome. A little zest and you’ve totally sexed up any dish or cake or sweet. And a little goes a long way. Power-packed, I say! A little squeeze makes a great cocktail, or for the non-booze drinking ones, heavenly with a cuppa earl grey. If you’re ill, lemon honey works wonders. Make it from scratch with a slice of lemon rather than down that disgusting medicinal Lemsip – it’s a whole lot more comforting and cheaper too.

I had Sunday brunch last week with an old friend of mine at Ottolenghi’s and I couldn’t resist taking away 2 little cakes with me. There was a whole beautiful range to choose from and although I was tempted with the Chocolate Bailey’s cake, I went for 2 lemon types: Lemon, Blueberry & Almond Cake (left), Lemon Pistachio & Polenta Cake (right). Both were topped with a lemon drizzle which made it look ultra yum. I love eating lemon drizzle. I could eat the thing on its own without any cake, it has to be cooled and hardened of course. So yum. Like eating brittle. Sweet, lemony brittle.

I may be biased. Some people call me mentalist, crazy fool, mad Dave or just nutter. Halloween night I dressed up as Lady Gaga (platinum blonde wig and all) and blatantly won best dressed. But my little tea hat and vintage round shades gave off some Mad Hatter vibe which only adds to my ‘nutter’ reputation, no? And how apt that I love nuts – especially pistachios, then comes hazelnuts, cashews, edamame/natto (may not count as a nut), cashews, brazil nuts and pecans. Pistachios my true favourite. As an ice cream flavour, you don’t even have to ask what I’ll be choosing. That the Lemon Pistachio & Polenta cake was topped very generously with crushed pistachio AND had crushed pistachios in the cake itself was a real treat for me. Sorta gave me a rush you’d get when say something was Buy 1 Get 1 Free or 3 for 2. Not the most eloquent or sophisticated analogy, but I’m sure you know what I mean!

The cake was so lemony and sweet, with a lovely crunch of both pistachio and polenta. The lemon drizzle was perfect, not too sweet and not too tangy. I’m a bit of squirrel so I spent a bit of time nibbling at the polenta bits, sent me a little crazy after with my sugar high but totally adored this cake. I’m not surprised why it’s one of the more popular cakes of Ottolenghi’s and why everyone’s dying to get their hands on the recipe. Can see myself in the near future going back for more of this!

As much as I find the combination of lemon, blueberry and almonds of the second cake to be simply amazing (I made a cake based on those flavours with yoghurt once a very long time ago here), there was nothing about it that really was shouting at me – saying, ‘Yes I’m so amazing aren’t I, now shut up and go buy a dozen more to gorge on and share if you are willing’. Was real good and moist nonetheless!

What can I say then? Ottolenghi loves it lemons and knows what to do with ‘em. I am a fan.

All the lemon-eating moments and lemon daydreams meant I had to make something incorporating it this week. I had plans, inspired by the lemon pistachio and polenta combination, to make lemon cream truffles with that lovely crushed pistachio filling and topping. But I have been a little brain dead this week and totally forgot to get them! I even wondered if I could use lemon curd with it but feared that might make the whole thing too ‘wet’. I wasn’t being particularly creative I’m sure, but you know what they say though, when one door shuts, another opens. I found a key lime at the bottom of my vegetable chiller drawer and so whacked that on top of the truffles which gave it a lovely lime perfume and lacing of flavour. Nothing too strong to contest the lemon. And it worked. Simple flavours. Not as classy as that of Ottolenghi’s. Still very tasty and lovely in my opinion.

Part of me wished I’d bought some yellow candy coating so I could have lemon-yellow truffles, and truffles that didn’t look like a repetition of the Oreo Truffles I made in the post just before this one. Too bad, wish not granted. Do I have to say again that I’m poor? Goodness. I just don’t understand how not to live extravagantly huh.

Although I love playing around with edible colours, I really like the white coating for its clean look. I’ve also used pink candy coating with a slight variation of topping with pink and red hearts and butterfly sprinkles as a tribute to our lovely Mowie from Mowielicious. He adores all things pink and so Mowie, the pink ones are all for you. Bisous.

Might have to check back on this post for St. Valentine’s huh? Everyone busy making Christmas cookies and whatnots and I here I am, whacking out some lovey dovey bite-sized lemon cream pop-its. Ah! To be deviant and non-conformist. I jest. These truffles are much creamier than the oreo truffles as I’ve kept all the cream centers of the biscuits. I was inspired by the previous recipe, taken from Bakerella, which was very simple and basically turning an everyday biscuit into something a little more special and little dreamier.

What I would like to try next would be to make a double cream based lemon-infused centre and then coat it in biscuit crumbs or nuts a la Ferrero Rocher. These truffles have their centres mixed with cream and biscuit so it’s like having a bite-sized cream biscuit in your mouth all prettied up with white chocolate candy coating. Can’t wait to make this differently and see how it turns out!

Lemon Lime Cream Truffles
Ingredients

Keep the cream centres of the biscuits. Add to the softened cream cheese and mix well with zest of 1 lemon. Set aside.

In a bag or pestle and mortar, bash up the biscuits til they produce a fine crumb. Mix together with the cream cheese mixture. Form balls with 1/2 tbs mixture and set aside or in the fridge to firm up a little.

Prepare your candy coating according to the instructions on the package. If microwaveable, microwave for 1 minute or 30 seconds depending on your make. Remove from microwave and stir. Let stand for a bit before blasting it in the microwave for another 10 seconds. Repeat until you have a smooth, melted bowl of coating.

Drop biscuit balls into the coating and drop gently onto a parchment-lined tray. Garnish with lime zest and let it sit for coating to set. Fridge before serving so that the cream insides firm up a little.

Recipe produces 18 truffles.

Sweet Surrender: Oreo Truffles, LOLA’s and a Smashingly Great Food Blogger Connect 09

diva — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:35:08 +0000

I have a sweet tooth. (I’m sure you guilty ones reading this have one too) And I’ve never once felt like my penchant for sweet things was ever a curse. Until now.

The past week has been a great one. I was a little snowed under with my special preparation for Food Blogger Connect 09, our first ever UK food conference, with my new part-time job at American Apparel (whilst I struggle with a full-time MA at Birkbeck College), with keeping in touch with my mates all over the place, with feeding myself, with my readings (not to mention I now have a whole new employee guide to read as well). So not only do I find myself getting all freaked out with the work, nervous about meeting all the other talented food bloggers I’ve been communicating with, my naughty hand has been creeping into sweet bags, fudge packets, mint tubes, etc. It’s getting bad beyond bad!

And what topped it all? I made something sweet, sugary and cute for my fellow cyber mummy cum member of the morning Twitter Breakfast Club – Deeba of Passionate About Baking, a little belated birthday gift. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely enjoyed myself making these gorgeous (can I say so myself?) little truffles and seeing Deeba’s face brighten up when I presented it to her. I couldn’t be any happier when they were successful since it’s been years, about 15 years probably, since I last made chocolate truffles or anything sweet related really. After carefully transferring the extra truffles into a little pop-n-lock box and then wrapping it up in a recently purchased furoshiki, I couldn’t be any more proud of myself. The recipe’s certainly easy to follow, nothing complicated at all. And I know I bitch, complain, whine and procrastinate quite a lot and so sometimes my blog goes into desert-mode with no sweet concoction blogged about for ages. Now, I don’t have an oven so I’ve decided to venture more into candy-making. And yay, the first candy post is a good one.

So if it’s all good, then why have I slapped on the curse factor? Do you how much of the work/candy/truffle-in-progress I consume? Do you know how bad that little OREO crumb tantalizes me, how much I can’t bear to not lick off that bit of candy coating on the back of a spoon? Also, do you know how much toothpaste I’m going through at the moment?! It’s mental! Sensodyne is totally enjoying this. And there’s also my sugar high problems. I’m going crazy twitchy giggly and talking at super fast speeds (I bet half the people I grab, hug, smooch and then chat AT, rather than TO don’t even understand the words that are just rolling out of my mouth). 2 minutes into the sugar phase, I’m wondering why the lights are so bright; the world so bulbous and huge to the point that it’s pressing into my own eyeballs; I’m amazed at how delicious tap water tastes and I think I’m blushing. These are just a few of the more common side effects. The end result is less exciting and is usually me feeling tired, headache-y and a little sick.

What happens after a bit of rest or a few days of rest, depending on how good I am? The process repeats itself. Goodness! I’m blaming it on this week of food celebration! I’ve never eaten better and oh, look at me just lazying on the bed feeling fat and glorious. What a Nigella of a Diva. My coursemates have even started nicknaming me ‘Fatty’. Don’t worry, they’re just taking the piss. I call one of em ‘Pervert’ and the other ‘Fanny Pack’. It’s all good. We love each other all around, really.

I missed Deeba’s birthday and felt awful about it. What made me feel even more guilty was that I’d only found out on Twitter. Heck. I find out everything on Twitter these days – and if I feel like sharing with it others, I simply Retweet it to the high heavens like a loudmouth. It’s like who needs the newspaper when I’ve got Twitter on my laptop and on my blackberry? Seriously, even The Evening Standard’s now going free on the streets and the people giving them out pretty much beg you to take the paper off their hands so they can chuck aside that disgusting neon orange jacket they wear so they can finally escape our horrid English weather and head home for tea. Twitter’s great. Trust me. Now we just gotta get the rest of the foodie world onto Twitter and we’re sorted. (Cook Sister, hope you’re reading this. I’m wondering if my -does the magical hand movement- hypnosis that night worked! Haha)

Whilst I was doing the daily Food Blogger Connect (FBC) countdown on Twitter, our Twitter Breakfast Club were furiously direct-messaging each other about things we wanted from our respective places of residence. Deeba kept bullying me into telling her what I wanted from India. And I’m not exaggerating. That woman, bless her gorgeous heart, is tiny but she’s a real bully. But I love her anyway. She was so sweet to go shopping for a lamp (I love anything to do with candles and lamps, especially fans and masks if you wanted to know!) and a lovely Indian turqoise scarf for me. I am deeply touched and feel so loved and looked after. How could I not send the love back?

Pam from The Cooking Ninja, as well as Sunita from my favourite Sunita’s World, were simultaneously asking after me for any gifts I wanted. How nice of them!

But like Sunita, I believe homemade gifts are the best. You put the most thought and effort into them (sometimes I bloody slice a finger off for it, or scar my arm on the oven for life, ya know). A lot of ‘you’ goes into it and it means more, I’m sure, to the person receiving it to see that extra special-ness in a gift homemade by you rather than something storebought that gets bought up by a million other people. I do believe gifts handpicked from the store are great too but anything homemade is always just a step further in being more lovely, now don’t you think? And so, dearest Deeba, Happy Belated Birthday! Here are my OREO truffles for you!

Deeba’s, all wrapped up – pretty in pink

I did bring some extra truffles to FBC and those lucky few who tasted it, if you liked it, yay for me. If you didn’t, oh no! But don’t be afraid to send some constructive feedback my way as I’ve much to learn.

Ever since I stumbled upon Bakerella’s website, I have constantly played with the idea of making the gorgeous cake pops and candy I’ve ogled at so much. Bakerella’s a bit of sweetie goddess. Her truffles (you’ll find the recipe if you click here) were super easy to make and beautiful to look at. I loved it. Will definitely be making these again and again whenever there’s an occasion that calls for it and I’m hoping to experiment with other sorts of fillings. Careful though, as they’re quite addictive, what with being so bite-size and all. This is me, venturing into the chocolate/candy-making arena. Woot woot. How exciting. Makes me happy just talking about it now.

Naked truffles – pre-coated with candy coating

Just a bit about the truffles before I move on to FBC, remember to use candy coating or white chocolate flavoured coating instead of white chocolate itself. Using melting/baking chocolate will not set the truffles unless you put them in the fridge. But once you remove them, they’ll start to melt a little or between your fingers when you touch and hold them. Try to get candy coating or chocolate bark which is the best thing to use when making chocolates and candies. Can’t seem to find them? Try the cookie craft shop – can’t for the life of me remember the exact name of the shop off my head right now – but if you venture onto my Bake Shop page, you’ll find the link to their online shop there. For the pink ones, I’ve used Wilton’s Candy Melts in Rosa. Wilton’s is a little stiffer when melted so you get lovely little peaks and troughs when coating. I made the white ones with Squires Kitchen Easy Melt White Coating which produces a smoother, more drippy and liquid-y coating mixture. Hence, you’ll notice the white truffles are a lot rounder with less peaks and troughs. If you swirl the tops, they do tend to set with the swirls on but less noticeable than Wilton’s. Both products I found were lovely and tasted good, producing two types of looks which I think will come in very handy for future chocolate making.

Also, Bakerella says to use 8oz. softened cream cheese and 1 package of OREO cookies. I’m not sure if the US packs them cookies differently from the UK manufacturers but I found that I used 2 tubes of cookies (14 cookies in total), about 3/4 of the cream centers in total and just less than 1 pack of cream cheese. I chucked the rest of the cream centers as I didn’t want my truffle filling too sweet or as sweet as the candy coating itself. Not everyone’s as brave as I am with sugar. My Mum for one isn’t as she always complains about the things I make, so just be a little careful there with the cream centers.

It wouldn’t have felt right going to FBC, which was held at Levant Restaurant on Wigmore Street here in London, empty-handed. What else did I contribute? If you know my current predicament – no oven – you’d understand that I couldn’t bake anything and that’s not for lack of trying. The girls on Twitter went wild when I posted about LOLA’s November Flavour of the Month – Toblerone. I initially offered to get a few for the girls to take home but our breakfast club was rapidly expanding and not one to step on anyone’s toes for lack of sugary treats, I decided to order a box of mini cupcakes so everyone at FBC could have a taste of the latest flavour, their classic vanilla and my top favourite and love of my life – Red Velvet. And then, the RSVP list for FBC was expanding loads too so I emailed the lovely lady who’d I’d kept in contact with from LOLA’s and asked about a bigger order.

Courtesy of LOLA’s, we had 3 boxes of beautifully decorated and fairytale-like, glittered mini cupcakes sent to Levant for our enjoyment. Thank you LOLA’s! The cupcakes were gorgeous and I think everyone who had one were very impressed. Certainly, with the Toblerone cupcakes. I found myself standing by the table of cupcakes for a little bit explaining how LOLA’s had designed the Toblerone cupcakes, using Toblerone chocolate to make the cake and then white chocolate to make the ganache. You should have seen the faces, lips smeared a little with buttercream or white chocolate ganache frosting, break into grins after hearing that. I even know a few foodies who headed to Selfridges after the conference to stock up on some cupcakes! Wish I’d done so but the rain made me a little grumpy about trudging down the cobbled street in heels and a gia-normous bag full of yummy goodies.

I’ve never eaten edible glitter. Oh shoot me now, don’t I sound like an idiot? But goodness me, the thought of eating glitter itself sent me a notch higher up the sugar scale! I was well chuffed. Period.

FBC was amazing. Hosted by Jamie from Life’s a Feast, Hilda from Saffron & Blueberry, Beth from Dirty Kitchen Secrets and Mowie from Mowielicious, the event was a real success and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. A big thank you to all of them. Also, learned so much from the awesome bloggers and photographers who presented at the conference: such as Jamie, Jeanne from Cook Sister! (who has a wicked sense of humour!), Kang from LondonEater, and Meeta of What’s For Lunch, Honey?

Kang gave some fab tips on food photography. I think I understand my camera a little more now. But whether or not that’ll induce better pictures from me, I’m still pretty unsure about that so don’t get your hopes up, kiddo. It was great to finally meet the man behind the very successful LondonEater as well. Meeta was so bubbly and her presentation was a joy to listen to. I took notes! Yes I did. Check me out.

Finally got to meet the Twitter Breakfast Club too and we totally hit it off as though we were old friends. No shit about me being the baby of the group either. They were just my cyber mammees and daddees (if that applies to you Alessio ) Met Nic of Cherrapeno, Sarah of Maison Cupcake (your red hair rocks!), Alessio of Recipe Taster, Pam of The Cooking Ninja (I teased her for being unfriendly on Twitter when really, she just didn’t understand how it worked), Claire of Colloquial Cooking, Kerrin of MyKugelhopf (who has a sweet tooth the size of China, hello this woman’s amazing) and some other new foodies I discovered.

Completing our Lebanese lunch with a LOLA’s cupcake

We were all really excited about meeting each other. Upon entering Levant, which is beautifully decorated and scented by the way (you gotta go down the stairs which is illuminated by scented candles and rose petals in plates of water), you see everyone hugging, cheek-kissing, waving, blowing air kisses, etc. So much squealing, talking and hugging. It was fantastic! And of course, lots of food goodies being passed around. I was pretty delirious with happiness by the time I’d just set my bag down on the floor after spotting Sunita and Deeba.

The lunch was very delicious. I really liked the halloumi cheese on tomatoes, the falafel was especially good. Some said the size of it was too huge, but not a problem there for me. Not at all! There was a particular dish, don’t know what it was, but it was one with loads of nuts in it. That was out of this world. Only thing is, it gave me a garlic breath that was equally out of this world. Not great for saying hello to new foodie friends. Surely, they didn’t want my well-practised firm handshake and a ‘Hello, pleasure to meet you’ to end all hellos?

We all got on fine nevertheless. So, free love all around and garlic breath all around. Spread the joy of food and care not about silly things like the latter. Time passed quite quickly and before we knew it, FBC was over. We had goodie bags with Maldon salts, olives, West Country cheese, unearthed pannetone (had one this morning with a cup of tea and wow, very yummy), and some other exciting stuff. Yes, we were sent home with food. If I didn’t already feel like the young one of the group, if I weren’t already called the ‘Dancing Diva’, I’d have done a little happy dance right there with my ‘Dirty Kitchen Secrets’ goodie bag. But nah, I pass.

the wonderful bunch who inspire me

The night ended with dinner with a small group of us at Vivat Bacchus near London Bridge. Food was very nice. The wine even nicer. Pam had a hilarious little flirt with the waiter who took our coats. Goodness! Much banter, giggles, and laughter. Some stories and words of wisdom were shared. And the whole experience was something I’m very glad I didn’t miss. I have loads to learn and these lovely people have inspired me much. Despite being on the food blogosphere since 2005, I’ve nearly abandoned it for long periods of time a couple of times. And being a young high-schooler to college kid, I didn’t have the money, time, or kitchen space to explore much. But The Sugar Bar has grown quite a lot and I’ll continue to expand its horizons and test the waters out there! Watch me.

What about the foodie friends I’ve made? Bless them all! They are awesome and just talking about them, waking up to tweet with them puts a smile on my face and chases away any Monday/morning blues.

P/S. We somehow have also set up, not just friendships, but an international shopping community. Networking and globalisation sure has brilliant benefits

Big hugs to all I’ve finally gotten to meet and the new ones I met. It was a joy and I’m excited to keep in touch with everyone. Bisous!

And a final thank you to LOLA’s Cupcakes for sending us their lovely cupcakes to taste. They were little bits of heaven for us, for me definitely, and for FBC 09 I’m sure!

LOLA’s Cupcakes: Return of the Red Velvet

diva — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:02:42 +0000

So I’m simply blobbing in my bedroom, with the telly on mute, sat in a black hoodie (with the hood up? Yea..what a chav)and my pyjamas working on this not-so-mammoth-but-very-tedious essay of mine, wondering why the heck I’m having latenight cravings yet again. I’m worrying about tomorrow’s Lady Gaga/Mad Hatter outfit and fitting into my dress without having everyone wonder why the hell I even bothered if I was going to show off that amazing bloated belly of mine. Wow, what a circus freak, they’ll say. And then I’ve got this mug next to me steaming hot. But it’s not even hot chocolate or something mildly comforting like a cuppa tea. It’s Lemsip Max in lemon. It smells like washing up liquid and tastes rancid. So generally my evening’s been going great. I’m distracted by Twitter, constantly checking for emails on my Blackberry, attempting to tame my cravings and generally being a real unsatisfied poo.

What happens next?

An angel of a friend comes knocking at my door offering me 2 red velvets from Lola’s Cupcakes. I mean, hello, someone up there was definitely listening to my hunger pangs and I’m so lucky! The latenight calories can totally shove it because I definitely wasn’t having any of the post-cupcake guilt and just ate one of the glorious red chocolatey deliciousness anyway. The cupcakes were a little banged up and some of the cream cheese icing had smeared down the sides of the box but I wasn’t complaining. I was close to tears when darling Sya brought it to my door. That girl’s a legend. If she didn’t already have a boyfriend, I’d lock her up in my (oh crap, I don’t have a basement or a cellar in this apartment) in my toilet? Or somewhere and keep her all to myself. She could be my cupcake slave for the rest of my life. And also partner in crime since we both lust for red velvets every other day.

Cupcake consumed – I literally breathed it down me in like 30 seconds flat…yea, was that ravenous – I am feeling a lot chipper now. How is that a tiny thing can make one so happy and send one through the roof? I am literally not even the tiniest bit frustrated or irritated. Fab isn’t it? If laughter can’t cure, cupcakes sure do! At least for me (and really, not medically yea?).

Many of you might remember that Cupcake von Tease red velvet teaser I posted couple of weeks ago and apologies for not having done the main Hummingbird Bakery feature yet. This week’s been manic with work and falling ill hasn’t been a good thing. This weekend, we’re having a night of mayhem in Reading since it’s the bestie’s birthday/halloween party so I couldn’t seem to fit the Hummingbird feature into my schedule either but have no fear. It’ll be up soon by hook or by crook! But I’m very pleased this nice surprise courtesy of Sya has led me to yet another post about red velvs. And if you don’t mind it at all, I shall now proceed to review these lovely cupcakes that melted my heart and washed away all my previous bitchiness and general annoyance with myself and with the rest of the world. And boy, I thought I’d left all that teenage angst behind.

These cupcakes come with a little warning on the box. FRAGILE it says and yes you better take Lola’s word for it. Lola’s is notorious for their fluffy, just-out-of-the-oven type cupcake texture. And boy, they do have it down to a tee. But be careful as they’ve made it so fluffy that these cupcakes are terribly fragile, and will crumble and fall apart in your hands. If you break it apart with your fingers or try to pinch a little bit away, it’s like pulling away a bouncy bit of cotton candy. A weird analogy but you’ll know what I mean when you try it. There’s a bounce to its fluffiness which makes it such a delight to eat. But it’s also quite a mess to eat so there’s no pretty way about it. The cream cheese frosting is divine. There’s not a lot of it but it’s not too sweet so I found it a great balance between a generous cupcake portion and icing. Somehow, I thought Lola’s icing was a lot better than Hummingbird’s which was loads sweeter even though they were more generous with the icing. Lola’s cupcakes come with little coloured rings to distinguish between the flavours. And yes, the red velvet’s ring is a red one. Who would’ve guessed?! The cupcake itself was rather huge but it’s so airy and light you don’t feel like you just ate a cow after. And part of the reason for that, I guess would be the smaller portion of icing as well which is a clever bit on Lola’s part. However, I did find the cupcake to be less ‘wow’-ing than Hummingbird’s as it didn’t have that much of a strong flavour or chocolateyness. It’s a lot milder and delicate. I’m not saying it’s not as good. I think both cupcakes are equally good and have their strong points but if you prefer cupcakes that are light on the palate and leave you just perfectly satisfied, Lola’s red velv is it! On another day when I prefer a power-packed Power Ranger type of red velv, I’ll most likely be hitting Hummingbird for it as they’re tiny babies sure pack a punch. Just note that the Hummingbird is also a lot more voluptuous in that it’s quite moist and holds together well. Lola’s red velv is so light, crumbly it may seem a little dry.

Lola’s definitely got the balance of things just spot on. And being a Libra and all, I find that balance positively brilliant. It’s half past 11 here which means 30 mins to midnight and to Halloween. Oooooh. I’m all excited to get spooked tomorrow evening. So whilst you guys ogle and drool over these surprise cupcakes I was so blessed with, I’m going to bed fat and happy in anticipation of an amazing day tomorrow.

Sending you lot my love…happy halloween!

Cupcake von Tease: Hummingbird Bakery Teaser

diva — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:16:27 +0000

(*Cupcake teaser only. Real feature next week!)

I’ve been thinking, dreaming, sleepwalking cupcakes all week.

Every day I’m saying to myself “All I want is a cupcake!”. When the sun has set and dinner is polished off the plate, all I’m thinking is “I need a cupcake!”

No doubt my favourite motto in general is “When you’re feeling blue, have cake (or a cupcake if you prefer smaller portions)!” I mean there are quite a few signs showing here, aren’t there?

And when I went for my first job trial at LUSH, this is the new season product that I purchased – Let Them Eat Cake lipbalm which smells of cinnamon, orange peel, vanilla and black treacle. Simply gorgeous and smells a little bit like Christmas. It’s hard not to bite my lips or eat the balm off it. Unfortunately (and also thankfully), the balm is taste-free. Other than its wonderful scent, its main function is to condition and moisturize your lips!

I was in Harrods a couple of days ago. I was literally in the area and wasn’t intending to go shopping at all in Harrods. Honest, I promise! I was there in this house of ridiculously ostentatious goods simply to use their bathroom as the bladder was giving me the ‘Red Alert’ sign. I couldn’t have possibly survived the tube journey home across London in such a state. Strangely enough I got lost very quickly attempting to maneuver myself out of the building only to find myself in the Food Hall. Surprise surprise. And which counter was I standing directly in front of? Lola’s Cupcakes! Another sign!

In such a situation, who would ignore all the signs and deny themselves one of the simple pleasures of life – the enjoyment of a little harmless, albeit naughty, indulgence in the semblance of a sugary cupcake? I’ve never known myself to utterly resist my fate to the end so I gave in. After I left the university library today, I hopped – hang on, no, I descended into the Inferno-like underground at Russell Square – and zipped my way to Hummingbird Bakery in South Kensington. I may have spoilt my appetite a little (Mummy always said no sweets before dinner!) and feel a tad bit sick from all the sugar and creamy goodness of the icing, but I do not regret it one bit.

The last time I visited Hummingbird was a little over 2 years. And at that time, I really wasn’t impressed at all. We’d visited the shop on Portobello Road and my sister and I each had bought a mini cupcake, mine obviously being the Red Velvet which is my prized and most treasured flavour. A mini cupcake was about 95p for one with the red velvet costing 20p more. They were definitely small but we were blown away, not in a positive way, by the sugary-ness of it all. It was small and had simply no other taste than vanilla and sugar. There wasn’t any fancy packaging at the time either and we were served our cupcakes over the counter in a little square bit of tissue paper. We weren’t impressed. In fact, we had to chuck about 3/4 of the generous icing dolloped and shaped onto the cupcake just so as not to choke and spasm out on the sugar overload. Nevertheless, it was a busy Saturday and we managed to find something else to amuse ourselves with and other yummy stuff to munch on amongst the many stalls in Portobello Market.

I suppose that memory has stuck very much with me and I always write off Hummingbird as a sorry and melancholic wish to be like NYC’s Magnolia Bakery. I think I might have to change my tune now, however.

My mate and I are planning to make a little tea trip down to the cupcakery café some time next week but curious me simply couldn’t just wait til next week. Besides, I wanted so badly to post up a cupcake teaser on the blog so I decided to pop in and take-away 2 cupcakes. The one with the green vanilla icing is a chocolate cupcake with vanilla icing (£1.55/cupcake for takeaway). Just like the Magnolia cupcakes, they have a pretty selection of coloured icing ranging from pink, blue, green to yellow topped with different types of sugar sprinkles. The cupcakes in the window are iced with shocking pink frosting and sprinkled with gold dust. They were a looker! And definitely made the cupcakery easy to spot.

But what about my all-time favourite and truly adored Red Velvet (£1.85/cupcake for takeaway), which is also the star of the show – Cupcake von Tease? Did it still taste disappointingly sweet and unexciting or had Hummingbird totally upped its game in the last 2 years?

Verdict? They certainly did! And I loved this cupcake so much I gobbled it down real quick. The cream cheese icing was just perfect and I found myself licking up every bit of it, even the bits that got away along the cupcake liners. It wasn’t too sweet and you could certainly taste the smooth cream cheese. The cupcake itself was a gorgeous red colour with a wonderful cupcake texture. Flavour-wise, it was rich, lush and accented with chocolate and vanilla. Red velvets aren’t heavily chocolatey and this one wasn’t either but it had a deeper savoury-ness I found absolutely delightful and contrasted the cream cheese sweetness of the icing perfectly. Nothing was chucked and definitely not disappointing to me at all. In fact, I was so pleased with my cupcake I’m determined to take-away another box of them to share on my next trip down to Hummingbird. So damn, I should’ve warned you about these cupcake spoilers huh? Time to getchaself some cupcakes people.

Nevertheless, here’s a bit of a teaser for the next feature on the Hummingbird Bakery! Or a cupcake strip-tease if you like. Apologies for totally disregarding the chocolate cupcake but I truly love the red velvet and thought something red, such a vibrant bold colour, would be more of a tease when stripped. Funny? I hope!

Like my hot red nails too? Yea. All for the true and very dedicated cause of the Red Velvet. Whey.

Okie dokie. End of teaser. Hope you enjoyed it. I know I sure did enjoy stripping the red velvet and then eating the damn thing in less than 4mins. I mean eating it from frosting to sexy cupcake bottom! I stopped all I was doing, didn’t speak to anyone, didn’t breathe, didn’t look at anything else but focussed all eyes and mouth on the cupcake. All good!! Mmmm. If you want more cupcake tease, please stay tuned to The Sugar Bar for Diva’s proper visit to the Hummingbird Bakery!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

diva — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:56:07 +0000

Bangles and dinosaurs.

I said the strangest thing to a friend yesterday: ‘Remember that when we were fighting dinosaurs in the past, we didn’t need bangles then.’ Everyone knows I’m a little mental, a little quirky in the head but that completely threw K off a little and I’m not surprised. Even I was a little taken aback by my little out of the blue statement. I blame it on post-exam traumatic disorder.

Our final year ended yesterday at 5pm after our last undergraduate exam. We hit town for some food and ice cream and did a quick shop for some much-needed holiday stuff – you know the whole shebang. I also had a quick look for something pink as two of my mates are throwing a belated 21st birthday party tonight and the theme? You guessed it – pink. Pretty hard for someone like me who refuses to own any sort of pink clothing unless it’s close to fuschia or purple. I had to count my blessings as well that it wasn’t, by some odd stroke of bad luck, Barbie themed. I’d rather have someone shove bamboo under my nails then turn up as a Barbie. Unless of course my life depended on it, then I’d change my tune. What a fickle schmickle I am.

Right. So we left town with nothing pink. I had a back-up plan, obviously. Hairdresser pink nails and loud pink-verging-on-fuschia lipstick. Can’t go wrong there now can I? So where is the relation to dinosaurs and bangles then? Well, in Accessorize I picked up a très cute pink bangle with gold sakura decorations. Pink? Yea it was cute. Sakura? That’s so my thing. K, my Barbie shopping devil, was totally for getting it. Unfortunately, we left town without that particular bangle (I refuse!) and K was chatting about it on the walk home to which, I replied that we didn’t really need bangles. That bangle was a want, not a need. If prehistoric women didn’t need them, I guess I don’t either.

So the equation goes something like this:

Dinosaurs = no bangles –> ∴ Present day = no bangles

My pink costume may not compare to the Barbie-inspired get-ups of my fellow friends (it’s about 2 hours to party-commencing time and I’m starting to get a little worried now actually) but I’m hoping the birthday cupcakes will steal the show. Or at least, please – fingers crossed-, impress the people they’re meant for. It has been a very long while since I was in the kitchen for more than 10 mins and it was fab to get back in the zone again today. I may have gotten a little fuzzy and curdled my cream cheese frosting (gosh, it’s always a hit and miss with this one. If you have the same problems, scroll to the bottom of the post for the link to Joy the Baker’s Cream Cheese Frosting 101), but you can’t beat the therapeutic feeling of beating butter or icing a cupcake. Heaven! Apparently, sifting icing sugar into a bowl was rather hypnotic for some as well. Interesting. I didn’t quite realize I wasn’t just quirky and odd, I apparently have magical powers as well. I am soooo liking this.

I see the light (beyond the curdled cream cheese frosting). I anti-bacterialized the sink, soaked the tea towels in hot, soapy water and in the process, pretty much poached my poor hands as well. I am ready to reclaim the kitchen as my holy arena! Blast kitchen slime. Bless lime juice and dusty clouds of powdered sugar. Blast the Wyndham Lewis & Ezra Pound who murdered brain cells and bless the new day of eggs, flour and baking powder. Carpe diem. So much freedom now that we have finished. A week to our Salou, Spain holiday so bless St. Tropez and fruit cocktails. Summer-time fun is the best!

So anyway, it is off to prep for some 21st birthday bashing. Hope all of you are well. It looks like it is time to wow some friends with Vanilla cupcakes. Woop woop.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients

For the vanilla cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350dF.
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt.
Beat the butter on high til it whitens.
Add caster sugar and beat on high til light and fluffy for about 3 mins.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with milk and vanilla, ending with flour as the last addition. Combine to incorporate but do not overmix.

Line cupcake trays with liners and fill to only 2/3 full.
Bake in preheated oven for 20-22 mins.

For the vanilla cream cheese frosting:

Beat butter at medium speed until it whitens and is creamy.
Add cream cheese and beat. Add the vanilla and 3 cups of icing sugar to start. Beat at low speed until light and fluffy. Add the rest of the sugar, if you like, to your preferred consistency and sweetness.

*Note: I find cream cheese frosting a real pain. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I get it so wrong. The final result being a curdled, separated mess. Frustrating and annoying, there have been times I have just thrown spoons of frosting down on the floor, thrown a little tantrum and cried. For the best tips and proper (when I say proper I mean relatively fail-safe, the more careful method really) directions to make them, I recommend going to Joy the Baker‘s site for her Cream Cheese Frosting 101.

Rock Chick Gets Fuzzy Wuzzy: Strawberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

diva — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:13:55 +0000

I wonder if it’s the advent of the Spring/Summer 09 Collection, MAC’s release of its Creme Team collection, Valentine’s Day or just a general sense of girlishness overcoming me that’s starting to get me to fancy the colour pink. I’m talking about the pink of pinks – the sweetest, sugariest pink you’ve ever come across. I’ve always been pretty adamant about pink being an empty colour, simply a non-colour – a mere shade. Talk about the hierarchy of colouration and pigments! Frankly speaking though, it’s somehow been drilled into my head from young that pink is a shade lacking in sophistication, associated with whimsical froufrou-ness, found wanting in the depth and strength of hues like fuschia, violet and turqoise. Hence, when it comes to lipstick shades I find myself steering towards (if I have to) going for pink shades with either tints of blue/orange in it or going for a pink shade that’s rather dark and not at all baby-ish.

Somehow, my head’s gone a little weird and I find that baby-ish pinks are so it for Spring/Summer. I’ve gone and bought myself a Vivienne Westwood brooch in shades of light pink and purple. I leave a Firefox tab on for Deeba’s Strawberry Refrigerator Cheesecake and gush at the gorgeousness of that pink cheesecake for hours on end. I’m making a date with my ex-Beauty/Fashion editor on Monday to go makeup shopping, and the end result of that is definitely a couple of lipsticks and glosses in that kitsch shade of pink. I have a feeling I’m to become completely maniacal and funkedelic in my choice of colours. Somehow, that’s going to affect my cooking and I’m gradually getting fearful of the bottle of red food dye in the right corner of my kitchen cupboard.

YIKES!

It hasn’t not happened before. Half a year ago, I went insane over green and still am – just check out my window sill and overall bedroom decor (some examples below). You can imagine how my love for matcha and the colour green came together in some sort of passionate explosion of green gooey edible whatsits everywhere, every day… Still is today actually. It hits me in waves.

After visiting the lovely Milk and Honey Cafe, I fell in love with Sarah’s Strawberry Cupcakes (click the link for the recipe) and absolutely knew I had to have some as well. These were simply the perfect St. Valentine’s treats. The drool was literally rolling off my tongue and spilling onto the laptop. In my cupcake-stunned state, I made a very grumpy and embittered Goodchild drive me to Sainsbury’s for ingredients. Talk about the bitter singles on Valentine’s Day, geeez!

My cupcakes aren’t half as beautiful as Sarah’s. I really should have made an effort but at 4 in the afternoon, it was getting dark. I was getting a little sleepy. I kinda slowed down a little. Nonetheless, I love Sarah’s recipe. I followed the cupcake bit exactly and my oh my did they taste fantast-alicious! Frosting wise I messed up a little as it just got a bit too wet and drippy. Ended up making a buttercream of sorts, adding a couple of tablespoons of the strawberry sauce and adding some red food dye (I can’t resist this stuff). One thing about being away from my home kitchen is that we don’t have a sieve, an electric mixer or proper mixing bowls. Hence, I’m always hesitant when it comes to the icing and never confident that I can make good, stiff enough frosting without my proper equipment. It’s a gamble each and every time. Today, I might’ve messed up a little but thankfully it still sorta worked out and the end result is fairly pretty.Most of my housemates have gone home for the weekend. This year is a little depressing for all of us as we’re all – except one – single! Left alone in the house, Anna and I were definitely not going to let ourselves get moo-moo ish about it at all. Kitchen’s cleaned, music’s pumping, cupcakes-a-cooking. Blimey, we were in a well good mood. Not a sight of a grey cloud hanging over our heads. Nothing wrong with being single. In fact, there is nothing wrong at all with being single or attached. So come on, let’s really enjoy Valentine’s for what it really is. Let’s go non-commercial and have just good ol’ fun with friends, families, loved ones.

Happy St. Valentine’s everyone! Have a joyful, laughter-filled and wicked time.

If you’re looking for the recipe, check back up this post for the recipe link to Sarah’s blog Milk and Honey Cafe. Now I shall change out of my floury scruffies, sit back relax, and wait for Anna to whip up some posh dinner for 2 tonight. Fantastic!

Happy Smashin’ 21st Sam G.: A Bloody Amazing Carrot Cake

diva — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:55:39 +0000

Just last week, we went to see the new Underworld film – The Rise of the Lycans. The boys and I are avid fans of the film and of Kate Beckinsale. Violence, vampire action, good soundtrack and a fine woman – no one can resist that, now can they! Although she doesn’t appear in this one, the prequel, we were still pretty excited about it simply by association. I enjoyed this one thoroughly since I really liked the Lycan dude anyway, even in the previous film. The army of werewolves in the film, however, somehow brought ideas of creating an army of my very own. What did I think up?

Mating Anna’s black persian cat Mortie with my cocker spaniel Fifi. That sounds like the most horrid, sick thing to do. Please don’t be offended but Anna and I pissed ourselves chatting about this and decided a cat and a spaniel will create an army of, not Lycans, but Spatz! How cool does that sound? Someone’s gonna say ‘Maybe to a stoner’. Chances are, he’s right but man, do I think my little army of Spatz will be great fun to have around. Nonetheless, this really just stays in my head. I’m really not that into inter-breeding of animal species.

So anyway. Someone turned 21 yesterday (actually 3 people I know share the same birthday on 27th Jan) and Kid Diva did her duty and baked the birthday cake. The last time I made carrot cake for a friend’s birthday was years ago and it didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted it to. Melting in the summer heat, it was greasy, squishy and simply pathetic. This time, I truly believe I have outdone myself all thanks to Ina Garten’s recipe. This woman is a godsend! The cake was orgasmically good – dreamily moist and the flavours were fantastic. Considering I had hardly any of my bakeware from home, no sieve to sift the flour or icing sugar, ancient scruffy-looking cake tins and a shitty garbage of an oven, this cake turned out a hit. The birthday boy was grinning from ear to ear and it wasn’t strange to spot our party-goers dipping their fingers as discretely as possible into the cream cheese frosting between gulps of vodka.

The whole evening was as posh as student life can get. The recent credit crunch, however, prevented us from making a pleasant trip out into the country for a relaxed pub lunch as Sam would have wished it. Instead, we organized a nice little dinner, table cloths and all. Redecorated the kitchen, lit some candles, whacked on some posh jazz music and placed a green sign on the door that read ‘Bistro Gamper’. The whole thing was Anna’s brainchild and kudos to her. She did an amazing job preparing the pork, potatoes and vegetables, and a to-die-for redcurrant and cider gravy which I’ve already nicked the recipe of. I’ll never forget the taste of that gravy and I’m eager to give it a go myself. In fact, there’s some left in the fridge. I could possibly drink the whole bowl of it. It is that mindblowing!

Stuffed, about to pop, and feeling slightly woozy from too much food and champagne, we braved on towards pudding and the birthday song. My family’s quite the group of conservative eaters. At family meals, I’m always the only one gasping and moaning away if something tastes great. It takes quite a bit to stop me from banging on about how good it is. Last night, however, I am very pleased to say the whole table was gasping and moaning away to no end. What a fan-fucking-tastic experience that was! I am so relieved and glad that the cake was a success, thrilled that it tasted like sex and delighted that our dearest Sam is 21 and lovin’ it.

I have altered Ina Garten’s recipe just slightly – adding more spices and substituting half the amount of vegetable oil for applesauce. This was recommended by a lot people who had attempted the recipe and thought I might as well try it their way. Can honestly say this cake wasn’t greasy like the one I made years ago. It was wonderful – perfectly moist and the flavour was well balanced. I might’ve reduced the amount of icing sugar in the frosting as well. I rather enjoy tasting more butter and cream cheese then just sweetness. Come the summer, I will be making this again. It’s so beaten my infamous Guinness Chocolate Cake.

I’ve noticed a trend though. I happen to make the best cakes on days where I know I’m going to get absolutely battered that evening. I suppose alcohol doesn’t just give you a head rush huh?

Carrot Cake
Adapted from Ina Garten
Ingredients

Preheat oven to 180d Celsius.
Butter and flour 2 8″ round cake pans.

Beat sugar, oil and eggs together until light yellow. Add vanilla. In another bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Toss the raisin and walnuts with 1 tbs flour. Fold in the carrots and pineapple. Add to the batter and mix well.

Divide the batter equally between the 2 pans. Bake for 55 – 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pans set over a wire rack.

For the frosting:
Beat hte butter til light in colour. Add the cream cheese and beat. Add the vanilla. Beat till just incorporated. Add the icing sugar and mix til smooth.

Assemble cake and decorate as you like it!

Chocolate Non-Bake Cheesecake with Gingerbiscuit Crust and Raspberry Coulis

diva — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:41:37 +0000

It’s quite difficult to find that perfect cheesecake since quite a lot of people are rather anal or picky about their cheese. When it comes to cheesecake, I’m even more fussy. What I mean by that really is that I love to eat it, that’s a given. But that I always associate really good cheesecake with one that’s been made for me by someone else because I cannot be bothered to bake a cheesecake. That’s just that. It’s (in that warped head of mine) too much of a faff in my opinion to bake cheese when you can just have it as it is. Cheese, neat. Straight out of the fridge, oh yeah. Now we’re talking. But cheese cooked is so amazing too – savoury or sweet. Nevertheless, somehow I still can’t bring myself to be bothered to bake a cheesecake.

Whilst hopping through the foodblogs I usually visit, I came across Cafe Johnsonia’s Frozen Mascarpone Cheesecake, so that really got my tastebuds into craving mode. Not one to fuss around with cheesecakes, I couldn’t be bothered to work on this Chocolate Mascarpone Fruit & Nut Cheesecake shizzle from good ol’ Delia so I decided to mash-up little bits and pieces to create my very own non-bake, why-not-use-the-freezer cheesecake. Take laziness to the maximum without forfeiting the taste factor. I admit frozen/non-bake cheesecakes hardly ever look as impressive as baked cheesecakes but Hans and I were very pleased when we were tucking into our very own slices. Tasty, rich yet light. Coupled with a raspberry coulis and you’re well on your way to a sugary cloud 9 heaven. Also, I find baked ones very heavy and filling whereas this was creamy but not too overwhelming that you couldn’t fit in another healthy slice.

Thumbs up and a big pat on my back; one too on Hans’s. Cheers to Anna for doing the taste-testing of the respective bowls of ingredients. Although I now have a bright red spot of raspberry coulis on my duvet cover (looks suspiciously like blood…geeez), it was so worth it! This coulis is absolutely gorgeous. If you don’t know what that is, it simply is a posh way of saying raspberry sauce. Quick to prepare, great colour and delicious; use it for just about any other raspberry-requiring dessert. For a cheesecake? Spot on!

I was a little pretentious with the presentation. But it was a pretty day today. Very very warm. And I was surprised to see so many bluebells growing out in the garden so I picked one, washed and dried it, then popped it atop my cheesecake for added prettiness. How adorable.

Chocolate Non-bake Cheesecake with Raspberry Coulis
Ingredients

For the filling:
8 oz cream cheese
8 oz mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup double cream
1/3 cup caster sugar
120g plain chocolate, melted (you can increase the amount, or use dark chocolate if you’re going for an uber chocolatey cake)

For the coulis:
1/3 cup caster sugar
3 tbs water
2 1/2 cups raspberries

Bash up all the biscuits. Add sugar and melted butter. Using a fork, toss and coat in butter until all of it is covered. Press into bottom of a springform pan and use the back of a spoon to flatten and even it out. Place in freezer for the crust to bind about 15min.

Using a wooden spoon, beat together the cream cheese, mascarpone and sugar. Over a bain-marie, melt the chocolate and be careful not to burn. In a separate bowl, using a metal whisk, whip the double cream until it can hold its shape. Do not overwhip. Add the chocolate once it’s cool enough to the cheese mixture. Finally, the double cream. Give it a good stir.

Remove crust from freezer. Pour the cheese mixture into the pan and smooth out. Cover with clingwrap, making sure the clingwrap touches the surface of the cheese and up the sides of the cakepan. Place in freezer 40-50min. Remove and place in fridge. Serve whenever after by using a warmed knife to slice.

The coulis is really simple. Over a medium fire, cook the sugar and water. Stir continuously for about 5min. It’ll start to thicken and caramelize but be careful not to let it burn. Add the berries and keep stirring. Lower fire if it bubbles too much. Break up the berries, leaving some relatively whole just so it looks better unless you want it to be as smooth as possible. Cook until it thickens. Leave to cool. Then serve by spooning loads over your cheesecake.

Almond-Peanut & Biscuit Filled Chocolate Cupcakes with Matcha Frosting

diva — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:28:24 +0000

Warning: these cupcakes are well LUSH!

Going over the top? It did occur to me that that might happen, but I wanted to recreate the Japanese dorayaki. Sweet flat pancakes with a sweet paste filling, ranging from red bean to green tea to peanut, these pancakes were the love of my life in high school. Easy to take around with you, to sneak into lecture halls (having not a strong smell that wifts around in the air and completely gives you away) and might I say, a great fashion accessory whilst shopping in town. Rather than attempting to make authentic dorayaki in case I screwed that up, I thought of bringing the dorayaki through a cupcake. More or less its essence – that is, through the flavours you can commonly find in such a pancake. Peanut butter, sugar, ground almonds and crushed biscuits is my way of making a sweet peanut paste. I hate it when it’s too crunchy, hence the ground almonds instead of roughly chopped peanuts but to prevent it from getting too fine and texture-less, sugar and crushed Digestives are the answer to all my troubles. Top that off with some peanut butter, and you’re well on your way to peanut heaven. At least, that’s my own opinion. I’ve created this almond-peanut filling which I think eradicates any peanut dilemma and because it is quite solid rather than paste-like or creamy, it’s perfect to mould into balls or little shapes you fancy.

The Purist boys are very difficult to cook for, as you might have already picked up on from the previous posts. The chocolate cupcakes from before with the naked buttercream scored a quick goal with James, however. I’d packed Anna and James one each for their trip to Portugal and was gladly surprised to receive a text from him soon after saying it was awesome. The girls are back in town. Most of them are, that is. So I now find myself in a more relaxed position when trying out recipes and I know these will be well-received. Keep an open mind, guys, open minds. Or rather, screw ‘em Purists. I have more important matters to be baking for this time – scroll down for more details.

Peanut, chocolate and green tea is quite a nostalgic combo and I think is a favourite for a lot of the Japanese. I’m so pleased with these babies I’m definitely going to make this again and again for friends. I love the touch of matcha as well not only because I’m a big big big – bordering on psychopathic – fan of tea (and wonder why the hell I wasn’t born in a different period, decked out in pretty dresses with luxurious fabric and alot of sleeves and mastering the true art of tea ceremony, etc. – my fantasy can play on) but because my eyes get so drawn in by the green.

The better quality your matcha, the greener it will be. For really green, powerful matcha, you can often use koicha instead of the cheaper, more astringent thin matcha or usucha. Anyway, this green frosting comes at the right time, welcoming spring. Plus, it’s a big in-your-face reminder to BE GREEN. Celebrate Earth Day and support the green movement with these guys; also check out LOKO if you’d like to be a green foodie.

*P/S: If you’re a tea fan, or a health-conscious dude/dudette and would like to know more about green tea and matcha, stay tuned to this blog. I’ll be posting up very soon a “Survey of Matcha”, lol. No it won’t be that formal but it’ll include my opinions about green tea, what I like about it, in what have I had green tea and a few info-bites of Japanese tea ceremony. Watch this space.

LIGHTS OUT, KNIVES OUT
Because I think this is for a good cause and it’s fun to participate in something, I’ve submitted this recipe for LOKO which is hosted by Celine of Black.Salt! I might have cheated just slightly because this was made during the day so there wasn’t any need for switching the lights on, I’d like to say (in support of myself) that the only electricity-consuming equipment that were used were: 1)the oven, 2)laptop for this post, 3)camera operating on rechargeable batteries for the foodshots. The softening of butter for the cupcakes or the frosting didn’t involve a microwave. Butter for the frosting merely used a little of the hot air from the hot oven – left the oven door slightly ajar to cool after the cupcakes were baked. I’d switched the heating of the house off as well (big sacrifice here because if you know my house, you’ll know it’s always bloody freezing!) so the kitchen was heated just by the hot air from an oven already switched off! Thought that was pretty genius of me. All beating of ingredients, mixing and all that jazz – the whole process, has been done lovingly by hand or arm, if you like, with an old wooden spoon. As a student, I’ve lost both my electric mixers and I think that’s a sign from the Big Guy up above. Also, all the washing up – yep, done by hand. No dishwasher here for me as well which eats up a heck load of electricity and water. So, to conclude, this has been one pleasant baking day. Have loads of cupcakes to share with the boys down the road and will be taking these goodies, along with some of yesterday’s Marmorkuchen round to Alex’s for a little tea chat. Cheers to Celine for organising LOKO and hope this aids in the spread of the awareness of the need to be green.

Chocolate Cupcake recipe (yields 24 regular cupcakes)
Ingredients

This recipe was used in an earlier post Best Moist Chocolate Cupcakes inspired by Chockylit. I’ve used the recipe exactly as it is except for the sugar content – altering it to 1 1/2 cup white sugar as opposed to a combination of dark brown and white sugar. Click here for directions. It’s baked at 175d Celsius for 25min.

Almond-Peanut & Biscuit Filling (yields about 24 candy-sized cubes)
Ingredients

Using a wooden spoon, beat the peanut butter in a bowl till nice and soft. Add the caster sugar and 2 tsp of milk, beat till creamy. Add the digestive biscuits, then last tsp of milk. This will starting getting quite sticky. Finally finish by adding the ground almonds. You can now roll them into balls or shape them into candy cubes which you can make before working on the cupcake batter.

Fill cups with a tablespoon of chocolate batter and then press a cube of filling into the it. Cover with 1 1/2 – 2 tablespoon of batter, this will bring the cups up to 2/3 full which is just right.

Matcha Frosting (recipe adapted from Chockylit)
Ingredients

Leave butter to soften. Beat till creamy. Add cream cheese and beat till even creamier. Add 3 cups of icing sugar and 1 tbs of matcha. Taste. Now you can add the next tbs if you think you need it. If you don’t want to ruin the taste by making it too bitter with an additional tbs, increase the sugar. I also recommend using matcha cooking sprinkles. You can easily find this from Japanese grocery shops or Oriental foodstores. They’re almost like crushed leaves, but they don’t have that intense a flavour. Nonetheless, they have a mild matcha flavour and give a great green colour.

I haven’t followed this frosting recipe exactly. Because I haven’t gotten round to getting a piping tip I wasn’t going to make this frosting a stiff one to pipe. I reduced the butter and somehow it became a really drippy frosting, which I thought was slightly odd. Tasted great still. The cream cheese really gave the matcha a whole new dimension. It wouldn’t have been the same without it. Also, because of the drippiness, these were even easier to ice. ‘Dripped’ about a tbs of matcha frosting on each cupcake and I was set. Not to worry though, when left out, such an icing will usually firm up. A winner.

Rosewater Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing & Pistachios

diva — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:57:56 +0000

You’re probably wondering why this post is even here when we could be ploughing through the Festival of Chocolate. And I’m ashamed to admit my system is slightly plugged up with way too much chocolate. It’s as though I’m inside a bubble, heavy-headed and clogged up with Minstrels, mini eggs, Divine Chocolate, Green & Blacks, etc. So I decided to make something lighter today. Of course the Chocolate Season will resume shortly – there’s definitely more to expect. Trust me to milk this festive season dry.

(and just for this month – stop worrying about that waistline; stop fretting about how much you’ve eaten today; being healthy and staying fit is awesome, but there’s definitely more to life than worrying about it to the point where you forget how good it is to just be. Never forget to celebrate life.)

These cupcakes were a treat to myself to be honest. I’ve been wanting to make something green for a while. The colour green is upligfting. And mint green never fails to put me in a calm, quiet, comforted state. Out of all the perfumes by my bed, the latest Prada scent is my favourite not just for its unique fragrance (which I think matches my personality to a tee) but for its mint green box.

This recipe was taken from 500 Muffins & Cupcakes by Fergal Connolly. I added some vanilla extract to the cupcake batter, altered the sugar requirement and added more rosewater than was called for. My conclusion? It worked. Rosewater is the distillate of rose petals and its used a lot in Europe and Asia. It is often used in cosmetics, medicine and perfumes. In the Renaissance period, rosewater was often used as a remedy for depression. Marzipan was first made with ground almonds, sugar and rosewater. In Singapore, the popular bright pink sweet drink bandung is made with rosewater, milk, sugar and colouring. The lovely French madeleine cakes we know of are usually flavoured with it as well. Turkish delight, a light pink sweet, is also traditionally made with it.

Rosewater has indeed had a long, romantic past and still continues to survive in cooking, confectionary, etc today. I’ve read that it’s pretty easy to make at home as well. You’ll just need a bit of alcohol and water, if I’m not wrong. Anyway, here’s the recipe which yields about 10 regular sized cupcakes. Lovely, flavourful and light.

Rosewater Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing & Pistachios
Ingredients

For the icing:

Preheat the oven to 175d Celsius and line your muffin tray with pretty cups!
Cream butter and sugar till smooth. Add the eggs one at a time. I whisk them till nice and bubbly first before adding to the batter. You’d think this batter would be so eggy what with the number of the eggs. To be honest, when it was cooking, it was as though I was making some eggy beast! Tasted great though so no problems there.
Add the rosewater and vanilla, beat. Beat in the flour. Spoon into cups and into the oven for 25min-30min.
Once cooked, remove from oven and let cool.
To make the icing, give the cream cheese a good beating so it’s smooth and shiny. Mix in the rosewater by tbs ensuring that the cream cheese doesn’t separate. Then sift the icing sugar and mix carefully. Taste it – it’s awesome.
When cupcakes are cool, cut off the volcano tops. Put a dollop of icing on it, smooth it out with the back of a spoon and sprinkle with a generous amount of pistachios. Serve.