The Sugar Bar

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

225g unsalted butter
225g caster sugar (I used 1 cup)
225g self-raising flour (this worked out to be 1,3/4cup)
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp rosewater (I increased this to 1tbs)

For the icing:

200g cream cheese
175g icing sugar
2 tbs rosewater
1/4 cup chopped pistachios

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.

Don’t question the title, I know it seems real silly-sounding, but pretty apt in my opinion. Had a great bbq today..messy, greasy but of course good. Before that, i was pretty much flustered, what with all the smses, and the online msges, & the phone calls, whilst whisking away at the stove. Was nearly going mad, but thanks so much to Kitchen on Clarendon for her easy steps for Nigella’s Guinness Chocolate Cake! I was extremely excited abt this new recipe. Thought it was something very bold to do with chocolate, and great for a bbq. A very relaxed, let-your-hair-down kinda cake.

Was a little unsure at first abt the simplicity and seemingly lazy steps of the batter-making process but all ended well, at least..to my own belief. After taking a gulp of guinness, i forgot to measure 240ml for the cake batter & poured the whole can in instead (this was an additional 70ml of stout). Of course, in my hurry, I only realised this after putting the cake in the oven and could do nothing to salvage the situation except pray very very very hard. How could I ruin the cake before the bbq (sth i was organising) even began?! The result was pretty ok though. The taste was still great. Sweet, dark and lusciously rich chocolate, with deep undertones of stouty bitterness. It came out very well on the tongue, where the flavours melded very well together and unfurled smoothly on your palate. Very pleasant indeed. The extra stout only served to contribute to an already damp cake, and increased its general fudgyness. So overall, I’d still say i did not screw this up! Something I’d definitely do on another special occasion, even christmas!

p/s the cream cheese icing was superb. the next time I do it though, i’d try adding a few drops of lemon juice though, just the zang it up a bit! you can get the recipe on Kitchen on Clarendon’s webbie, or get it here, below with my own messy directions tt worked out just fine! enjoy!!

Ingredients
250ml Guinness (or the whole 320ml can)
1 cup unsalted butter
rounded 1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
140ml sour cream (light)
2 eggs
1 tbs vanilla essence
2 1/4cup plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
Icing:
250g cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cup icing sugar (i deviated from the original recipe by 1/2 cup cos i couldn’t really get the sweetness)
125ml pure cream

Preheat 180dCelsius. Grease and LINE with waxed parchment a 23cm springform.
Pour Guinness in saucepan. Heat slightly and added sliced butter. Heat till the butter has fully melted, stirring constantly & remove.
Sift in cocoa, pour in sugar & whisk.

In another bowl, beat sour cream till smooth. Beat in eggs & vanilla. Pour cocoa stout mixture slowly into this bowl. Sift in flour & soda, beat. Be careful here as it’s a pretty wet batter & might slosh over the bowl. Use a large one to ensure a clean kitchen!
Bake for 45min-1hr. (I baked at 180dC for close to 50min & baked another 10min at 190dC)
Leave to cool in tin for round 15min, remove the springform sides and cool completely. Note that this is a very damp cake and you’ll have to be extra gentle with it.

Icing: Beat cream cheese. Sift icing sugar and beat till nice & smooth. Add cream and beat till spreading consistency. Then decorate the cake to your heart’s desire!
I used raspberries & cherries for the top to add a little colour and to match the summer tropical heat.

Serve nicely chilled after lots of sensationally greasy bbq-grilled meat & potatoes, with cold beer.
Follow this up with crazy chit chat, drinking games, lots of ice cream & good ol’ fun.

To the guys out there : thanks for loving my cake. Had such a great time…hopefully ppl will start lookin me up in birmingham & stop hanging around london?

Carrot cakes are really adored because of the cream cheese icing. Like Sam says, carrot cake is only good with cream cheese icing so never ever try looking for a healthy carrot cake and really, don’t be deceived by the ‘carrot’ in the name because this cake is packed with all the goodness of fat. But really…there’s nothing wrong with fat. Like Dirk Veyser (is that his name?) recently said, nothing is ever sinful, only how you live. Which I believe is very true. Interestingly, the Chinese and the Europeans all depicted fat and roundishness with wealth, prosperity and well-being. Think bout it, the Chinese preferred fatter full-bodied women, placing them on the pinnacle of Chinese beauty whereas the Europeans painted their women roundish, luscious. Look at Rodin’s sculptures! Look at what Botero was tryin to put across. Their women weren’t svelte, or model-thin. Neither were they tall or toned but they were beautiful. So i guess, once again, i’m standing up for the fat world. (think i tend to be doing a lot of this recently..maybe i’m getting defensive. and now i wonder why)
So here i was today, rushing back from work at noon time to whip up Yif’s belated birthday cake. Was really rushing all about the kitchen, getting all flustered and sweaty from the afternoon heat. Melting really. But it worked out to my satisfaction because the cake tasted great. Interestingly, it was really crispy once out of the oven. I think it tasted best without the icing, because the icing was slightly strange and too drippy for my liking but sam loved the way it tasted. I guess..i’m the odd one out cos i like carrot cake without the icing. I make icing and enjoy the process of beating it till its all smooth and fluffy lovely but i hate eating it. Anyway, if you were to use this recipe, you might wanna be careful with the oil because i think it was a tad too oily, but no harm done, still tasted lovely! This one’s definitely a keeper, especially because so little ingredients were really needed, unlike Debbi Field’s one which has like sweet potato and crushed pineapple yadayada, but the next time i make this, i’ll do without the icing.
Mel’s Gramma’s Yummy Carrot Cake
Ingredients
Cake: (bakes two 8″ tins)
225g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
175g caster sugar
350ml canola oil
4 eggs, at rtp and beaten
350g carrots, grated
50g chopped walnuts
50g sultanas (some recipes ask that u soak them in hot water so they plump up)
Cream cheese icing:
100g cream cheese
50g butter, melted
225g icing sugar, sifted
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice

Sieve together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
Preheat 180dCelsius.
Beat sugar, oil and eggs till mixture comes together. Fold in dry ingredients and beat. (I know this sounds strange but just follow the directions because it works this way ha) Stir in carrots, nuts and sultanas. Bake 35-40min. The cake would have pulled away from the sides.

As cake starts to cool, you can prepare the icing.
Beat the cream cheese till its soft and creamy. Slowly mix together cooled melted butter and cream cheese.
Then fold in the sifted icing sugar till mixture is smooth, of spreading consistency. Be patient and gentle.
Beat in vanilla and lemon juice thereafter, probably a few flicks of the electric mixer should do fine.