Moist Cocoa Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

After a good break, life back here continues.  Looking forward to the series of festive public holidays and given company holiday - Dec is my favourite month of the year!  And with this good month here, mood just got better and I picked myself up to bake, again. 

Here's some cupcakes baked to celebrate my younger sister's birthday.

I prefer flat tops to work on

Simple rose swirls that needs more practising!

Dressed my cupcakes with some toppings.

More reasons these month to bake frosted cakes and improve on my piping skills :)

If you love moist chocolate cupcakes, try these :)

Moist Cocoa Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
(Makes 14 to 16 small cupcakes)

90g plain flour
45g cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
160 brown sugar
80ml olive oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk (If you do not have buttermilk on hand,  mix 120ml milk with 1.5 tsp of vinegar or lemon juice. Allow it to sit for at least 5min before use.)


1. Preheat oven to 180deg C. Line muffin tray with cupcake liners and set aside.

2. Sift plain flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder and set aside.

3. Place olive oil, brown sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl and mix well, then add in eggs and whisk till well mixed.

4. Pour in buttermilk and whisk well. Add in sifted flour mixture and fold in gently till not much big lumps of flour are visible.

5. Spoon mixture into cupcake liners till just half full and put to bake for 18 to 20 min. (For my Rowenta oven, I baked them at 175deg C for 17min) To test readiness, insert a toothpick into centre of cupcake, cake is done when inserted toothpick comes out clean with no sticky mixture.

6. Remove cupcakes from oven and set to cool on cooling rack before use.

7. Pipe chocolate frosting on cakes when cooled and decorate with your favourite sprinkles!


Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

80g dark converture chocolate
115g unsalted butter, softened
50g icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
A pinch of salt

1. Melt dark converture chocolate in a double boiler (bain marie) and set aside to cool before use.

2. Cream butter and icing sugar till white and fluffy. Add in vanilla extract and salt and mix well.

3. Add in the cooled melted chocolate and mix till well combined.

4. Add more icing sugar (if required) to attain desired consistency for frosting. I do not need a thick and sturdy frosting, and did not want it to be super sweet, hence I left out on more icing sugar (and it was still sweet!)

Coffee Cream Cake 咖啡奶油蛋糕

It was Mama's birthday last Friday. We had an early birthday celebration with Mum some 2 weeks back, done together with Mothers' Day celebration. No we are not saving on an extra meal. Mum has to go for an operation end of this month and we wanted her to steer clear from heaty food to prep for the operation, hence the combi of 1 dinner for 2 occasions.

Cake ready to be delivered to the birthday girl!

I made this cake to make up for Mum's missing dinner on her actual birthday. Made a coffee cream one because Mum loves coffee!

I love old-fashioned birthday cakes, you know, those kind of salty buttercream cakes sold during the 1970s to 1980s? You can only find these cakes in those traditional bakeries now.

Got the cake design idea from Nasi Lemak Lover. Family said the cake looked nice when it was presented to my Mum. Of course, my dearest Mother was all smiles. It was worth my every effort making this into the late night a night before.

I was happy to see the distinct layers when the cake was sliced after the usual birthday song singing and making of wish.

3 nice layers of soft chocolate sponge with coffee cream

I am a happy girl.

I am getting more confident in making buttercream cakes. Looking forward to making one for myself next month!

Coffee Cream Cake
makes a 6-inch cake

3 egg yolks
55g cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
40g caster sugar
30ml canola oil
35ml milk
a pinch of salt

3 egg whites
1/4 cream of tartar
5g cocoa powder

Chocolate rice (for deco on the side of cake)


Cake Method

1. Preheat oven to 150deg C.
2. Sift cake flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and leave aside.
3. Beat yolk and 1/2 tbsp sugar till sugar has dissolved and yolk mixture has turned pale.
4. Add salt and beat well before adding canola oil in 2 additions. Make sure yolk mixture is well beaten between each addition.
5. Add in milk in 2 additions and mix well before placing in sifted cocoa flour mixture. Use a spatula and mix well till batter turns thick and creamy. Set aside.
6. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites till frothy. Add in cream of tartar and continue to beat till soft peaks form, add in remaining caster sugar in 3 additions and beat till stiff peaks are formed.

7. Spoon half of white mixture into cocoa batter and fold in till well mixed. Repeat the process with remaining white mixture in 2 additions.
8. Pour folded in batter into 6-inch baking tin and drop it on a table top twice to remove excess air bubbles.
9. Place baking tin in oven to bake at 150deg for 60 min or till done.
10. Remove from oven and place it overturned on a cooling rack to cool. Prepare coffee buttercream frosting. (Refer to directions below.)
11. Slice a little of the uneven cake top if top is domed shape, then slice cake to get 3 even pieces for layering.  
12. Place a slice of the cake on a cake board and set it on a turntable, slap on some coffee buttercream and spread it evenly. Place the other cake on top of buttercream.
13. Crumb coat whole cake with a thin layer of buttercream to seal in cake crumbs so they will not get in the way during final coating, you may freeze crumb coated cake for about 15min before doing final thick coating.

14. Layer an even coat round sides of cake.  Spoon chocolate rice on to side of frosted cake.
15. Spoon remaining coffee buttercream into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe desired designs on the cake top. Refrigerate and enjoy.



Coffee Cream Frosting
150g butter
3g instant coffee
40g egg white
65g sugar
20g water

Place butter and instant coffee powder into mixing bowl, mix well and set aside.

Place egg white and 5g of sugar in another bowl and beat till frothy. In a pot, mix water and remaining sugar well and heat to let it thicken to slight yellow sugar water. Gradually pour in thickened sugar water into egg white mixture and continue beating till egg white turns stiff peak.

Spoon white mixture into coffee cream mixture and mix well with spatula. Coffee buttercream frosting is now ready for use.

Pandan Kaya Cake 班兰咖椰蛋糕

I am back. Finally back after neglecting this space for so long.

We were away for an annual vacation. Went to Seoul and Jeju this year and we had a great time eating that 8 days away.  You did not hear me wrong. We enjoyed the food more than the shopping! And I always thought that Korea was a shopping heaven! Oh well... At least Korean food was yummy enough to make me miss Korea and wanna go back again.  Not much clothes yield but I arent too disappointed because I was prepared. I had a good stock up of my make ups and facial products though!

Jeju was a relaxed place filled with beautiful cherry blossoms. We went at the right time for cherry blossom viewings :)

Returned to Singapore with a reluctant heart and mind for I had enjoyed not working, not cooking and baking for a period, and I wished I could go on with this relaxed life for a little longer haha! Wishful thinking! I can only tell myself to come back, work and save more and plan for next trip soon. With that as a motivation, I got by that first week of post trip syndrome. Am back to the kitchen again. Still going slow, but steady :) Will be back in full swing soon (hopefully!). Do bear with me keke.

Never had the courage to try making this cake for I thought it was not easy to make. Okay... I gave that judgement just from the number of steps I saw everywhere, from recipe books to food bloggers' recipe posts. so yup... I should not have been that judgemental afterall. 

I tried after years of stopping myself from doing it.  It was really not difficult and it was delicious! 

Searched the web for a recipe that uses natural pandan extract and found Fong's Kitchen Journal. It was what I wanted and straightforward enough for the blur me to understand keke!

Pandan Kaya Cake
Recipe by Fong's Kitchen Journal

Sponge
(A) 4 eggs + 80g fine sugar + pinch of salt
(B) 100g plain flour, sifted
(C) 30g melted butter + 50g corn oil + 20g pandan juice* + 1/2 tsp pandan paste (mix together).

Method

Whisk (A) at high speed till stiff (the eggs would be tripled in volume).  Fold in plain flour in batches and follow with the melted butter mixture.  Fold the batter well and pour into a greased and lined 8" round pan.  Bake in preheated oven of 160C for about 45 minutes.  Cool the cake and slice into 3 layers.

Kaya filling

400ml pandan juice* + 50g butter + 120g fine sugar

250g packet fresh coconut milk + 150g water, mix together

70g hoen kwe flour

2 tsp instant jelly powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pandan paste (optional)

2 to 3 drops of yellow food colouring(optional)

* After washing the pandan leaves (about 7 to 8 leaves), warm them briefly in a microwave oven and cut into small pieces.  Blend the leaves with about 500ml water.  Sieve the pandan juice and discard the leaves.  Use about 20ml for making the sponge and the remaining for making the filling.

Method

1) Combine pandan juice, butter and sugar in a pot and bring to boil.

2) Mix coconut milk, water, hoen kwe flour, instant jelly powder, salt, pandan paste and yellow colouring together.  Pour this mixture to (1), stir and cook till mixture thickens.

3) Remove from heat and let the mixture cool slightly before pouring onto sponge.

To assemble

1) Place a slice of cake into a cake ring and pour 1/3 of the kaya filling onto the cake.  Repeat layering of cake and kaya filling (2x).  

2) Cool the cake first before placing in the fridge to set.

3) Remove cake from cake ring and coat the sides with dessicated coconut (I used freshly grated coconut, add 1/4 tsp salt and toast in an ungreased pan till dried). - I left out the dessicated coconut deco. (I forgot to line the baking tin and have some hangovers at the side so that I can just remove the cake when ready to serve. I tried my luck by turning it over and fortunately no damage to the top kaya layer - pls do not be so blur like me!!)

Strawberry & Chocolate Buttercream Cake

Went back to Mama's place on Sunday and I brought a cake over to celebrate Hubby's and Sister's birthday.  They are the November babies so I took the easy way out to combine 2 birthdays with one cake.  Hehe!   

Wanting to practise rose piping again, I chose to use buttercream for the cake frosting once more.  I bought a punnet of strawberries and used them as part of the deco for the cake.  I "coloured" the balance of my buttercreamn to pink with some red dragonfruit juice.  Al natural! Glad that the cake was well received and that it was not too sweet and heavy for my family.

Well, I still suck at smoothing out my cake frosting OMG!!!  It was a good thing that I used buttercream frosting or else with the time spent on trying to smooth out my frosting, those in the bowl and piping bag would have melted and softened long long ago.  Guess it's gonna be a long way for me before I can try out other frostings.   

After xxth minute still trying to smooth out the sides, I cheated by using my palette knife to smooth the sides from bottom up to form a patterned sides.  I thought it looked not too bad keke.  At least they look much better than my not-smooth-and-even-at-all frosting.  Conclusion: Baking can quite bring out one's creativity for sure! :)

Not getting any better at rose pipings.

I will strive on!

Strawberry & Chocolate Buttercream Cake 
(6 inch cake)
3 egg yolks
55g cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
40g caster sugar
30ml canola oil
35ml milk
a pinch of salt

3 egg whites
1/4 cream of tartar
5g cocoa powder 

5 pcs of strawberries (washed and dabbed dry, stalk removed) 
chocolate shavings (I used a sharp knife and ran it down the sides of a bar of bitter chocolate)

Sugar syrup for brushing
1 tbsp sugar
2 to 3 tsp hot water
(Dissolve sugar in hot water and set aside for cake brushing)

1. Preheat oven to 150deg C.
2. Sift cake flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and leave aside.
3. Beat yolk and 1/2 tbsp sugar till sugar has dissolved and yolk mixture has turned pale.
4. Add salt and beat well before adding canola oil in 2 additions. Make sure yolk mixture is well beaten between each addition.
5. Add in milk in 2 additions and mix well before placing in sifted cocoa flour mixture. Use a spatula and mix well till batter turns thick and creamy. Set aside.
6. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites till frothy. Add in cream of tartar and continue to beat till soft peaks form, add in remaining caster sugar in 3 additions and beat till stiff peaks are formed.
7. Spoon half of white mixture into cocoa batter and fold in till well mixed. Repeat the process with remaining white mixture in 2 additions.
8. Pour folded in batter into 6-inch baking tin and drop it on a table top twice to remove excess air bubbles.
9. Place baking tin in oven to bake at 150deg for 60 min or till done.
10. Remove from oven and place it overturned on a cooling rack to cool. Prepare white buttercream frosting. (Refer to Buttercream Frosting Step 1 to 3)
11. Slice a little of the uneven cake top if top is domed shape, then slice cake to get 2 even pieces for layering.  I used 3 toothpicks to guide me with the even and equal slicing.
12. Place a slice of the cake on a cake board and set it on a turntable, brush sugar syrup all over cake. Slap on some buttercream and spread it evenly. Place the other cake on top of buttercream.

13. Brush sugar syrup all over cake, then crumb coat whole cake with a thin layer of white buttercream to seal in cake crumbs so they will not get in the way during final coating, you may freeze crumb coated cake for about 15min before doing final thick coating.

14. Layer an even coat of white buttercream round sides of cake. (I left out the top since I will be piping on pink buttercream roses.) OR use a palette knife to create desired pattern on buttercream on sides of cake.

15. Spoon pink buttercream (refer to Buttercream Frosting Step 4 for direction) into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe the roses on the outer ream of cake top. Place strawberries round piped roses. Lastly spoon chocolate shavings into middle of cake. Refrigerate.

I managed to sneak in a photo of a slice of the cake!

Buttercream Frosting
150g salted or unsalted butter, softened (use good butter pls! I used Lurpak salted butter)
50g icing sugar (you may add more if you want a firmer buttercream)

1.5 to 2 tsp Red dragonfruit juice (3 bitesize pieces, mashed, squeezed and put through sieve)

1. Place butter into a mixing bowl, cut into smaller cubes and let it soften a little before beating.

2. Beat butter and icing sugar on low speed. Turn up speed when icing sugar has been blended with butter.

3. Beat till butter is smooth, creamy and firm enough to hold its shape

when piped.

4. To make pink buttercream with the leftover buttercream, add in few drops of red dragonfruit juice and mix well with a spatula. If a darker pink tone is desired, add in few more drops and mix. (If buttercream starts losing its firm texture, add in some icing sugar and beat to get back stiff texture good for piping.)

I love this shade of pink!

Chocolate Cake with Cocoa Buttercream Roses

Feasting period started from end October for Hubby and I. Anniversary, birthday, festive celebrations all fall during this period.

Since I baked a Japanese cheesecake for Hubby some 2 weeks back for our wedding anniversary, I decided to do a buttercream cake for Hubby's birthday this year, and because I wanted to practise piping, I added buttercream roses on the top of the cake.

How is it for a noob who has not really done much piping her whole life?  I thought it looked not too bad hehe!  Okay, more excuses to do bakes that calls for frostings. I need more practices!

Talk about frostings, I love using buttercream for cake frosting. I am never good at whipping cream, yes, even heavy cream, so I try to steer clear from them as much as I could.

I love how easy is it to make buttercream. It is almost foolproof and I have never overbeat buttercream. Divert your attention a little and you risk overwhipping cream and heavy cream, and you get that grainy texture with milk oozing out. Buttercream holds its piped shapes better too!

I made this cake 3 days earlier for the Hubby, sang him the birthday song, he made a wish, cut the cake and we digged into it right after. He loved the cake. It was good! Soft, moist and not too sweet, just how we like our cake to be hehe!

I love taking photos of birthday cakes!

Especially when candles are lit.

 

So birthday song was sang,

wish was made,

cake was cut.

What's next?

Have your cake and eat it lor :P

Chocolate Cake with Cocoa Buttercream Roses
3 egg yolks
55g cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
40g caster sugar
30ml canola oil
35ml milk
a pinch of salt

3 egg whites
1/4 cream of tartar
5g cocoa powder

Chocolate rice

Sugar syrup for brushing
1 tbsp sugar
2 to 3 tsp hot water
(Dissolve sugar in hot water and set aside for cake brushing)

1. Preheat oven to 150deg C.
2. Sift cake flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and leave aside.
3. Beat yolk and 1/2 tbsp sugar till sugar has dissolved and yolk mixture has turned pale.

4. Add salt and beat well before adding canola oil in 2 additions. Make sure yolk mixture is well beaten between each addition.
5. Add in milk in 2 additions and mix well before placing in sifted cocoa flour mixture. Use a spatula and mix well till batter turns thick and creamy. Set aside.
6. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites till frothy. Add in cream of tartar and continue to beat till soft peaks form, add in remaining caster sugar in 3 additions and beat till stiff peaks are formed.

7. Spoon half of white mixture into cocoa batter and fold in till well mixed. Repeat the process with remaining white mixture in 2 additions.
8. Pour folded in batter into 6-inch baking tin and drop it on a table top twice to remove excess air bubbles.
9. Place baking tin in oven to bake at 150deg for 60 min or till done.
10. Remove from oven and place it overturned on a cooling rack to cool. Prepare buttercream frosting. (Refer to bottom for steps)
11. Slice a little of the uneven cake top if top is domed shape, then slice cake to get 2 even pieces for layering.  I used 3 toothpicks to guide me with the even and equal slicing.

12. Place a slice of the cake on a cake board and set it on a turntable, brush sugar syrup all over cake. Slap on some buttercream and spread it evenly. Place the other cake on top of buttercream.

13. Brush sugar syrup all over cake, then crumb coat whole cake with a thin layer of buttercream to seal in cake crumbs so they will not get in the way during final coating, you may freeze crumb coated cake for about 15min before doing final thick coating.
14. Layer an even coat round sides of cake. (I left out the top since I will be piping on roses.) Spoon chocolate rice on to side of frosted cake.

15. Spoon remaining buttercream into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe the roses on the cake top, starting from outer layer to inner layer. Refrigerate and enjoy.

Cocoa Buttercream Frosting
120g salted or unsalted butter, softened (use good butter pls! I used Lurpak salted butter)
30g icing sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder

1. Place butter into a mixing bowl, cut into smaller cubes and let it soften a little before beating.
2. Beat butter and icing sugar on low speed. Turn up speed when icing sugar has been blended with butter.
3. Beat till butter is smooth, add cocoa powder and continue to beat till buttercream is smooth, creamy and firm enough to hold its shape when piped.