Thursday, October 6, 2011

Challenge #5: Baby, I Don't Love You Cupcakes


I was in my hometown of Lindsay last weekend for, not only our annual family weekend, but also for my Mom's 60th birthday. I brought The Icing On The Cupcake with me figuring I could let my Mon choose what cupcakes she would like me to bake, but also continue on with the challenge at hand.
Despite the name, my Mom chose Baby, I don't Love you Cupcakes, which turned out to be the taste of Fall that we were looking for.

1 egg, room tempurature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp finely ground sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup water
2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp potato (corn) starch

Preheat the oven to 325'. Place 12 paper liners into cupcake trays.
Whisk together oil sugar and molasses. 


Add eggs and mix until smooth. Stir in ginger


In a separate bowl combine flour, cinnamon, salt, potato starch and cloves

Add to the wet mixture and stir until just combined.
Bring water to a boil in small saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda (I swear there's baking soda in this picture, you just can't see it!)


Whisk the hot water into the batter until combined.
Pour into paper liners. Fill 3/4 of the way to the top. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes and then place on baking rack.


These smelled so good coming out of the oven! Just like freshly baked gingerbread! YUM!
Now, on to the Orange Flower Cream

1 pint whipping cream
1 tsp orange flower water
1 tbsp powdered sugar
pinch of cream of tarter

In a chilled bowl mix whipping cream with the orange flower water. Now I couldn't find orange flower water, so I opted to use orange oil. (I also added in some orange food colouring to give it a bit of a tint.
Add the sugar and cream of tarter gradually. Beat with an electric mixer until stiff. Frost cooled cupcakes.


The cream turned out to be orange whip cream which was delicious, but hard to frost, which is why they don't look like much.  But they were damn good! So good in fact, that the cupcakes for our trip didn't even last that long! I had to make more the next day!
If you are going to try out this recipe, I would suggest making at least a double batch! I know I will next time.

Challenge #4: Margaita, Hold The Salt


At the end of the summer I was invited over to a new friend's house for 'girly drinks'.
Since I wanted to make a good impression, I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to try a new cupcake challenge, and what better to make than Margarita, Hold The Salt cupcakes?

1/4 cup lime juice
1 1/2 tsp lime zest (1 lime)
1 cup soy milk (plain or vanilla)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp tequila
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp potato (corn) starch
1/2 tsp finely ground salt
1 pint fresh raspberries

Preheat the oven to 350'. Place 12 paper liners into cupcake trays.
In large bowl, mix together lime juice, lime zest, soy milk, oil, tequila, vanilla, potato starch and sugar.


 In a bowl, measure flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk or sift together to make sure they are thoroughly combined. Add dry ingredients to lime mixture and stir until just combined.


 Gently fold fresh raspberries into the batter with a rubber spatula *


 Pour into paper liners. Fill 3/4 of the way to the top. Bake for 20 to 24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes and then place on baking rack.


* I found that the raspberries were so large and juicy that the made the surrounding cake a bit mushy. In the future I would mash the raspberries up before putting them in.

Now, on to the good stuff; Tequila Lime Frosting
1/4 cup salted butter
1 tbsp soy milk
3 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp tequila
2 cups, plus more if needed, powdered sugar

Beat together butter, milk, lime juice, tequila and 2 cups powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. If the frosting is too thin, wait 5 minutes. It will thicken. If it's still too thin, add more sugar very slowly. The frosting should be stiff, but spreadable. If the frosting becomes too thick, add more lime juice or soy milk. As you can see, I also added green food colouring to mine to give it that margarita feel.


I also saved a few raspberries for garnish. Make sure to rinse them though or you'll get raspberry juice running down the sides of the icing.





Yes, they really were as tasty as they looked!


Challenge # 3: Blue Blood Special Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Custard


Have you forgotten about me? I promise I haven't forgotten about you. Things have been crazy here in Braeby-land, but don't worry, cupcakes are still being made whenever I get the chance. 
The challenge has not been forgotten.
Back in the summer, I went to my boyfriend's family gathering and thought it would be nice to take some cupcakes with me. Of course, out came my favorite cupcake book, The Icing On The Cupcake, and into it's pages I dove looking for the perfect recipe for a family BBQ.
After much deliberation, I decided on Blue Blood Special Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Custard. That's a mouthful, isn't it?

1 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, room tempurature
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp finely ground salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups blueberries




Preheat oven to 375'. Place 12 paper liners into cupcake tray. Cream sugar and vegetable oil with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes.


Add eggs one at a time and mix until blended. 
Whisk together flour, salt and baking powder.
Alternating between flour mixture and milk, add them to batter. Start and end with flour mixture.
Mash 1/2 cup of blueberries. Fold them into the batter. Gently fold in the rest of the blueberries.


Pour batter into the paper liners and fill to the top.
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.


Cool for 5 minutes and then place on baking rack.
(I know, I know, I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I usually do. Sorry about that)

Now, onto the lemon curd.

zest of 2 lemons *
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter

*I would use less zest next time, it was a bit intense.

Place all your ingredients in a double boiler. If you don't have a double boiler (which I don't), place all ingredients into a temperature safe bowl. Place the bowl in a saucepan with 2 inches of water in the bottom.


Bring the water to a boil.
Stir ingredients until they thicken into a custard.


Place the lemon curd in the fridge to cool for 2 hours.
Frost cupcakes.


They don't look like much, but they sure were tasty! When we got them to the party, they were received so well that people were gone in 5 minutes! I will definitely make this recipe again.