Cinnamon Chocolate Cupcakes

So this weekend I made cupcakes. There wasn't much in the house to play around with, and I wasn't feeling particularly inspired by any one recipe anyway, but I just wanted to bake something. So, after looking through countless cupcake recipes that all looked delish, and rejecting them because they called for sour cream, yoghurt, buttermilk and etc, I finally found a recipe that called for basic, simple ingredients that I had at home. Got the basic cupcake recipe here, and, was inspired by a bar of expensive but absolutely delish Green and Black's Maya Gold Dark Chocolate, to add a little something to the recipe. The bar is 55% cocoa, so it's not extremely dark, which is nice, and its scented with a light spice mix of nutmeg and cinammon, and a hint of orange flavour. Check out their gorgeous website here. So I added about a tablespoon of ground cinnamon to the recipe, and the hint of spice in the cake was just totally excellent. I topped them with a dark chocolate frosting of butter, cocoa powder and icing sugar, with a half-tablespoon of cinnamon for good measure, and it was just yummy. I really love the way these turned out. :)

Well, this weekend was quite a food-filled one, I made Dark Chocolate-Orange Muffins, Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies, and I tasted a reallllly good cheesecake/brownie thing, and I discovered the greatest thing to snack on. All in just three days. This was one goood weekend, food/kitchen-wise.

The muffins, sadly, could have been better. Taste-wise they were really good; the orange flavour really strong, and the dark chocolate providing a rich but not too sweet foil to the zestiness. They were, however, a little tough, which I at first thought was because I'd mixed them too much, because I'd doubled the recipe to make enough for all the people my mother had "pre-allocated" them to, but then, when I made another half-batch, being careful to not overmix them, they were still tough. sigh. i don't know why. they taste good if you microwave them, though.

The chocolate bits inside get all nice and melty, and yummy. Or, if you don't have a microwave (or are too lazy to put them on a plate that you will have to wash, and walk down one floor and up again), you can blast them with a hairdryer. It works, really!

So, I guess, overall they weren't a complete failure.


The next thing I did were Cinammon Oatmeal Cookies, whilst waiting for the football match to start. These were a bigger success, although it really didn't seem so at first. The recipe called for coconut and oatmeal, but I didn't want coconutty cookies, so I omitted them, which I didn't think would be an issue. Then, the recipe said to drop rounded teaspoons on the sheet, but they expanded to a huuuge size, then flattened to wafer-thinness. I thought it might be because the lack of coconut might have made the dough too thin, so I added two tablespoons more of flour, and reduced the size of the dough balls to half a teaspoon. They didnt get so big (duh), but they were still quite thin, and they were a tad too sweet yesterday night. but today, they taste really good. buttery and chewy, and fragrant with cinnamon and butter. yumm.


So, those were what I made this weekend. what I ate, though, will be another post, because I just have to move on to my work now. buggers.

B Bakery

Went to B Bakery with M this afternoon, after reading good things about its Sticky Buns in 8Days. Whilst I wouldn't say that we had trouble per se looking for the place, we did have quite a trek from the MRT station, and under the blistering sun no less. But I am happy to say that it was more than worth it. As there were only two of us, we only ordered 3 items, the Passion Fruit Cheesecake, Chestnut Opera, and, of course, the reason for our out-of-the-way travels, the Sticky Bun. All were fantastic. The photos in this post are all abyssmally terrible, thanks to a 1.3megapixel phone camera and insufficient lighting (sufficient for dining, but insufficient for photo-taking, that is), but I will definitely return, because it is of utmost importance that I take good photos of the food, of course. Definitely not because I'm a glutton and am already planning what to eat next time..
Well, on to the food, then.

M's cheesecake was rich and creamy in texture, but deliciously tangy and fruity, making it rich and light at the same time, paradoxical as that sounds. Another nice thing about it is that it looks just like a piece of normal cheesecake, so the first bite is startlingly delicious, the tangy passionfruitiness rather unexpected. I took of a corner of it before remembering to take a photo, and M had already begun eating from her side, so you'll just have to see it from this picture of the dessert case: it's the yellow rectangular slice, fourth from the left on the middle shelf. Yes, the picture is almost useless as an illustration of the cheesecake, but it shows many of the other lovely desserts that B Bakery sells: (from left) a meringue tart; perhaps lemon meringue, strawberry shortcake, tiramisu, passionfruit cheesecake, chocolate raspberry tart, apricot tart and pear tart. See why I already can't wait to go back? They also have a verrry delish-looking chocolate-lemon slice (i can't remember the name), bight yellow sandwiched between layers of seductively dark chocolate that is on my must-try list.
Also not in the picture is the Chestnut Opera, which I ordered, primarily because of its lovely, glossy, mirror-smooth top layer of chocolate.

Just look at it! All smooth and glossy and perfect, and all those brown, creamy-looking layers stacked on each other, looking oh so mmm-some.

The Opera was basically, from the bottom up, a base layer of nutty cake, followed by chestnut cream/mousse, chocolate mousse, then cake, chestnut, chocolate, and that gorgeous top layer. The top layer, I am glad to say, was pretty much as good as it looked, oozy sweet and chocolatey good, and the chocolate mousse layers were good too, light, yet rich, creamy and chocolatey. The chestnut layers were nice and nutty, although the overall chestnut flavour was a little too subtle. Overall, I wouldn't say I didn't like this; I did, but it could have been better.



Well, last, but definitely not last is the Sticky Bun:
It isn't very evident in the photo, but the bun is coated in a glossy, dark, layer of lovely, lovely glaze, not the typical white-sugar glaze that covers most cinnamon buns, but an absolutely fantastic brown sugar-esque glaze that is so good it pretty much defies description. The word that springs to mind is just, dark. And if I were to compare it to a familiar flavour, it would be gula melaka—it has that dark, almost bitter kind of flavour to it. The bun itself was a little dry, the best part was the very middle, where it was moist and springy. The texture of the bread was a little on the coarse side, not like the denser, yeastier chewy sort of texture most cinnamon buns are made of. I would have preferred a chewier sort of bread, but this was good, too.

The B Bakery also serves sandwiches, salads, and pizzas (on Fridays), so I really am looking forward to going back there with a biiiig appetite, so I can try more of their menu.

After M and I were done.

B Bakery
15 Bussorah Street
(Near Arab Street and Golden Landmark Hotel)
Nearest MRT: Bugis

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I recently discovered this website, which features really cool cooking videos. Not that i think people really need guidance to this extent, but it's fun in the sense that you can watch a sort of food tv on your computer. So anyway, they had a really nice-sounding/looking recipe for chocolate chip cookies, the chewy kind, here, and the comments were all very positive. I also liked the fact that they explain why certain things are done, which satisfies my inner 'why why'.
So anyway, i decided to give this recipe a try, but to substitute chocolate chunks instead of chips because i wanted that decadent meltiness in my cookies.
Then, i got home, and realised that i didn't have any brown sugar, but i remembered reading somewhere that most brown sugars are just white sugars with molasses added. No, i didn't have molasses, and no, i don't know if that is actually true, because if it is, then all those people who avoid white, refined sugar and eat brown sugars instead are sure not getting the whole picture. but anyway. i found the remnants of a jar of black treacle that i used to make Gingerbread Men, so i figured, with a few changes, i'd be good to go.

The end product was, well, not as good as i'd expected it to be, but that's probably in part due to my changes, because the cookies are too sweeeet. probably should have put less sugar, and not used the chocolate i did—cadbury milk chocolate. as a chocolate it is rather sweet, so next time i'll definitely use a different one. the good thing about this cookie is that it is quite chewy in the middle, as advertised, so that makes me happy.

Well, for those interested, here's my recipe:

• 3/4 cup butter, (converts to about 168g)
  
• 1 cup white sugar (better to use 3/4 cup)
  
• 2 tbsp black treacle
  
• 3/4 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 whole egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda (aka bicarbonate of soda)
  
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chunks

Melt butter in microwave and let it cool til it solidifies. This part takes quite some time, so i let my melted butter sit in a big bowl of cold water with some ice.
[melting the butter and letting it cool is what gives the cookies their chewiness, according to the recipe. watch the video for more info.]
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 160ºC and sift the flour and baking soda together.
Scoop the butter into a big bowl and cream it with the sugar and the black treacle until fluffy.
Add the egg and egg yolk, and vanilla essence, and continue to beat until well incorporated.
Add the dry ingredients and mix til a soft dough forms, then fold in the chocolate chunks.
Use a tablespoon to scoop heaping spoonfuls of dough, roll into mounds and place on nonstick or oiled trays and bake til golden brown. Don't bake for too long or a crispy top will form and it gives the cookie a rather strange texture.

Just wondering, if the suffix -ies is generally to 'pluralise' words that end with -y, then why do we write many cookies and one cookie, not one cooky?

The purple container is a Tupperware container that is totally cool.
It expands and collapses accordion-style, so that storage is really easy.

Cupcakes Galore

Seeing as how I spend many moments during work clicking around looking at food-related things, it isn't really surprising that I plan my baking/cooking schedule during work-time. Sadly, it isn't often that I get to bake two days in a row, since it does take time for the stuff to get eaten. This week, however, has been different.

On Sunday I made the One-Bowl Buttermilk Chocolate Cupcakes that I've been eyeing for a few weeks—I finally got around to buying buttermilk. They tasted okaay, if a little on the slightly dry side. I left them alone, but I was not very happy with them, since they were not "light and moist" as described. When I woke up on Monday, however, I woke up thinking that something on the top would take care of the dry problem. So I found a vanilla buttercream recipe and added cocoa powder to it, ending up with a reallly good, yummy, chocolatey cream to top my cupcakes with. yum.

Then, yesterday were pretty, fun Confetti Cupcakes made for M and my cousins. rather funny that the same thing can make both an almost-20-year old and two preschoolers so happy. Yes, M is rather perplexingly enamoured with coloured sprinkles and 100s-and-1000s. go figure. but well, whatever makes a person happy, right?

The recipe calls for vanilla and almond essences, but I know M doesn't like almond essence, so I put lemon zest instead, and topped them with lemon buttercream. The two elements tasted pretty good on their own, but together, somehow, it didn't quite work. They were a little better the next day, but still, they didn't taste as good as they looked.

I don't have a picture of the inside, because I finished one before I realised why I even picked it up to eat in the first place. Not that they were that good, I was just preoccupied with other things. For both a picture of the inside, and the recipe, check here.

When I gave them to M today, we both agreed that the chocolate ones were better. She even asked me for more, making me a very happy girl. I came home, with only one cupcake left after giving them to the various people, and a very good excuse to bake more cupcakes.

So here are the yummy chocolate cupcakes, complete with that mmmm-mmmm chocolate frosting. It's a testament to how good it is that my mother, who usually hates frostings and such, was scraping the bowl with her finger and eating the last bits.

Another happy thing: I tried the 'cone' method of filling cupcakes today, and wow, it's really fun. and cool.
and a really nice plus point is that, for people like me, who sometimes only get to eat one out of 12 of the cupcakes i bake, there's lots of soft cake to eat. :)

rich, chocolatey frosting topped with 100s and 1000s

pretty swirl!

happy yy.

Cherry Chocolate Muffins

Bought about 250g of cherries at Carrefour the other day whilst I was shopping for my lunch-ingredients, without even knowing what i was going to do with them. they just looked so gorgeous that i had to get them.




On the way home, I decided to make muffins with them, and decided to add dark chocolate to the mix. So I pitted and halved about 3/4 of them, and grated the rest into a pulp, and chopped up about 3/4 of a small bar of Cadbury's Old Gold Dark Chocolate—which was the only thing 7-11 had. the muffins came out well enough, even though they seemed too wet at first. When i broke the first one apart, I thought I was doomed never to make successful fruit cupcakes. However, after sitting for awhile, they became pretty damn good.

So good, in fact, that they were all gone by this morning—I made them last night. And so good that my mother called me to tell me she'd ordered cherries, and that I should get the rest of the ingredients needed for more cupcakes. haha. this from my mother, who doesn't even like cakes and stuff very much.

So for this batch, I added more sugar, since my mother complained that they weren't sweet enough, and quartered the cherries instead of halving them, since my mother said that there needed to be cherries in every bite, instead of a big chunk or three here and there and none elsewhere. Also added a few drops of almond essence, since I thought that that would complement the cherries and the chocolate. But, as I was leery of adding too much, I ended up putting too little, and the almond-y scent I'd been aiming for was pretty much nonexistent. But, all in all, am quite happy with these muffins: they're sweet and buttery, with a nice, springy texture, creamy and darkly sweet from the chocolate, juicy and tart from the cherries. the only thing is, the batter itself has no cherry flavour or fruitiness, despite the almost half a kilo of cherries i grated in. but, they are nice and moist. plus, the fruit chunks give them a really nice look.



Drizzled with dark chocolate on the top—yumm.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Chunk Muffins

Aand the muffin saga continues, with today's foray into chocolate-hazelnut studded muffins.



Aren't they pretty? okay, maybe not pretty per se, but they look pretty inviting. haha. i think it's just chocolate in general that has the ability to make everything look inviting/enticing.
So why chocolate-hazelnut chunk? basically because i bought a square of riter-sport milk chocolate hazelnut and didn't feel like eating it like that. it was actually a toss-up between daim-studded muffins and choc-hazelnut, but i figured those hard caramel pieces in daim wouldn't taste very good after being baked. so, chocolate hazelnut it was.

the muffin recipe is basically the same as the jam one, with some changes

Ingredients:
75g butter, melted
3/4 cup (plus a bit) milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/4 cup self-raising flour
a bit less than 1/4 cup caster sugar (the smallest measurement my cup has is 1/4, but less than that, cos of the chocolate..somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 cup)
1 slab of Riter-Sport Milk Chocolate and Hazelnut, room temperature

Preheat oven to 180°C.
-Cut up the chocolate into smallish chunks, and place aside.
-Whisk together milk, egg and vanilla essence.
-Sift SRFlour into bowl, and mix the sugar in, then make a well in the middle.
-Pour the melted butter and the milk mixture in and mix. Whilst still lumpy, add in the chocolate and continue to mix, but be careful not to overmix.
-Ladle into muffin tins, almost to the top, then bake until they rise and turn golden brown.
(I can't really give you very detailed/specific instructions for baking time, since i use a microwave oven, but it's pretty obvious when they're done).
-Remove and place onto cooling rack, drizzle with tempered chocolate if desired. (or if, unlike me, you have extra plain chocolate to melt)

i suggest eating one whilst it's still fresh from the oven, or toasting it when you want to eat it, because when the chocolate is all nice and melty, mmmmm-mmmm-good. haha.

yumm.

Freddo

alrighties, let's get down to the real first post, shall we?
today's post is going to be about....freddo!

for the uninitiated, freddo is a cadbury product—chocolate frogs in a variety of flavours: plain, strawberry, white chocolate, peppermint, and even crunchie, much to the delight of M.

my favourites are strawberry and peppermint. (just in case you're ever stuck for ideas regarding what to get me for my birthday/christmas)
sadly, though, they're hell to find in Singapore. the only ones that are more or less easily available here are the plain and white ones. te strawberry ones and the peppermint, i've only seen at Candy Empire's pick-n-mix. and it's bleddy expensive. about 75cents for one chocolate frog. but they're damned yummy.
we all know what cadbury's milk chocolate tastes like, but imagine it paired with sweet, gooey strawberry creme. mmm. something about that fake-strawberry taste brings out a lovely buttery taste in the chocolate.
and the peppermint. this is good because it is so minty. no pansy-assed faint mintiness for freddo, no indeedy. the filling is lovely and oozy and oh so pepperminty. perfect foil to the chocolate. mm.
another plus for me is the way the freddos look. i like to break off the head and eat it first, and when you do that, you see the bright green or pink filling oozing gently out of the middle, contrasting with the brown of the chocolate. pretty.

in celebration of finding my freddos (the last time i went, Candy Empire was out) i've bought some this week, so if you're reaaaaaaaallly nice to me, i might just share. (might only ah, don't say i promised!)