Milo Cupcakes with Condensed Milk Frosting

This weekend I was forced to bid farewell to daylight savings here in Melbourne. I think it’s such a sad occasion that it completely deserves a proceeding public holiday or at least a Government funded “here, have a free cupcake day” or something.

But in all honesty I can’t complain too much. We did have a pretty spectacular summer here – sunny and beautiful days, warm and balmy nights; summer perfection. Which sort of half explains the lack of posts here – too beautiful outside to spend time in the kitchen and definitely too hot to use the oven! But alas, the all too familiar BubblyBaker insanity has restored itself in the face of the rapidly approaching cold and gloomy Melbourne winter, which in BubblyBaker world can really only mean one thing – the justification for warm and delicious comfort food (huzzah)!

And so by comfort foods, what I really mean is copious amounts of chocolate. And by chocolate, I mean hot chocolate, and by hot chocolate I’m really talking about –

Ok, you get the point 😛

So in preparation for the very cold and dreary mornings ahead, I decided to make these fluffy milo cupcakes frosted with sweetened condensed milk. As recommended by RaspberriCupcakes I left mine in the oven slightly longer than instructed as per the recipe to achieve a more crusty top, and as the batter included sour cream, leaving the cupcakes longer in the oven didn’t affect the moisture of the batter at all – it still came out moist, soft and fluffy! Yummo!
Forewarning though; these cupcakes are ridiculously rich (from the frosting!) and so I highly recommend you down one with either a glass of milk, a glass of water, or if you’re as crazy as myself, a mug of milo 🙂

Milo Cupcakes
Recipe taken from Raspberri Cupcakes
Makes 24 mini cupcakes, and 4 regular sized cupcakes (or approx. 14 cupcakes)

200g plain flour
200g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
100g Milo (I added about 150 grams of milo)
1 tsp vanilla extract
180g sour cream
170g unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs

– Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
– Fill cupcake tray with liners.
– Using a food processor, place  all ingredients into the food processor (flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarb, Milo, vanilla, sour cream, butter, sour cream and eggs) pulse until the mixture is combined and smooth
– Fill cupcake liners until 3/4 full and bake for approx 15-20 mins or a skewer inserted into the centre of a cupcake comes out clean.
– Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting the babies

Condensed Milk Frosting
Makes just enough to generously frost the cupcakes

150g unsalted butter, softened
250 g icing sugar, sifted (increase as required)
6 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
milk (as required)

– Beat the butter until fluffy
– Add the icing sugar into the butter and mix to incorporate
– Add condensed milk into the mixture and beat to combine
– If the mixture is too soft then add more icing sugar. If it is too thick to pipe, add milk by the tablespoon to thin the icing out.
– Frost those babies up!

Have fun 😀

Carrot Cake

Have you ever wondered what kind of noise a Panda bear makes?

I’ve been influenced to think that they roar, however I’m not too sure. I’ve never been fortunate enough to face a panda in real life, but I assume they would make cute, little fuzzy sounds, no?

Regardless, I think panda bears are the cutest thing in this world. If you disagree, must I remind you about this clip on youtube. Watch it and tell me you didn’t just fall in love with these fluffy animals.

They’re so furry and cute, I want to take one home and feed it steak and brownies and bamboo and cheesecake. I’d give it teddy bear cuddles daily, call it Boo, and I’ll teach him how to play ball.

I swear, I’m not that crazy 😛

But I should probably add something related to carrots in this post, just so the photos aren’t completely redundant.

Someone fairly awesome told me that carrots help you see at night. I figured this could only mean one thing – carrot cake consumption is inversely proportional to the number of times the pinkie toe gets assaulted by the corner of the bed. So save your pinkie toe; bake more carrot cake!! 😀

Oh, and just because,

Apologies for the random post – I promise to be slightly more sane next time 😛

Carrot Cake 
Recipe slightly adapted from Donna Hay

1 1/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup of vegetable oil
3 eggs (preferably at room temperature)
1 1/2 cups of plain flour
1 1/2 tspns of baking powder
1 tspn of bicarbonate soda
1 tspn of ground cinnamon
1/2 tspn of ground ginger
2 1/2 to 3 cups of grated carrots (I usually always end up with almost 3 cups)
3/4 cup of chopped walnuts (you can also vary this pending on how much crunch you’d like)
3/4 cups of sultanas (you can limit this down to 1/2 a cup if you’re not too big a fan of sultanas – I also like to wash my sultanas in water beforehand and massage them a little to soften them up a bit)

–  Preheat oven to 180C.  Grease and line the bottom and sides of the tin with baking paper.
– Beat the oil and brown sugar together
– Add the eggs gradually one at a time, beating well between each addition
– Sift onto the mixture the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and ground ginger
– Add in the carrot, chopped pecans, and sultanas
– Mix with a metal spoon until just combined (the more you mix, the tougher and less moist the cake will be, so don’t overmix :))
– Bake for about 55-60 mins or until a toothpick into the center comes out clean

Have fun!

Orange Chiffon Cake

When I was four years old, there was only one person in my life who I wanted to be friends with. Actually, there were two. The first was Gumby (yes, he was considered a person to me at that age), and the second was Monkey Magic.

Monkey Magic was cool.

He was half a monkey, had a pig as a mate, and rode clouds while fighting villains. Yep, super cool.

Here’s a photo of him and his friends. Monkey Magic’s the one in the red, second from your left. Even his stance is cool. I watched his show religiously and most likely understood none of it as it was in a completely different language, but I guess the level of one’s coolness doesn’t need words 😛

Anyway, this post isn’t all about Monkey Magic, however there is a relationship between him and this cake. It goes something like this;

Monkey Magic rides clouds > clouds are fluffy > cake was fluffy > cake like cloud > cloud is Monkey Magic.

(It did sound more logical in my head)

Anyway, before I start digging myself an even bigger hole – let’s get started on this cake!

This chiffon cake is super fluffy, light, and soooo soft! Like cotton! Pillows! Or clouds! Or Baby Bear’s bed that Goldilocks fell asleep in!

Hold on – excuse me a minute while I climb out of my hole.

Ok – back to reality.

This cake was perfect on its own, however if you have a bit of an extra sweet tooth you could definitely ice some orange glaze over it, or even some orange flavoured buttercream frosting.

It’s not too difficult to make, however you do need to be careful with your meringue component – make sure your equipment is completely clean of any grease so that the meringue can aerate as much as possible. This will ensure your cake rises properly and is soft and fluffy.

I also recommend you overbeat your egg yolk mixture than not. I’m not too sure of the technicalities of this, but I know that the first time I made this cake, I didn’t beat the egg yolks enough and the cake turned out significantly more dense.

Anyway, this cake was super fun to make, not too messy, and produced great results, so all in all, I give it a bubblybaker thumbs up! 😀

Orange Chiffon Cake
Recipe taken from Sea Salt with Food
I used an 8 inch (20cm) angel food tin and doubled the recipe below to get a nice tall cake

4 Large Egg Yolks
15 g caster sugar
50 ml Vegetable Oil
50 ml Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
70 g Cake Flour, sifted
Zest of 2 Oranges

Meringue
80g caster sugar
8 g corn flour
4 Large Egg Whites

– Position the rack on lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 160˚C.
– 



Place the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl, and beat well.
– Add oil, orange juice, and vanilla extract and stir to incorporate with a whisk.
– Add flour and orange zest; mix well, until the batter becomes sticky.

Make the meringue
– Combine sugar and corn flour.
– Beat the egg whites until foamy.
– Add half the sugar and continue beating for a few minutes, then add remaining sugar and beat until egg whites are glossy and stiff peaks form.

– Add one-third of meringue into the egg yolk mixture and fold in lightly, then add remaining meringue and fold to incorporate completely.
– Pour batter into an ungreased angel cake tube pan.
– Bake for 50 to 55 minutes. When cake is done, remove from the oven and turn it over, leaving it to cool for about an hour. Once the cake is cool completely, carefully run a knife or spatula around the sides of the cake to loosen it before inverting onto a wire rack

Have fun 😀

My First Bloggiversary!

How quickly my BubblyBaker baking adventures have gone by! I cannot believe it has already been a whole year since I started this entire thing and I am soooo super-duper-words-cannot-possibly-describe-exactly-how-friggin-excited I am that you have ridden this journey with me!

I still remember publishing my very first post (here) and getting all ‘I wanna put my hands up in the air and dance’ happy at getting 1 visitor!! (I actually had 2 views on the very first day, but Jess doesn’t count :P) So whoever you were, my dear first ever blog view, you will never know how much I appreciated your most likely accidental visit onto my page – you gave me hope and a goal to reach more than 2 views in a day 🙂

To my AMAZING friends – you know who you are – and my AWESOME family & cousins – you also know who you are – and my SUPER DUPER work colleagues, thank you for always being so supportive and eating whatever highly calorific delight I put in front of you! You guys keep me motivated to bake 🙂

I really REALLY also have to give a special mention to Lily, Ricky and Susan for bestowing upon me the most beautiful and most pretty, gift a bubbly baker could have, *cue holy music and shine on that bright spotlight*, a brand spanking new pastel yellow Kitchen Aid! (for those of you lucky enough to not be affected by the great inflation of shopping in Australia – these things are helllllla expensive here!!) Fuelling my baking addiction… I like it! 😀To all my Virtual Friends that I have been lucky enough to make so far – I am so thrilled to be a part of this baking community with you and even more happy to know that I am not alone in this crazy baking world. You bakerholics keep this borderline psychotic BubblyBaker sane, so thank you 😀 😀

And finally, to You – my anonymous reader!
Thank you for dropping by, for looking at my photos, reading my words (or not 😛), and sharing all my baking adventures with me. I sincerely appreciate your visit 🙂

Now… on to the cake!

I ended up making a soft, fluffy vanilla cake and filled it with some tart lemon curd, then frosted the entire thing with my new favourite frosting EVER – swiss meringue buttercream! YUM!
The sweetness of the cake and frosting, teamed with the tartness of the lemon curd made it a perfect combination!  If however, you are not a fan of lemon curd, you could fill the cake with some whipped cream and jam, or even chocolate ganache (don’t forget to omit the lemon extract from the frosting too if you are going to do either of these). Either way, this cake was definitely fluffy and if you’re looking for a nice, easy vanilla cake, I highly recommend this one 😀

Fluffy Vanilla Cake

Recipe taken from Sweetapolita
Makes a 2-layer 8-inch cake

5 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
2 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups cake flour, sifted
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 tblspon + 1 tspn of baking powder
3/4 tspn of salt
170 grams of unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into cubes

– Preheat oven to 180C. Grease, line with parchment, and flour the two round 8-inch pans
– In a medium bowl, combine and stir the egg whites, 1/4 cup of milk and the vanilla. Set aside
– In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the dry ingredients together on low speed for about 30 seconds
– Add the butter and remaining milk into the dry mixture and mix on low speed until just combined
– Increase the speed to medium and mix for another 1.5 minutes
– Scrape the sides of the bowl and begin to add the egg mixture in 3 separate batches; beat on medium speed for about 20 seconds after each addition
– Divide the batter evenly between the two pans
– Bake between 25-35 minutes or until a skewer comes clean when inserted into the centre (I baked mine for about 45 mins before it was ready!)
– Allow to cool completely before frosting

Lemon Curd Filling
Fills one 6-inch cake. Double the recipe to generously fill an 8-inch cake

1 egg
1 egg yolk
80 grams of caster sugar
40 grams of chilled butter
zest and juice of 1 medium size lemon (increase this if you would more of a tang)

– Whisk the whole egg, yolk and sugar in a saucepan until smooth
– Place over low heat
– Add the butter, juice and zest and whisk continuously until thickened
– Strain through a sieve
– Allow to cool completely before filling the cake

Lemon Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Frosts one 6-inch cake. Double the quantity to generously frost an 8-inch cake

2 egg whites
1/2 plus 1/8 cup of sugar
170 grams of butter, cubed and at room temperature
1 tspn of lemon extract
1/2 tblspn of lemon zest (optional)

– Whisk the egg whites and sugar over a simmering pot of water until it reaches 160 degrees
– Transfer the mixture to a mixer and whisk on high for about 10 mins (or until the meringue reaches room temperature. The bowl should feel neutral/barely warm when touched).
– Add the butter, one cube at a time and continue mixing until all butter is incorporated
– Add in the lemon extract and zest and beat to combine
– Frost your cake up

Have fun! 🙂

Salted Dulce de Leche Chocolate Cake

A couple of my closest friends absolutely adore the movie, Forrest Gump. One of them in particular loves to do a ‘Bubba’ whenever we’re around crustaceans.

Quietly, for those unaware – imagine sweet Asian girl with the straightest black hair you can imagine in an overly emphasized heavy Southern American accent saying things like;  “I love shrimp on ev’rythang, shrimp noodles, shrimp on toast, shrimp in pie… shrimp on just ’bout ev’rythang”. (Here’s looking at you, Limbo :P)

Truth be told, Bubba almost had something going. Almost. I think he would have hit the jackpot if he talked about condensed milk instead.

For example, when I was a kid and had no care or awareness about the effects of bad sugars, I loved condensed milk on bread, or condensed milk with avocado, or condensed milk in milo, condensed milk with cereal… condensed milk with just about everything!

And now? Well, the Dentist has the potential to burn big holes in my wallet and so I’ve had to semi sever ties with condensed milk, but I still love it very much 🙂

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you boiled a can of beautiful, smooth, sweetened condensed milk for a few hours?

Heaven?
Yes, subjectively, you are quite correct (and can we be friends forever?)
But just in case this question comes up on a random trivia night (and because I really do want to be friends forever with you), you actually get this scrumptious, thick, caramel-like thing, known as Dulce de Leche.

It tastes a lot like caramel, only a lot more thick and creamy. Pair it with some sea salt and I’m almost certain even Bubba would have liked it on ev’rythang 😛

I ended up using some dulce de leche with my go to chocolate cake (which can be found here) frosted with some more dulce de leche swiss meringue buttercream.

The end result is a cake that is entirely indulgent, decadent, sweet, and oh so beautiful. The sweet and salty dulce de leche compliments the almost bitter chocolate cake so well that it’s very easy to go back for seconds.

Just don’t blame me if you end up finding some smoking holes in your wallet 😛

Dulce de Leche Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Slightly adapted from The Foodie Bride
Frosts a 6-inch cake

2 egg whites
1/2 plus 1/8 cup of sugar
170 grams of butter, cubed and at room temperature
1/3 cup of dulce de leche 

– Whisk the egg whites and sugar over a simmering pot of water until it reaches 160 degrees
– Transfer the mixture to a mixer and whisk on high for about 10 mins (or until the meringue reaches room temperature. The bowl should feel neutral/barely warm when touched).
– Add the butter, one cube at a time and continue mixing until all butter is incorporated
– Add in the dulce de leche and mix until combined and fluffy
– Frost your cake up 🙂

Note: For the dulce de leche that I spread between the chocolate cake, I added in about 1teaspoon of sea salt. You can vary this amount depending on how salty you would like your dulce de leche.

Enjoy 🙂

 

 

 

 

Lemon and Poppyseed Cake

Yellow would be the colour that I’d want to spend the rest of my life with.

It reminds me of summer, happiness and freedom.

It smells like sunflowers, feels like warmth, and tastes like…….. durian-jackfruit-mangoes-passionfruit-custard-lemons-CAKE!! Vanilla cake, sponge cake, cheesecake, banana cake, pound cake, cake, cake, cake!

My deep affection for Yellow gets a bit crazy sometimes. Especially when it’s summer and the weather’s hot, and you have a couple of blindingly bright lemons balancing precariously next to the beaters which just happen to be plugged in and practically screaming to be used. Slowly nudge the stick of butter, sugar and flour in to the picture and suffice to say I think we may have a problem new baking adventure! yeeehawww!

Let me introduce to you, the fruits of my… one crazy, very yellow, summer afternoon!

“The Lemon and Poppyseed Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting”. Which I think should really be named;

The Bright Tangy Full of Sunshine Lemon and Poppyseed Cake with Even More Brighter and Tangier Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting!

Yahoo! Ok, so although this cake was definitely bursting full of lemon flavour, it was a little too dense for my liking and so I won’t be posting up the recipe I used. Instead, I’ll be looking forward to more lemony happy times to try find the perfect fluffy and moist lemon and poppyseed cake to share with you all.

So until then, happy drooling perusing through the piccies and I’ll be back next week with some more engagement cupcakes! 🙂