Vanilla Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

I made these cupcakes for my little cousin who turned a big whooooooping 19 a few weeks ago. I think. She’s either 19 or 20.  But I’m putting my money on the former. Wait, she could have possibly turned 18…

I’ve lost count. T’is what happens when you surpass your mid twenties and head towards the ‘pushing 30’ end. You begin to forget your maths, sense of time, and even your literary skills – in fact the spell check on this is telling me that “T’is'” is not a real word, but I beg to differ! It’s clearly an amalgamation of ‘This’ and ‘Is’ which is how the Gen-I ‘ers are all talking nowadays, ain’t it?

I should probably add an exponential increase in temperament to the list as well.

Either way, Little Cousin turning 18-19-20ish has got me reminiscing back to my heydays of when I thought reaching 21 was ‘old’ and that my freedom of life was going to end by say the age 25. Young BubblyBaker, you had a lot to learn. You still have a lot to learn.

 

 

Anyway, I decided to make a quick list of all the things I wish I had of known believed when I was 19.

– The first week of Uni is always redundant. Skip it and go to the beach instead! (To all my little cousins reading this, um, action at your own risk!!! No, I kid. Maybe ignore this point).
– Pick up a beater. Don’t be scared. The Kitchen is not a foreign place.
– Be more consistent with study habits. Less cramming, more organising. (Although I know that even if I tattooed this onto my 19 year old self, it would have had no effect whatsoever).
– Work less. Embrace the expected poor University student status and be a bum!
– Have faith in Harry Potter movies. They will get better.
– Spend as much time doing nothing with your friends. There’s going to come a point in your lives when commitments and life takes over, and there won’t be moments where you and your friends can drive to the local maccas to get yourself a soft serve cone at 3am in the morning.
and finally
– The Oprah Show is going to end! Watch as many episodes as you can!

So Little Cousin, Happy 19th or 20th Birthday 🙂 (I decided with what little logic I have left in my aging brain that you can’t be turning 18)

I hope you enjoyed your belated birthday cupcakes.  And Study Hard!!! 🙂 🙂

I used my usual go to recipe for the Vanilla Cupcakes. Without fail they always turn out fluffy and light, and they also keep quite well too.

Then as requested by Birthday Girl, I teamed it up with some raspberry buttercream which I made by adding some frozen raspberries to a standard buttercream mixture. I also made some marshmallow fondant roses which I stuck onto the cupcakes – I’ll include a  more descriptive post re: fondant in the future, but for now:

Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

Very generously frosts 12 cupcakes

170 grams of butter softened
2 1/2 cups to 3 cups of icing sugar (depending on how well you drain the raspberries)
1/3 cup of raspberries (if frozen, defrost and drain as best as you can)
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

– Beat the butter until smooth
– Add 2 cups of sifted icing sugar
– Beat to combine
– Add in vanilla essence and raspberries
– Beat until combined. If too watery to pipe, add in more icing sugar until the desired consistency is achieved.

Enjoy 🙂

Engagement Cupcakes

My friend’s going to the Chapel and she’s, she’s gonna get maaaarrrrieeeeedd!!

and then in three weeks time…

My other friend’s going to the Chapel and she’s, she’s also gonna get maaaarrrrieeeeedd!!

and then in 5 months time,

My other other friend’s going to the Chapel and she’s, she’s ya ya ya you get the drill 😉

It seriously seems as though alllllll of my friend’s are getting hitched! But that of course just means more cupcakes, yayyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!

This weekend I had the opportunity to bake delicious cupcakes for Lena’s Engagement, who requested Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting… [here]

…. and also Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting… [here] !

I initially had wanted to dress the baby cakes up with marshmallow fondant however as mister marshmallow fondant man and myself have not met, danger-red-flashing-lights-tears-tantrums-psychosis may have resulted, and so I felt it was safer to go for a sugar biscuit topping 🙂

I had so much fun making these. Lena, thanks for trusting me with your Engagement Babycakes, and Congrats to you and S 🙂

Vanilla Cupcakes
Recipe taken from Glorious Treats
Makes 12 Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups cake flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup buttermilk

– Preheat oven to 180 degrees C

– In a medium bowl, add cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir together with whisk, and set aside.

– In the bowl of an electric mixer, add eggs and beat 10-20 seconds.  Add sugar and continue to beat on medium speed about 30 seconds.  Add vanilla and oil, beat.

– Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add about half of the flour mixture.  Add half of the milk, then the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk.  Beat until just combined.  Scrap down the side of the bowl.

– The batter will be thin.   Pour batter into a muffin pan prepared with paper liners.  Fill liners about 2/3 full.

– Bake cupcakes in pre-heated oven for 12-14 minutes.

– Cool completely before frosting.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Very generously frosts 12 cupcakes

115 grams of butter softened
2 1/2 cups of icing sugar
1/3 cup of strawberry jam
2-3 tblspns of milk

– Beat the butter until smooth
– Add 1 cup of sifted icing sugar
– Beat to incorporate
– Add in 1 tblspn of milk, and beat to incorporate.
– Add another 1 cup of sifted sugar, beat again.
– Add in another 1 tblspn of milk and the rest of the sugar and beat to combine
– Stir or beat in the strawberry  jam (the strawberry jam I had was very runny, however if you find your jam is more jelly-like, put in microwave for a few seconds so that it becomes viscous)
– Frost your babies up!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

1 1/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 tspn baking soda
1/2 tspn salt
1/8 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup buttermilk (as per usual, I didn’t have buttermilk so I used 1/2 tblspn of white vinegar with 1/2 cup of room temperature milk)
1 large egg, preferably at room temperate
1 tblspn of red food coloring
1/2 tspn of white vinegar
1/2 tspn of vanilla extract

– Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.
– In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder)
– In a large bowl, beat together the wet ingredients (oil, buttermilk, egg, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla) with a hand held beater.
– Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, and beat until combined.
– Bake for 20 minutes, making sure to the turn the muffin tin half way through.
– Cool completely before frosting.

I used my standard cream cheese frosting which you can find the recipe for here.

Have fun! 🙂

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Last week, one of my closest friends turned 26. He’s one of my last friends to turn 26 as almost all (including myself) turned 26 last year in 2011. This year in 2012, we celebrate almost 13 years of friendship, with probably the last 8 being the most significant. I remember when we were 13 we use to walk to highschool together. Then when we were 18, he use to drive us both to University, and now at 26, we often catch the train together into the City for work.

He’s somebody I can always count on. Somebody who will always tell me the truth, even when it’s probably something I don’t want to hear.

Today, I made these Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting for him. I made them because he’s a treasured friend, and also because he’s been hassling me to bake him something for the past year 😉

Happy Birthday Narng 🙂