I'll stop the world and melt with you

So here I am, armed with nothing more than a cuppa organic green tea and some John Mayer, my laptop snugly resting on my lap (no pun intended) and my swanky little Olympus camera uploading photos of my latest baking adventure and it's a saturday night. I rather enjoy the feeling of sitting homealone and baking, then slowly cleaning up and doing nothing really. The excuse for sitting back and doing nothing is that I've completed part one of my essay so yes, here's a break for me! =) Back in the race tomorrow.

Anyway, like I said before, I'm sick of cupcakes. I want something small-er and crunchy, simple and home-y and wickedly buttery and melty...yeah you get my drift. So amidst my research on the Cold War (don't ask...), I decided to search for recipes that used limes. I'm going through this thing called a lime-phase as my sister so aptly puts it. So today I had Lime marinated chicken for lunch and now I am proud to say that I have just baked Lime Meltaways courtesy of Darby Field Inn and Restaurant in Albany, New Hampshire.

The cookie batter was relatively easy to work with, meaning it wasn't too difficult to stir it about though it bordered on the 'alittletoosticky' side, but nothing a little oil on your hands wouldn't fix! The recipe calls to chill for an hour, I got lazy to wait and I was hungry so i chucked it in the fridge for 10 minutes and took it out to slice. Obviously leaving it in there for the stated amount of time would result in evenly shaped cookies but hey, mine weren't all that ugly, just had to use my fingers to flatten them abit. heh, hey! YOUR HANDS ARE USEFUL! =)

Oh yes, yesterday Fred and I happened to chance upon this Indian supermarket so I decided to look around while he decided on which mint he wanted.. peppermint or spearmint? I FOUND ROSE WATER! Figuring I'll never stumble on this place again I decided to get it! So, I took half of the cookie batter and mixed it with 3/4 tsp of rose water to try it out. The rose taste and smell was light, so maybe I might increase it the next time, but they did taste so pretty when i dipped with cookies in icing sugar. Like turkish delight and cookies all beautifully laced in one. OOOH. and I tinted the batter a light pink, talk about being girly. =)

Lime Meltaways
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp flour (I used Spelt flour)
2 tbsp cornstarch
zest of 2 limes
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt

1)Cream butter and 1/3 cup icing sugar until fluffy (it wont be as fluffy as a typical creamed butter&sugar mixture, remember you're using icing sugar)
2)Add lime, zest and vanilla and beat until fluffy
3)In another bowl, sift flours and salt
4)Add the flour mixture into the creamed butter and mix well
5)Between 2 8 by 12 inch baking paper, roll dough into 2 1/4 inch diameter log and chill for one hour
6)Heat oven to 170degree celciusm slice logs into 1/8 inch thick rounds and bake for 12-15 mins (barely golden)
7)cool the cookies (abt 10 mins) and put them in the remaining icing sugar and coat
*Read on for easy way outs!

OKAY! being the lazy bum that I am, I didn't bother measuring what the diameter of the logs were, I just rolled them to a size that I would like (about 2 mouthfuls) and sliced them to a thickness that I found easy to handle. I mean, I flattened them with my fingers after lining them on the baking sheet so I suppose it doesn't really matter. Unless you're a perfectionist. In which case, I'm not.=) heh. So yeah, It's about the FEELING. lol, gut-feeling. I found the cookies UN-lime-y enough so i made a glaze.

Lime Glaze
5 tbsp lime juice
Icing sugar (1-1 1/2 cups)

1) Mix well until the consistency that you like, adding more sugar if a thicker consistency is desired. Oh yes, and dont dip the cookies into the icing sugar if you decide to glaze them. I personally like 'em glazed better. SUGAR-SWEETGLAAAAZE. =)

Grasshoppers and White chocolate!

As promised, here's the update on how my Grasshopper attempt went. I took the chocolate cupcakes I had made previously and filled them with the Mint Pastry Cream via the Cone Method. heh, I didn;t know if I was meant to cut the bottom of the 'cone' off so that the filling wouldn't overflow so I tried it both ways. I liked cutting the bottom off better, alotalot neater and I got to eat the remnants! TEEHEE. okay, enough.

Next, after much searching, I found the perfect White Chocolate Buttercream frosting from Epicurious. It's sweet, naturally, since white chocolate is anything but NOT sweet...The frosting was luscious, very thick and creamy and retained the white chocolate taste. I know it's always best to use couverture chocolate, even more so in frosting but being a student on a tigghhtt budget, I decided to buy the Nestle Plaistowe Cooking Chocolate and I must say, it's pretty darn good. So if you're like me, then the Nestle chocolate isn't a bad option

White Chocolate Buttercream from Epicurious
283.75g white chocolate
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar, sifted

1.Melt white chocolate and let cool to room temperature
2.beat butter until fluffy, add in white chocolate and extract and continue beating
3.scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in icing sugar, beat
4.let it cool in the refrigerator until spreading consistency (45 mins), icing will be very soft

yippppeeedoodah!=) enjoy!

Good Ol' Chocolate Cupcakes...seduce me!

I think the new title of my blog (OOOH!Cake) is alot more me than vanillapod. Vanillapod sounds calm, collected and stable. OOOH!cake has different connotations. Something more upbeat, excited and passionate-definitely more me! ANYWAY! let's move on to choccccaaalllaaaatteeeeeeeeee...

The chocolate cupcake recipe was taken from Jennifer Appel's Buttercup Bakes at Home. I highly recommend that everyone get this book! The recipe title is 'Our favourite chocolate cake' and it certainly is a veryvery giving recipe. I did one and a half batches of it, since I wanted to try making a Grasshopper Cupcake after being inspired by one of the foodie blogs. I forgot which one, but if anyone knows, please let me know so I can give due credit.

In the picture, I frosted it with a simple chocolate buttercream which bordered on the verge of a chocolate fudge. I have yet to try out the Grasshopper idea but this was my plan. Fill the chocolate cupcakes with a mint pastry cream and top with a white chocolate buttercream/ganache. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, here's the recipe for the pastry cream.

(Mint) Pastry Cream from Raffles Hotel
100ml milk
2 yolks
15g sugar
1/2tsp mint essence
7g cornflour
10g butter

1) Bring milk to a boil
2) Whisk eggs, sugar and mint essence together
3) Whisk in cornflour
4) Add egg mixture to the boiling milk and stir continously, taking it off the heat
5) Whisk in a bowl and add in butter once it cools

The pastry cream might be ALOT nicer if you probably triple or quadruple the recipe and add in a vanilla bean instead of mint essence. I was just trying out how a mint creme pastisserie would taste like. Apparently too eggy for a cool mint taste. So I whipped some cream and folded it in to lighten the taste. Hope it goes down well with the cupcakes when I frost them tomorrow!!!

I apologize for not being able to put the recipe for the chocolate frosting. Problem is, I did the frosting purely by tasting it. I know it includes melted dark chocolate, cocoa, icing sugar, milk and butter but I'm unsure about the proportions! I'll remember to write it down next time and then i'll post it up here! In the meantime! WISH ME LUCK FOR THE GRASHOPPERS!=)

Teh Tarik Cupcake with Caramel Glaze and Coffee Kahlua Buttercream

My wonderful detailed post on my cupcake journey just got deleted, I know feel weird typing it again, like a broken record machine. *sigh!*

well, Here it is! My cupcake of the week. heh, My baking success of the week! Having been heavily inspired by Chockylit and Daisy Cakes, I decided to try my hand at something I could be proud to call MY OWN! heh. and BOY AM I PROUD!

I fiddled with a basic cupcake recipe, adding in sachet after sachet of my sister's instant teh tarik mix to get the fragrant aroma of it to waft in my kitchen (just to know the flavour won't die out while baking) but to no avail. So I added in some instant coffee and cocoa, to accentuate the taste perhaps, it was all in name of TRIAL AND ERROR! Turned out bloody brilliant (if i may say so myself)


I couldn't resist, mornings and coffee go so well together

side note: I just realized Teh Tarik is...tea. TEA! i've been working with COFFEE all morning. I feel so, cheated. anyway, moving on...

Made a caramel glaze, and as I stirred it, I prepared myself for failure. Chockylit said she had a few bad experiments with caramel so, I didn't expect much. As it sputtered and threatened to burn me, I watched over it like a hawk, hoping not to burn it. Maybe I should have left it to simmer for longer coz it wasn't sticky enough, but I got too nervous so I took it off the heat. Turned out pretty ok, it was an easy caramel recipe, nowhere near as complicated as the more authentic ones, but the focus of the cuppacaker was the buttercream and the cupcake, not so much the caramel. So I cheated! hehh


ARE YOU SOLD YET!? heeehee

Then came the buttercream. Simple, basic recipe, added Kahlua, just coz I found it in the fridge. heh, IT WAS GOOD! heh, i feel slightly...high. So here's the finished product! I meant to swirl heaping mountains of it over the top of each cupcake but it might've been too much of a good thing and, I realized even after doubling the recipe, I wouldn't have enough so, I settled on heaping rosettes on each caramel mountain. MMMM...




SAY AMEN! =)

Cupcake explosion

My brain's fizzled, from reading too much about the history of the Soviet Union and all the media problems and whatnot. So maybe it explains why I've been googling random ingredients (think...caramel, coffee...) and looking for inspiration. I've been thinking of my insane craving for a peanutbutter + banana smoothie from a certain AWESOME place in Singapore that Josh brought me to. Then I thought, I should make that into a cupcake, so watch out for THAT. AND, I'm attempting Teh Tarik Cupcakes over the weekend. Maybe as a reward for getting started on my essays. HEH.

anyway! tomorrow's the day I deliver Clara's Oreo Cheesecake to her! I'll let you know how it goes, just for...positive feedback's sake.

HMMM...

What Fine Crumb This Is. (Carrot Cake, unfrosted)

Okay! Here's what I've been pondering about the past few hours, as much as i LOVE the cupcake recipe I'm using now, and everyone lloves it, I still feel like it's not true-love. well, I mean, I don't really truly love it. SO! I'm switching my recipe, to something i find a little lighter in texture. and I'm adding a new flavour to the cupcakes! how does a caramel mud cake cupcake sound? thought so, it sounds bloody good. (note: I will add this to the post that lists the flavours available, don't worry, i won't let you forget about it...)

on another note, but the same cupcake note, I'm pretty sad. I feel so, cupcake-inapt. I see people with all these marvellous creations brimming with caramel filling and flaked with a generous handful of chocolate shavings and I think to myself, "I'm never going to be able to do that". What bad publicity for myself, I'm suppose to be confident and say 'THESE ARE THE BEST CUPCAKES YOU'LL EVER TASTE!!!' yeahyeah, maybe it's just a low-day. ohwell, GET CALLING PEOPLE! i'm ITCHING to take your orders and BAKE FOR YOU!

COMING SOON..

Hello, here's a quickie!

Liz (my very first customer) has suggested that I try my hand at selling birthday cakes too. Her reason was really simple. EVERYONE needs a birthday cake sometime... SO THERE! I'm going to introduce 3 cakes into my repetoire for now. (no chocolate cake though...)

1) Fudgey-wudgey-ain't-no-fudgier Brownie
2) American Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
3) Blueberry/Marble/Lemon/Oreo Cheesecake

DETAILS COMING SOON... pinkypromise! =D

Order Details

Hi Guys!
So, just to make things clearer, here's how you place an order.

1) Decide on which type of cake you would like
2) Call me, with the following details
-Name of cake you would like to order
-Quantity
-When you would like to arrange a pick up date and time ( because i do not have a car, meeting in the city would be easiest, sorry!)

Since I'm doing this business mainly as a form of practice, although i put in my best effort, sometimes things may not be as perfect as cakes/cupcakes sold in stores, so thank you for the support and for the faith and for being understanding!=)

here's your deal

Okay, right now, I have no idea how the readership of this is going, but hey, I'll get down to business!

CUPCAKES!
here's the deal. You guys KNOW i need practice (lord, everyone knows!) so hey! if it's someone's birthday, or a anniversary, or perhaps just because you adoreee the person so much, get them some CUPCAKES! I can write whatever you want me to, designs are limited but i'll design it as per your special occasion! or, just request what you'd like (eg, something girly, something sporty...chocolate overload perhaps...now we're talking!)

price: $3.50 each (give and take, if they're plain buttercupcakes or they're large orders, they might cost less, chocolatechocolate ones might cost a tad more)

Flavours:
Chocolate (with Chocolate Chunks or Plain)
Vanilla (with Jam or Plain)

Minimum order 10



Muffins

These are decadent and seriously sinful. Topped with Streusel or Cream Cheese Frosting, I bet you, they are to die for.



Flavours:
Moist Carrot Muffin with Cream Cheese Frosting
Blueberry Crumb Muffin with Crunchy Streusel

Price: Available on Request
Minimum order 10