Chocolate Cupcakes With Ganache Frosting

who can resist a cupcake and what is it exactly that makes them sooo appealing???
why are they loved by children and adult alike???

perhaps, it is their size that makes them sooo tempting - after all, you can have an individual, diminutive cake all to yourself..!!!

if we look back to its history, there are several theories on the origin of cupcakes, and they probably all have some truth in them..

what i mostly like about cupcakes is that they are quick and easy to make and some of the recipes are made by all-in-one method which is my fave part for even quicker results..

furthermore, we are spoilt for choice as these are irresistable cakes worthy of any occasion whether afternoon tea, supper party, a classrom birthday, a cake sale or even a wedding..cupcakes are so IN nowadays and that's the only reason why people love them..!!!

ok enough with the briefing, for this post it is obviously about cupcake,so what im gonna do now is to show and give away my favorite Chocolate Cupcake With Ganache Frosting recipe which i always believe chocolate is everyone's favorite and one of must-have desserts in every festival...!!!so why not get baking right away????

ingredients:

• 55g of butter, softened
• 55g of caster sugar
• 55g of white self-raising flour
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tsp od cocoa powder
• 1 tsp of milk

ganache frosting:

• 100g of plain chocolate
• 10oml of double cream

methods:

• preheat the oven to 190 celcius degree.
• cream the butter ang sugar until light and fluffy. gradually beat in the egg.
• sift the flour and cocoa powder and fold them in the mixture until well blended.
• fill a piping bag, fitted with a large plain nozzle, with the mixture and pipe it into the paper cases. filling each one until half full.
• bake them in the preheated oven for 10-15minutes or until well risen and firm to the touch. let it cool on the wire rack.
• to make the frosting, break the chocolate into a saucepan and add the cream. heat gently and stirring all the time until chocolate has melted.
• pour into a large heatproof bowl and using an electric hand whixk, beat the mixture for 10 minutes or until thick, glossy and cool.
• fill a piping bag, fitted with a large nozzle, with the frosting and pipe a swirl on the top of each cupcake.
• chill for 1 hour before serving.

p/s: this recipe is a special request from kamarul's brother...enjoy!!!

Gingerbread Men Cookies

they are soooo cute....!!!!!

well, when you see these men, you will be sooo dramatically happy for they are soo pretty in shapes, well-decorated and colorful too..normally, this cookie recipe is baking during christmas festival..christmas baking wouldn't seem complete without a batch of gingerbread men..but who cares about christmas baking ayte since we can bake them for hari raya too..what i mostly love about these cookies is they are fragrant with ground ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves-the amount of which can be adjusted to suit your own individual taste..

ingredients:

• 3 cups of all purpose flour


• 1/4 tsp of salt


• 3/4 tsp of baking soda


• 2 tsp of ground ginger


• 1 tsp of cinnamon


• 1/4 tsp of ground cloves


• 1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg


• 1/2 cup of butter, room temperature


• 1/2 cup of granulated white sugar @ dark brown sugar


• 1 large egg


• 2/3 cup of molasses @ dark corn syrup

methods:

• in a large bowl, cream together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices. set aside.


• in another bowl of your electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. add an egg and molasses until well combined. gradually add the flour mixture beating until incorporated.


• cover and chill the dough for a few hours or overnight. (take out one hour before rolling)


• on a floured surface,roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. cut the dough with gingerbread cutter and place on the baking sheet.


• bake for 10-15 minutes depending on sizes and let it cool before frosting and decorating the gingerbread.

if u like your gingerbread cookies on the soft side, bake them a little less than the recipes states as the longer the bake, the harder they will become..

~xoxo~

(*_*)

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

hellooo people...!!!

first of all, hari raya is just around the corner so everybody must be very busy preparing all stuff that need to be fixed and changed at home..but one element during hari raya that never fades by time and always be evergreen is none other than desserts...so for this post and afterwards, i just wanna give away some recipes and tips about baking biscuits, cookies and biscotti..so what are you waiting for??it's time for baking!!!

for the first recipe today, i wanna show you how to make a good Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies which always be my one of my fave during hari raya..i really like chocolate which explains why i put another chocolate cookie recipe on my blog..i couldn't resist this irresistable chocolate cookie as it is a cross between the very chocolately Chocolate Fudge Cookie and the buttery Chocolate Cookie..these soft textured cookies contain three types of chocolates, unsweetened cocoa powder, melted dark chocolate and chocolate chips which gives them a rich and complex chocolate flavor..so let's get started!!!

ingredients:

• 280g of semi sweet chocolate, chopped @ 1 1/2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips
• 220g of all purpose flour
• 35g of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 tsp of baking soda
• 1 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1 cup of butter
• 1/2 cup od dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract
• 125g of semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup of pecan or walnut, chopped (optional)

methods:

• melt the 280g of semi sweet chocolate in a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.
• in a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
• in a nother bowl of your electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (2-3 mins).scrape both sides of the bowl and add the melted chocolate and beat until weel incorporated. add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. then beat in the vanilla extract.
• add the flour in stages, mixing until incorporated. fold in the chocolate chips and nuts.
• form the dough into small balls and place them on the baking sheet. with moisten hand, gently flatten the balls into your desired cookies.
• bake the cookies for about 14-17 minutes . the cookies are done when they are just barely set in the center. they should still be soft. remove them fron the oven and let them cool for minutes on the baking sheet before transferred onto the wire rack to cool.

i myself alone usually bake my cookies into giant sized coz i love large cookies..but if my mum joins my baking session, she always blabbering about my giant cookies and she's gonna fixed them into normal tads..for she loves small bites than i do..even though she's not sooo into cookies or cakes..

wait for my next post..

until then,

i know u love me..

~xoxo~

ATTESTATION DE COMPETENCES EN PATISSERIE

From left: Shin Yin, Me (Frasy), Natalie and Chilie...im gonna miss u guys..!!! =p

the fruit tarts...see, they're shining...and they are delicious too...thanx to the its magic ingredients...hik hik...
these are called choc-dipped cream puffs...

paris brests...this is so good...magic magic..!!

ok, these are the best croissants ever in malaysia..they are very light in volumes yet so crunchy...normally, the one in malaysia is densed, but trust me, u guys will love this very cute croissant...hehe...

i dunno what these are called...but the taste is super duper yummy...they looks like croissants but they are totally different in taste..words cant describe the taste...

~xoxo~

nothin' much..

ok...

last night i baked some mushroom muffins...

ni sume gare2 my sis yang nak wat assignment about mushrooms products...

so she insisted me to bake some muffins which the main ingredient is mushrooms...duh..

i dunno what kinda mushrooms she bought but the smell is sooo yux...euuuwww...

but the taste was awesome though...

so i managed to bake a frittata at first, but then, i know she's not gonna like it...loads of veges i guess...

then i just baked muffins...

she bought lots of ingredients and the best part was she bought blackberries...

i really like this type of berry...

so tasteful...

one of my guilty pleasure besides ice-cream...so yummy..!!!

mula2 after the muffins were baked, cam nervous gak le coz x pernah wat mushroom muffins kan..

but luckily, they were very mouth watering...with blackberries as garnishing, and carrots and raisins, they did a great combination...so i was satisfied with my work..

thank God for giving me this gift...

alhamdulillah...

until then,

~xoxo~

p/s: i will post the pic later..tq..

baked goods!!

strawberry mousse with raspberry sauce...it's so yummy and very mouth-watering...malaysia never has this type of cake...it's true...even in 5-stars hotels...very rich in texture and taste...oh so lovely!!!!

this one is such a big french bread...it's called foccacia...u can eat this bread without any sauces as the taste was absofab guys!!!there are rosemary, thyme and rock salt too...i just cant tell how it tastes coz the taste is unbelieveable..yum yum!!!!

tuna pizza....this is the second pizza we made during the last class coz the first was made with beef bacon...


hah..at last i know how to make bread pudding...hehe...ok, this dessert is so creamy and mix wif loads of taste...there are sweetness from raspberries, tart and tangy flavour from raisins and mix peels and the crunchy yet soft-layered croissant...owh...so tasteful..!!!!u can use any kinda breads to make this bread pudding...beside the bread pudding are bowl-shaped palmiers...u can put berry sauce or choc or even mix fresh fruits like berries and oranges...

ok, this choc tart was so fantastic...of coz le coz we use very high quality choc...CALLEBAUT...i wish i could use VALRHONA...oh...im falling in love wif that choc...thanx to chef karam for the valrhona choc mousse...the best choc in the world...!!

the last one is baguette...ok, it looks so easy yet simple to make this kinda bread bout i betcha can't do it evenly...even the pros cant make a good baguette like us...hahahaa...yup, that's what have been told to us...ours are more good than pros...im so proud of it..!!!!yet i thank God for giving me this gift..!!!!

i know u love me...

~xoxo~

stollen

apple crumble

if you've got a pile of apples but not enough time to bake a pie, or if u're short of flour, sugar or fat (like butter), then this recipe is just for you, even you have never tried cooking it before...!!!this dessert is one of my favorite even it will take less time and ingredients to prepare than an apple pie, but the taste is just as delicious and comforting..

so let's try this out!!!

ingredients:

• 6 green apples (they must be green)
• 250g of sugar
• 150g of butter
• 1 clove or cinnamon stick (opt)
• cream or vanilla cream

methods:

• preheat the oven and set the temperature for about 150 degrees celcius.
• peel and core the apples nicely and roughly dice them into chunks.
• put the apple chunks into a pan and then add three quarters of the sugar and the cinnamon stick or clove to saute the apples. if you have enough butter, add in.
• allow to saute gently for half an hour, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon and keep checking as they can easily burn at the beginning.
• check that the fruit is cooked by mashing it a bit with a wooden spoon, the apples should be soft but not pureed.
• allow them to cool for a while in a serving dish.
• in a separate bowl, mix the flour, remaining sugar and butter and blend them until it takes on a breadcrumb consistency.
• cover the saute apples with the crumble topping WITHOUT pressing down.
• bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the crumble is golden brown and crunchy.
• allow it to cool before serving the apple crumble with cream or ice cream.

this crumble can be a cozy comfort on a chilly night or part of fancy celebration meals.

~XOXO~

scones

i just made these last few weeks and the taste is so absofab when added with any kinda berries sauces or added with dried fruits, nuts or spices...my mum ate at least 3 of them and said they were really good...the house especially in the kitchen area smelled wonderful afterwards too...in fact, this base recipe is soooo easy to make...so let's see the ingredients and methods...

ingredients:

• 2 cups of all-purposed flour
• 1/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1/4 tsp of baking soda
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1/2 sup of unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup of buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp of milk

methods:

• preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.
• in a large bowl, combine all the dry ingeredients.
• add butter to the dry mixture and blend the mixture well.
• make sure the mixture should look like coarse crumbs.
• then, add buttermilk to the crumbs and stir just until the dough comes together.
• do not overmix the dough.
• transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough gently 4-5 times, then pat or roll the dough into a circle that is about 7-8 inchesround and about 1 1/2 inches thick.
• cut this circle until each of the dough becomes 3 pie-shaped wedges.
• palce the scones onto the baking sheet.
• make an egg wash of one well beaten egg with 1 tablespoon of milk an then brush the top of scones with the mixture.
• bake the scones for about 15-20 minutes or until they turn golden brown.

so, how's it..???it's very easy isn't it..??hope u guys may try this recipe coz it's good for breakfast and for the teatime...ENJOY!!!

SPAGHETTI CARBONARA

ok, this session is specially made for my B...
usually, i didn't care for the taste that much when i used sauce from a can, but what i always do is i would cook 'em, of course..
so here it goes...

ingredients:

• 2 cans of Prego mushroom carbonara sauce (blue can)
• 1 large onion sliced
• 4-6 slices of bacon, sliced long
• spaghetti or any pasta products
• 2 tsp of olive oil
• dried parsley

methods:

• boil the spaghetti till al dente.
• in a non-stick pan, lightly fry the bacon in olive oil for about two minutes.
• then, add the onions and saute till they become translucent.
• pour in the carbonara sauce. use a little water to rinse out the cans and pour them in as well.
• bring to a simmer and add the spaghetti to the sauce.
• mix well and serve with a sprinkle the parsley.

tips:

• i prefer mixing the spaghetti in the sauce while it's still in the pan to spooning the sauce over the spaghetti because i find the sauce is more evenly distributed and sticks better.
• for the best result, use fettucine or linguine, but u can be flexi with the pasta products that you like or happen to have sitting around.

enjoy!!!!

MORNING GLORY MUFFINS (makes 6 muffins)

ok...

this session, we are gonna make muffins...

it is as simple as ABC coz all the ingredients are easy to find in supermarket...

so lets try!!!

ingredients:

150g of soft flour

150g of brown sugar

1 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp of cinnamon

a pinch of salt

50g of coconut, shredded

50g of raisins

70g of carrot, grated

70g of pineapples, crushed

2 eggs

100ml of vegetable oil

1/2 of vanilla

1/8 of molasses

how to make / methods :

1) Sift all the dry ingredients and then blen in raisins, coconut, carrots and pineapples.

2) Combine eggs, vegetable oil and vanilla in another bowl.

3) Blend the dry mixture into the egg mixture and fold it gently.

4) Bake at 1900 for about 25 minutes.


so guys, what are u waitin' for..???go shopping these ingredients and bake some muffins for ur family and friends...it's worth it!!!!good luck!!!!