Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

This is definitely my go to recipe when it comes to cupcakes! It’s so easy to make and the frosting is divine! Made this for Andy to take into work for his team! I also love this cupcake decor, very easy to make and very effective! Just print your design on a piece of A4 paper (I used 300gsm thick paper which is heavier and thicker than ur normal printing paper. But you can just use normal printing paper, it’s absolutely fine!) Cut them out to your desire shape and stick them onto a toothpick( I used food dye to dye the toothpicks green to match with my green graphics). I sticked my design double sided, so you can see the graphics on both sides 🙂 Give this a try, people will love them!

Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe, click here.

Cream Cheese Frosting
• 250g Cream Cheese
• 120g Unsalted Butter
• 2-3 Cup of Icing Sugar

1. Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add in icing sugar half a cup at the time, until the frosting reaches your desire consistency 🙂

Note: Store frosted cupcakes in the fridge.

Afternoon Tea – Cup Day

Recently went to this amazing afternoon tea held by my lovely friend Kate at her place on Melbourne Cup Day. Everyone brought in some real tasty bites! There were this awesome fresh baked cob dips made by the host, my all time favourite jelly slice, mini cute bite size sausage rolls, beautiful cheeses, dips and crackers…..oh I want to go back on that day…

 

Well I contributed something too! I made one of my favorite cupcakes – mini chocolate cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting and some hidden strawberry purée inside! I also made poached chicken & chives sandwiches with home made mayonnaise! It was absolutely delicious! The home made mayo and fresh chives in this sandwich are the star components! I will post up that recipe soon!

Best Ever Mini Choc Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

These little cupcakes are a beauty! Chocolate + Strawberry is a classic combination that everybody loves, not to mention these mini babies are fill with strawberry puree as well! Double strawberry goodness! They are seriously tasty!! Firstly, the cupcakes : soft, moist, light and cocoa-ty! You really wont get a better cupcake than this! Secondly, the frosting : strawberry puree mix in with cream cheese = taste just like frozen yoghurt, it is delightful! Thirdly, the strawberry puree, this really is the hero ingredient in this cupcakes! I had quite a lot of the puree left over after making the frosting so i used them to fill up the cupcakes. And that was the best move i have ever made! The puree makes the cupcakes extra moist and really helps to blend the strawberry flavour into the chocolate cupcakes! oh myyy, making me hungry just talking about it!!! This really is the BEST cupcakes i have made so far!!! The combination of the cupcake, frosting and puree just melt in your mouth, they are so soft, fluffy and moist! You can eat the whole batch and not feel sick because the texture is just so light.

Chocolate Cupcakes (I halved below recipe to make 30 mini cupcakes)

(see my chocolate cupcakes post to see how moist and fluffy this cupcakes are!)

• 2 cups plus 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup plus 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1½ tsp. baking powder
• 1½ tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Method:

1. Preheat Oven 180C. Line 2 mini muffin trays with paper liners.
2. Sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
3. In another mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract; whisk together.
4. Add to the dry ingredients and mix with wooden spoon until mixture is combine.
5. Add the boiling water and stir just to combine (batter will be thin).
6. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing (Recipe from My Baking Addiction)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup whole strawberries
• 120g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 240g of cream cheese, slightly cold
• 1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
• 31/2 cup of icing sugar

Method

1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter on medium speed until light and fluffy.
3. Add in the cream cheese and beat until combined. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners’ sugar; beat until well combined.
4. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree to fill cupcakes); mix until just blended.

Note: The frosting is able to be piped, but is on the soft side and definitely needs to be refrigerated!

Strawberry Puree Filling

• 1/2 cup whole strawberries

1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed

Note:

1. If your strawberries are slightly on the sour side, add some icing sugar to the puree to sweeten it.

2. I used the total of 250g of strawberries for these cupcakes + frosting.

Assemble Cupcakes

1. Cut a small hole in the cupcake
2. Fill strawberry puree in the hole
3. Put the cap back on
4. Pipe strawberry frosting on mini cupcake! 🙂

Cupcakes Bouquet

Even though I couldn’t spend Mother’s Day with my mum, I made this so I can dedicate this post to her. Of cause this bouquet didn’t go to waste! I gave this as a gift to Andy’s mum on mother’s day too.

I saw this cupcakes bouquet a year ago and have been waiting for a special day to make my very own one! My bouquet is made from vanilla cupcakes with a simple vanilla buttercream frosting. I bought a gift box and place 4 sponges in to create the base of this bouquet. Then I used tooth picks to secure each cupcake on the sponge (so you simple put 2 tooth picks in each cupcakes and plug that into the sponge in the gift box). Final touch – decorate your bouquet with some tissue paper and ribbon! This is definitely a winner!

Beautiful, Delicious, Impressive!

Buttercream Frosting (Makes about 12 cupcakes):

(Recipe from Joy of Baking)

• 2 cups (230 grams) confectioners sugar (icing or powdered sugar), sifted

• 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 2 tablespoons milk or light cream

• pink food dye

Method:

In an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter until smooth and well blended. Add the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). Add a little more milk or sugar, if needed. Tint the frosting with desired food color (I use the paste food coloring that is available at cake decorating stores and party stores).

Make one for your special someone! 😉

Banana and White Chocolate Cupcakes

I cant believe I have let my laziness get on top of me and haven’t posted  a new post for over a month! Its disappointing really! well, let me apologize and get back into it!

I wanted to bake something with white chocolate this weekend, so I was doing some research on the internet and I was thinking maybe some kind of cupcakes with white chocolate frosting, unfortunately search after search, nothing really jumped out and say ‘Bake me! Bake me!’….until I stumbled on the British Larder! My first look of their Banana and White Chocolate Cupcakes with Magical Glittering Cream Cheese Frosting captured me straight away, I need not look further, this is what I want to make! Although my cupcakes don’t have the pretty silver glittering balls on as decoration, they taste fantastic! Banana + White Chocolate + Cream Cheese, what more do I have to say?

Few Tips from Madalene from the British Larder

1. She added a little bit of cornflour to her cupcake batter to makes the texture of the cupcake ultra fine and fluffy.
2. You could replace the cornflour with custard powder if you would like to make banana and custard cupcake.  (<– that sounds incredible!)

Banana and White Chocolate Cupcakes

• 150g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 very ripe banana, peeled and mashed
• 2 large free range eggs
• 125g plain flour
• 25g cornflour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 50g white chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a large muffin tray with 12 cupcake cases.
2. Cream the soft butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
3. Add the mashed banana, cream until well incorporated, add the eggs one at a time, cream well after each addition.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder and cornflour over the creamed banana mixture and add the white chocolate chips, fold it all together. Do not over work the cupcake batter.
5. Fill a disposable piping bag with the cupcake batter and fill each case  three quarters full.
6. Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 20 – 22 minutes, test if they are baked by inserting a metal skewer if the skewer comes out clean then the cupcakes are done.
7. Transfer the cupcakes to a cooling rack and let them cool completely before decorating them with the cream cheese frosting.

Alejandro’s Cream Cheese Frosting (make 12 cupcakes)

• 100g cream cheese
• 200g icing sugar, sifted
• 25g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1. Whip the sifted icing sugar and cream cheese until light and fluffy. I use a mixer with a whisk attachment for this stage.
2. Pour the cooled melted butter slowly into the whipping cream cheese mixture, whip the cream cheese mixtrue for a couple of mintues to incorporate air.
3. Let the cream cheese frosting set in the fridge for at least one hour before using. This frosting is best made the day before required so that it can set slightly and get a fantastic gloss.
4. This frosting is fairly soft, take it out of the fridge for 20 minute before needed to come to room temperature.
5. Garnish the cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting and make it look extra pretty with silver balls and edible glitter.

NOTES:

1. I didn’t get time to make the frosting a day ahead, so my frosting is missing that beautiful gloss, try to make yours a day ahead if you have time 🙂

Chocolate Cupcakes with Best Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

I absolutely LOVE LOVEEEE this chocolate frosting!! The sour cream makes it so creamy and you cant even taste there is sour cream in it! And what’s better than having real melted chocolate in your frosting? In fact, I reckon the frosting tastes just like chocolate mousse that melt in your mouth! SO TASTY!!

With a creamy frosting, a light but moist chocolate cupcake is the key to make this perfect combination. The cupcake recipe that I used is a lot like the one that I used in my mini caramel cupcakes and the lemon curd cupcakes. I love the oil base recipe – its so easy, leave no mess and the cupcakes always turn out light and moist!

I actually had quite a bit of frosting left, enough to frost a few more cupcakes, just as I wasn’t sure what I’m gonna do with the them, Andy came into the kitchen and polish it all! But I secretly wishing I could lick it all myself!

I took the cupcakes to work the next day for a girl’s birthday and they were a massive hit! Everyone loves it and said it was super-tasty! They all want the recipe for it! Though I soon regret giving out all my cupcakes, I ended up having one cupcake but really, I wanted six!! It was so good, I just wanted more…..

Chocolate Cupcakes (Make 30)

• 2 cups plus 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup plus 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1½ tsp. baking powder
• 1½ tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F).
2. Sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
3. In another mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract; whisk together.
4. Add to the dry ingredients and mix with wooden spoon until mixture is combine.
5. Add the boiling water and stir just to combine (batter will be thin).
6. Transfer batter to prepared pans, filling each liner about 2/3 of the way full, approximately 1/4 cup of batter.
7. Bake approximately 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans about five minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes: I halved the cupcake recipe to make 12-15 cupcakes

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting (for 12-15 cupcakes)

• 170g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 1/2 tablespoon (64g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp. sour cream

Method:

1. Melt the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Set aside to cool until just barely warm. (I melted my chocolate in the microwave, stir every 30s to avoid burning the chocolate!)
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium-high speed until pale.
3. Gradually mix in the confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder and salt, beat until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in the melted and cooled chocolate and then the sour cream.
5. Continue beating until the mixture is smooth and well blended.
6. Frost cupcakes immediately.