Sunday, March 25, 2012

CUPCAKES, ANYONE?

Last Monday, I learned from Wilton Basic Cake Decorating Course how to pipe shaggy mums, pompom flowers, drop flowers, rosettes, leaves as well as how to put filling into cupcakes and decorate them. For that lesson, I baked Black Bottom Cupcakes to practice decorating with while in class. Since I needed plain uniced cupcakes at the time, I didn't add the usual cream cheese filling that goes into Black Bottom Cupcakes. Honestly, I was successful in baking those cupcakes and I really liked it, but I'll hold off on sharing the recipe and pictures here in my blog until the next time I make them with both components present - cake and cream cheese filling.

Anyway, I was invited for a dinner tonight at one of Vince's co-residents' house, and I took that chance to hone my baking and decorating skills (or the lack of it!) by obviously showcasing my latest hobby.  Since I wanted to step up my game and go beyond the common chocolate or vanilla cupcakes, I spent several nights reading up on various recipes.  I didn't want to be too ambitious because I don't have much baking experience myself, plus some ingredients for elaborate and level-up recipes are not easily available at the grocery store, so I went for something that I'm familiar with - COCONUT AND BANANAS!

All dressed up and ready for a spring party!

I got this idea from a Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication - Cupcakes magazine.  The Island Bananas Foster recipe listed in the magazine is a bit complicated for me (I think).  It's a "spiked" cupcake in that rum is one of the ingredients for the batter, and for the frosting, you have to ignite the rum and set your pan on flame - you know, just how you see chefs do it on TV - that stuff, and I'm definitely not on that level yet, so with fingers crossed, I decided to modify the recipe - batter and frosting.  I was wary not to screw up because I was doing modifications to a "live" cupcake.  Should they turn out inedibly bad, I cannot just toss them to the garbage or else I will have nothing to bring for dinner, so this recipe that I had concocted in my mind has got to be right.

Fortunately, the cupcakes turned out alright.  I may have to do some minor tweaking with the batter next time but the current recipe is overall good already.  For the frosting, if I had followed the recipe, I would have added 7 cups of confectioners sugar.  Can you believe that?  Seven fatally sweet cups of fine powdered sugar.  Dang!  I was afraid that if I do that, my cupcakes would put a diabetic into coma, so I knew that there's just no way I'm going to add seven cups of sugar into the frosting.  I stopped at 3 cups, although I think I should have stopped at 2 cups.  The reason behind the confectioners sugar is that you add as much until you reach piping consistency.  At 2 cups of sugar, my frosting was way thin and rather runny, so I added another cup, but when I tasted it, oh boy, I couldn't bring myself to add another dash more.   I have to do something though to make the frosting thick enough for piping, so I thought I'd try adding shortening and see if that would do the trick, and voila, happy me, it did!  ☻


So, for posterity's sake and for those who would be interested in trying Kokonut Banana Kupkeyks a la Karenina, here goes the recipe:

BATTER

1 cup butter
3 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup condensed milk

1. Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, line 24 muffin cups (2-1/2 inch) with paper bake cups.  In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350 deg Fahrenheit.  In a mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds or until smooth and creamy. Add sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time, beating until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and coconut milk to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined.  Add in the shredded coconut and condensed milk.

3. Spoon (or use an ice cream scoop) batter into prepared cups, filling each about half to 3/4 full. Use the back of the spoon to smooth out and level batter in cups.

4. Bake about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in muffin cups on wire racks for 5 minutes, and then remove cupcakes from muffin cups and cool completely on wire racks.

FROSTING

1 cup mashed ripe banana
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 to 2 cups confectioners sugar (may add more as desired)
*Shortening as needed for consistency

1. Allow butter to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. In a mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.

2. Beat in mashed ripe banana.

3. Gradually add confectioners sugar, one cup at a time, beating until well combined.

4. Beat in milk and vanilla.

5. Beat in shortening, about 1/2 cup at a time, until desired consistency is achieved.

GARNISH, FROSTING, ICING

If you get a big dome on top of your cupcakes after baking, you can use a bread or cake knife to flatten or level them for decorating.

I have a Wilton Ultimate Cake Decorating Kit, so I was able to make flower icing and star swirl frosting as pictured above, but you can also use a regular Ziplock bag to pipe round swirls to your cupcakes, or you may simply use a spatula to spread copious amount of icing on top of your cupcakes.

Lastly, if desired, you can garnish with lightly toasted shredded coconut.


There you go! I hope you try this recipe and if you do, please let me know what you think of it and how your cupcakes turn out. Suggestions and feedback are always welcome. Bake on! ☻

********************************************************************

You can read more of my foodie stuff here:


********************************************************************

My share for:

45 comments:

  1. The cupcakes look too good to eat! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. ay! ang sarap naman nyan..gusto ko yong cupcake mo. Ang galing-galing mo na KM mag decorate.Love it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like those blue cupcakes!

    Happy Blue Monday, Km.

    ReplyDelete
  4. awww! the cupcakes looks as delish as you Sis Karen hehehe, ang galing muna talaga ah :-) so prod of you :-) pwede na pagawa ng bakeryshoppe in the future :-) Visiting from #86 of BPC, hope that you can return the visit too.

    http://www.mommies2ks.com/2012/03/invited-for-a-birthday-party-2.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sige penge hehehe,. Galing naman! My Blue, have a great week ahead.

    ReplyDelete
  6. aw, looks yummy! great job on the baking challenge. i envy you. i suck at making icing, i always end with choco syrup as cupcake toppings, instead :(

    ReplyDelete
  7. Looks like you are doing great with you baking.

    The Pot

    ReplyDelete
  8. Successful endeavor! They are beautiful cupcakes and I'm sure they were delicious as well! I want to know how to make the one with the big swirl! thanks for sharing. dix---

    ReplyDelete
  9. looks yummy...hehe

    Hi KM... I'm doing great medyo busy lang sa offline world. Sorry ha absent ako sa meme mo...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow! Your cupcakes are really very pretty! You definitely got it! Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ms KM! They look awesome! And yummy too!

    ReplyDelete
  12. me! heheheh... I used to bake too.. but when sugar prices rocketed.. I buy from our neighbor bakeshop instead... :) looks yumm! want one. was here from 86 bpc :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. one day magagawa ko rin to. inspire me more sis! la love!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Tita, can I help you sometimes?

    So yummy!

    Please come and see my mellow yellow entry. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow KM! In fairness, you have done it so well for a first timer. Your cup cakes look appealing. I love how you decorate it. So colorful. really perfect for parties.

    Congrats and I'm happy for you.

    Ps. Dinaman matagal byahe ko kasi umuwi ako ng Pinas diba, then pagbalik ko sa new job, instead of Manila-Hoh Chi Min, eh Manila-Bangkok ang kinuha kong flight para malapit sa new job site ko. :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. wow! baked by a pro...well decorated too...great job sis!

    thanks for joining BPC!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Beautiful and colorful cupcakes..

    Visiting for # 86 challenge- hope you can stop by:)

    http://www.sweetposh.info/2012/03/comfy-stud-earrings.html

    ReplyDelete
  18. Oh my goodness. They are beautiful. WOW. I always see those classes advertised at our craft store : ) I am glad you could go to one.

    ReplyDelete
  19. i don't know much about baking but i love looking at pretty cakes and pastries. these are fabulous hostess' gift.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Aba, kinarir mo na talaga yan, KM ah! Galing naman! I would love to have some, pero parang ang gaganda naman nila. Di ko yata kayang lunokin kasi masira yung beauties! LOL. :)

    Thanks nga pala for the happy birthday greetings! I did have a happy birthday, yes. And nope, i am not young anymore! One year more and I will say hello to the 30's! :D Ikaw ba, how young are you? :)

    BPC hop here! :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Nagbabalik dito for Wednesday whites... :-)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Visiting again for YS-hope you can stop by:)

    http://myrecipecollection.info/2012/03/cassava-cake.html

    ReplyDelete
  23. Visiting again for FTF- hope you can stop by:)

    http://myrecipecollection.info/2012/03/mrs-pauls-crunchy-fish-fillets.html

    ReplyDelete
  24. wow healthy colorful cupcakes.. kids will surely love this

    dropping for FTF
    http://placesfoods.blogspot.com/2012/03/birthday-cakes.html

    ReplyDelete
  25. Whoa, very impressive! Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  26. homemade cupcakes really never fails to invite me...i want some of that pink frosted ones :D

    here's my share for the weekend

    ReplyDelete
  27. ang ganda ng pag kaka made.. ikaw na girl, ikaw na talaga...:)

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hmmm... how lovely those cupcakes are! You did such an amazing job making them lovelies. I get you with the banana foster thing, with the lighting up your pan on fire. I don't even want to try it myself. hahahaha... Those are just lovely! :) Visiting via FTF.

    ReplyDelete
  29. love your cupcakes Sis Chef Karen :-) love the decorations too, great job and I like your top too :-) Dropping by for WW.

    http://www.kandhistools.com/our-white-ceiling-fan-in-the-kitchen/

    ReplyDelete
  30. ang sipag mo naman KM! congrats ha! dapat gawin mo na yung mga gusto mong gawin habang wala pang kids. heto ako.. hirap na hirap magkaroon ng time para mag baking. pano laging stress! lol.
    anyway.. visiting from WW
    http://www.asahmreviews.net/2012/03/my-new-guess-purse/

    ReplyDelete
  31. im here again KM! and this time from FTF! hehehe

    those cupcakes really looks good. maybe we could meet and get the chance to taste them. =P

    http://mydailybabble.info/2012/03/dinner-tv-sweet-n-sour-chicken/

    ReplyDelete
  32. Visiting again for Mellow Yellow Monday- hope you can stop by:)

    http://myrecipecollection.info/2012/03/champagne-mango.html

    ReplyDelete
  33. super looks delish your cupcake Sis Karen :-) great job chef :-) Returning the visit from last week's YS

    http://www.homecookingwithjessy.com/little-bites-banana-muffin/

    ReplyDelete
  34. what a delish cupcakes treat Sis Karen :-) great job :-) Dropping by from FTF.

    http://www.homecookingwithjessy.com/my-husbands-dinner-to-bring-to-work/

    ReplyDelete
  35. every thing looks delish Sis Karen, dunno which one is my fave color of your delish cupcakes :-) Dropping by from FF

    http://www.homecookingwithjessy.com/meat-loaf-was-last-nights-dinner/

    ReplyDelete
  36. wow, its lovely...well done talaga, super galing mo na agad ma-icing at bake...pro na agad! :) thanks for sharing your recipe, bet its really yummy...and i hope i can try your recipe someday! visiting late from WE...hope to see you around. thanks and have a great week. :)

    ReplyDelete
  37. You are getting more skilled with baking congrats. Visiting from YS and FTF here's mine thanks Sahm’s Dining Diary

    ReplyDelete
  38. oh wow...grabe, ang galing-galing naman!!!

    thanks so much for sharing over at Food Friday, KM

    ReplyDelete
  39. back here from FTF. nakailang tingin ako sa cupcake pictures, ganda perfect for spring or easter party talaga! i wish we're neighbors, pa-order for isabelle's birthday, hehehe! :) see you around. have a great week.

    ReplyDelete
  40. turu-an mo ako sis! hehe, i like the way your icing mums turned out.

    ReplyDelete
  41. KM, nag-enroll na ako nito and I'm in course 3 na...thanks for this post, nagkaroon na talaga ako ng time.

    ReplyDelete

Show some love. Leave a comment.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...