Kisses Cupcakes, Hong Kong

Kisses Cucpakes, opposite Kau Kee beef noodles on Gough Street in Hong Kong.

 Smores and Red Velvet cupcakes.

Kisses Cupcakes
G/F, No. 24, Gough Street Central
Hong Kong
www.kissescupcakes.com

St. Paddy's Day

On St. Patrick's Day, Nat and I made some boozy cupcakes.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes from Brown Eyed Baker.

The Dolly Parton of cakes

I trawl through food websites on a daily basis. My favourite sites are Chow and Serious Eats for their product reviews, food slideshows and handy tips for novice cooks like me. But what I find most interesting about these sites are their user forums. 

The discussion thread I keep going back to is "50 Desserts that Every Cook Should Know" from Chow.

As a majority of the users who contribute to this forum are from the US, red velvet cake gets mentioned quite often. I've made red velvet cupcakes before, but they were neither red nor successful. So being a public holiday today, I decided to give it another go.

According to the ever-trusty source Wikipedia, red velvet cake originated from the Southern states of America; “It’s the Dolly Parton of cakes: a little bit tacky, but you love her”. 

Red Velvet Cupcakes
(Recipe adapted from Joy the Baker)

Ingredients:

• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 Tablespoon red food colouring 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Method:

1. Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes.  Turn mixer to high and add  the egg.  Scrape down the bowl and beat until well incorporated.
3. In a separate bowl mix together cocoa, vanilla and red food coloring to make a thick paste.  Add to the batter, mixing thoroughly until completely combined.  You may need to stop the mixer to scrape the bottom of the bowl, making sure that all the batter gets color.
4. Turn mixer to low and slowly add half of the buttermilk.  Add half of the flour and mix until combined.  Scrape the bowl and repeat the process with the remaining milk and flour.  Beat on high until smooth.
5. Turn mixer to low and add baking soda and white vinegar.  Turn to high and beat a few more minutes.
6. Spoon batter into a paper lined cupcake baking pan and bake at 325 F for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center cupcake comes out clean.
7. Let rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then place them of a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

I paired it off with a vanilla buttercream, instead of a traditional cream cheese frosting.

Buttercream Frosting

(Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking)

Ingredients:

• 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

Method:

1. In an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter until smooth and well blended. 
2. Add the vanilla extract. 
3. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. 
4. 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).
5.  Add a little more milk or sugar, if needed. 

Makes about 12 cupcakes.

Print-friendly recipe here.

The cupcake recipe is from the Hummingbird Bakery and this helpful video runs you through the recipe. I also tried frosting the cupcakes as they do in Magnolia Bakery and watched this video for help, but as you can see, I didn't quite achieve the famous Magnolia "swirl".

What I'm...

EATING:

White chocolate mud cakes.

Recipe here.

READING:

Is Google Making Us Stupid? By Nicholas Carr.

Interesting and somewhat ironic read.

WATCHING:

Top Chef: Just Desserts.

Well, not watching yet but waiting for it to premiere on TV later in the year.

Special mention: Top Chef: All Stars.

BROWSING:

Oh Joy!

I chanced upon this blog from this blog.

LISTENING TO:

"You've Got the Love" remixed by The XX.

Better than Florence and the Machine's version, dare I say it.

COVETING:

Natalie's Avanti Cookie Press/Icing Set.

.

This tool is amazing.

Failcakes

I hereby declare myself forbidden from baking cupcakes unless I'm in the presence of an experienced baker. And by presence I mean being in the kitchen right next to me, mixing the ingredients and baking the whole batch of cupcakes while I stand out of the way and merely observe from a distance. Because, lately, it seems, I am in no condition to bake a batch of cupcakes. The last two batches of cupcakes I've baked have been rather inedible. The first batch melted (before this I didn't know cupcakes could melt. It actually looked as if the cupcakes were crying from turning out so horribly) and the second batch is about to face the bottom of my insinkerator.

I like to blame the recipe, of course. I knew a recipe that didn't call for butter, eggs and an electric mixer was too good to be true. The recipe seemed promising, but I was probably being too ambitious. I should've perfected my basic cupcakes first before I attempted anything that called for beating cream into a spreading consistency.

Nonetheless, the simple recipe deceived me and I ended up with a dull tasting cupcake. The redeeming factor was the half Oreo at the cupcake's base. For the first time, the fat content in the cupcakes didn't leak out of the cheap cupcake liners. But that's the only positive point... the frosting was another beast. The colour looked great and it tasted fantastic but the texture was too liquid and far from icing consistency. I tried thickening it up by adding more powdered sugar but this did nothing except make the frosting sickeningly sweet. Dad intervened with the electric mixer to Naomi Campbell it, but the frosting just curdled into some pseudo-butter crap. 

I'll link the recipe to the cupcakes and frosting, but I don't see why anyone would want it. Perhaps someone with more luck and/or skill could have a crack at it and hopefully restore my faith in my baking ability should the cupcakes turn out to be failcakes too.

Half an Oreo (cream side up) at the base of the cupcake

Klutz in the kitchen

Auckland weather has been nothing short of unpredictable. One minute it's freezing cold from the storm blasting through the city, and the next minute, the sun appears, reminding you that it is indeed, spring.

While the weather outside was busy deciding whether to chill or warm us up, I've spent the past few days indoors baking. I had a delicious chili chocolate cupcake at Cupcake Bakery in Melbourne Central and it was only time I returned home to make my own. BTW, the cupcakes are not meant to be flat. I forgot to add baking soda! I also spilled a considerable amount of flour all over the kitchen counter. My clumsiness comes into full effect when I haven't baked in awhile... and also when the weather is bad.

Chilli Chocolate Cupcakes
(Recipe adapted from Dog Hill Kitchen)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup caster sugar and 1/4 cup soft brown sugar)
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• pinch cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 5 tablespoons neutral vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon vinegar (apple cider or white)
• 1 cup cold water

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and line a cupcake pan with papers.
2. Add the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, salt and spices to a large bowl. Stir with a wire whisk until full incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and stir to distribute.
3. Mix together the oil, vanilla, vinegar and water in a small bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Fill the cupcake papers three quarters full.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out with only a few crumbs clinging.
5. Cool for 5-10 minutes and then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to finish cooling.
6. Frost and decorate.

These chocolate chilli cupcakes are spicy enough that you feel your lips tingling after each bite, but you won't be gasping for water (or milk). But of course, feel free to pump up the spice by adding more chilli powder and/or cayenne pepper.


When it comes to frosting, I suppose anything goes. I chose not to frost mine, but a simple buttercream frosting or chocolate ganache dusted with extra chilli powder might work.

This is what got me hooked on the idea of spicy chocolate:

Word

Source

Top 10 cupcake tips

I tweeted about this article I found on Serious Eats.

It would probably help explain some of our not-quite-perfect cupcakes.

Top 10 Tips For Better Cupcakes:

Reposted from Serious Eats

1. Keep It Organized

Use as few bowls and utensils as possible. I have the tendency to use a new spoon for each ingredient, but when all you want to do is eat your delicious cupcakes and you're faced with a sink overflowing with dirty dishes, it might discourage you from making cupcakes again in the future. Remember, all the ingredients are getting mixed together anyway. Measure the sugar and butter right into the bowl of the mixer; reuse bowls and clean up as you go along.

2. Bookend With Dry Ingredients

Whenever combining dry ingredients with liquid ingredients, start and end with the dry ingredients—it helps get the perfect consistency.

3. Whip It Good

When mixing ingredients in a stand mixer, put the mixer on max speed for the last five seconds.

4. Add Gradually

Add ingredients bit by bit, mixing between each addition, rather than dumping everything together then attempting to mix a mountain of ingredients. For instance, when making the batter, add one egg at a time, mixing briefly in between each addition.

5. Keep It Even

A key to successful cupcake-making is consistency. A consistent size is necessary to even baking (otherwise you will be stuck with a pan of cupcakes in which some are under-baked and others are over-baked). Rather than eye-balling your batter as you use a spoon or spatula, try using an ice cream scooper instead.

6. High-Quality

The best quality ingredients will result in the best taste. This may be a no-brainer, but it's worth it to use, for example, actual vanilla beans to flavor vanilla frosting. (After you have scraped the inside of the bean for the frosting, save the exterior and put it in a sugar canister: it not only perfumes the sugar, but gives it a hint of vanilla taste).

7. Watch The Shine

When mixing ingredients for the frosting, add the butter—and cream cheese, if the recipe calls for it—then begin adding sugar before the mixture becomes shiny. (Shininess means that the ingredients are starting to melt, and you want to add the sugar before that happens).

8. Fully Mixed?

To gauge whether frosting is sufficiently mixed, taste it for texture: it should be creamy rather than grainy. If it's grainy, keep mixing.

9. The Bounceback

Right out of the oven, the cupcakes should be able to take a bit of pressure from your fingers and still be able to bounce up. Cupcake tops may still be a little sticky right out of the oven, but they will continue to cook in the minutes after.

10. Eat 'Em Up!

Your cupcakes should be consumed within 48 hours for optimal taste. (This is probably no challenge for most of us. If you can't polish them all off, share!). Don't put your cupcakes in the refrigerator; it dries out the cake and the frosting loses its flavor. Keep them in an airtight container in a cool place in your home.

Foodgawker finds

Photo summary of today's listings that caught my eye on Foodgawker. Clicking on the images direct you to the blog with recipes.

Auckland needs some cupcake shops

Serious Eats ran a review on the best cupcakes in New York City. Sex and the City has been credited as the show that ignited society's love affair with all things cupcake (cupcake shops, cupcake blogs, cupcake-printed objects, etc). Cupcakes have become so prolific that reports even claim that cupcakes are bringing the world out of the recession.

Whether that is true or not, it is evident that cupcakes are more than just a fad. Which is why I find it surprising that Auckland doesn't have any cupcake shops. You can find local bakeries selling cupcakes, but I haven't come across any shops dedicated to selling just cupcakes, like Melbourne's Little Cupcakes, New York's Magnolia and Los Angeles' Crumbs. 

The rest of this post are excerpts from the Serious Eats article. Reading it makes you wonder who will step up and bring Auckland its first cupcake shop?

12. Buttercup Bake Shop : The chocolate from this long-time New York favorite got decent marks, with tasters commenting on a "very chocolatey" flavor. But the vanilla was ill-received, with notes of "crumbly cake" and "overly-sweet frosting." The red velvet had "good cake flavor" but still, the frosting was too sweet. The cupcakes were of a decent size and cake:frosting ratio, but some of the flavors let us down.

11. Sweet Revenge: Sweet Revenge, you had class. You were a strong contender, but unfortunately the vastly unbalanced cake:frosting ratio (too much cake) on these giant cupcakes was only underlined by the dry texture of both cake and frosting. The Pure (Mexican vanilla) had "grainy frosting," "dense cake," and was "too sweet." The Dirty (chocolate) was something of a "brownie in disguise," but the cake was still dry; the Sweet Revenge (peanut butter chocolate) had a "big peanut hit," but the cake was "fell apart." And the Crimson & Cream (raspberry cake, cream cheese frosting) had an "odd spice hint in cake," prompting one taster to say, "I just don't know what this tastes like."

10. Robicelli's : This Brooklyn-based cupcakery presents its goods at several cafes across the borough. There was some delicious potential here, but the dryness of the cake and overwhelmingly buttery frosting let us down. The almond with vanilla buttercream had "great almond flavor" in the frosting, but dry cake; thepeanut butter had a "hard," "spongey" cake and the peanut butter flavor wasn't particularly discernible. Nor was the blackberry. Higher marks for flavor ideas than execution.

9. Sugar Sweet Sunshine: While we were hoping for more from one of the classic cupcakeries of NYC, the overall opinion was that these cupcakes were too darn sweet. The vanilla was "very sugary," although one taster noted that "the cake still comes through." The chocolate was "nice, a little almond-y," but some picked up on a "fake chocolate flavor." The pistachio was "mild, but yummy" for some, while others said there "wasn't much flavor." And thestrawberry cheesecake (which, we should note, melted a little in the 95 degree heat) led testers to say that though it "looked sad," it "tasted yummy."

8. Tribeca Treats : These cupcakes got pretty average marks amongst our finalists. The vanilla had "creamy frosting, but too sweet." Chocolate had a "sweet cake" that was "a little dry," but "intense." The red velvet had frosting that had a "nice cream cheesiness," a rare characteristic among the red velvets we tried. And the vanilla with strawberry frosting had "good flavor" but grainy frosting, with a base that reminded us too much of cornbread.

7. Tonnie's Minis : This Harlem bakery has a major following, especially for their red velvet cake, which we found had "delicious cake" that actually tasted like chocolate, but were saddened that "icing doesn't really taste like cream cheese." The vanilla coconut had "good textures" and "great cake," but some mentioned "overly sugary frosting." The chocolate was flavorful but a bit dry in the cake, and one taster noted that the frosting "tasted like it came out of a can." The lemon had some fans, though, with "strong lemony flavor" and a "sweet frosting that doesn't overwhelm."

6. Amy's Bread : These cupcakes remind us of our childhood. They had a classic frosting swirl presentation, and solid, unassuming flavors. The vanilla frosting was a little "too sugary and sweet," but the cake was "moist" and "good." The Devil's Food had a "super fudge-y," "intense" frosting that was a tad heavy for the "dense, chocolatey" cake. The red velvet had "fluffy," "cloudlike" frosting and a good cake. And the black and white had a "good cake," but frosting that tended towards "gritty" and "too sweet" for most tasters.

5. Kumquat Cupcakery : If you've never seen Kumquat cupcakes before, it's because this mini-cupcake business currently only sells at the Brooklyn Flea or through mail order. The vanilla prompted tasters to comments of "dry cake" and "[frosting is] a little too sweet." The dark chocolate was "very chocolatey," but still a little on the dry side. However, Kumquat won us over with banana, which was "sweet and banana-y" but not overkill. And the real winner of the bunch was thepeanut butter banana honey, which was "so flavorful" and "not too sweet." Overall, we would have liked more frosting, but these two-bite cuties are a show-stopper for presentation and adorable-ness factor.

4. Spot: Pichet Ong's St. Marks location has a variety of intriguing desserts on offer, and their cupcakes are certainly for those who are interested in more adventurous flavors. For instance, we didn't get just plain vanilla—we got vanilla yuzu lemon, which had "creamy, smooth frosting" and "complex flavor" that screamed yuzu. Theberry berry chocolate "tastes more like raspberry than a raspberry," and kept up the "moist cake" standard. The chocolate green tea was definitely polarizing, but if you are a fan of matcha you will agree that this is a "perfect balance of flavor," with "moist and chocolatey" cake. The mocha caramel was probably our least favorite, with "grainier frosting" and "little coffee flavor." 

3. Dessert Club Chickalicious: This bakery toes the line between regular and mini cupcakes, and the cake:frosting ratio tends to slant in the cake direction. But the flavors made tasters pretty happy across the board, and all the cakes had an extremely fluffy, spongey texture. Thevanilla had "good vanilla flavor in the frosting," and was refreshingly "not a sugar bomb." The chocolate had "smooooth frosting," and a chocolate hit that wasn't overwhelming. The mocha had a "slightly dry cake," and frosting whose sweet creaminess reminded one taster (that'd be me) of coffeemilk. And the banana was the favorite of the bunch, with "intense banana flavor" but a "slight aftertaste."

2. Two Little Red Hens : We were very pleased with the consistent, tasty offerings from this wonderful Upper East Side bakery. The cupcakes were all very generously sized, with a good cake:frosting ratio. The vanilla had "very buttery frosting" that was "not too sweet," and well-flavored cake. The Brooklyn Blackout chocolate cake is "for chocolate lovers," with a "very fudge-y" texture and a serious explosion of chocolate flavor. The red velvet had "delish" frosting that was appropriately "tangy and smooth," but less flavor in the cake. And the marble had a "nice presentation" with the chocolate/vanilla swirl, but underwhelmed on flavor despite a "very moist, fluffy cake".

1. Baked: If you're even remotely familiar with the baked goods scene, then the fact that Baked produces some excellent cupcakes won't come as a surprise. This Red Hook bakery makes some of the best goodies around, and their cupcakes delivered. The lemon drop was one of the overall favorites of the tasting, with bright flavors that reminded us of summer citrus and not jarred lemon curd. The vanilla was a big pick for best of its category, in that it really "tasted like vanilla" and had a light, fluffy texture. The chocolate got solid marks for "excellent flavor," despite being more cake-y than fudge-y. And the sweet and salty, a truly brilliant creation of a chocolate cupcake generously sprinkled with sea salt, made our tasters scream "wonderful"; "fluffy cake and frosting!"; and "wooooo, salty!" What more can you ask for?