Bake Along #83 Devil's Food Cupcakes With Chocolate Frosting

This is the third devil's food cake recipe I made, but the first time I made it into cupcakes
This is the cake that is difficult to resist, at least in my chocoholic family, regardless of the name
I don't know why and have not done any research either, why the name. I mean, is it because devil likes chocolate cake, or what? LOL
Anyway, name aside, we enjoyed every bite of this rich, moist and chocolaty indulgence :)

 

 

These wonderful cuppies are not overly sweet, even when eaten with the frosting. Love it :)

 

 

Recipe is from the book Bon Appetit by Barbara Fairchild

 

What you need:

 

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)

2 oz milk chocolate, chopped (I used a combination of Cadbury 70% dark chocolate and Hersheys semi sweet chocolate chips - since that's all I had in my pantry LOL)

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 cup buttermilk (I used plain yoghurt)

1 cup cake flour

3/4 tsp baking soda (I used 1 tsp double acting baking powder)

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup canola oil (I used rice bran)

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

 

For the frosting:

4 oz semi sweet or bitter sweet chocolate, chopped

2 oz milk chocolate, chopped

(I used 6 oz Hersheys semi sweet chocolate chips)

2 tbsp whipping cream

1/2 cup sour cream (I used plain yoghurt)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup icing sugar

 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180degC. Line muffin pan with liners (I got 14 cupcakes)
2. Combine cocoa powder and both chocolates in a bowl. Pour in boiling water and whisk til smooth. Add in yoghurt and stir til well mixed
3. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in another bowl, set aside
4. In another bowl, beat both sugars, eggs, oil and vanilla til light and fluffy, about 2-3mins over high speed
5. Beat in flour mixture, alternating with chocolate mixture, ending with the flour
6. Scoop in each muffin liner about 3/4 full and bake for 15-20mins til skewer comes out clean
7. Cool in the pans on cooling rack for 10mins and then transfer cupcakes to cooling rack, cool completely
8. To make the frosting, Stir chocolate and cream also butter over saucepan of simmering water til melted and smooth. Remove from heat and add in yoghurt, vanilla and icing sugar. Mix well
9. Pipe or spread over the completely cooled cupcakes

This post is for Bake Along, an event organised by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids

 

Bake Along #74 Hot Milk Cakes With Strawberries & Cream

Very interesting recipe where a mixture of hot milk & butter poured in the batter, I must try :)
It yielded a tasty cake but to me, the cake is too dense. Luckily it's meant to eat with cream and strawberries with its juices, helps a lot to moisten the cake. In the end, it's pretty enjoyable, and my family didn't mind either :)

Recipe is from Bon Appetit Dessert Cookbook by Barbara Fairchild

What you need:
(I followed the modification from Joyce from Kitchen Flavours)

2 large eggs
1/2 cup + 4 tbsp caster sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla extract, divided
1 cup + 2 tbsp self raising flour
2/3 cup fresh milk
5 tbsp unsalted butter
1 pound strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced lengthwise
I/2 cup whipping cream (I used 200g)
1 tbsp icing sugar (I used 2 tbsp)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 220degC and grease 6 ramekins. Place them on baking sheet
2. Beat eggs on high speed til thick for about 3mins. Add in sugar (1/2 cup) gradually and beat til pale and yellow about 1min longer. Beat in vanilla (1/2 tsp)
3. Add in flour (sifted) and beat for 30secs. Bring milk and butter just to boil in a small pot, stir til butter melts. Beat hot milk mixture into batter and continue to beat for 30secs
4. Divide batter mixture into ramekins and bake til firm to touch and pale golden, tops form rounded peaks in the centre, about 16mins. Cool them in the ramekins for about 20mins at least
5. Toss strawberries and 4tbsp sugar, let stand for about 20mins
6. Beat cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract (1/4tsp) til peaks form
7. Remove cakes from ramekins, cut off the rounded tops and spoon cream and strawberries. Cover with top part of the cake, garnish the top with more cream and strawberries and some of the juice
8. Serve immediately

 

 

This post is for Bake Along, an event organised by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids

 

Two Cakes 4 Two Occassions In A Day

Happy Valentine's Day!
Here's my cake for this special day where love is in the air everywhere you go :)

This is red velvet cupcakes using recipe from Joy Of Baking

What you need:

1 1/4 cup (125 grams) sifted cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp (10 grams) regular or Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cups (150 grams) granulated white sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk

1 tbsp liquid red food coloring

1/2 tsp white distilled vinegar

1/2 tsp baking soda

 

For cream cheese frosting:

227 grams cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (60 grams) confectioners (icing or powdered) sugar, sifted

2/3 cup (160 ml) cold heavy whipping cream (double cream) (35-40% butterfat)

 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degC and line 12 muffin tins with paper cupcake liners
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder in a bowl 
3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in vanilla extract, beat til combined 
4. In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour
5. In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter
6. Working quickly, divide the batter evenly among the 12  muffin cups and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean
7. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes and them remove from pan. Let cool completely before frosting
8. For cream cheese frosting: In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to pipe. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency

 

 

 

Decoration idea is from a picture from Kidlander SG Facebook page, which I shared in my Facebook account awhile back

I added color sprinkle for the heart after spreading the frosting :)

 

 

Okay, not to forget, today is also the last day of CNY!

So, here's the cake I baked to celebrate the 15th day of Lunar New Year- orange butter cake :)

 

 

 

 

I always love any cake with orange. This cake is very moist, buttery with fine texture. Delicious!

Recipe is from Gert from Kitchen Snippets
I ever baked orange pound cake with glaze using Gert's recipe too, you may view HERE
It's also real yummy :)

 

 

What you need:

 

227g butter – room temperature

200 g sugar
220 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
4 large eggs
Zest of an orange
5 tbsp orange juice

 

Method:

1. Grease and line an 8” round baking pan. Preheat oven to 175degC. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt, set it aside
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until mixture is light and fluffy. Add in the orange zest
3. Slow down the mixer and slowly add in the flour alternating with orange juice. Mix until well combined 
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until cooked through when tested with a skewer

  So, which one would you like to try? :)

First Bake in 2014 - Rainbow Cupcakes

Hello! Welcome to the brand New Year 2014!
Hope you all had a great celebration! :)

I as usual always prefer my cosy home with families. My parents were not in town so it's just me, hubby and the kids. Even the kids were asleep when the clock ticked to midnight :)

Just a normal, usual and simple dinner I cooked, I didn't even take any pic of the food. Nothing fancy, really. A dish of meat and a dish of veggie, eaten with rice
As dessert, I made two kinds of bread pudding. One with chocolate chips, golden raisins and marmalade. The other one was with chocolate chips and grated cheddar cheese
I used recipe from HERE
We were pretty stuffed! :)

The next day, on New Year day, we were invited to my sis' boyfriend's place, spent the day there. The kids were swimming and we had lunch together.
Just ordered pizza and had some beer and chips. Oh and dessert was the bread pudding I made the day before as dessert :)

So, that's it. Simple way of celebrating but we did treasure every minute of togetherness :)


Okay, now back to baking
Just want to share my first bake of the year - rainbow cupcakes

It's been so popular everywhere but I was always too lazy to bake some cos it's so troublesome! And will leave me with piles of dishes to do
But Abby has been asking me to bake this one so I just did, with her help :)

 

 

I used recipe Vanilla Cupcakes from Joy Of Baking

 

What you need:

 

113g unsalted butter, room temperature

130g caster sugar (original recipe used granulated white sugar)

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

195g plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

60ml fresh milk

(original recipe used zest of 1 large lemon but I skipped this)

 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degC and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners
2. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the lemon zest (if used), flour, baking powder, and salt
4. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed
5. Divide the batter into 6 small bowls. Add in colouring accordingly, just a few drops each bowl will do. I used red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. The orange and yellow were too similar I couldn't see the difference. I should have added more of the orange colour. And there's a little accident for the purple. I mixed red and blue but somehow after adding the red, I took brown instead of blue. It's just a drop or two when I realized it, then I added the blue. Hence the brown like purple colour LOL
6. Starting from purple, drop a tablespoon to the centre of each muffin cup. Followed by blue, green, yellow, orange, and lastly red (this all done by Abby)
7. Bake for about 17 - 20 minutes or just until set and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean (always check a few minutes before the stated baking time. Do not over bake or the cupcakes will be dry)
8. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool

 

 

 

We all loved the texture of these cupcakes. Soft, fluffy and moist

The kids were thrilled with the rainbow colour. But mummy was not so after seeing the dishes in the kitchen. Especially after hearing Abby asked me to bake more rainbow cakes in the future LOL

But I must admit, seeing the colours made me happy :))

 

THB #26 Raisins Oatmeal Cupcakes

The 26th bake for The Home Bakers - hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, where we bake from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas

I did some adjustment for this cake, just to make it to something at least one of the family member can enjoy. That one family member is usually me LOL

I baked half recipe in cupcake pan - I got 7 cupcakes. Using buttermilk as one of the option besides low fat yoghurt, omitted dark molasses, replaced vanilla extract with dark rum, replaced whole-wheat flour with plain flour, replaced cranberries with golden raisins and lastly, omitted nuts (for this, by accident. I totally forgotten about it LOL)

I must say this cake is not bad. It's tasty, and can taste the crunch from the oatmeal, pretty fluffy and moist - thanks to the rum soaked golden raisins :)
Great to eat this cupcakes as breakfast with a cuppa :)

For full recipe, please view Kit from I-Lost in Austen, whom has chosen this cake


This post is for The Home Bakers hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours

 

 

Also I'm submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up, an event initiated by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen from My Little Favourite DIY  where the star ingredients used for this month of November is Oats, hosted by Vivian from Vivian Pang Kitchen

My First Halloween Treats

Did these two as requested by the kids for Halloween this year
Confession: As I do not really celebrate Halloween, I never bake anything related to this spooky day in my life! LOL

Spider cupcakes.. does it look like spider? LOL

Recipe is from Martha Stewart One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

I made half recipe and I got 8 big cupcakes

 

 

Frosted the cupcakes with Nutella, sprinkled with chocolate rice, pasted M&M as the eyes, black fondant for the legs and pink fondant for the mouth

My Halloween ghosts

Frozen bananas dipped in plain low fat yoghurt, pasted choco chips for the eyes, back to freezer and that's it :)

 

Ready to go party tonight!

 

 

 

THB #23 Morning Glory Breakfast Cake

This cake didn't excite me I almost skipped on this one
But my curiosity won and here it is...
Chosen by Lena from Frozen Wings

This was not bad at all, I must say, especially knowing the goodness in every bite
No butter, no oil - great, isn't it? Dense, moist, flavourful, and pretty tasty
It's not something that I would make again, to be honest, but I had no regret in baking this cake :)

I planned to make only 1/3 recipe, I saw Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids did the same, hence I followed her recipe - thank you Zoe for making my life easier - it's quite a lot of ingredients used here!

The changes I made were, I replaced dark molasses with honey, walnut with cashew, wheat bran with Weet-Bix - crushed , dried cranberries with golden raisins
I used muffin pan and I got 6 standard size muffins, baked 180degC for 20 minutes

 

This post is for The Home Bakers hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours where we bake  from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas

THB#21 Peach Caramel Cupcakes

This is a bit weird. I baked the 22nd bake and now I'm doing the 21st bake LOL

This cake is not bad at all. Delicious and very easy to make
As usual, I baked half recipe and I used cupcake tin. I only got 4 cupcakes! LOL

I followed the recipe exactly, only that I reduced the sugar slightly and I omitted the nutmeg. I used canned peaches - I washed and patted dry with kitchen towel before arranging them on top of batter
I used cake flour instead, after reading some mixed reviews about the texture of the cake
It actually helped, I got the texture of butter cake :)

I baked this cake this afternoon, now is evening time and all four were gone LOL

For full recipe, please visit Emily from Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray

This post is for The Home Bakers hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours where we bake  from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas

Also this post is for Little Thumbs up (Egg) organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Yen from Eat your heart out, at this post

Bake Along #47 Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins

Once you pop, you can't stop
It happened, and it scared me I had to pretend not to see some of these little addictive treats
So yummy, a challenge for weight watchers :P

I made the batter without any cinnamon, cardamom or nutmeg - for the sake of my kids
I added vanilla extract instead
I used mini muffin pan and mini donut pan, I got 12 each
Those little muffins, I added chocolate rice in the batter, and coated with caster sugar - to attract my kids' attention LOL
The mini donuts were coated with cinnamon sugar
For me, I prefer the latter, of course :)

 

 

The chocolate rice in the little muffins..

 

 

 

Recipe is from the book "The Back In The Day Bakery Cookbook" by Cheryl and Griffith Day which I saw from Rumbling Tummy

 

What you need: (my version - I made half recipe)

 

187g plain flour

1/8 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

110g fresh milk

1 tbsp plain low fat yoghurt

60g unsalted butter, room temperature

60g fine sugar

1 large egg (60g without shell)

 

For the coating:

100g unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar mixed with 2 tbsp. ground cinnamon

 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180degC. Grease mini donut pan and line mini muffin pan with mini muffin case
2. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt. In another bowl, combine fresh milk and yoghurt
3. In a bowl, cream butter for 3 minutes over medium speed
4. Lower speed and add in sugar gradually. Continue to mix til lightens in color
5. Add in egg, beating til just combined
6. Add in the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the milk mixture, mixing just until smooth, do not overmix
7. Scoop batter into the pans, fill them about 2/3 full
8. For the mini muffins, in each cup I scooped half batter, sprinkle chocolate rice on them, and covered with the other half batter
9. Bake for 20 minutes, til the tops are firm to the touch and lightly golden
10. While the muffins are in the oven, prepare a bowl of melted butter and another bowl of cinnamon sugar (I had one more bowl for caster sugar)
11. Let the doughnuts cool completely on a wire rack. Dunk them in melted butter then coat them with cinnamon sugar. Do the same for mini muffins, coat them with caster sugar
12. Store in airtight containers for up to 2 days

 

 

This post is for Bake Along, a baking event organised by  Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids

 

2nd Anniversary Bake Along #44 & THB #17 Essence of Orange-Chocolate Wafer Cupcakes

These super moist cuppies are really delicious and loved by my family
I followed the recipe, didn't reduce the sugar quantity and I found it's a little too sweet but still tolerable
I soaked the golden raisins with rhum before processing them, too
Every bite I had was with a hint of rhum fragrance. Hhhhmmmm....

For full recipe please view Eileen of Hundred Eighty Degrees, whom has chosen this keeper recipe, very good choice!

I submit this post to:

*The Home Bakers hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours
where we bake recipes from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas and this is our 17th bake

 

 

*Bake Along, organised by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids where we are now celebrating 2nd anniversary :)

 

 

 

Please view below for other superb cupcakes :)

 

And for all mummies out there, hope you'll have a great time celebrating Mother's Day tomorrow

Stay tune for my bake for this special day tomorrow :)

 

 

2nd Anniversary Bake Along #44 - Lots Of Berries Coffee Cupcakes (Barefoot Contessa)

Happy birthday Bake Along! Time flies so fast!
2 years and 43 bakes so far, wow!
I have counted and I have actually missed out 15 bakes! Ooppss! :P
Anyway, those missed out bakes are in my to do list. Slowly I'll make it up LOL

Here are some yummy cupcakes burst with berries
Hopefully it's all right since I didn't do any decoration this time
I used a combination of strawberries and blackberries
Recipe is from Barefoot Contessa which I saw at Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids
Very delicious cuppies, the sweetness from the cake and the tanginess from the berries blended so well together in every bite
These were not muffins to me, the texture is more to cupcakes

 

What you need:

12 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 extra-large eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream (I replaced with plain yoghurt)

1/4 cup milk

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 half-pints mixture of fresh strawberries and blackberries

(I quartered the strawberries)

 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 175degC. Prepare muffin pans
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (high speed). On low speed, add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla, yoghurt, and milk
3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. On low speed add flour mixture to the batter and beat until just mixed
5. Fold in the berries with a spatula gently til well mixed
6. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling each cup just over the top, and bake for 30 min, until the muffins are lightly browned on top and a cake tester comes out clean

 

I was pretty fortunate to get these batch of blackberries. They were firm and sweet. And the best of all, the price is really attractive I grabbed two punnets and I regretted I didn't take more LOL

 

 

 

 

This post is for Bake Along, organised by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids

 

 

Xmas Feast 2012

Sharing what my family and I had for Xmas :)

My church Xmas celebration was on Sunday 23 Dec, and we went to Legoland Malaysia on Monday 24 Dec, so we had our Xmas meal on Xmas day itself, 25 Dec

I was busy in the kitchen the whole day cooking and baking on that day, despite feeling tired after the long day we spent in Legoland
As a result, I felt really tired for the next two days I didn't feel like doing anything, hence the late post cos I uploaded all the pictures only yesterday :)

So, here's what we had for our Xmas lunch...
Lemon maple honey baked ham with roasted vegetables, cream corn soup (cooked by my mum) and aglio olio spaghetti

The ham and vegetables before going into the oven

After out from the oven

 

 

I got the recipe from my sis' friend whom owns a restaurant, he's a great chef and I thank him for sharing this great recipe. This was the third time I used this recipe :)

Sorry but he didn't give the exact measurement of the ingredients used, and I never really measured myself everytime I made this...

 

What you need:

 

800g honey baked ham

salt / pepper

 

For glazing:

sweet dark soya sauce

worchestershire sauce

honey

lemon

maple syrup

salt / pepper

 

Vegetables I used roasted together with the ham: (cut in chunks)

Japanese pumpkin

baby potatoes

Australian baby carrots

green and red capsicums

1. Slice ham crosswise, marinade with salt and pepper, set aside for around 1 hour
2. In a bowl, mix all ingredients for glazing.
3. Arrange all cut vegetables in an oven proof baking dish. Sprinkle a little salt and black pepper also drizzle with a little oil
4. Brush ham all over with the glaze, and place in the middle of the baking dish on top of vegetables and bake in preheated oven of 220degC for approximately 1 hour
5. Turn ham to the other side halfway

 

And here's our dinner...

Still with the same roasted vegetables but this time it's roasted chicken :)

 

Before going into the oven



 

 

I used the recipe I saw at Annie's site

I like the name, I like how easy to prepare this dish and I like the good review she wrote

And so I chose this recipe, and what a good choice it was!

 

I skipped the pan-searing step, which I totally regretted. You see how my chicken looked like and you see hers and you know that this step is not to be skipped!

The next time I make this again, I will surely take the trouble to go through this additional step

 

Taste wise, it's really really good! Just like what she described - crisp skin, juicy and succulent meat

It's so good that there's no leftover on that night, all gone! :)

 

I marinated the bird for approximately 10 hours, from early morning to dinner time

The next time I make this again, I will marinade overnight

 

oh ya, I didn't tie the end of the leg to join them together since no stuffing for the chicken

 

Here's the recipe, thks Annie for sharing :)

 

What you need:

(I made 1.5 recipe for the seasoning)

 

1 whole chicken (I used free range / kampong chicken)

15g MasterFoods Roast Chicken Seasoning

4 tbsp olive oil

15g sea salt

few dashes of pepper

1 tsp of dried rosemary (or fresh rosemary)

1. Clean the chicken, cut the feet, neck and tailbone. Wash and pat dry with kitchen towel
2. Mix well in a small bowl: oil, salt, pepper, rosemary and roast chicken seasoning
3. Spread the marinade mixture all over the chicken, including underneath the breast skin, too
4. Keep the chicken in the fridge overnight (in an airtight container or wrapped in cling wrap)
5. Preheat oven to 220degC with fan on, top and bottom heat
6. Pan sear the chicken for 1 minute each side, let it slightly browned
7. Cut the vegetables in chunks, place it in the oven proof baking dish, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with some salt and pepper
8. Place the chicken in the middle on top of the vegetables
9. Put the baking dish into the oven and bake for 40 minutes
10. Reduce heat to 190degC and further bake for 20 minutes

 

Did you see the browned skin on top? It's because I was itchy hand when I saw the bird was not brown enough to my liking, I switched the oven to grill mode at the last few minutes. I ended up having the slightly charred skin :(

But actually, it tasted yum, crisp and brown LOL

Not recommended though, it didn't do the appearance any good hehehe...

 

 

Now, the last thing I did on Xmas day... one bowl chocolate cupcakes from Martha Stewart

 

 

Very easy to prepare with a pretty good result :)

And I decorated some of the cupcakes into this...

 

 

The Xmas tree cupcake, too bad I didn't have anything to make a yellow star to put at the top of the tree...

 

The Xmas wreath

 

And not to forget, Mr Snowman :)

 

 

Here's the recipe for the cupcakes...

 

What you need:

 

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cup plain flour

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup warm water

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 tbsp canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 175degC
2. Line muffin pan with paper liners, set aside (I got 12 mini and 10 standard cupcakes)
3. Sift together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl
4. Add in eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and mix til smooth, about 3 minutes with balloon whisk. Scrape the bottom and sides with rubber spatula to assure the batter is well mixed
5. Pour the batter into the muffin cups, 2/3 full
6. Bake til the tops spring back when touched and skewer comes out clean, mini cupcakes about 15 minutes, and standard cupcakes about 25 minutes, rotating pan if needed
7. Transfer to a wire rack, cool completely

 

Okay, so that's about all what I did on Xmas day

What a fun we had on that day, and of course - stuffed! LOL

Really hope you had a great Xmas too! :)

 

The snowman was chosen by Ian and candy cane was Abby's choice - both from Daiso :)

 

 

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #26 hosted by Alan of Travelling Foodies and Cook like a Star, organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats