Chocolate Fondant Cupcakes & Lychee Rose Cupcakes

I know I have abandoned my blog for ages already but I have been really busy with work, assessments and going out with colleagues/friends. Haven't had the time to sit down and update my blog.I used to go back to Ipoh every weekends but I got tired of it. I only bake when I am in Ipoh so that means I don't bake as often as I used to. I have started baking in KL as well but it's normally very quick and not so pretty to blog about. I will re-make them again and update my blog with recipes.

I met a bunch of amazing people at work and made really good friends. Training ends next month, which means we will part our ways again to our respective banks. Sad but reality is such. I hope we remain the awesome bunch who parties non stop whether it's a weekday or weekend.

FSTEP has been a memorable one because of  em' girls. We are all proud Maybankers.:) Missing one is Miss Komathe.

Lucky Roshan

They have definitely been an amaziiiiiiing bunch of colleagues cum friends! <3  Missing out is Miss Tanusha & Komathe. 

A lot has been going. Emotionally, I must admit but it will stop soon enough, well in a month exactly, I don't want it to end but sometimes reality is the painful truth of life. I like the idea of crushes & love but I know I am not ready for a commitment yet. It scares me when people ask such questions and make me feel like I have no responsibility or whatever. Then again, maybe one day, they should walk in my shoes and see life as I see it.

Ok enough of emoness.. Back to my recipes..

Chocolate Fondant cupcakes - Hummingbird Bakery recipe (adapted)

Cupcakes:
80g unsalted butter
280g caster sugar
200g plain flour
40g dutch processed cocoa powder, sifted
a pinch of salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 large eggs
240ml whole milk ( I used 1/2 cup cream + 1/2 cup whole milk)
100g chocolate ganache

Filling & frosting (chocolate ganache) :
450g dark chocolate, small pieces
450g whipping cream
100g unsalted butter , cubed

1. To make ganache: Place chocolate and butter in a bowl. In a saucepan, simmer cream over low medium heat until it begins to bubble at the sides. Pour over chocolate and butter. Allow to sit for a minute or two before mixing it with a whisk. Whisk until chocolate and butter are fully melted and incorporated with the cream. Cling wrap the ganache, make sure the plastic is touching the surface of the chocolate ganache. Allow to cool at room temperature before making putting it in the fridge. Make at least 4 hours before.
2. To make cupcakes: Preheat over to 180 C.Line a 24 hole mini cupcake pan with cupcake liner.
3. Cream butter and sugar until very pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing them well after each addition.
4. Fold in the dry ingredients until combined.Don't overmix the batter.
5. Fold in the milk gently and finally the chocolate ganache.
6. Fill the paper liners until 2/3 full.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
8. Remove from pan immediately and allow to cool completely.
9. Core cupcakes with a knife or apple corer and fill with ganache & place the cake piece back on and frost cupcakes with ganache. 
10. If ganache starts melting, place the frosted cupcakes back in the fridge for 15minutes or until ganache firms up.

Lychee Rose Cupcakes - My copyright recipe

Cupcakes:
100g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
3 eggs, separated
100g self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
1 tablespoon milk/cream
10 whole pieces of canned lychee

Rose Butter icing:
150g unsalted butter
200g sifted icing sugar
1-2 drops rose essence/extract

1. To make cupcakes: Preheat over to 180 C.Line a 24 hole mini cupcake pan with cupcake liner.
2. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla extract until very pale and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing them well after each addition.
3. Fold in the dry ingredients until combined.Don't overmix the batter.
4. Fold in the milk gently.
5. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until medium peaks, fold in gently until incorporated.
6. Divide the batter equally into the prepared pan ( 2/3 full) and place half a lychee in the middle and bake for 15-20 minutes until a cake tested inserted comes out clean.
7. Remove from pan immediately and allow to cool completely
8. To make rose flavoured icing: Whip butter until very light and fluffy. Add icing sugar and continue whisking. Add rose flavouring and continue to whisk until combined. Frost cupcakes.

Lychee cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

February is the month of love & celebrations for me. From anniversary to valentines day to back to back of birthdays. This cupcakes were made for an old good friend of mine whose birthday was yesterday.

The cake was adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Lemon or Orange cake 1 in her book Paris Sweets.

200 g cake flour,sifted

1/2 teaspoon double action baking powder

a pinch of salt, if you are using unsalted butter.If not, omit the salt

75g sugar

3 small eggs, at room temperature

80g whipping cream

3 tablespoon lychee liquid from the canned lychee's tin

55g cooled melted butter

half a can of lychees, sliced into two or three pieces depending on the size of your paper cups

Cream cheese frosting, enough to frost to the cupcakes

1. Sift the dry ingredients together ( cake flour & double action baking powder ).
2. Whisk eggs with sugar until pale and foamy,then add whipping cream & lychee liquid.
3. Gentle fold into dry ingredients in three or four additions-the batter should be thick and smooth.
4. Finally fold in melted butter in two or three additions.
5. Spoon batter into cupcake papers about 2/3 full then add a piece of lychee in the middle then add more batter until cup is 3/4 full.
6. Bake for 10-15 minutes or when the cake tester is inserted it comes out clean in a preheated oven of 180C.
7. Leave it to cool before frosting it.

Ispahan macarons

One of Pierre Herme originality,the Lychee, Rose & Raspberry macaron but I added a twist because I didn't have enough raspberries, I used fresh strawberries as well with the frozen raspberries I had left over.I would be frank about this beautiful french sweet,I had a crazy time doing this. Firstly, not knowing the right temperature to bake these macarons was a trial & error thing for me, then came the lychee and rose ganache.The ganache was a disaster,I wasted so much because the ganache went wrong. I was my fault for using normal eating chocolate instead of the usual couverture chocolate used. I made my own lychee and rose filling in the end because the ganache did not set. Even the raspberry & strawberry jelly did not set.But the taste was pretty alright and it did come out good for a first timer.

excuse the slight crack,I was testing the perfect temperature for the macarons.

Adapted from Pierre Herme: Macarons ( I only made half the recipe) & Poh's Kitchen

For the raspberry and strawberry jelly:

210g raspberries + strawberries

40g caster sugar

2 leaves of gelatine weighing 2g each

For the macaron shells:

150g sifted ground almonds*

150g sifted icing sugar

55g 'liquefied' egg whites**

red food colouring paste

+

150g caster sugar

75g water

55g 'liquefied' egg whites

For the lychee & rose buttercream

150g unsalted butter

100g icing sugar

7 lychees (from a tin),squeeze excess syrup out from the lychees

2 drops oil based rose essence

* make sure you have 150g of sifted almond meal, the coarser grains from the almond meal can be used in other recipes.

** liquefied egg whites are aged egg whites meaning that egg whites kept in the fridge for several days, egg whites will lose their elasticity.I used frozen egg whites. I normally keep extra egg whites in the freezer until needed.

1 egg white = 30g

For decorations:

edible dust

sugar sprinkles

1. Start by preparing the raspberry jelly.Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water to soften. Using a hand blender,blend the raspberries, strawberries and sugar to a puree. Strain the puree to remove the pips. Heat a quarter of the puree to 45 C. Drain and dry the gelatine and add to the hot puree. Stir and add the rest of the raspberry puree.
2. Pour it into a gratin dish lined with clingflim to a depth of 4mm. Allow to cool for an hour at room temperature then put the dish into the freeze for 2 hours. Turn out the jelly and cut into 1.5cm squares. Return the jelly squares to the freezer.
3. To make the macarons shells: Sift together the sifted almond meal and icing sugar together.Add egg whites & red colouring to the almond meal and icing sugar.Mix vigorously.
4. Bring water and sugar to boil at 118 C. When the syrup reaches 115 C,simultaneously start whisking the second portion of egg whites to soft peaks. When the syrup reaches 118 C, pour it over the egg whites. Whisk and allow the meringue to cool down to 50 C, then fold it into the almond & icing sugar mixture. Spoon the batter into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle.
5. Pipe rounds of batter with a template as a guideline underneath the parchment paper or silpat or alternatively pipe rounds of batter about 3.5cm in diameter spacing them 2 cm apart onto baking trays lined parchment paper or silpat. Slightly drop baking trays on a hard surface to get an even looking shell. Sprinkle with decorations of your preferences and leave shells to stand for at least 30 minutes or until they form a skin.
6. Preheat oven at 150C for conventional ovens and 180C for fan forced ovens then put trays in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes.Leave oven door slightly ajar to allow steam to escape.
7. Remove from oven and slide the shells on to a work surface.
8. To make lychee & rose buttercream, squeeze excess water out from the lychee. Blend lychee to a puree.Cream butter & sugar until light & fluffy, add the puree into the cream and continue to the mixture. Add your desired amount of rose essence.Start off by adding few drops at a time as the flavour of rose can be overpowering if too much essence is added.
9. To pipe the macaron shells:Spoon buttercream into a pipping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Pipe a mound of buttercream on to half the shells. Lightly press a square of the frozen jelly into the centre and finish with a dot of buttercream.(I found this very difficult to do and my frozen jelly was melting into the heat of Malaysia.) Top with the remaining shells.
10. Store the macarons for 24 hours in the fridge and bring them out at point of serving.

VIOLA!!!