Two-Tone Rosette Cupcakes

These strawberry cupcakes with buttercream frosting were made for my son's birthday at his school for all his classmates. I had to try out this technique of two-tone rosettes. You will find plenty of youtube videos on how to make these rosettes and they are pretty simple to make. This technique really gives a very special effect to the cupcakes and I really loved it.

Little Mermaid Cake

This was a two-tier little mermaid cake I made for a "1st birthday party" recently. It was a vanilla cake filled with strawberry mousse and frosted with buttercream. The decorations like the seashells, starfish, seaweeds, pearls were all handmade out of the modeling chocolate. This did take me a lot of time as I did not have molds for any of the things. So I had created my own templates and did the decorations with their help. I used mixture of brown sugar and graham crackers for the sand.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am sharing the Original Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe here.

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup chocolate mini morsels
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375° F.
Combine flour and baking soda in a bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in the mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto parchment lined cookie sheets.
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes and remove to wire racks to cool completely.  The above recipe yields around 4-5 dozen cookies.

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Chocolate Devotion Cake

For Chocolate Cake

I always follow the Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Cake recipe given on their site (https://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipe-details.aspx?id=184). Its a perfect one for a rich moist chocolate. The only variation I made this time was substitute oil with butter to bring out the texture of the chocolate cake. I used 1/2 cup melted and cooled butter instead of 1/2 cup vegetable oil in the original recipe. You will get two 8-inch cakes from the recipe.

For Chocolate Mousse
This is the recipe from Joy of Baking and it turned out perfect. I needed mousse only as a filling and was trying this recipe for the first time, so I had done it on a smaller quantity.

2 oz semisweet chocolate morsels
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut in small pieces
1 large egg, separated
2 tablespoons granulated white sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

In a medium-sized bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and set aside to cool for a few minutes. Then whisk in the egg yolk. Let the mixture cool completely before mixing the egg yolk as if it is still warm, the butter will melt. Cover and refrigerate while you whip the egg whites and whipping cream.
In the bowl with an electric or a hand mixer, whip the egg white until foamy. Gradually add one tablespoon of sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form, yet the white is still glossy and not dry. Set aside.
In another bowl, whip the heavy cream, remaining one tablespoon sugar and vanilla extract until soft peaks form.
Remove the chocolate mixture from the refrigerator, and gently stir the beaten egg white into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Fold in the whipped cream.
For a better understanding you can watch the video on the site joyofbaking.com

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
This was the first time I made Swiss meringue buttercream. Oh I just loved the velvety texture of this buttercream. I was thrilled to get it right the very first time. I had halved the recipe from Running with Spatulas. For the videos I had referred to the modern buttercream class from Craftsy which really gives a nice explaination on how to prepare the Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I will share the recipe over here.

 3 egg whites
 1 cup unsalted butter (tbsp size chunks)
 3/4 cup granulated sugar
 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels (melted and cooled)

Put egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl. Fill a large saucepan halfway with water and heat on the stove over medium heat. Put mixing bowl with egg whites and sugar over the sauce pan water (the bowl should not touch the water). With a hand mixer, whisk constantly until sugar is completely dissolved (it will feel smooth between your fingers; you won't feel it gritty or won't feel the sugar between your fingers). Remove from heat and mix on low with the hand mixer until frothy. Slowly increase speed until soft peaks form. The mixture should be completely at room temperature before you start adding the butter. The bowl should not be felt warm to touch. The butter can melt if the sugar and egg mixture is warm. Slowly add one piece of butter at a time, waiting until each is fully incorporated before adding another.Once half of the butter is added you can increase mixing speed. You will have a curdled appearance of the icing but this is completely normal; so do not panic. The icing will get together eventually. Add in the vanilla and using a spatula slowly fold in the melted chocolate chips until combined. Then whisk it till you reach the desired consistency. This icing is very smooth and can have many air bubbles. If your icing it too soft, toss it in the fridge, but keep in mind that it will behave like butter, so don’t leave it too long or you will end up with hard icing. The chocolate decorations are done from the melted chocolate.

Marshmallow Sunflower Cupcakes

These were the cupcakes made by my 9-year-old son for the Garden State Cake Competition 2013 and he won a second place for it. I had made the butter cupcakes for him and used the store bought chocolate frosting. The petals are made out of marshmallows and yellow colored sugar and the central brown part is made up from mini chocolate morsels. We tried to make the look as a bouquet but after decorating these 7 cupcakes he was so tired so we could not do the rest of them. These are really very kid friendly cupcakes and I am sure the kids would enjoy to create them. They are just super easy to make and you will find so many videos on youtube on how to make these if you just type out "marshmallow flower cupcakes". The video I followed was  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_jDlSp4lAo

Pineapple Cream Delight

A semi homemade cake for my friend's birthday!!

INGREDIENTS:
For Cake:
1 pack of pineapple cake mix ( I used Pillsbury for this one)
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 cup water
1 tsp cardamom powder
1 tsp nutmeg powder
1 can of pineapple chunks (20 oz)

For Whipped Cream Frosting
2 cups heavy cream
6 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla

DIRECTIONS:
Bake two 8-inch round cakes according to instructions; just add the cardamom and nutmeg powders into the batter. This brings out the pineapple flavor in the cake. Cut off the domes after cooling them completely. Using the syrup in the pineapple can, with a pastry brush, brush it over both the cakes slightly to make the cake more moist.  Place one cake on the cake board and spread some whipped cream and then put the pineapple chunks on this. If the chunks are too big, cut them into small pieces with a sharp knife. Place the other cake on top of it and frost the whole cake with whipped cream. Decorate with the pineapple chunks.

For preparing the whipped cream frosting, beat the chilled heavy cream, sugar and vanilla on medium speed till if forms into stiff peaks. (Make sure the bowl which you are preparing the cream in and the blades are frozen for half an before you start making the cream).

Valentine Cake Pops

This was my first time making the cake pops. I was really very nervous about it because I had read so many bad experiences the people had while making them like the cake pops falling off the stick, they having cracks, the coating being too thick and many more. So I first decided to do a lot of research on this and then give it a try as I had to send them in for my son's classmates and I did not want anything to go wrong. You will find many cake pop tutorials if you surf  but still I created one of my own which will explain the cake pop making process step by step. It is really very tedious job let me tell you, so having patience is the only key to get the best cake pops.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pack of cake mix (you can use any, I had used Duncan Hines)
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 cup water
1 tub of store frosting ( I had used the classic chocolate)
1 12 oz bag of Wilton Red candy melts
Wilton sprinkles
4-inch lollipop sticks
Styrofoam block to hold the cake pops

DIRECTIONS:
First bake your cake according to the instructions on the cake mix box. Let it cool down completely. I had baked the cake a day before. In a large bowl, break this cake to form cake crumbs. You can either do this with your hands or using hand mixer. The crumbs should be very fine; don't leave out large pieces in there. Then to this add around 1/2 tub of the frosting. I had used chocolate frosting. With a spoon mix it well and then using your hands form it into a dough. This should have the consistency of play-doh. If you find the mixture dry you can add little frosting at a time till you get to the right consistency. Then take a tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball. Using the tablespoon will help you get cake balls of same size. Place the balls on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.

Then take a few candy melts (6-8 pieces) and melt them in a microwave; this takes only 30 seconds. Then take the lollipop stick and dip its one end in the melted candy and then insert the stick in the cake ball (not more than 1/4 of it). When you insert it a ring of candy should form around the stick. Don't move the stick once you put it inside otherwise this will create a loosened space around the stick and the cake pop will fall off easily.

After this, put the cake pops in the freezer for around 1 hour. After you take out the cake pops, leave them out for at least 10-15 minutes to come back to room temperature before dipping them in the candy melts. This will prevent the cracking of cake pops. Melt the remaining candy melts by the double boiler method. Place a deep bowl having the candy melts over pan of simmering water without the bowl touching the water. Stir the mixture continuously until completely melted. Add 2 tsp of vegetable oil while it is hot. This will thin out the candy melts and make it easy for the dipping process. Take off from the simmering water.

For the exact dipping process of the cake pop I referred to a video which was very helpful. I will post the link for you to get an idea. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyLKb6tnslw&feature=youtube ) First see to it that your candy melts mixture is not too hot. Basically you have to dip the pop straight into the candy melts mixture till it is full covered. Lift it straight up and then hold it slanting in your left hand. Tap with your right hand over the left while rotating the cake pop at the same time so that the excess candy melt drips off and you get a smooth coating. Add the sprinkles to the cake pop and then let it stand on the Styrofoam block. You need not get the expensive ones from shops; I used the ones which I had got in the packing materials of my laptop box.

Let them dry out for a while and then you can pack them as you wish. I had used the Ziploc bags and tied them up with a red ribbon which I got from the party store. If you are making the cake pops using the tablespoon, you will get around 48 cake pops from this mixture.