My Journey as a Cake Decorator (Part 3: cupcakes)

I wanted to try my hands using chocolate and white chocolate for decorations. After reading from the ‘The Whimsical Bakehouse’ it looked interesting. Awhile ago I baked red velvet cupcakes. Found a recipe online at foodnetwork.com.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 tablespoons red food coloring

1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 pound cream cheese, softened

2 sticks butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

My niece only loves munching the top of the cupcake coz it has this crustier surface

3^rd lesson – Always plan your design. Because I was doing this for fun, I didn't really plan what I was going to do. All I know I wanted to try the melting, piping chocolate technique. It was bit rubbish but the cupcakes taste sooooo good! A friend of mine (Ms Sharon D’cruz) gobbles up the whole thing even before reaching her destination (supposedly keeping it till she arrives.... guess it was too tempting!)

Couple of days ago I baked another bunch of cupcakes for a friend who is celebrating her birthday today. So this time I planned it out. I thought about what kind of theme I should do and colours I should use. Because everyone calls her ‘Bee’, I figured hmmmmmmmmmm.... bees??? And here’s what I created.

"Queen Bee"