After some planning and a few days of hardwork, I completed over ten dozens of cupcakes on time for my birthday. A few years ago, I decided to start my own tradition for treating my friends and family to cupcakes on my birthday. Well, I've carried on that tradition proudly and this year's production has been my most ambitious attempt so far. I'm very happy with the result and in the process, received an overwhelming outpour of well-wishes from my friends and coworkers. What a wonderful way to start!
Carrot cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting, garnished with marzipan carrots: very moist carrot cake recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible. The frosting from Beranbaum's The Cake Bible is easy to work with and tastes wonderful. I've finally found an excuse to make marzipan carrots...the leaves are piped with premade green icing.
Quartre-quarts au Chocolat with Whipped Dark Chocolate Ganache, garnished with chocolate shard: This is my favourite chocolate pound cake recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Paris Sweets. It is made with creme fraiche and dark chocolate with an additively melting texture. The whipped ganache does not have the richness and smoothness usually associated with ganache but it is nice to pipe. I will stick with unwhipped ganache next time.
Coconut Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting, garnished with Coconut Flakes: The cake recipe is adapted from Ina Garten's recipe. I replaced with almond extract with coconut extract and the buttermilk with sour cream and coconut milk. The cake rises into a beautiful dome with a tight grain. It doesn't taste as good as my coconut adaptation of Beranbaum's All-Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake but that recipe is better suited for layer cakes. As a cupcake, it rises too much for an attractive appearence.
Coconut Cake with Mango Buttercream: Buttercream is Beranbaum's Mousseline Buttercream (italian meringue buttercream) chosen for its stable nature at room temperature. The buttercream is flavoured with alphoso mango puree which gives it a lovely sunny yellow hue and incredible flavour.
Coffee Cake with Coffee Buttercream: Coffee cake is adapted from Beranbaum's White Spice Pound Cake. Instead of the spices, I used 3 teaspoons of Illy ground espresso and 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder and replaced the brandy with kahlua and vanilla. The result is a mellow coffee flavour that is not too overpowering. The buttercream is flavoured with instant coffee and kahlua.
Lemon Cake with Lemon Buttercream: The cake recipe comes from Paris Sweets' Cake au Citron which mixed like a genoise enriched with creme fraiche. The buttercream tastes awesome. It is Beranbaum's Neoclassic Buttercream mixed with almost equal parts to Pierre Herme's Lemon Cream. The lemon cream is basically lemon curd beat with soften butter. Very rich but bright with lemon flavour. This lemon buttercream is a winner.
Green Tea Cake with Anko Buttercream: This is another adaptation from the White Spice Pound Cake. The spices are replaced with 4 teaspoons of powder green tea and brandy is replaced with vanilla extract. The texture is so delicate plus the subtle flavour of the original recipe allows the green tea to really shine. The anko buttercream is the result of a sudden flash of brilliance. I mix prepared sweetened koshi an with mousseline buttercream. The buttercream is super easy to pipe and lightened the dense anko. Very tasty and very wafu indeed. I will probably make this cupcake again before my next birthday!
Coffee Cake with Whipped Dark Chocolate Ganache (left), Quartre-Quarts au Chocolat with Coffee Buttercream (right): different combination of cake and frosting. I was originally going to garnish them with chocolate-covered espresso beans but all the cafes around my house ran out of stock.
Vanilla Cake with Pistachio Buttercream: The vanilla cake is a variation on the Cake au Citron. I am stil in search of a better vanilla cake recipe for cupcakes. The mousseline buttercream is flavoured with pistachio paste that I reheated slightly in the microwave. I tempered the paste with a little buttercream for easier incorporation. Both the colour and flavour scream pistachio.
Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Buttercream: The buttercream is flavoured with strawberry puree. If I want a pink buttercream, raspberry puree would be more vibrant while strawberry is more pastel. Personally, I like raspberry better.
That's it for another year of cupcake extravaganza. Which one do you like best?
