Thursday, April 22, 2010

Butterfly cupcakes

I saw two butterflies dancing in the air today, twirling and fluttering ever so gracefully - it was absolutely beautiful! Watching them was as if everything around me paused and music was playing in the background! =)

Well, it reminded me of the butterfly cupcakes I made not long ago for Easter. Easter is all about how Jesus Christ died and rose back to life, and by believing that this is true, we too can have new life! Just like how the humble caterpillar can turn into a beautiful butterfly, Christ can give us abundant new life; one of freedom, joy, and meaning!

So in light of this I decided to transform the humble vanilla cupcake into a (slightly) more exciting butterfly cupcake... Of course, the inspiration came from seeing other people do the same - but for the sake of keeping a record, I'll jot down the recipe I used...


What you need:

For the cupcakes
  • 1/3 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup SR flour
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
For the flair:
  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • strawberry jam (not sure how much I used...)
  • about 1 tbs icing sugar (just to give the cream some taste, I don't like plain cream)
How to make it:
  1. Preheat the oven to 160 'C. Line a 24-mini-cupcake pan.
  2. Use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, mix well.
  3. Add the flour, milk and vanilla, beat with electric mixer until well combined.
  4. Spoon mixture into mini-cupcake tray. Bake for 10-15 minutes until well risen and firm to touch. Allow them to cool before the next step.
  5. Cream: add the icing sugar to the whipping cream and use an electric mixer to beat until firm and fluffy.
  6. When the cupcakes are cool, use a sharp knife to cut away the top of the cupcake. Cut the top bit in half to make the wings of the butterfly.
  7. Spread whipped cream on the cut surface of the cupcake, then place a spot of jam in the middle. Position the wings in the cream, on both sides of the spot if jam to resemble a butterfly (I had to experiment with the positioning).
  8. Sprinkle with sifted icing sugar. (something I forgot to do ><)

And you should have 24 deli-ful butterflies, ready to be devoured =P

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Lemon cupcakes with sourcream

So here we go... an attempt to start properly collecting recipes I've used, modifications I've made, and photo-evidence of these adventures. And since the photos have been so popular, I thought I'd share the recipes with my friends as well =] Of course, credit goes to Mr. Photographer, who loves his job, 'cause he gets to taste them too =P

Today's adventure is the result of too much sour cream sitting in my fridge, which called for a twist of my usual recipe for lemony cupcakes (found in the book "Mini cupcake creations"). The outcome - moist, and a bit more tangy than usual. Not as fluffy as I like them though. But loved the consistency of the icing =) Oh and it totally worked as post-exam-stress relief!

What you need:
  • 1/3 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp grated lemon zest
  • 1 1/2 cup SR flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • Frosting: 1 1/2 cup icing sugar and juice from the lemon
How to make it:
  1. Preheat the oven to 160 'C. Line a 24-mini-cupcake pan.
  2. Use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, lemon zest and vanilla essence, mix well.
  3. Add flour and sour cream and beat with electric mixer on medium until well combined.
  4. Spoon mixture into mini-cupcake tray. Bake for 10-15 minutes until well risen and firm to touch. Allow to cool for a few minutes, transfer to a wire rack and let it cool fully before icing.
  5. Frosting: mix the icing sugar with enough lemon juice to form a smooth paste (I used half a lemon and added water). Spread evenly over each cupcake.

Stay tuned for more sour cream adventures... I still have 3 tubs sitting in my fridge!!