buttercream

Coconut Cupcakes 2-Ways – Lemon & Curry Ganache

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Last weekend, I made two coconut cupcakes. The first is a fluffy coconut cupcake (lightness achieved with whipped egg whites), with lemon curd filling, and topped with a coconut-lemon buttercream. This cake recipe was taken from a Cupcake Wars episode and easily makes my favorites-list. The curd and buttercream were light and creamy, and complementary in taste and texture.

The second cupcake had a similar cake recipe, minus the whipped egg whites, and plus ground coconut. This cake (on the left) was more golden and had more texture.

I filled it with a coconut buttercream, and topped with whipped curry ganache. Unfortunately I was a bit short on ganache, so I used a comb to create some texture and then “blinged-out” with decoration (pearlized dust and toasted coconut). The flavor combination is perhaps less conventional, but yummy and memorable.

I didn’t used to be a coconut fan, but the more I explore pastries and baking, the more interesting I am finding the taste of coconut. While I don’t really like the texture of coconut flakes in my desserts, I may be a convert with respect to flavor!

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Mexican Brownie Cupcakes – Happy Cinco de Mayo

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I discovered spicy Mayan hot chocolate at Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto and have loved that spiced up chocolate flavor ever since. When we moved to San Diego, we found out that Chuao Chocolatier, which supplies their chocolate bonbons and hot chocolates to Coupa Cafe, is based here! I was over the moon—an endless supply of spicy chocolate (and other favorites like Firecracker and Panko). Of course, it’s a pricey supply, so for Cinco de Mayo, I decided to make Mexican brownies from scratch.

I am sure there are a variety of spices that can be added, but here’s a simple way to get the job done:

Take your standard chocolate brownie recipe (a box mix works too) and add about 3/4 tsp. of ground chipotle chili pepper and 1 tsp. of ground cinnamon. I baked these as mini cupcakes, which requires about 18-20 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees, and topped with cinnamon buttercream. Avoid overbaking, since that seems to bake off the spice flavors.

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Champagne Cupcakes – Happy Valentine’s Day

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Okay, I admit that there now appears to be a trend in my most recent postings . . .

But I had to try making these cupcakes after seeing a version of them on Cupcake Wars. The cake here is a variation on a standard white cake recipe with about 3/4 cup of Chandon Extra Dry Riche sparkling wine added. I think the sweeter the champagne (or sparkling wine), the better this cupcake is, although dessert wines would probably be overdoing it. When looking up other bakers’ attempts at champagne cupcakes, there were many suggestions for adding strawberries or using strawberry flavored wines. However, I can tell you that a simple, standard champagne works perfectly well, and I was thrilled with how light and subtly sweet this cupcake was.

To get some berry flavors in there, I topped the cupcake with Chambord buttercream. For those of you who are new to Chambord, I discovered this raspberry liqueur in a magazine ad—the kind that has the “open here and smell” panel that usually accompanies perfume ads. Since then, I have been obsessed with this liqueur’s delicious scent! Chambord alone doesn’t add sufficient coloring (unless you’re going to use the entire bottle . . .), so I added a dab of pink food coloring. Then I topped with some sanding sugar and white pearls. Sparkly, sprinkled pink cupcakes aren’t normally my style, but hey, it’s Valentine’s Day.

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