Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes 北海道蛋糕

Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes (北海道蛋糕) is one of the popular cupcakes that many home bakers had made. In Singapore you can find this soft and fluffy cupcakes selling at some of the housing estate bakeries or brands such as Polar and Puff.

This recipe has being in my "keep in view (KIV)" list for quiet sometime and is only until about 2 weeks ago when Joyce bought a box of this similar Hokkaido Cake (read more here), it actually triggers our baking bug to try making it on our own.

HOKKAIDO CHIFFON CUPCAKES

北海道蛋糕

So after hearing good feedback from Joyce (my facebook co-admin) earlier this week on her homemade Hokkaido Cupcakes, I decided to bake some on Tuesday for mums early birthday treat as well as packing a few for her church friends. And with some hands-on experience on making chiffon cakes (recipes)before it is quiet easy for me to follow the steps shared by Sonia (Nasi Lemak Lovers).

Recipe adapted from Sonia, Nasi Lemak Lover website HERE.

(Make : 16 Cupcakes     | Preparation: 10 minutes  | Cooking: 25 minutes)

Ingredients:
6 Egg Yolks
40g Caster Sugar
70ml Corn Oil
100ml Fresh Milk
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
140g Cake Flour
6 Egg Whites
50g Caster Sugar

Method:-

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (Degrees Celsius) and whisk egg yolks and sugar till pale in colour. (I used a hand beater and it takes about 5 minutes)

2. Next whisk in corn oil and half the amount of fresh milk and vanilla extract till well mixed.

3. Slowly add in sifted flour and remaining fresh milk, stir using the hand whisk till combined. Set aside.

4. Set the speed of electric beater to low and beat egg whites until foamy. Divide the sugar into 3 batches and add in slowly while beating the whites at medium speed until it reaches soft peak form. (a soft peak is reached when the beaters are pulled out of the whites and the peaks that form droop)

5. Scoop 1/3 of the egg whites and use a hand whisk to mix it evenly into egg yolk batter.

7. Next fold in balance whites in two batches with spatula till well combined.

8. Scoop batter into arrange paper liners to slightly more than 3/4 cup full and bake in preheated oven (middle rack) for about 20 - 25 minutes (depending on the size).

9. When done, remove from the baking tray and cool it on rack before making the custard fillings (for your information the cake will shrunk a bit after being remove from the oven).


Ingredients For Custard:
120ml Whipping Cream
20g Caster Sugar
2 Teaspoon Instant Custard Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Method:-

1. Prepare some ice water in a basin, place mixing box which contain the whipping cream and sugar in it.

2. Beat the cream on medium low speed until soft peak, add in vanilla extract and custard powder.

3. Continue to beat for a few more seconds till firm and well combined.

4. Scoop custard cream into piping bag and pipe the cream into the cool cupcakes. When done, dust with some icing sugar and decorate with some seasonal fresh fruit if you desire.

5. Keep it in the keep for about an hour or so before consume so that the custard will firm up by then and the cake will taste more flavorsome.

Nicely packed as for giveaway to mums friends

The texture of these chiffon cupcakes are very light, airy and its so soft that it taste quiet similar to Japanese Cotton Cheesecake. From what I have Google there are a few similar recipes in which either more milk (like this recipe above),  more egg whites than yolks or adding of baking powder or cream of tatar in the ingredients list. No matter which recipe(s) you trying I am sure there is one that suits you well.

And if you dont like the "egg smell", you can always add in some vanilla extract or vanilla sugar to make it more fragrant to taste. Other than the "plain" version I have also made another "Chocolate Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes" shown above upon my boys request which I would share the recipe on next post.

Read More..

Blueberry Cupcakes 蓝莓小蛋糕

Noobcook had her first successful bake, Blueberry Muffin and it didnt look like it was her first at all. Bluff! ;P Blueberries are very expensive here. I never thought I would try them till I saw a local supermarket was having them for sale, organic some more and it was a mere S$2.30 a punnet!! I grabbed 3 and went back to check out Noobcooks recipe.

Shes using imperial measurement whilst Im more comfortable with metric measurement and I was too lazy to do the conversion. I had to abandon the idea of using her recipe and used one of the regular cupcake recipe I had instead.

The next time blueberries are on sale again, I shant be lazy and do the conversion because her muffins look too darn good!

Heres my recipe if you prefer meteric measurement and especially blueberries. They are yummy!



Ingredients:

• 220g Butter, soften


• 200g Caster Sugar


• 4 Eggs


• 220g Self Rasing Flour


• 2 punnet Blueberries

How to do it:

1. Cream butter and suger till light and fluffy.


2. Add one egg at a time and continue beating.


3. Add in flour and beat well till mixture is smooth and pale.


4. Fold in the blueberries till combined.


5. Spoon batter into muffin cup.


6. Bake for 20 minutes in preheat oven at 170C.


7. Cool on rack.

Read More..

Candy Bar Cupcakes with Quick and Delicious Buttercream Frosting

 I LOVE cupcakes! But, who doesnt? I also love candy bars and thought how cool and delish would it be to throw some mini candy bars in a cupcake batter!
        I also have been on the hunt for a bakery like frosting and I think I created it along with these cupcakes! Whenever I taste a cake or cupcake from a local bakery I just cant seem to figure out how they do it.  What gives the frosting that texture and delicious flavor? There are a lot of great recipes out there, and everytime I tried them Im always a little disappointed. Some of them are with flour (which I feel is weird in a frosting) Some of them call for shortening (YUCK!), and some of them tell you to beat it til the sun dont shine.. and me being all about easy and fast, I dont have time for that!
       This frosting is SO EASY and super delicious! I think the whipping cream is what makes this frosting a winner! This is now the one I will always make! Give it a try and let me know what you think!  
       The cupcakes turned out really good as well. I actually tried a bunch of different kinds of candy bars. Twix, Rolos, Snickers and Milky Way. They were all great. I was sad that they do sink down to the bottom, but who cares! With the last bite of your cupcake, you get an extra surprise with a big bite of candy car! Thumbs up for me!

   

CANDY BAR CUPCAKES (makes 36 cupcakes)

Recipe By: Holly Lofthouse

• 1 box (18oz) cake mix 
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• small box instant pudding (I used chocolate w/ Devils Food cake mix & vanilla w/ Vanilla cake mix)
• 24 mini candy bars of your choice (Snickers, Milky Way, Rolos)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line mufftin tins with cupcake liners.

Mix the cake mix, eggs, oil, milk, sour cream and pudding mix together with a hand mixer. Beat on low for 30 seconds and then on medium for about 2 minutes. (Batter will be very thick)

With an ice cream scoop, fill liners about 1/3 of the way full of cake batter. Top with one candy bar. Cover candy bar with 2 tablespoons of batter so its completely covering candy bar. Repeat with all.

Place in oven and bake for 18-20 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

QUICK & DELICIOUS BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Recipe By: HollyL

• 3 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
• 2 sticks of Butter (1 cup), room temperature  (make sure to use REAL butter)
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of Whipping Cream

•  FOR CHOCOLATE FROSTING- Add in 1/4 cup of cocoa

Directions:

Mix powdered sugar and butter in a large bowl with a spatula until well combined. With a hand mixer, mix in Vanilla and Whipping cream. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes until well combined.

(For chocolate version,  add in cocoa when mixing the powdered sugar and butter together)

       

Read More..