olympic brownies!

these brownies don't actually have anything to do with the olympics, other than they're pretty much the only thing i've managed to bake since the winter olympics began. not your classic brownie, with white chocolate and butterscotch chips on top, but definitely the ultimate brownie base. in my opinion, brownies are meant to be dense and made from real chocolate not light and cakey with cocoa. the brownie recipe i've been using for a couple of years now has got to be the best, small ingredient list, simple to make and produces great results. i will post it on the recipe page later on, now it's back to the snowboarding and my brownies :)

go canada!

chocolate cheesecake cupcakes

they're an alliteration! i baked these this evening due to pressure to deliver cupcakes at work this week haha you know who you are! these chocolate cheesecake cupcakes, also known as black bottom cupcakes, are really quite unusual. chocolate cupcake surrounding a chocolate-chip cheesecake centre, unfrosted. we just sampled one for the first time and i think the cheesecake component might be a bit on the sweet, cloying side. it will be interesting to see what the reaction tomorrow at work will be...

m

UPDATE: these were much better the day after baking them, the cheesecake had set a bit better and the sweetness was dialed down. on the whole these are really a dessert cake on their own, quite heavy and filling. with this in mind i don't think they'll be in the running for september, with all of the delicious snacks people will have enjoyed before sampling our dessert i think a lighter treat would be better appreciated.

another delicious shout out...

if i keep delivering cupcakes will people keep posting about them?!? awesome! thanks lionel & kristen!
m
http://greenteaandicecream.blogspot.com/2010/02/we-devoured-these-within-10-minutes.html

birthday meringue cakes

happy birthday mom!

these are the lemon meringue pie cupcakes i made today! recipe can be found on the recipe page. they are tasty little cakes, but could use some improvements. there wasn't quite enough filling in them, and the cake was a little dry, but other than that they were good. i ended up browning the meringue in my oven, and that worked much better than i had expected. i really wanted to use my new kitchen torch, but the fuel we bought wouldn't fill our torch due to some 'safety' design flaws. i really like how different the meringue looks on top of the cupcakes compared to just piped frosting. i may try this again with a few tweaks.

m

PINK valentines!

wow! these are the pinkest cupcakes i've ever seen! this was my first time using paste colouring, so obviously there is a learning curve i need to overcome, they were supposed to be more in the pastel family. less is probably more. vanilla with vanilla buttercream, they were yummy even with the pinkness!

m

gung hay fat choy!

happy new year and may prosperity be with you!

these are some cupcakes i baked last year for a Chinese new year party, it took for-ev-er to pipe on the characters but it was worth it in the end. my fingers are crossed for another party this year as i have some new ideas!

happy valentine's day as well! today i will be busy baking some vanilla-vanilla cupcakes as well as making the lemon curd for the lemon meringue cupcakes i will be baking tomorrow. birthday party at our place tomorrow :)

xo m

my first shout out!

this is so exciting! my chocolate/white chocolate cupcakes have been featured on a very famous local blog, check it out!

http://greenteaandicecream.blogspot.com/2010/02/our-neighbours-meagan-and-ben-dropped.html

thanks L & K! :)

early valentine's cupcakes

here are the devil's food cake cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream frosting, so far they're getting great reviews. i made an attempt to use shimmer dust on them and have come to the realisation that shimmer dust is for fondant or royal icing applications...duh! so there is one cupcake for my valentine that has big clumps of shimmer on it ;) that is love xo

THE valentine's cake

this is my red velvet cake, the baking went well but my layer cake construction leaves much to be desired. this was my first three layer cake though. the recipe actually called for vanilla frosting but i think cream cheese frosting is the way to go with red velvet. one week early for valentines, but there will be some more valentines treats coming up this week!

an oldie but a goodie...

i made these pink lemonade cupcakes with lemon meringue frosting back in university and found the old pictures today. they are not a flavour currently being considered for the wedding party, but might be if people want to try them :)

m

...testing...testing...

first post!

this is the first of the great cupcake recipe taste test challenge! these were vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream, enjoyed at nanny's birthday lunch :) no complaints yet. next challenge recipe will be the double chocolate, chocolate cupcake with white chocolate buttercream, perfect for valentines!

this weekend my baking exploits will include my first attempt at a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing, yum! wish me luck...

m