So here it is. A vanilla rosewater cake, with a ground pistachio filling and a sweet rosewater glaze. The glaze tastes like roses, pretty amazing but I made it too runny and I don’t like how the photos have turned out. Oh well. I’m sure the recipient of my cake will be happy tomorrow.

Base cupcake: Almond cupcakes
Filling: Caramel (1 tin of condensed milk, 2 tbsp golden syrup, 30g butter – heat until thick then cool)
Icing: Basic Buttercream
Topping: Crispy M&M’s speckled eggs and coconut.

Frosted with mocha buttercream and garnished with a rose (ok, a crappy rose) from my course tonight. Perfect light moist rich chocolate cupcakes, you can’t go wrong with this recipe.

The original recipe calls them “Old Fashioned” and they are just that. Perfect base recipe.

They also bake lovely and flat so perfect for decorating! Because of this, you need to be careful to not overfill the cases or they will actually sink. 2/3’s full is the magic number.

113 grams / 1/2 cup  / 1 stick butter, room temp
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs, room temp
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk or water
1 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit/190 degrees centigrade.
2. Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
4. Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine.
5. Measure out the milk or water and vanilla and stir to combine
6. Add all the dry ingredients and mix till just combined.
7. Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 2/3’s full. Turn oven down to 350 degrees F/180 degrees centigrade and bake cupcakes for about 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

On the other hand, I feel these are moist, Dense and Rich almond babycakes. They have a dense tight crumb and marzipan flavour… my favourite..

These pull away from the cases so are best served without.

90g cream cheese
90g butter
2 eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 tsp almond essence (optional)

1/2 cup ground almonds
1/3 cup all purpose/plain flour
1/3 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Beat butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Beat in sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until smooth. Add essence.

Add all dry ingredients and mix all together until no flours showing.

Fill cupcake liners or a small cake tin and bake for 20 minutes or until lightly golden on top.

Original Recipe from [BakingBites], adapted from Donna Hay

10 tbsp(140 grams) butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups (200 grams) sifted all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Preheat oven to 325F/160F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners. Or 2 small heart tins and 4 cupcakes.
Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until smooth.

Fill each muffin liner with batter. They should be 3/4 full. Top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 12.

Once again I try to replicate a cafe classic. This time I actually semi-succeeded. I made these with frozen berries which is why my batter is still white, when you make these with fresh berries you will end up with pink batter.

As with all muffins, do not overmix the batter or they will be tough and chewy (not in a good way).

250ml (1 cup) milk
1tsp white vinegar or lemon juice
125ml (1/2 cup) oil (I use canola)
1 egg

300g flour
2 tsp baking powder
150g caster sugar
180g white chocolate cut into chunks
200g of berries (mix of what you choose)

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Line 12 hole muffin pan with muffin papers.

Mix all wet ingredients (milk, vinegar/lemon, oil and egg) together. In a seperate bowl mix together all remaining ingredients.

Tip the wet mixture into the dry and stir genrly until combined (only mix until no more flour is showing).

Spoon into muffin cases 3/4 full or more for the dome effect and bake for approximtely 20 minutes or until centres spring back when pressed.

recipe after jump…

Chocolate Mocha Mousse Filled Cupcakes
adapted from Janet Is Hungry

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups strong brewed coffee, cooled

56 grams chocolate
1 tbsp strong brewed coffee
3/4 cup cream

Mocha buttercream to frost (divide recipe by 3)

Make coffee first so that it has time to cool.

Preheat oven to 350F/180C and line or grease two 12 cup muffin tins.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl beat together the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla until creamy. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients beating just until incorporated. Mix in coffee until smooth (don’t overmix).

Fill 12-18 of the muffin tins with batter. Bake at 350F/180C for 22-24 minutes, until tester comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool completely on racks.

Make filling, heat cream until hot and pour of chocolate. Leave for a minute and then stir. Cool, then beat until thick.

Cut a cone from the top, fill each cupcake with filling and replace the reserved cones (or not). Chill.

Make buttercream frosting and pipe on.

1 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons flour
1/2  teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
112g unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup coconut cream
2 large eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut cream or buttermilk
Pinch of cream of tartar

1/2 tsp of lime curd for each cupcake
cream cheese frosting
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 180°c / 350°F. Line 12 cupcake tins with papers. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Beat sugar, butter and 1/2 cup coconut cream in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla extract. On low, beat in dry ingredients and then remaining coconut cream, just until blended.

Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites with pinch of cream of tartar in another large bowl until just stiff . Fold beaten egg whites into batter.

Divide cake batter between pans, fill to 3/4 full. Bake until just golden about 20 minutes. Cool cakes in pans, turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely.

Once cool cut a cone out of the top of each one and fill with Lime curd. Spread cream cheese frosting on top, and roll in shredded coconut to coat.

beat butter and cream cheese till creamy then add remaining. makes enough for 24 frosted like icing or 12 piped on.

I have a secret love for jam doughnuts. And on a trip to Melbourne I discovered hot fresh jam doughnuts, om nom nom so good.

These are no where near the same thing, but they do bear quite a large resemblance to the jam doughnut even though they are not fried. Best as hot as you can stand out of the oven but they do heat up well in the microwave too.

Recipe after the jump…

Adapted from taste.com.au

Ingredients

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar to coat
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
175ml buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
about 5 tsp of jam (I used rasperry and cherry)
100g unsalted butter
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 180°C and line a 12 cup standard muffin tin with cupcake cases (my batch only made 8).
Place the flour, baking powder and the first measure of caster sugar into a medium sized bowl.

In a jug, combine the vegetable oil, egg, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Add to the dry mixture and stir to only just combine.

Place a large spoonful of the mixture in each case and make an indent in the centre. You want to fill them enough so that the jam will not seep throught the mix into the bottom of the case. Fill each indent with a generous 1/2 teaspoon of which ever jam you like. Cover the jam with the remaining mixture and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, melt the butter. Combine the extra caster sugar and the cinnamon in a large bowl. When the cupcakes are cool enough to handle, I find practically straight away, dip each cupcake into the melted butter and then roll in the cinnamon sugar. Serve while still warm.