Honey Cupcakes

My health has not been good again recently, hence some of you might have noticed my lack of updates and I have not been visiting blogs for a while. :(

I saw these Honey Cupcakes at Small Small Baker some time back. It is strangely amazing that how one could miss a wonderful recipe while reading the book until you encounter the same recipe again much later at baking blogs. That goes the same for this Honey Cupcakes recipe.

I wish all readers a Happy New Year and hope that 2011 will be a great year ahead for all of us!! :)

Thanks to Small Small Baker for sharing the recipe. :)

Honey Cupcakes
Adapted from: Small Small Baker and 孟老师的100道小蛋糕 by 孟兆庆

Ingredients (Makes 5)
20 g vegetable oil
30 g honey
2 eggs
20 g castor sugar
50 g cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

Method
1. Place oil and honey in a bowl and heat up the mixture by placing the bowl in hot water. Mix well using a spoon and set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar at low speed. Gradually increase the speed to high and beat till the mixture turns creamy white and reaches ribbon stage. Reduce to low speed and beat for another 1 minute.
3. Sift in cake flour and baking powder and add in honey and oil mixture. Mix gently until smooth.
4. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups till 80% full and rest at room temperature for about 5 minutes.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 15 – 20 minutes.

Walnut Pound Cake

I have the terrible habit of buying something first (usually on impulse) and then decide what I want to do with them much, much later. This bake is yet another classic example of my random purchase: Walnuts!

Do not be fooled by the plain or unappetizing look of this Walnut Pound Cake. Its buttery aroma and crunchy walnut bits will make you fall in love with it after the first bite. :)

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish all my dear readers and blogger friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! :)

Walnut Pound Cake
Adapted from: 磅蛋糕123 by 趙筱蓓

Ingredients (Makes an 8-inch round)
120 g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
80 g white sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
130 g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
100 g walnuts
1 – 2 tsp rum

Method
1. Toast walnuts at 120°C for 3 minutes. Coarsely chop the walnuts and set aside to cool.
2. Beat butter and sugar till creamy and fluffy.
3. Add in eggs gradually and mix till well-combined.
4. Sift cake flour and baking powder together. Add in separate additions and mix well.
5. Add in the chopped walnuts and rum and mix lightly.
6. Pour the batter into a greased 8-inch round pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 175°C for 60 minutes.
7. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Unmold from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes
- Rum helps to enhance the walnut flavour in the cake.
- I used plain flour instead of cake flour. Rum was omitted.

Blueberry Pound Cake

A dear friend IP showed me a silicon mould that she received as a housewarming gift and asked if it can be used for baking chiffon cakes. Looking at it, I believe it is called a bundt pan which is more suitable for baking heavy cakes such as pound cakes. I hope I am not the blind leading the blind. Hehe... 

I was thrilled when IP suggested a baking session at her place. I knew exactly where I can find the perfect recipe for the lovely bundt pan: the Blueberry Pound Cake from Anncoo Journal! :)

We started our weekend afternoon excitedly, gathering the ingredients and the baking equipment that we needed. When we were measuring the sugar, we realised that we did not have enough sugar for the recipe! Poor IP's hubby had to be our "errand boy" to the nearest supermarket which was a 20-minutes walk. Oops... :) Despite the hiccups and fumbling, the baked cake is a real beauty that wins all the "Wows" and praises, living up to its origins as Elvis Presley Whipping Cream Pound Cake. A very soft and delicious cake and the addition of blueberries certainly enhances the savoring experience. Of course, not forgetting that I had an enjoyable and fun afternoon, baking and catching up with IP. :)

Thanks to Anncoo Journal and Honey Bee Sweets for sharing the recipe. :)

Blueberry Pound Cake
Adapted from: Anncoo Journal and Honey Bee Sweets

Ingredients
113 g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
180 g cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
180 g castor sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250 ml heavy whipping cream
250 g fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tbsp plain flour, for coating blueberries

Method
1. Grease a Bundt pan and dust flour evenly in pan, knocking out the excess flour. Alternatively, grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
2. Sift flour and salt together, set aside.
3. Toss the blueberries with 1 tbsp of plain flour, set aside.
4. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
5. Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Add in vanilla extract and mix well. 
7. Add the flour mixture in 4 additions, alternating with the whipping cream in 3 additions, mixing well in each addition.
8. Fold in the blueberries using a spatula.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
10. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Unmold from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes
- I used Bulla thickened cream for the heavy whipping cream and replaced cake flour with plain flour.
- I mixed the vanilla extract together with the whipped cream.
- I used frozen blueberries without thawing and tossed with 2 tbsp flour, sifting away the extra flour.

Honey Cranberry Cupcakes

These days, I am in a "quick baking therapy" mode where I can get my bakes done in a short time. Hence I apologise if you are getting tired of seeing the frequent appearances of cupcakes and muffins over at my blog. :)

The original recipe in the book called for sweetened red beans. Seeing that Happy Flour has successfully modified the recipe into Honey Cranberry Cupcakes, I followed suit. :)

Thanks to Happy Flour for sharing the recipe. :)

Honey Cranberry Cupcakes
Adapted from: Happy Flour and 孟老师的100道小蛋糕 by 孟兆庆

Ingredients (Makes 8)
80 g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
100 g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
70 g eggs, lightly beaten
40 g castor sugar
1/2 tsp mirin
2 tbsp honey
100 g dried cranberries

Method
1. Sift cake flour and baking powder together. Set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, beat butter and flour mixture until smooth, glossy and creamy.
3. Add in eggs and sugar and beat until well-combined, followed by mirin and honey.
4. Add in the dried cranberries and fold gently with a spatula.
5. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups till 80% full. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 20 – 25 minutes.

Notes
- I used plain flour instead of cake flour and omitted mirin.
- You may replace mirin with same amount of vanilla essence.

Marmalade Almond Muffins

I bought a jar of SYLT FLÄDER & APELSIN Orange & Elderflower marmalade from IKEA a couple of months ago to go with my scones. Ever since then, the jar of marmalade has been sitting in my fridge. Spreading marmalade on toast is kinda out for me as I prefer my bread with butter, kaya or peanut butter. Hmm, what else can I use this wonderful marmalade for?

The answer is Marmalade Almond Muffins! I love these soft muffins with the mildly sweet marmalade and the crunchy almond slices. Verdict: Simply awesome!! :)

Marmalade Almond Muffins
Adapted from: The Australian Women’s Weekly – Breads & Muffins

Ingredients (Makes 18)
2 cups (300 g) self-raising flour
125 g butter, chopped
1 cup (80 g) flaked almonds
2/3 cup (150 g) sugar
1 tbsp orange rind, finely grated
1/2 cup (170 g) orange marmalade
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (125 ml) milk
1/4 cup (20 g) flaked almonds, extra for sprinkling

Method
1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease the muffin pan.
2. Sift flour into large bowl, rub in butter. Stir in nuts, sugar and rind, then marmalade, eggs and milk.
3. Divide mixture among holes of prepared pan; sprinkle with extra nuts.
4. Bake muffins in oven for about 20 minutes. Stand muffins in pan for a few minutes before turning onto wire rack.

Notes
- I substituted 300 g self-raising flour with 300 g plain flour, 3 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt; 125 ml milk with 10 g milk powder dissolved in 125 g warm water.
- I used 120 g castor sugar and 180 g marmalade.
- I omitted orange rind and orange syrup for glazing.
- Marmalade, beaten eggs and milk were mixed together before adding to the dry ingredients. I gave the batter a quick mix after adding the wet ingredients (Do not over-mix, the batter should appear lumpy).

Almond Sponge Cupcakes

I am meeting some friends for dinner and I took this opportunity to make them some simple bakes: Almond Sponge Cupcakes. 

I toasted the chopped almonds in two batches. As you can see, some of the chopped almonds are quite charred. I over-toasted the first batch as I wasn't sure how long I need to toast the chopped almonds. Oops...

Hopefully my friends will like these cupcakes. :)

Almond Sponge Cupcakes
Adapted from: 我愛杯子蛋糕 by 小田川さなえ

Ingredients (Makes 9)
2 eggs
60 g granulated sugar
60 g cake flour
15 g unsalted butter
25 ml milk
2 tbsp chopped almonds

Method
1. Warm the butter and milk over a double-boiler till the butter is melted and the mixture is around 50°C.
2. Sift cake flour and set aside.
3. Toast the chopped almonds at 140 – 150°C until lightly browned.
4. Whisk the eggs and add in sugar.
5. Warm the mixture over a double boiler and stir continuously using a hand whisk until the mixture is warm to touch and reaches body temperature.
6. Remove from heat and beat the mixture using an electric mixer until pale and creamy.
7. Add in the flour mixture and fold using a spatula until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter.
8. Take some of the batter and mix with the butter and milk mixture until well-blended. Pour this batter back to the rest of the batter and fold until well-combined.
9. Mix in the chopped almonds lightly.
10. Pour the batter into the lined cupcake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 12 – 13 minutes.

Notes
- I replaced cake flour with plain flour; used 50 g castor sugar and 25 g chopped almonds.
- I did not warm the mixture while whisking the eggs and sugar.