Matcha Greentea Cupcakes

Assalamualaikum!

I am finally back in Malaysia!=D Europe was amazing, but by the end of the trip,10 days of non-stop walking, sight seeing and getting lost, I am ready to head back home to my family. It had been a year since I last saw them. Ahhh..home sweet home.

In the month of May, I didn’t really have any time to bake anything. Summer course was ridiculously hectic and all of the weekends were filled with picnics, outdoor activities and get-togethers. So there was either no time or no energy left for me to bake anything! Once I’m done with my exams, I FINALLY could put my apron on and start trying out new recipes.

I am A BIG fan of green tea. BIG FAN. Okay I lied. I’m a coffee person and if I have to drink any kind of tea, I’d go for The Tarik or Tea Latte hands down. I don’t really fancy hot green tea but I do love green tea fraps or latte and also ice creams. I bought some Matcha Green Tea Powder recently and experimented with it. I tried making Green Tea Cupcakes and Oh La La! It was amazeballs! I paired the cupcakes with Honey Buttercream Icing. The earthy flavor of the green tea marries the creamy sweet icing perfectly!

Original recipe from Amy's Food Adventures : here

  

Matcha Greentea Cupcakes

Yields 12 

1/2 cup + 6 tablespoons cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

A pinch of salt

3 tablespoons of  milk

1 tablespoon matcha powder

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/4 cup melted butter at room temperature

4 large egg yolks

4 large egg whites

12 tablespoons sugar (3/4 cup)

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F and line muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and set aside.
3. Whisk milk, vanilla, and matcha powder together and set aside.
4. Whip egg whites with 6 tablespoon of sugar until they hold a soft peak when beaters are lifted.
5. In a separate bowl, whip egg yolks with remaining 6 tbsp of sugar until doubled in volume and a pale, butter colour.
6. Fold whipped whites into yolk mixture.
7. Fold flour into whipped eggs in two additions. Stir a spoonful of batter into milk mixture then add all back to batter, folding quickly to incorporate.
8.  Fold in the melted butter in two additions.
9.  Pipe or spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, 3/4-full. Gently tap the muffin tin on the counter to even out the batter and to break some of the air pockets.
10.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until cupcake springs back when touched. Let cool.

It may be slightly complicated compared to other cupcakes recipe, but trust me, it’s worth it!=D

Have a great summer everyone!

Wasalam.

Till then, Goodnight,

Sofhan Hasni

Garden of Dahlias

Assalamualaikum!

These are the cupcakes I made for MSA’s Colour of Eid :A Night of Celebration. We had to bring cultural food, since I didn’t have much time, I made more cupcakes! Yeay! Plus some pumpkin pies. ;)

I saw this technique a while ago but never got around trying them.I love love love flowers! So here is my take on off pink Dahlias..

White Dahlia

Pink Dahlia

A whole garden of them!

Brrr...It's super chilly outside.Stay warm!

Wasalam

Till then,

Love,

Sofhan Hasni

Chocolate Cake Truffles

Assalamualaikum!

3 midterms down and two more to go!Phewwwww!Then we'll have a bake sale next Wednesday .Two assignments to hand in by the end of the month.Next month, I have another midterm and 3 term papers due. YEAY. Could you believe the amount of work they gave us?If you're a student you'd believe me.Not complaining,not complaining!=p

I'm the kind of person who could not handle stress gracefully. If I'm stressed out, I'd either be cleaning my apartment or trashing it. AND I'm also the kind of person, who wouldn't let go of an idea until i give it a try. Which is bad because I have a lot of more important things to do, yet my mind kept on bugging me with new or untried ideas.

Last week, I had my first midterm of Friday for this class called Animal Learning and Behavior which there was A LOT of memorization to be done.But nooooo, my mind kept on thinking about the chocolate cupcakes that I have in my fridge. Those who know me well, know that I don't really like to eat cupcakes or chocolate cakes.One slice is enough for me.But I have 10 extras in my fridge. Whaddoidooo??

Since my mind was racing from being too nervous to study (I'm weird like that) or wait..it could also be the coffee....I decided to breathe in and sit down and make cake pops.Did I tell you I have some chocolate cream cheese icing in my fridge?Yeah.So I have all I need to make cake balls.EXCEPT, the pops of course.I have coffee stirrers sticks in my kitchen.Trust me, use those to stir your coffees and don't bother sticking them up your rounded cake balls.Sorry I had to smile at the last part of the previous sentence.Jokes aside, the sticks weren't sturdy enough and the cake balls became a mess as they kept on moving left to right.But what do I do with the cake balls?I made them into cake truffles instead.Which is basically a cake coated in chocolate.How i wish I have white chocolate baking bars at home.But I don't.Next time then...

Chocolate Cake Truffles

10 chocolate cupcakes

1/2 cup of frosting of your choice

1. Crumble the cupcakes in a large bowl. Such a good therapy!
2. Add the frosting and mix until well incorporated.
3. Shape them into small balls and place them on a lined cookie sheet.
4. Refrigerate for 15-30 minutes to let the cake balls set.

Chocolate Coating 

1 packet of Hershey Semi Sweet Baking Bar (8oz)

2 tablespoon of shortening

1. Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate.
2. Once chocolate is melted, turn off the head and add in the shortening.
3. Place into the chocolate in a deep bowl.

Submerge each cake balls in the melted chocolate mixture and place them back on the cookie sheet.

Refrigerate them to harden the coating.

I decorated mine with some pink colored buttercream icing:)

 

Don't you wish you live nearby?My friend told me she wants to lose weight.Being the bestfriend that I am, i brought her these babies.

Teehee

Take care lovelies!

Wasalam.

Till then, Bonsoiree,

Love,

Sofhan Hasni

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Assalamualaikum!

The last time I made chocolate cake, it was my first time using buttermilk. I bought the whole carton. So since I have some left, I made pancakes and of course more chocolate cake.  This time however, I tried using the same recipe to make cupcakes. If there were ever baking fairies, they’d sing me a song by now!

This is by far, the BEST recipe ever.

Head on to my previous post and get the chocolate cake recipe,here!

Additional steps

(makes 29-30 cupcakes)

• Line the cupcake pan
• Fill in  ¾ of the cupcake liners
• Bake for 15 minutes in 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Done!:)

Pure BLISS.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

1 cup of shortening

1 cup of butter

3 cup of icing sugar

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

¼ cup of cocoa powder

2 ½ oz of chocolate squares, melted

1-2 tablespoon of milk

1. Melt the chocolate squares using the double boiler method.
2. In another bowl, beat the shortening and butter until soft and creamy.
3. Mix in the sugar, cocoa and melted chocolate.
4. Add vanilla extract and continue mixing.
5. If the icing is too thick, add the milk, if not, omit.

Voila!You could easily freeze or refrigerate this icing ahead of time! The thing I like about this recipe is that it tastes great! Not too buttery, not extremely sweet (despite the whole bag of sugar used!).I’m still working on the texture. There are still rooms for improvements!

Aren't they lovely?:)

Sigh.back to studying...

Happy Sunday!

Wasalam

Till then,

Love,

Sofhan Hasni

Oh-range and Pop-py!

Assalamualaikum

Tacky title.I know=p

How’s Ramadhan so far? The last two days I was half dead. I don’t know what I ate or what I did but it was definitely a challenge. I was so dizzy for iftar once that I felt like throwing up. So I ate only a bit but later had Maggi Kari for moreh. AHAH! Or perhaps it’s the heat. Yearsss living in Malaysia and I still can’t take the heat. I take three showers a day. THREE. Sigh. Sabr Soffy. Sabr.

Since it’s Ramadhan, I haven’t baked anything just yet. I made caramel pudding the other day, which wasn’t as yummy as it’s supposed to be. It’s funny how I’ve made caramel pudding a couple of times already and used different recipes each time. My sister just gave me her recipe so we’ll see! I could NEVER say no to caramel pudding. Could you? I could eat the whole pudding on my own and I’m not even joking. If I were to make this pudding for entertaining a small number of guests, I’d deifintely make them in ramekins. Definitely cute! But, if I’m making it for myself. Boy oh boy. Ramekins? Really?No my friend, I’d go for the big ol’ baking dish and EAT.ALL.ON.MY.OWN.huargh!*wipe drools* Moving on..

So on the last day of Sya’ban which was last Friday, our cousins came for a visit. Yeap. It was the perfect time to whip something up in kitchen. If you haven’t noticed, I LOVE entertaining people. (with food.not singing.not dancing.just food). After discussing with mummy and mama bear (hi kak!), we settled on Orange Poppy Cupcakes. I know right? Poppy Seeds! I still remembered when I was 7 or 8. My friend told me an easy way to remember how to spell Oranges.You spell "Orang" and add "e" at the back.Haha.Good ol' days when our greatest concern was how to spell right.

Orange cake was never a favourite of mine.Don’t get me wrong, I’ll eat it still but, to me, there are some cakes that NEEDS frostings. What’s a carrot cake without the cream cheese icing? One time, someone made Zucchini Cake instead of the usual carrot. Carrots are too mainstream? Anyways, imagine eating Zucchini cake on its own. I know right?*flips hijab*.So I decided to make a frosting as well. Why not throw some extra fat in while we’re at it ey? It was the day BEFORE Ramadhan begins anyways. No harm done, I can assure you. Since I had extra orange zest and juice leftover (I purposely saved some zest), I decided to throw that in the frosting to make Orange Cream Cheese frosting instead.. You can stop drooling now.

I got the recipe from here.

   

Orange Poppy Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup whole milk

2 tablespoons orange zest (2 oranges)

1/2 cup fresh orange juice (1 orange)

1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons poppy seeds 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with baking cups. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. Stir together milk and 1/4 cup orange juice.
2. Beat butter, sugar, and the orange zest with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy,
3. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
4. Beat in poppy seeds.
5. Divide batter among muffin tins (filling each cup 3/4 full). Bake until golden around the edges, 18 to 20 minutes.

Ingredients

Orange zest that smells AMAZING!

Freshly squeezed orange juice

 

Fresh from the oven:)

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick of cream cheese (250ml)

1 1/4 cup of icing sugar

1 tablespoon of fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon of orange zest

1. Beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy
2. Add icing sugar, 1/2 cup per addition
3. Add in the orange juice and zest

Assembling ideas

1) You could simply spread it on the cupcakes using a butter knife and sprinkle some poppy seeds onto them.

  

2) You could put it in a piping bag and pipe the  frosting nicely on top of the cupcakes and sprinkle some poppy seeds onto them.

3) Take the cupcakes out from their cups, cut in half. Pipe some cream in the middle and the top. Yeap, you’ve guessed it right. Sprinkle some poppy seeds on to those gorgeous, scrumptious, mouth watering cupcakes!

I personally like the last one best! I’ve put enough sugar in the frosting but somehow it was a still a bit soft. I’m pretty sure it’s the weather. It was pretty hot then.=(

This recipe calls for a lot of liquid which makes the cupcakes very dense and filling. Like I’ve said before, orange cake was never a real favorite of mine but the poppy seeds. Oh Lord! It’s a wonder how those little tiny bits can make those cupcakes crunchy. Is that crazy? No its not! Because the cake WAS crunchy. Try it yourself.

Whenever we're posting pictures online, mommy will tell us to use the nicest dishes. This whole set up was her idea as well. Teehee.

Have a blessed Ramadhan!

Wasalam!

Till then, Salut,

Love,

Anggerik 

Ramla's Surprise Birthday Partayyy!

Assalamualikum!

WE ALL LOVE SURPRISES DON'T WE?So whenever someone's birthday comes up.Be prepared to be surprised at odd places,McGill lower field, someone else's apartment, your apartment or even the stairs in front of the musolla!


SO yesterday was our dearest Ramla's birthday!It was a last minute plan!We were thinking of crashing her place but her mum didn't think its a good idea (Ramla told me about her dad who wasn't feeling so well=( ).We bought the cupcake ingredients, snacks and drink the night before and baked straight way that night.
Since it was a surprise, SOMEBODY had to bring her there. I was assigned as the person to trick her into coming to our birthday gathering spot.I WAS NERVOUS!I mean..I don't want to lie, and I don't know how well I could act.I did get (almost?) full  mark for my acting in college.ANYWAYS!I was nervous.Nervous.Nervous.
I had to plan on how to get her downtown since she lives a good hour away or so.(sorry habiby!).Plus She said she's setting up the AC or something.RIGHT!of all days to set up her AC, it must be on her birthday.RIGHTTTT!

That night Sarah and I made pink and purple velvet cupcakes!No matter how much red coloring we put, it wont turn red. I usually use my liquid coloring but we ran out of it and used the powdered one instead. The powdered coloring tasted salty so we didn't want to put too much of that either..

JUST last week I had been telling how my life story and she told me whenever I need anything, she'll be there.BINGO!So I made her come.I told her my life is a mess and I need to get my mind off things.So I told her I wanted to go shopping and she should come with me.I insisted!

So there she was all cute in her skirt and peach blazer waiting for me in Eaton Center. I told her my class ends at four, which is true, but I didn't tell her I didn't go to class though.Ahah! So after looking at some dresses I told her, I need some cash and the nearest ATM is in McGill.So we walked back to McGill, I withdrew some cash and I was telling her what a beautiful day it was and we should sit outside and chill.As we were walking...tadaaaaa!Surprise Surprise!!

HAPPY 20th Birthday My Dearest Ramla Barise!
Your such a sweetheart.
May Allah bless you always!Always!
Amin!

Pinã Colada Cuppies

Assalamualaikum!

Hola!:) Just got back from my Toronto/Niagara Falls trip last night. IT WAS AN ADVENTUROUS ONE I tell ya.Will update that in a later blogpost.I just want to let things sink in and the excitement wear off first. Or else I’ll be typing like mad and miss little details. Also, Canada had a pretty rough week so, breathe Sofhan. Breathe.

So for now, let’s have happy thoughts in mind shall we?

I always like to experiment on cakes and cupcakes. But the thing is I don’t really like to eat them. I love sweet stuffs but for some reason, cupcakes are not my favorite thing to eat. But to bake, yes! The possibilities are endless.

I always wait for an occasion to bake something OR I’ll have a baking craze when I’m stressed out. So the other day I was stressed out AND there was an event. It was pretty last minute and I had to bake with what I had in my pantry. I wanted to try making Hummingbird Cupcakes but then again, I didn’t have any pecans at home. Oh well..So I decided to make Pineapple cupcakes instead. As I was googling for recipes I came across Pinã Colada Cupcakes. In my head I go YES YES YESSS!Perfectos for the Summer-o!

I took the recipe from here but of course with some alterations!: http://iheartcuppycakes.com/2010/01/31/pina-colada-cupcakes/

Suchhh a cute name!

Pinã Colada Cupcakes

(makes 12)
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 stick butter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs (room temperature)

1 large egg yolk (room temperature)

1/2 cup of canned crushed pineapple in juice, well drained

1/3 cup pineapple juice from the canned pineapples

1/3 cup coconut flakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahreneheit.
2. In a bowl, mix the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs and yolk one at a time until well combined.
4. Then, add the crushed pineapples.
5. Add the pineapple juice and flour alternately in three additions.
6. Use a spoon to fold the coconut flakes into the batter.
7. Spoon the batter into lined cupcakes pan.
8. Bake for 20 -22 minutes.  

Ananas teehee..

Butter, sugar and eggs.

Add the ananas..teehee

Coconut flakes,join the club

Before

After, don't they look lovely?

Pineapple Icing and Topping

1/2 cup of French Vanilla Icing

2 tablespoon of pineapple juice

1/2 cup toasted salted coconut flakes

1. Mix the icing with pineapple and its juice.
2. Spread on cupcakes
3. Garnish with coconut flakes

Icing and pineapple

Mixed icing

Have one

or..

the whole tray...

Surprisingly the cupcakes weren't as sweet as I thought it'll be.But the icing,oh boy that was SUH-WEEEET!So next time, I'll use buttercream instead of French Vanilla Icing.Ergh.Plus it's too runny in this Summer weather.So buttercream should we a better option!Plus, you could half the recipe for this icing, because I had quite a bit of extras in my fridge.

Mummy will definitely LOVE these!

I didn't have much time to make these babies.Plus I had a final exam on Human Brain and Cognition the next week.Alhamdulillah done with that class but let me tell you,it's the BEST CLASS in MCGILL!The professor,the materials, I could not get enough of it!IT'S THAT GOOD!Now I'm doing another summer class, Perception.God help me on this!We started the class last Monday and BAM next Monday is our midterm.Four chapters to study for.OH JOY!

Have fun baking!
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!

Wasalam.

Till then,Salut,
Love,
Anggerik.

Order's Up!

Poppy's Cuppies!:)

Made with Love.