Showing posts with label Pinterest. Show all posts

Red & Blue Velvet Mini Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes, Blue Velvet Cupcakes, July 4th cupcakes, mini cupcakes, cream cheese frosting, holiday baking
As with all holidays where my mom invites a bunch of people over, I love to take the opportunity to test out new baking recipes. She always criticizes me for baking and eating (a majority) of it by myself since my family usually isn't interested in sweets.

Even though I have been more into baking cakes rather than cupcakes as of late, I knew that the cakes for this occasion would be taken care of since the 4th of July also happens to be my brother's birthday. When paired with the fact that my mom invited a friend over who works at a bakery and always brings 1 or 2 cakes over as gifts...there would be just too many cakes to spare if I also added to the list.

I chose to break out my little mini cupcakes maker since the stove area would be crowded all day for the dinner preparations. We got this cupcake maker many years ago and it hasn't been used a lot at all. While it does "bake" the mini cakes very quickly, I found that the coloring of the cupcakes tend to lean towards the duller side. For those that like a consistent color all around unlined cupcakes, this machine might not be a top pick for you. The sides usually brown up by the time the cupcakes are fully cooked through. I can't say the exact time it took for the machine to finish "baking" a round of cupcakes though. Just watch the lights on the machine and have a toothpick ready to test.
Double yolk egg, extra large egg, white egg
Like most other baking trials I have attempted, I found the recipes for the cupcakes on Pinterest.
For the red velvet cupcakes & cream cheese frosting I used Sally's Baking Addiction's recipe.
For the blue velvet cupcakes I used the same recipe for the batter but switched out the red food coloring for Wilton's Royal Blue and a little bit of Wilton's Violet.

I stuck to the exact measurements as the recipe stated...for the most part. The 3 deviations I made were:
  • using 2 extra large eggs instead of 2 large eggs
  • using slightly less than the 1 cup of sugar
  • probably incorporated way less than 2 tablespoons of red food coloring
    • I used the handle of a spoon to scoop some food coloring until I thought the batter looked about red/blue enough
We got a nice surprised while I was making the second batch of batter. Once I cracked opened the egg and began to separate the yolk from the whites, I noticed how the yolk seemed like it was ready to spill out at any moment. After a closer look I realized it was because there was not 1 but 2 yolks sitting in the shell. This was the first time I've seen anything like it in person. I have heard about it while searching the internet before but this was a nice surprise. I even showed my grandma and she got pretty excited to witness this too. But one of my aunts said she's seen plenty in China before. (Way to burst my excited bubble.)

The mini cupcakes came out alright even with those few changes. My family isn't into things that are too sweet and using a little less sugar seemed to fit their tastebuds well. The final colors of the cupcakes could have been a bit more vibrant but then again who wants to have tablespoons worth of food coloring in their goodies anyways? I think these were good enough...don't you think?

While I made 2 batches of cupcake batter, I only ended up making one batch of cream cheese frosting. There was more than enough to go on all the little cakes since I piped the frosting very sparingly. The icing was supposed to resemble a big star but I thought my icing was a little too runny...so a blob like icing ring had to do. I was pretty surprised to see that the icing ended up holding it's shape well throughout the day & night.
Red Velvet Cupcakes, Blue Velvet Cupcakes, July 4th cupcakes, mini cupcakes, cream cheese frosting, holiday baking
Since everyone in my family has been very into fruits and berries lately, I decided to decorate the mini cupcakes with blueberries and cut up strawberries. Don't plan to top the cupcakes with the fruits before the day of serving, the juices will most definitely run all over the frosting. Otherwise if you have sprinkles or other decorations handy it would look just as nice.

A video posted by @lavlilacs on
After a long day of preparing, enjoying good food and company, and celebrating a loved one's birthday, nothing quite beats seeing fireworks out in my backyard. This year's mini show seemed much more extravagant. It also felt like it was a lot closer to my house than before. Maybe some people in my neighborhood put on their own show this year? Regardless, I am glad to be able to see it without having to fight the crowd near the Brooklyn Bridge.

Did you have a nice 4th of July (if you celebrated at all)?

Nutella Cookies

After buying a jar of Nutella to make the Nutella frosting I made for the cake, I still had a lot of the chocolate hazelnut spread leftover. I know my mom would scrutinize me forever if I devoured the jar by myself. So I took to Pinterest to find a quick recipe that involved using Nutella. In case anyone was wondering...I didn't eat these all myself, I made them for my besties when we were meeting up during the winter break.

I found a pin with some cookies and a jar of Nutella with the caption something along the lines of 1 cup Nutella, 1 cup flour, and 1 egg. However, it didn't have the instructions for what temperature to set the oven for or the time to bake the cookies for. Luckily, this is a pretty popular recipe that many food blogs try out so it wasn't hard to find the missing information.
Easy Nutella Cookies
credits to Kirbie's Cravings (I'm not sure who the original creator of this recipe is, this is just someone I found through Google search)
Ingredients:
✻ 1 cup Nutella
✻ 1 cup flour
✻ 1 egg
Directions:1. Preheat then oven for 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Blend the ingredients together well
3. Ball up the dough and place it on a cookie sheet
4. Press down the dough so it is flat (because the cookie doesn't spread very much while baking)
5. Bake for 6-8 minutes
6. Wait for it to cool and then ENJOY!
I was very surprised to find that these weren't very sweet at all. But that could be because I am so accustomed to eating much sweeter cookies. I dusted some powdered sugar over top to compensate for the lack of sugar. My friend who isn't into sweets told me she loved it though. The cookie also isn't as chewy on the middle as I prefer in a great cookie. However, I did find another recipe that claims she has the right ingredients and recipe that'll make for a very good crunchy outside and chewy inside Nutella cookie. She also added sea salt into her cookies, which should give an interesting sweet and salty cookie. Click HERE for the recipe. It has a few more ingredients but the process is relatively the same (sans the flattening of the dough). I think I'm definitely going to have to give that a try the next time I buy a jar of Nutella.

Do you love Nutella? What do you like to eat Nutella with?

Yellow Cake & Nutella Buttercream Frosting

I know no one really wants to see cake photos, let alone a cake and frosting recipe, at the start of the new year but just wait before you click out of this page! Maybe it'll come in handy when you're craving something sweet.
There are just three words I have to say about Pinterest: I LOVE IT! There are only so many blogs and recipes I can find by myself. But now there is a place where everyone shares their finds and makes searching for things myself so much easier. See something you like, pin it for yourself, and go back to it when you're up for a challenge! Now I literally have a gazillion recipes, tutorials, outfits, and other inspirations I'd love to try. Since jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon, the next two are the first recipes I have tried and had successful results with.

I've never tried to make frosting from scratch before. But the photo on Pinterest made it look very fluffy and delectable. The plus of homemade frosting is being able to control the sweetness. Here's a link to the actual recipe if anyone wants to explore the website some more: CLICK HERE.
Nutella Buttercream Frosting
  • 2 sticks of room temperature (soft) unsalted butter
  • 2 cups of powdered or confectioner's sugar
  • 2/3 cup of Nutella
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream
Blend the butter and sugar until combined.
Add the Nutella in and blend.
Add the salt and vanilla extract and blend.
Add heavy whipping cream and blend.
I followed the recipe for the most part because this was my first time making frosting. I'm not sure what the difference is in adding the ingredients separately makes but I did it that way anyways just to play it safe. However for the next time, I will probably experiment with the powdered sugar levels. The only thing I did differently this time around was add a smidgen more heavy whipping cream because I thought the frosting consistency I had was just a bit too thick. In the end I had more than enough to give my cake a light layer of icing, add flowery/spiky decorations, and still had frosting to spare. I don't have any special gadgets for icing or decorating. I just use a good o' butter knife, a plastic flower icing tip, and a Ziploc bag.
The actual cake recipe I followed was pretty simple. I was contemplating whether or not to make it from scratch but remembered I pinned something rather interesting a while back. The photo description had something along the lines of "box of cake mix & Greek yogurt". Need I say more? I knew I had to try it! The recipe comes from the website Hungry Girl. I'm not too familiar with her but I've heard the Hungry Girl name here and there. I think she gives tips on healthier eating options? (Don't quote me on that.) She recommended to use a Devil's Food Cake mix but my family isn't too big on chocolate or dark looking desserts so I opted for a yellow cake mix instead. The directions are pretty simple. Just ignore the ingredients the box says you'll need.
Yellow Cake Recipe
  • 1 box of cake mix (your choice on what flavor)
  • 1 cup of Greek yogurt (unflavored)
  • 1 cup water
Mix the cake mix, yogurt, and water together until all of it is combined.
Bake according to the box instructions or until a toothpick poked into the center of the cake comes out clean.
The end result was very delicious. I used Fage Total 0% for the recipe and that's the type Hungry Girl recommended as well. I'm actually not a big fan of yogurt. Surprising surprising. Please don't judge! I just haven't gotten past the tangy flavor of it . But this cake didn't taste anything like yogurt at all. Instead, the cake itself was just very moist. I don't think I'm ever going back to using oil, eggs, and water for box cake mixes...ever!

These make pretty good and sort of healthy snacks don't you think? Of course definitely not the icing part. But if you just make little cupcakes sans the frosting, it makes for an awesome treat. If anyone plans to make this cake and icing and end up putting any leftovers into the fridge, I'd recommend microwaving your slice of cake or cupcake for a bit to soften the frosting and cake. The frosting gets much sweeter when it is cold and hardened. Plus cake just tastes much better when it's soft! Hope I didn't destroy anyone's keep fit/lose weight/eat healthy New Year's resolutions already. But I personally think this is a great alternative for those sweet-tooth cravings. Would anyone be interested in seeing how other Pinterest experimentations turn out?