Celebrating Singapore's 50th National Day!

I am proud to have called Singapore my home for the past decade....Thank you Singapore for all the lovely memories and more to come! Happy SG50 to all my Singapore friends!

Diwali Cupcakes - Eggless Vanilla with Fondant toppers

Here are my cupcakes for Diwali. Sorry for a very late Diwali post my friends. 

I have been taking cupcake orders on request for a while now. So these are some eggless vanilla cupcakes with fondant toppers that I made for Diwali. Please contact me for price and details at chitra_visalakshi@yahoo.co.in. Do follow us on facebook for future updates. 

I had so much fun making these fondant toppers. I was so glad to hear great feedback from happy customers. I also made a batch for my friends, along with some homemade murukku!

Coconut Cupcakes

I love coconut flavoured cakes. So these cupcakes have been on my to-do list for a long time. But I couldn't find coconut extract anywhere. I finally found the extract last week in a local supermarket by accident. So I couldn't wait to try out this recipe.

These cupcakes are pure bliss. The frosting melts in your mouth.  The cupcake recipe is one I came across in Food Network Channel by Ina Garten, but I decided to add coconut flavour instead of the almond flavouring she suggested. They are perfect together!

The cupcakes are so full of coconut flavour. The frosting is plain cream cheese frosting with added coconut flavour.  I didn't add any coconut to the frosting because I was only able to find desiccated coconut, and I was worried if I added it to the frosting, it would become very chewy.  

I hope you enjoy these dreamy cupcakes as much as I do!

Beating butter and sugar, by hand.

Fold in the flour with a spatula.

Cream Cheese straight out of the refrigerator, for the frosting.

Cooled cupcakes ready for frosting with plain round nozzle.

Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Yields: 12 Large Cupcakes or 20 Medium Cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:
3/4 Cup - unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup - sugar
3 - eggs, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon - vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon - coconut extract
1 1/2 cups - plain flour
1/2 teaspoon - baking powder
1/4 teaspoon - baking soda
1/4 teaspoon - salt
1/2 cup – buttermilk or plain yogurt
1/2 cup - sweetened, shredded coconut ( I used desiccated coconut)

For the cream cheese frosting:
1 cup - cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup - unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon - vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon - coconut extract
1 cup – powdered sugar

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 180 C.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (If you don’t own an electric mixer, used a wooden spoon and beat well by hand).
• With the mixer running on low, add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.
•  Add the vanilla and coconut extracts and mix well.
• In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• In three parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in shredded coconut.
• Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill each cup up to 3/4 with batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan. Remove to a baking rack and cool completely before frosting.

Make the cream cheese frosting: 

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, blend together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla and coconut extracts.(If you don’t own an electric mixer, used a wooden spoon and beat well by hand).
•  Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
• Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes, and sprinkle with shredded coconut or desired topping.

Apple Cupcakes

These cupcakes were a result of an impromptu baking session with friends. This Monday was a school holiday, and hence one of our friends  visited us during the week with her hubby and her two cute daughters. She and her girls were very interested in baking, so I thought I could make a batch of apple cupcakes for them. I also invited one of my neighbour and her daughter to join us for dinner. It was so much fun preparing dinner and baking and chatting away with everyone.

The kids were so eager to help me with the baking. The oldest was the one doing all the mixing and filling the batter in cups, while the younger ones were too busy waiting for the cupcakes to finish baking. We added colored sprinkles in shapes of cows and dinosaurs, on some of the cupcakes as per request :) I decided not to make any frosting for the cakes, so as to avoid unnecessary sugar for the kids.

The cupcakes were very moist and rich, not too sweet. The 1 cup of grated apple that I added was not very distinct after baking. Maybe next time I could try with 1 ½ cups. I also added some orange essence to give a refreshing taste to the cakes. If your prefer you can replace the 1 teaspoon orange essence + 2 tablespoon milk with 2 tablespoon fresh orange juice. This recipe is adapted from Baked Perfection.

Apple Cupcakes
http://chitra-frommykitchen.blogspot.sg/
makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups - all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons - baking powder
1/2 teaspoon - salt
2 - eggs
1/2 cup - sugar
1/2 cup - brown sugar
2 tablespoons - milk
1 teaspoons - vanilla extract
1 teaspoon - orange essence

1/2 cup - vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups - grated apple

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease or line a 12 cup muffin pan.
• In a large bowl swift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
• In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs and sugars until creamy.
• Beat in the milk, vanilla, orange essence and vegetable oil.
• Slowly add the flour mixture, mix until just combined.
• Stir in the grated apples.
• Bake 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

A friend of mine from my undergrad years is living in KL, Malaysia. She has recently given birth to an adorable baby boy. So hubby and I went to visit her over the weekend. She loves my blog and all my recipes! So I wanted to bake some cookies and cupcakes for her and her hubby.

I tried out some Butter Cookies with my cookie press, recipe to be posted soon. And I also made some vanilla bean cupcakes. I have made vanilla cupcakes before, but this recipe from Annie’s Eats, called for actual vanilla pods! I happened to have bought some last week to make vanilla extract. And so I got started on my vanilla bean cupcakes with fresh vanilla pods!

Though the process, of mixing the batter is a bit time consuming than usual. I promise the end result is worth the few extra steps. The baked cupcakes were so fluffy like a cloud! They were so moist and soft, you could actually see little small black specks of vanilla in the cupcakes. My friend and her hubby loved these cupcakes!

For the frosting, I used block cream cheese, tinted with blue food colouring. I was actually going for a light blue colour, but since the cream cheese was “cream” in colour to begin with, the frosting just kept getting greener as I kept adding blue colouring! Sigh! Anyways maybe next time I will try some buttercream frosting.

I love those pretty pink flowers on top of the cream cheese. I searched all over Singapore, and got them from a baking goods store in Geylang, along with the pretty blue cupcake cases.

 Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Ingredients:

3 cups - cake flour
1 tbsp. - baking powder
½ tsp. - salt
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
16 tbsp. - unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups - sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1¼ cups - buttermilk, at room temperature
1 tbsp. - vanilla extract

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.  Set aside.
• In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder and salt.  Whisk together and set aside.  
• Add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  
• Scrape the vanilla bean seeds into the bowl of the mixer with the butter and discard the pod (or reserve for another use.)
• Beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, until light and creamy in color.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for one more minute.
• Add the sugar to the butter mixture, ¼ cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition.  
• Mix in the eggs one at a time until incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition.  
• Combine the buttermilk and the vanilla extract in a liquid measuring cup.  
• With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing just until incorporated.  
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.
• Divide the batter between the prepared paper liners, filling each about 2/3 of the way full (you will likely have batter left over after filling 24 wells.)  
• Bake 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  
• Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.  
• Replace paper liners and bake remaining batter if desired.  Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.
• Yield: approximately 30 cupcakes

Carrot Cupcakes

Hi all, Hope all of you enjoyed the long Easter weekend. I had fun. We went to the beach on Good Friday with a couple of Hubby’s colleagues.

I was itching to bake something, but I didn’t have time to go shopping. So I wanted to baked something with ingredients in my fridge. Turns out all I had were some carrots. So I browsed through my recipes and found one from Annie’s Eats. It was a simple carrot cupcake recipe. And I thought it went along perfectly with the Easter weekend situation. So off I went to go grate my carrots!

The recipe called for 4 eggs. But the friends that we were going to meet were vegitarians. I knew that they don’t mind cakes with eggs. But since I have lots of leftover flaxseeds from my Eggless Chocolate Cookies. So I thought this would be a good excuse to try out those flaxseeds as egg replacement in these cupcakes.

I halved the recipe and made the cupcakes with 2 large carrots. I grated them with my normal kitchen grater. And reduced the amount of cinnamon in the recipe, cause hubby doesn’t like cinnamon in baked goods. Good thing I did this, otherwise it would have over whelmed then cupcakes. The cake itself doesn’t have any flavouring except the carrots and the little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg added.

I had some creame cheese left over from my previous cupcakes experiment. And I used that up for the frosting. The cupcakes with the frosting was so moist and lovely. It was a different track from the regular vanilla and chocolate cupcakes that I bake. I like the idea of adding half flour and half carrots to my cupcakes making them somewhat healthy in a way ;)

Carrot Cupcakes
Ingredients:

Yield: about 20-22 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

•          2½ cups (12.5 oz) all-purpose flour
•          1¼ tsp. baking powder
•          1 tsp. baking soda
•          ½  tsp. ground cinnamon
•          ½ tsp. grated nutmeg
•          ½ tsp. salt
•          1 lb. (6-7 medium) carrots, peeled
•          1½ cups (10.5 oz) granulated sugar
•          ½ cup packed light brown sugar
•          4 large eggs 
•         (Replacement for 2 eggs - I used 3 tbsp flaxseeds mixed with 6 tbsp of  warm water)
•          1½ cups canola, safflower or vegetable oil

For the frosting:

•          12 oz. cream cheese (not softened)
•          7½ tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
•          1 tbsp. vanilla extract
•          3¾ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.  
• In a medium mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt; and set aside.
• With a grater, grate the carrots.
• Add the carrots to the bowl with the dry ingredients and set aside.
• Beat the sugars and eggs until frothy and thoroughly combined, about 20 seconds.  
• With the machine running, add the oil in a steady stream until well blended.
• Continue to process until the mixture is light in color and well emulsified, about 20 more seconds.
• Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.  
• Stir in the carrots and dry ingredients until incorporated and no streaks of flour remain.
• Scoop evenly into the prepared cupcake liners.
• Bake for about 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  
• Let cool in the pan at least 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.  Mix in the vanilla extract.  Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth.  Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.

Strawberry CupCakes

This is a very late post. I made these strawberry cupcakes for valentines day. But since I just started this blog, I am posting this recipe now.

I wanted to do something special for valentine’s day. I had this recipe for strawberry cupcakes and strawberry cream cheese frosting for a long long time. But the recipe seemed a bit complicated so I kept putting it off. But now I was bored with muffins, so wanted to try cupcakes with frosting! And valentine’s day seemed a perfect excuse for it.

The baking of the cupcakes were easier than I thought. But the frosting part gave me a migraine! I made a mistake of buying ‘spredable cream cheese’ instead of ‘block’ cream cheese. And so my frosting was too runny, for me to pipe it on the cupcakes. But it tasted so good, and I hate to waste good frosting, so I ended up spooning the runny frosting on top of the cupcakes.

I passed the cupcakes to friends, and they all were so thankful for the lovely valentine’s gift! They cakes were so moist, and so pink on the inside! I forgot to take a picture of the inside of the cakes. But they were so pink and yummy! Especially with the cream cheese frosting!

Strawberry CupCake:

Yield: 3 dozen cupcakes or 3, 9 inch round cake pans.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Butter
• 2 & 1/2 cups Sugar
• 5 Eggs, separated
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 teaspoon Red Food Coloring
• 1 & 1/4 cups Pureed Strawberries
• 3 cups Cake Flour, sifted
• t teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• pinch Salt
• 1 cup Buttermilk 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, beat butter with sugar for 3 minutes.
3. Add egg yolks one at a time, then the vanilla, food coloring and strawberries, beat for another 3 minutes.
4. Sift dry ingredients and add to butter/egg mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
5. Mix just till combined.
6. In another bowl and clean beaters, beat egg whites till stiff and add in an increment of 3 to cake batter, being sure to fold in thoroughly but gently.
7. Bake for 18 or so minutes for cupcakes and 20-25 minutes for 9 inch round cake pans

Cream Cheese Buttercream

Ingredients

• 1 - 8oz Cream Cheese, room temp
• 1/2 cup Butter, room temp
• 1/3 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 teaspoon Red Food Coloring
• 1 lb. Powdered Sugar

Cooking Directions

1. In a medium bowl, add cream cheese and butter, whip till light and creamy, about 3 minutes.
2. Add liquids and blend.
3. Slowly add powdered sugar while mixing, (to keep the sugar from decorating your counters and appliances, not including you.)
4. At this point you may need to add more powdered sugar. You are trying to achieve a medium stiff consistency. Whip for several minutes.

Blueberry Wholewheat Muffins

Oh muffins, how do I love thee? I make these for breakfast all the time. They are super easy to make, and convenient as a grab and go sort of breakfast. There are so many possibilities of what you can add to the muffin batter I am certain you will find a combination that you (and your kids) will love. They freeze beautifully!!

I put strawberries or blueberries in some and some leftover pear that I had on hand in others…and why not raisins?

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour (I used Ashirvad Atta)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup oil
• 3/4 cup orange juice or apple juice
• About 1 cup of total filling (berries, fruit, nuts, etc. – see below for details)
• Muffin/Cupcake liners
• ¼ cup white sugar

Directions

1.      Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl with a fork or whisk mix the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. Make a well (hole) in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the eggs, honey, vanilla, oil and orange juice.
4. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together – do not over mix.
5. Line a muffin pan with liners and fill 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full with batter.
6. Sprinkle 1 – 2 teaspoons of whatever you would like (from the list below or from your own creation) onto the top of each raw muffin in the pan.
7. Then gently mix each one with a fork or spoon. Here are some options to consider for the fillings:

• blueberries
• diced strawberries
• peeled and diced pears
• either diced or mashed up bananas and chopped walnuts
• grated carrot and chopped walnuts
• orange or lemon zest (only add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of zest per individual muffin)
• a mix of dried fruit bits
• jelly

8.   After the filling has been mixed into each muffin slide the tray into the warm oven and bake for 10 – 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature and freeze some for a later date.

9.   Yield: 12 muffins

Lemon Cupcakes

I was meeting a long-time friend for dinner at Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie @ Raffles City. We were both dessert lovers, so it seemed like an ideal choice. But unfortunately the main courses were very limited, and the taste was too bland. It just not acceptable for the prices they charge. But the desserts were good, and we enjoyed their macaroons.

Another friend of mine who is a Vanilla lover, requested me to try out some vanilla cupcakes. For me personally vanilla is just too plain. I couldn’t bring myself to just make plain old vanilla cupcakes; it seemed too much of an effort. 

I have been wanting to try out some lemon/carrot cupcakes for a while now. And this dinner seemed like a perfect opportunity for some lemon cupcakes. I also had some cream cheese and lemon in hand, so I decided to add some cream cheese frosting. These cupcakes are not too sweet, so they need a sweet frosting to balance it out.

The recipe was super simple, and the added lemon zest was so refreshing a taste! This was my first successful attempt at “piping” frosting, and I am so glad that it turned out well. I stored the frosted cupcakes in the refrigerator until I left for dinner. And they were out of the fridge for 5 long hours, before my friend could take them home and put them in back in her fridge. And I was surprised to see that the frosting was still in shape, and not melted like I thought they would.

So now I have a perfect cream cheese frosting recipe which I can use for my future cupcakes!!

Lemon Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons grated lemon zest (plus more if it’s not lemony enough for you!)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg

Directions:

• Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Line muffin tin with baking cups.
• In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest and salt; mix well.
• Add wet ingredients and mix well.
• Pour batter into the lined muffin tin. Bake for about 16 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.                          
• Let them cool.
• Pipe Cream Cheese frosting on top. And refrigerate. 

The added lemon zest on top was a very, very wise decision. With each bite, you get moist lemony cake goodness, sweet cream cheese frosting and an added zest from the additional lemon! It’s like a summer party in your mouth.

Best Chocolate Cupcakes

I have been searching for a fool proof chocolate cupcake recipe for years now. I am glad to say that my search has ended! These cupcakes are just too good. They are super moist, extremely chocolaty and so soft!

I came across this recipe on Julie Hasson's 125 Best Cupcake Recipes. She calls this recipe as “Best Chocolate Cupcakes”. I was curious as to how they would turn out. And after my first try, I have to admit that the recipe is aptly named. I tried a small batch at first, just to try it out, and it turned out good.

We were invited to a get together with friends that weekend. We ordered food from outside. So I thought of bringing a dessert for dinner. I doubled this recipe and made a huge batch. The cupcakes were a hit! Everyone loved it. Thankfully I had left a few cupcakes at home for us. And we enjoyed it during the following week.

All the chocolate lovers out there, please give this recipe a try. I promise you will love it!

Best Chocolate Cupcakes
from Julie Hasson's 125 Best Cupcake Recipes
yields 12 cupcakes*

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
• In a small bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
• In a large bowl whisk together sugar, oil, egg and vanilla until smooth.
• Alternately whisk in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of buttermilk, beating until batter is smooth.
• Stir in chocolate chips.
• Scoop batter into prepared pan.
• Bake in preheated oven for 22 to 27 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.
• Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes.
• Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack.
• I made 24 mini cupcakes. I baked the mini cupcakes for 13 minutes and the regular sized cupcakes for 22 minutes.