Green Tea Cupcakes

I decided to be spunky and make some green tea cupcakes. I am not a big fan of green tea itself but I absolutely  LOVE green tea ice cream!!!!! <3<3<3<3 So I thought I'd give this recipe a try. 

The site I got it from was: http://www.cookiesncandy.com/tag/recipes/

Sites pic: 

My pic:

Ingredients:Batter

•    1 cup all-purpose flour
•    1 cup cake flour
•    4 teaspoons matcha powder
•    1 teaspoon baking soda
•    1 teaspoon salt
•    1 1/4 cups white sugar
•    1 cup vegetable oil
•    3 eggs
•    1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
•    1 cup sour cream

Icing:

•    2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
•    4 teaspoons matcha powder
•    6 ounces cream cheese, softened
•    4 tablespoons butter, softened
•    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees F with convection). Place muffin liners in a mini muffin tin and a regular muffin tin.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, sift together all purpose flour, cake flour, matcha powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
4. Alternating between dry mix and sour cream, stir into the wet mixture until just combined. Cool looking batter huh?
5. Fill the cups 2/3s full with batter.
6. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. To make frosting, sift together confectioners sugar and matcha powder. Set aside. Using a heavy duty mixer on medium speed, beat together, cream cheese, butter and vanilla for 5 minutes. Reduce to low speed and add sugar/matcha mix.
8.Frost with piping bag.

Now let me tell you the matcha powder was such a mission to find!! I finally had to go to a Chinese Herb store to purchase it and it is quite expensive. I also read on the internet that you can just purchase green tea leaves and crush them until they are a fine powder, but I decided to try and find it first. Mmmmm the match powder smells SOO goood!! It reminded me of green tea ice cream! <3<3<3

The batter of the recipe turned out quite lovely! I really did enjoy it but it isn't THAT sweet so you need the icing to be sweet to balance the recipe out. Also as you can tell the difference between the pics, they obviously added green food colouring to the batter since it is ALOT more greener than mine ( I followed the exact amounts). So if you want your cupcakes to look that green, I would suggest adding 1-2 tsps of green food colouring. 

The icing on the other hand had TOO much green tea taste for my liking, so I added some orange zest and that made it just PERFECT. If you are not a big fan of the taste, I would suggest to add the orange zest ( YOU WONT REGRET IT!! :) )

Food Pics

Today won't be a recipe. I was looking at the comments the other day and noticed how some of you were talking about the difference in the pictures between the sites picture and my picture.
I've been baking for quite some time and I always noticed that my baked good never looked like what the picture would show. At first I would get disappointed because I didn't think they would taste good, but I soon realized that it was just as good and it had nothing to do with the picture.
First I am not a good photographer so I can never really set up a dish with lighting and all that jazz, I am a point and shoot photographer haha.
Well anyway, my friend saw my last post and he said in the sites picture, they just UPPED  the saturation and did the same to my picture to match the sites.
The sites picture:

My picture:    

After he upped the saturation in my picture:

TAAA DDAA!! Now they look the same =P. So at least all of you know that my picture is the real deal and how they will really come out.

Strawberry And Apple Muffins

Yummmmmm Apple desserts are honestly my favourite!! Something about the cinnamon and apple together, just yum<3.

This recipe was easy, so don't expect any fuss in the kitchen. This would make a perfect breakfast muffin. Mmmmmmmm you all have to try it!

I used plain yogurt and it worked just fine and I also used vegetable oil just because I personally do not like Canola Oil ( where does canola even come from???) If it doesn't make sense to me, I don't use it ;).

Ooooh don't forgot the vanialla extract!! Gotta use that stuff all the time ;)

This is the picture from the site:

And this is my picture:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup Greek yoghurt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped apple
• 1/4 cup finely chopped strawberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly grease two 12-hole mini muffin pans or line pans with patty cases. Place the flour, cinnamon and brown sugar in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
2. Place the yoghurt, milk, egg, oil, apple and strawberries in a separate bowl and mix until well combined.
3. Pour the yoghurt mixture into the flour mixture and stir with a large spoon or spatula until just combined.
4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pans. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Serve warm or store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
   
   
   To see more: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/22565/strawberry+and+apple+muffins
   
   
   Enjoy!
   

Red Velvet Cupcakes

For my first post, I thought I would go with one of my favourite looking cupcakes :

Red Velvet. Mmmmm...

I got the recipe from : www.joyofbaking.com

and I have to say they usually have really good recipes!! So this site is a safe bet for anyone interested in baking anything ;).

The cupcakes were just right in their texture and taste!! I absolutely loved them, but I did not make the frosting ( I was too lazy so I'll have to review that frosting another time ) I just used basic chocolate frosting from the store and it was just as good :) !!  They weren't too sweet and not too bland, they were just right! For myself I prefer to have desserts right in the middle where they aren't SO sweet that you can only eat one piece! So if you are that kind of sweet tooth, I would not suggest these to you or just dunk the cupcake in sugar if you need more haha ;).

Unfortunately, I did not have a picture of them, so the next time I make them with the actual frosting, I will have a picture, I promise. I will use the site picture then, which would probably be A LOT better than mine haha.

Ingredients:
Red Velvet Cupcakes:

1 1/4 cups (125 grams) sifted cake flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoons (10 grams) regular or Dutch-processed 

1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature cocoa powder

3/4 cups (150 grams) granulated white sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk

1 tablespoon liquid red food coloring

1/2 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 ounces (113 grams) cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup (30 grams) confectioners' (icing or powdered) sugar, sifted

1/3 cup (80 ml) cold heavy whipping cream (double cream) (35-40% butterfat)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and line 12 muffin tins with paper cupcake liners.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter. 

Working quickly, divide the batter evenly among the 12  muffin cups and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 18 - 23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes and them remove from pan. Let cool completely before frosting. Either spread the frosting with a knife or offset spatula, or use a large 1M Wilton open star decorating tip to pipe the frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to pipe. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

If you would like to see more:  http://www.joyofbaking.com/RedVelvetCupcakes.html

Oh if you also read about the vinegar and baking soda, I know it sounds odd ( I at first thought that it was a mistake in the recipe) but I did it, and it turned out great. You can barely tell that there is vinegar in this recipe. What do you guys think you'd add the vinegar and baking soda for? What does it do to the recipe??

Intro

Hello! :-) 

I wanted to start this blog so I can bake and write reviews about the recipes that can be found online. I love to bake and try new recipes to see how it would come out. I wish I can share all these amazing baked goods with you all, but unfortunately because I do not know where you all live, I will be giving my baked goods to all my friends and loved ones ( I for sure won't be eating all these sweet desserts all by myself, nu uh not happening!!). :-) Sorrrrrrrrrrrry!! You all will just have to drool over the pictures I give you, either from me or the site itself, and bake yourself ;-P. I will be mostly reviewing sweet things ( look at the site name ;) ) but I may post something unusual, depending on what I see and want to make. I don't know, we will play it by ear but mostly you will see baked goods.

Anyway keep checking in with me until I post my first baked review :-) 

Have a yummmmy day !!

P.S. You guys will be seeing some changes to my site until I feel like I've achieved where I want it to be. Sooo right now it is just meh... lol