Tips On Making Perfect Cupcakes

I'm having a special guest, Ivy from Little Bertha - a specialty bakery shop all the way in Australia, share with us some tips on making the perfect cupcake!

Ivy got in touch with me while she was doing a search online and found relevant posts about my recent interest in baking. (I guess she sensed that I could really use some tips about baking cupcakes thus she got in touch with me!!)  

I cannot be happier but to have her contribute this post on my blog and share with my readers about making THE perfect cupcake because I know a lot of us are fans of it! Heads up everyone! I hope this article would motivate you to start baking more! Happy baking!

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Cupcakes are one of those foods that should be enjoyable, both to make and to eat. Of course, they're a culinary delight as well, so they have to follow all the golden rules of baking. That means that they have to taste good. Here are my top tips for making beautiful cupcakes every time.

Temperature

This is crucial. Cooking is chemistry after all. Begin by making sure that your ingredients are the right temperature to begin with. Butter, milk and eggs should all be room temperature when you use them, not straight out of the fridge. Let your cupcakes cool before the icing and decoration begins. Otherwise your icing will melt and it will ruin the look of your cakes.

Carrot cupcake from Little Bertha bakery

Freshness
Freshness is not quite taste, it's taste's older brother. It's a feeling and a sensation as much as anything else. Freshness means superior cooking and baking. Begin with fresh ingredients. This will out you at an advantage. You can test the freshness of your eggs by placing them in a bowl of water. If they sink, they are fresh. If they rise to the surface then they are full of air, and stale. You can store un-iced cakes in air tight containers for up to three days and they will preserve very nicely. Icing and frosting tend to age worse than cake itself, so if you know that you will be saving the cake for later, consider holding off on the icing until you're ready to serve.

Flavour
This is where you can have fun with cupcakes. You can make them any sweet flavour that you like. Classics like chocolate and vanilla flavour can be made original with updates like peanut butter and lime. The icing element of cupcakes is a great opportunity to make great flavour combinations. Not every type of baking incorporates two definite elements.

Decoration and presentation
The cupcake isn't like all the other types of food. The way it looks matters a lot. It is a party food, a pleasure food, and it's also a decorative food. It's supposed to look festive. So that's why your icing and your decoration matter. The rules with decoration are that there aren't any rules. As long as it's edible, and it looks beautiful, you can do what ever you want. Decoration with lollies is really popular, sweet fruits, biscuits, icing sculptures, salted butter caramel and other pastry creations are also common. Invent your own if you want! Presentation is relevant too. Buy a cake stand or a pretty cake dish, or a board or something that you think will do your cakes justice. Use a pastry brush to clear away any cake crumbs from your presentation. Jazz up your presentation with non-edible decorations if you like. Tie it in with the theme of your occasion.

Leaving you this post with more yummy pictures from Little Bertha bakery for your drooling pleasure!

 

Choc Mint Yoyos

Chocolate orange tart

Brownies

  Till the next post, have a blessed week!

Facebook Status Reflects Who We Are

Facebooking is fun! I spend most of my online social times on Facebook as it is currently the only platform where I can easily get in touch with most of my friends, acquaintances, blog readers as well as my customers who communicate with me through private messaging.

I am rather careful though, with the kind of status message I share on my pages.  For a start, I think people would generally respond to specific happy posts, the funny ones and sometimes the sad disappointing ones. However, if there are one too many repeated posts on the same negative feelings from the same person time and again, I will be sorely put off. Sorry, but its the truth.

It is one thing to share and update about our lives with friends on Facebook, but it is another when all one does is post up sorry, crabby moments every other hour. Though there are certainly no boundaries about sharing our pesky, malicious or peeved thoughts about an encounter we've had but surely we should know our limits?

Facebook is certainly not an open diary though there are times when I may share displeased thoughts but I think what makes a difference is the way we express ourselves and choice of words.

As much as I can, I will keep negative or angry feelings to myself. If I need to vent, I would usually share it with friends over a private chat, just to get it off my chest.

Rule of thumb : it's not nice to air your dirty laundry in public, especially if it concerns the family.

It just wouldn't do anyone any good and reflects poorly of oneself.

There is already too much gloom in this world. If we have to share a status on Facebook, surely we can post a happy and positive note for all to share the good vibes.

   

    Till the next post, have a blessed week!

Linking up with :

Homemade Strawberry Sorbet in 10 Minutes

After acquiring the latest food processor, I just had to get down to make SORBET!!

JUST 3 KEY INGREDIENTS TO HOME MADE ICE CREAM!

You read it correct.

- 3 cups of strawberries

- 1/2 cup of caster sugar (or a little bit more if the strawberries are too sour)

- 2/3 cup of cooking cream 

After placing the strawberries and sugar together into the mixer bowl, blend them together while adding the cream gradually into the bowl through the top opening.

In less than 2 minutes, it was done!

I chose not to blend it too finely as I think it will be nice to chew some strawberry bits in the ice cream.

The ice cream mixture was left in the freezer and best eaten after leaving it to set overnight. This portion I made serves about 10 scoops.

A little tip when buying strawberries

The first batch of this ice cream was made with strawberries from Korea. Maybe because it is not in season, I only managed to get those that were not fully red in color. So the first batch turned out a little too sourish and tasted more like yoghurt. Though we actually didn't mind much because we are yoghurt fans.

For the second batch, I bought deep red strawberries from USA and it turned out more to the texture of ice cream than the first batch I made. Though seriously, it can pass off like sorbet too! The strawberries itself was naturally sweet already so I kept the sugar dosage the same at 1/2 the cup. It was perfect to our liking!

   Try it!

Till the next post, have a blessed week!

Linking up with :

[Entrepreneurial Mama Series] Get to Know Pauline Wong

I got to communicate with Pauline Wong on personal level - one of the maestro behind Munch Minstry - when I joined the Singapore Mom Bloggers group last year.  Pauline has been one of my motivating factor to cook better for my family and has sub-consciously pushed me to be more explorative in my own kitchen.

Pauline has never ceased to awe me with her wide range of cooking skill and I take my hats off to her especially when she stays up late to bake artisan bread for breakfast and wakes up early in the morning to prepare bento boxes for her children!  Now this is one dedicated mama for sure. Aren't her children just so lucky to have a skillful mom in the kitchen?

Thank you Pauline, for gracing this interview on my blog. Here's wishing you and your work partner, Louisa, all the very best in moving forward with Munch Ministry!

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When and how did Munch Ministry came about?

It all began with my craze over the HappyCall Pan in September 2011. The joy & love for cooking daily meals also began since then. That time I was an active sharer in a facebook food group and eventually my enthusiasm rubbed off on Louisa who was in my FB contact list. We knew each other through work during the years I was in the advertising media industry. 

Together we formed Munch Ministry as a platform for all enthusiastic home cooks to gather & share their passion in cooking with each other.

Did you face any challenges while setting up Munch Ministry?

The initial challenge was to decide to set aside a sum of money to get a website started. The other hurdle was to put up all recipes (over 100 recipes) shared by the members of Munch Ministry onto a proper holding place i.e. a website so that everyone has a common and easy way of sharing & accessing all the recipes shared.

 

Maintaining an active social media group is still a challenge to us as it does really take up a lot of our time. Providing members with interesting information/activities to keep them engaged is another daily challenge we face.

But I must say, running Munch Ministry has taught me loads that I wouldn’t have imagined I would. Especially in areas about online marketing, social media engagement and all. We are still learning day-by-day, discovering loads about the psyche of members, what works, what don’t. I just find it fascinating and really fun!

 

You have an impressive fan base of more than 15,000 in your Facebook page! What do you think drew in the crowd?

We were honestly very blessed in the year of 2012. Our enthusiasm in the HappyCall Pan has gotten the attention of a Straits Times journalist who incidentally was also a contact in my FB list. She approached us and asked if we would like to be interviewed. Since then, we’ve received coverage by Yahoo News! and Razor TV within the same year. The rest as they say, is history.

 After all the dust has settled from all the media attention, we continued our hard work to make sure we post daily in our Facebook page and website. Keeping up with new content about food, cooking, baking, I believe is another factor that keep the community interested.

 

What do you enjoy the most about Munch Ministry?

I love to cook and bake as it’s a continuous learning journey. Being able to share what I’ve learned and inspire the people around me are the things that keep me going.

 How do you manage your time with family and work demands?

Putting in more than 12hours a day in Munch Ministry is indeed not an easy task. I try to keep a routine in what I need to do especially on a daily basis.

With a child in formal school and another who will be entering P1 soon, I’ve learned to work around the limited time I have during the kids being in school, and while they are sleeping to keep up with the household chores and work demands.

 

Above all, I have a very supportive husband who is very hands-on in managing the children. So his help does free me to do what I need to do from time-to-time.

 

Work aside, tell us what are the 3 ingredients that is a must have in your fridge?

Wow 3 must have ingredients… I’d say it’s egg, leafy vegetables and chicken. These are the must haves and with just these 3 ingredients I can most definitely whip up a meal!

 Any inspiring words for someone who is keen to venture into the kitchen to cook?

 Be fearless and experiment!

Here are more links to where you can find out about Munch Ministry!

Razor TV Video link:

Part 1

 http://www.razor.tv/site/servlet/segment/main/lifestyle/79128.html

Part 2

 http://www.razor.tv/site/servlet/segment/main/lifestyle/79126.html

• Photos of classes (recent ones with Singapore Mom Bloggers)

Upcoming events

Look out for our new classes such as Parent/Child baking class, Korean Cuisines, Artisan Bread Classes in June onwards at the Civil Service Club. Announcements will be up in Munch Ministry’s website and Facebook Like Page!

Website: http://munchministry.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewMunchMinistry

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/MyMunchMinistry/boards/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/MunchMinistry

  Till the next post, have a blessed week!