Cranberry Upside Down Muffins

I wanted to make Pandan Marble Cake so bad.  Nevermind that my hand mixer is with mum.  I'll make do with a wooden spoon or hand whisk, or so I thought.  But with just two eggs left in the fridge, I had to forget about making pandan marble cake.  I checked my pantry and there's just slightly less than half a cup of sugar left. What else can I make? Then I saw a can of cranberry sauce that I had bought a couple of months back.  I remembered some time ago, I had wanted to try this recipe from Joyofbaking.com.  I checked the recipe again and was elated that I have all the ingredients required.  An egg was all that the recipe called for and nevermind that I only have slightly less than half a cup of sugar left in my kitchen.  I was sure the cranberry sauce would make up for the lack of sugar.

So I made this Cranberry Upside Down Muffins and was glad it turned out just fine. Just a note of caution, do be patient when handling these babies.  They need to cool for a while before you invert them out else the cranberry will not stick to the cake.  I am speaking from experience!  I took the pan out of the oven and started inverting one and was disappointed when the sauce did not stick to the cake.  It left me wondering for a moment where had I gone wrong.

Feeling a little disappointed, I left the muffins alone and attended to my little girl who was busy with her schoolwork, then returned to the muffins once I was done with her.  I inverted each one, and to my delight, the sauce sits nicely on top of the fluffy cake.  So the moral of the story - Be patient and let the cakes cool before inverting them :)

Ingredients

2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
4 tbsp canola oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup cranberry sauce

Method

Preheat oven to 175C.
A - In a large bowl, whisk together, flour, sugar and salt
B - In another bowl, whisk together milk, egg, oil and vanilla extract.
Using a spatula, fold B into A together till just moistened.
Evenly divide the cranberry sauce among the 24 mini muffin cups of a mini muffin pan.
Evenly spoon muffin batter over the cranberry sauce.
Place the mini muffin pan in the oven.
Bake for about 15 - 20 mins or until a pick/skewer inserted comes out clean.
Stand muffins for about 5 mins before inverting them on a cooling rack so the cranberry topping is faced up.

Rainbow Cupcakes

I have seen way too many people putting up pictures of rainbow cakes that they make or sell online.  The cakes look so pretty and how not to love the bold colours!

One of those nights when I couldn't sleep, I actually watched videos after videos on how to make this cake.  It looks rather tedious to make but somehow I kept hearing these Rainbow Cupcakes calling out my name.  I had to do it!  I just had to do it!

While bold colours make the cakes look fun and vibrant, pastel makes the cupcakes look cute and pretty!  Now, won't you agree?

Ingredients

1 box White cake mix
1 1/4 cup water
3 egg whites
1/3 cup vegetable oil
liquid food colorings

Method

Preheat oven to 175C.
Lay 12 paper liners in muffin tin.
In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix, egg whites and vegetable oil till well combined (or as directed on box).
Divide batter into 6 small bowls.
Add about a drop or two food coloring to each bowl to make red, green, purple, pink, yellow and blue.  Ensure that you stir well.
Starting with the red batter, add a level tablespoon to each of the 12 paper liners.
Repeat with all the remaining colours - green, purple, pink, yellow and blue.
Do not spread the layers of colour as it will cause the colours to combine.
Just let it spread out on their own.
Bake the cake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool cupcakes on a wire rack.

Video: Tiramisu

Watch my video for pictorial instructions to make Tiramisu!

Carrot Muffins

A few weeks ago, I had late night coffee with my sister and her friends at The House of Robert Timms. We ordered a few desserts to go along with our coffee and one of them was Carrot Cake.

A four-layer cake with thick cream cheese icing in between.  The carrot cake was heavenly and sinful. Besides the specks of carrot and walnuts, I spotted bits of pineapples in the cake!

I knew I had to bake some myself after having the carrot cake at the House of Robert Timms.  I think by now, you ought to know my love for easy-no-mixer-required recipes.  I was glad I found this recipe from Joyofbaking.com. The recipe calls for grated apple and coconut which I omitted.  Instead, I added crushed pineapples. Carrots and crushed pineapples helped in keeping the muffins moist.

These Carrot Muffins tasted so good on its own.  It would be perfect when topped with some cream cheese frosting!  Next time I make these, I will definitely smear some cream cheese frosting.  But first, let me find a good and simple cream cheese frosting recipe.

Ingredients

1/2 cup walnut, roasted and chopped
2 cups grated raw carrots
2 cups self raising flour
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
3/4 cup canola oil
3 eggs
3/4 cup crushed pineapples
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Preheat oven to 175C.
Lay 15 paper cups in a baking tray.
A - In a large bowl, whisk together, flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon powder and walnut.
B - In another bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, crushed pineapples and vanilla extract.
Using a spatula, fold B into A together with grated raw carrots till just moistened.
Spoon mixture into the paper cups and then bake for about 25 - 30 mins or until a pick/skewer inserted comes out clean.
Stand muffins for about 5 mins before turning out to cool on a wire tray.

Tiramisu

The last I made Tiramisu was in 2006 and had not tried making them ever since.
Remember my first post of 2012 when I said I wanted to try making David Rocco's Tiramisu and that I had bought the ingredients?  It was over the Chinese New Year holidays last week, that I decided to make them.  I really wanted to try David Rocco's recipe but the thought of using raw eggs sort of puts me off.

So I browsed my blog for the Easy Peasy Tiramisu recipe that I used in 2006 and made slight adjustments to it.  These are the ingredients that you need.

I was happy with the results of the Tiramisu that I made with the adjustments! Note that you definitely need to chill the dessert for at least 4 hours or overnight.  I couldn't wait and took it out after 2 hours and the slice (pictured below) looks rather sloppy but still tasted good.  I had another slice the next day and boy did the tiramisu come together in perfect harmony.  The flavours just meld together and the texture was oh so right!

Here's the new adjusted recipe for my Tiramisu - the twisted version minus the eggs and a virgin one because it does not contain alcohol.

Ingredients

18 - 20 pcs savoiardi (ladyfingers)
2 tbsp nescafe coffee powder
1 cup boiling water
2 tbsp sugar
250g mascarpone cheese
170g cream
3 tbsp thickened cream
1/4 cup caster sugar
cocoa powder

Method

Dissolve coffee powder and 2 tbsp sugar in boiling water.
Let it cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile beat cream and sugar till soft peaks form with a hand whisk.
Then add in the mascarpone cheese and beat for a further half a minute.
Lightly dip ladyfingers in cooled coffee and lay them on a dish.
Spread evenly half of the mascarpone cream mixture over the ladyfingers.
Repeat the step with a second layer of ladyfingers and then the rest of the cream mixture
Cover dish with foil and refrigerate for about 4 hours or overnight.
Dust tiramisu with cocoa powder when set.
Cut and serve cold.