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Monthly Archives: June 2011

Jun 27 2011

Big big news!

by Virginie

Hi everyone! Feels like I haven’t update my blog in forever! Though I’ve only skipped one week. I’ve been a busy little bee as it were. I’ve got big big news: I’m now taking orders! You can head to the Buy Cupcakes page to see the prices and ordering procedures. I’m really happy about this. I think it’s a major step for me and I’m ready to take on the challenge! I’ve already had a few orders since I put up the page, some chocolate and orange cupcakes with blue and orange icing swirl and my vanilla-blackberry cupcakes. I’m glad to say the customers were quite happy with their orders. I hope to be getting more soon!

I’ve also been baking some new stuff and experimenting. This weekend I baked a peach crumble. I’m rather happy at how it turned out. I used my mom’s recipe. She mostly did it with apples, but she also did it with peaches once in a while. I added some local strawberries and some cardamom to the mix. I think it gave it a nice little touch. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again, I love cardamom! I think it’s too rarely used as a spice in dessert. Go ahead, give it a try. Add some to your next crumble. You won’t be sorry!

Cheers!

Categories: Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Jun 13 2011

Maple cinnamon scones

by Virginie

This morning I was hit with a great idea: maple and cinnamon scones! Its perfect for breakfast and really easy to make. Try it out! Here is the recipe for 18 scones:

ingredients:
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup of cream
- 1/3 cup of milk
- 1/3 cup of maple syrup
- 4 1/4 cup of flour
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 2 tsp of baking powder
- 1 tbs cinnamon
- big pinch of salt
- 1 1/4 cup of butter, cold and cut into 1 small cubes
- 1/2 cup of maple sugar

method:
- preheat oven to 350
- whip the egg, cream, milk and maple syrup together and set aside
- sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and mix well
- add the cold butter cubes to the flour and break down the butter into the flour until its down to small pea size balls
- add the maple sugar and mix well
- add the egg mix, slowly and delicately form a ball of dough
- separate the dough into three balls on a floured surface
- flatten the balls and cut them into 6 wedges
- place the wedges on baking sheets covered with parchment paper
- brush the scones with milk and sprinkle sugar on top
- bake for 20 minutes

Enjoy :)

Categories: other sweet flavors, spices | 3 Comments »

Jun 5 2011

Espelette pepper chocolate cupcakes

by Virginie

There’s no denying it, it’s the playoffs. When you live in a city who’s team made it to the finals, its even harder to ignore. Everybody is following it. Some more forced then others. I gotta admit, I’m a bit of a bandwagon fan! To celebrate the playoffs, I’ve decided to make Canuck cupcakes, also know as canuckakes! I decided to use the chocolate my mom brought me back from Montreal. Its a very good Espelette pepper chocolate by the lovely Genevieve Grandbois. I thought the touch of spice would be good for the playoffs. I feel it reflects well the atmosphere that’s in the city right now, electrified, exhilarating, spicy. I decided to balance that with a simple vanilla buttercream. Here is the recipe for 18 cupcakes:

cake:
- 70g of Espelette pepper chocolate
- 1/3 cup of cream
- 2 tbs of milk
- 3/4 cup of butter
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups of flour
- 2 tsp of baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 tbs of cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup of cream
- 1/4 cup of milk

method:
- preheat the oven to 350
- break the Espelette pepper chocolate in small pieces and put in a heat proof bowl
- put the milk and the cream in a sauce pain and heat
- as soon as the milk and cream start to simmer pour on the chocolate chances
- let stand for five minutes and whisk together until smooth to create a ganache
- beat the butter until it is light and fluffy
- add the sugar and beat thoroughly
- add the eggs one at a time and beat in between each addition, then beat on high for 30 seconds
- add the chocolate ganache and combine
- sift the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder together and combine with the butter/sugar mix
- add the cream and milk and combine until smooth
- line a cupcake pan with paper cups
- bake for 20 minutes

icing:
- 3 egg whites
- 140g of sugar
- 1 1/4 cup of butter cut in 1 inch cubes
- 2 tsp of vanilla extract

method:
- combine the egg whites and sugar in a double boiler
- whisk a little until all the sugar is melted away
- take off the double boiler and beat on high until cooled and turned into a firm meringue, touch the bottom of the bowl to make sure its at least body temperature
- add the butter one cube at a time while beating on a lower speed
- beat on high until you get a nice fluffy texture (it will turn to a cottage cheese kind of texture about half way through, just keep beating)
- add the vanilla extract

Still on the playoffs front, a friend threw a big BBQ To watch Saturday’s game! Well I couldn’t let the opportunity to bake a dessert go by. I baked the root beer and chocolate bundt cake from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking. It was a great success! Everyone loved it!

Enjoy :)

Categories: Chocolate, spices | 3 Comments »

Jun 3 2011

Almond and caramelized pear

by Virginie

The pears that I bought last weekend were finally ripe today! So I went for it, I made almond and caramelized pear cupcakes. To caramelize the pears simply cut them up in small slices and cover them with sugar. Cook them in a skillet until the sugar covering them turns to caramel. Simple as that! I also added a hint of amaretto to the cake to give a little kick to the almond taste. Top it all with vanilla icing. Delicious! Here is the recipe for 16 cupcakes:

cake:
- 3/4 cup of butter
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cup of flour
- 1/2 cup of almond powder
- 2 tsp of baking powder
- 3/4 cup of milk
- 2 tbs amaretto
- 2 pears, caramelized and pureed (could have used 3 pears in these cupcakes so you can go ahead and add more if you try this recipe)

method:
- preheat the oven to 350
- beat the butter until it is light and fluffy
- add the sugar and beat thoroughly
- add the eggs one at a time and beat in between each addition, then beat on high for 30 seconds
- sift the flour, almond powder an baking powder together and combine with the butter/sugar mix
- add the milk and amaretto and combine until smooth
- line a cupcake pan with paper cups
- bake for 20 minutes

Caramelizing pears

icing:
- 3 egg whites
- 140g of sugar
- 1 1/4 cup of butter cut in 1 inch cubes
- 1 tbs vanilla

Enjoy :)

Categories: Fruits, Nuts | 4 Comments »