Hidden Heart Valentine's Cupcakes

Saw  this accidentally  on youtube -Hidden Heart Valentine's cupcakes. LOve at first sight.... They look so beautiful and sweet.. Just couldn't wait any longer to bake and post it today.

My Recipe:


Ingredients  for the red heart:
100g butter (room temperature)
100g castor sugar
2 eggs
120g self-raising flour
30ml of milk
1/2 tsp strawberry emulco
few drops of edible food red colouring

Ingredients for the cake: (yields 24)
250g butter ( room temperature)
250g castor sugar
5 eggs
300g self-raising flour
80ml milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180 degree C.

2) Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.

3) Beating in eggs one at a time. Ensure each egg is well-incorporated before adding the next one.

4) Fold in half the sifted flour, add milk and strawberry emulco and then fold in the 

remaining flour without over-mixing or beating the mixture. Add colouring and mix well.

5) Pour the batter into a lightly greased  8"x8"  or 9"x9" baking tray. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

6) Allow to cool completely. Once the sheet cake is cool, invert the pan onto a cutting board.  Use a smaller heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out 24 cake hearts that are small enough to fit into an average-sized cupcake pan. Leave aside for later use.

7) Cream the cake ingredients with the same method as the heart cake.

8) Spoon 2 heaping tablespoon batter (from 7) into paper-lined cupcake tins, so that they are about 1/2 full. Put one heart into each tin and press it point down into the batter. Cover with another tablespoon of batter and bake for 15- 20 minutes and until cooked.  Allow the cupcakes to cool before frosting.

Use a cookie cutter to cut out 24 hearts.

Leave aside for later use.  At this time prepare the cake batter.



.


Spoon 2 tbsp.of batter, and put a heart in the center.







Spoon 1 tbsp. of batter to cover the heart.

Make sure to press the heart point down properly into the batter otherwise they will turn up like mine a small hill.

 
Tricky tip how to get the right cross-session of the heart when you cut to get the full heart effect.

a) Use a marker or a pen to mark your muffin cup paper liner (external) with a visible straight line directly opposite to each other.

b) Place the heart such that it is aligned with the 2 markings.  This is so that when you cut the cupcakes into half, the cross-section of heart will show up nicely.

Chocolate Bolo Bun

Hi,  all the dear bloggers and friends. How are you doing?  Did you enjoy your CNY? 

 Or  are you still in the CNY mood? 

I baked these chocolate buns for breakfast. How about you?

Recipe: (makes 8)

Ingredients:

200g bread flour

50g low protein flour

25g egg

140g - 150g  fresh milk  (adjust the amount when adding to the flour)

3 g instant dry yeast

40g caster sugar

10g milk powder

1g salt

25g butter - room temperature

Ingredients for the Bolo pastry:

45g butter

45g icing sugar

30g egg

5g milk powder

80g low protein  flour

5g cocoa powder

1g salt

Method:

1) Combine ingredients except butter in a mixing bowl . Use a hook whisk to beat on low speed until mixture blended. When dough appears rough and dense, whisk the dough on medium speed , then add butter. Beat until dough is smooth and clean. 

2)  Leave dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with a piece of damp cloth, proof in a warm place for 60 -90 minutes.

3)  Bolo pastry:  Combine butter and icing sugar in a mixing bowl. Use a egg whisk to mix well. Add in egg slowly, mix well, add in milk powder, flour and cocoa powder, salt, mix until the mixture is well blended. Cover with cling wrap paper, leave for 20 minutes.

4) Take out the fermented dough, punch out the gas. Divide dough into 60g each. Roll into round shapes. Cover with damp cloth and leave  for 10 minutes.

5)  Divide Bolo pastry into 8 equal portions. Flatten and cover top half  of the dough (Method 4).

6) Use a rubber spatula to carve the pastry with diamond shapes. Place the dough onto a baking tray. Leave for final fermentation for about 30 minutes or 1.5 bigger in size.

7)  Brush with egg wash, bake in a preheated oven (180 degree C) for 15 minutes.

Banana Huat Kuih

Huat ah! Huat ah! 发啊！发啊！Wishing all dear bloggers  have a Happy and a Prosperous Chinese New Year.

Happy Forever。永远开心，笑哈哈。

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Starter dough:

60g plain flour

1 tsp instant yeast

50ml water 

combine all ingredients together and leave it to ferment for 1 to2 hours.

Ingredients A:

200g very ripen bananas - mashed and set aside for10 minutes

Ingredients B:

150g plain flour

1/2 tbsp baking powder

100g caster sugar

125 ml thick coconut milk

Method:

 1)Combine sugar, baking powder, mashed banana and coconut milk into the starter dough.  Mix well.

2)  Add sifted flour into (1) and mix well.

3)  Spoon mixture into muffin cups liners, fill till 3/4 full.  Steam over high heat for 20 minutes.

Pineapple Tarts

我的凤梨饼换上新装了！My pineapple tarts have changed to a new packaging.

Baking mould: 4cm x 5cm    饼模：4 cm x5cm
Pastry dough: 14g       饼团：14克
Pineapple filling:17g      黄梨馅：17克

 Previous years' pineapple tarts.
往年的凤梨饼

Ingredients:
Pastry:
260g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
30g icing sugar
80g egg
60g milk powder
370g plain flour

Method:
1) Beat butter and icing sugar till light and fluffy.
2)Add egg in few times. Beat well after each addition.
3) Fold in flour and milk powder into 2. Mix well till combined.
4) Rest the dough for 20 minutes.
5) Wrap in filling and place in the moulds. Bake at 170 degree C for15 minutes till golden brown.

 Pineapple filling:  Pineapple Jam is available at any Baking Ingredient  shops.

Dried Cranberry Cheesecake Muffins

Recipe: makes 10

Ingredients:

140g cream cheese, room temperature
100g Castor sugar
2  large eggs
100g butter, melted and cooled
200g self-raising flour
65g dried cranberries, soak in water for 5 minutes>drained and chopped

Method:
1) Whisk the cream cheese and sugar together, adding the eggs one at a time until well-combined, and then stir in the melted butter.

2) Sift the flour into a big bowl and stir in the cranberries.  Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the beaten liquid ingredients. Gently stir until just combined, do not over-mix.

3) Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin cups. Bake for 12-15 minutes at180 degree C.

Fresh Blueberry Muffins ( 2)

It is really awesome. This  fresh blueberry muffins taste sooooooooooo good and wholesome.The cake is moist and it gives the full body fragrant flavour of  blueberry.

Ingredients: (yields 11)
90g unsalted butter ( room temperature)
140g fine sugar
2 eggs
150g  low fat blueberry yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
1/2 tsp fresh orange zest
160g self-raising flour
1 cup of  fresh blueberry


Method:
1) Preheat oven to 180 degree C.  Line muffin tin with paper liners.
2) In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Add the eggs, vanilla, yoghurt and orange zest, whisk until the mixture is creamy and thick.
3)  In a small bowl toss together the blueberries with  about 1-2 tbsp of the self-raising flour. Set aside.
4)  Add the remaining flour to the batter mixture and just mix till the flour is mixed through but don't over mix.
5) Using a spatula, fold in the blueberries making sure not to burst them.
6)  Bake for 20-25 minutes.