Livin da Cupcake Loca

If you'd told me several years ago that I could put bacon into a cupcake, I would have laughed at you. Just like I would have laughed if you'd told me about little cakes on the end of lollipop sticks. Okay...that one's a little more credible. But bacon...in a cupcake? Images of savoury muffins would have crept into my limited imagination, like they are undoubtedly yours.

French Toast and Bacon in a cupcake? That's just crazy talk.

Nevertheless, I hauled Stephen into the kitchen at midnight on Friday to help me make the pièce de résistance for our submission into the Lily Chic Events/Luminoso Blu Mother's Day Table competition. Don't get me wrong - Stephen is a vital part of our business. He lifts heavy things. He climbs unstable ladders and hangs lanterns in strange places. He handles logistics and orders and my mountain of accumulated receipts. Nowhere in his contract (ha!) does it say that he has to help me make baked goods at some ungodly hour. But here we were - attempting the stuff that legends are made of. We had enough mixture for...a 13th cupcake. Not being able to wait, we broke open the mysterious little cake - steam still rising from its inner core (okay, now I'm getting carried away). We took a bite and our eyes widened. It was French Toast. It was Bacon. It was BOTH.

Fast forward several hours (and 4 hours sleep) later - cupcakes cooled and frosted, shoot complete, photos transferring to the hard drive...and we got to eat them as intended. The maple frosting was...in a word...divine. I've adapted the recipe from the original source, given that I could not find maple extract ANYWHERE. If you can - I salute you. But an extra dollop of maple syrup did it for me (and I was a little more liberal with the cinnamon too - but that's just personal preference).

So without further ado - I give you the perfect recipe for mum this Mother's Day:

French Toast & Bacon Cupcakes w/Maple Buttercream.
Adapted from The Busty Baker's adaptation of 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson
Makes 12-14

Cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tblspn ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and then cooled
• 2 eggs
• 1(ish) tablespoon pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 6-8 slices bacon (or more if you like your cupcakes bacon-y)

1. Preheat oven to 180C and line baking pan with paper liners.

2. Cook bacon in batches browned, but still flexible. Soak up any extra oil on paper towels and set aside to cool. Once bacon is cooled enough to handle, cut a couple slices of bacon into inch-long pieces. This will be the decoration on top of the cupcake, so make as many as you think you'll need. Set aside. Chop or tear the remaining bacon into tiny pieces. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Whisk in maple syrup. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and milk, making three additions of flour mix and two of milk, beating until smooth. Fold in small bacon pieces. Mix until evenly distributed throughout batter.

5. Scoop batter into prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown and tops spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.


Maple Buttercream
Adapted from The Busty Baker's adaptation of 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson
Makes enough to frost 2 dozen cupcakes

2 cups icing mixture
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
Pinch of salt

1. In a bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add maple syrup and salt, and beat until well combined. Add icing mixture, half cup at a time, and beat until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

2. Frost or pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Top with inch-long bacon pieces.


Original Post: http://sites.google.com/site/thebustybakersrecipes/home/french-toast-and-bacon-cupcakes

Sooooo yummy!!

We *heart* Cookies!

Welcome to Part 2 of our Whimsical Tea Party recipes.

I'm kind of picky about cookies. It's hard to find the right balance between hard and soft - and then there's the matter of how sweet they should be, given that you're probably going to top them with ultra-sweet goodies anyway....etc. etc.

This is Nigella Lawson's no-fail recipe. I use it for Christmas cookies too - it's so easy to make and stays in great shape when cut.

You can see the original recipe post, courtesy of the Food Network here.

Queen of Hearts Cookies

Ingredients

Cookies:

    * 6 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
    * 1/2 cup sugar
    * 1 large egg
    * 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    * 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
    * 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
    * 1/2 teaspoon salt
    *

Icing:

    * Wiltons candy melts (red).

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and moving towards moussiness, then beat in the egg and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs, and mix gently but surely. If you think the finished mixture is too sticky to be rolled out, add more flour, but do so sparingly as too much will make the dough tough. Form into a fat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place disk of dough on it, and sprinkle a little more flour on top of that. Then roll it out to a thickness of about 1/4-inch. Cut into heart shapes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go, and place the cookies a little apart on 2 parchment or silpat lined baking sheets.

Bake for 8 to 12 minutes. When they're ready expect them to be tinged a pronounced gold around the edges; they'll be softish still in the middle, but set while they cool.

Remove the cookies with a flat, preferably flexible, spatula to a wire rack.


Melt half a packet of candy melts (as per directions for cake pops), and with the back of a teaspoon, or a clean (unused!) paintbrush, "paint" the melts onto the cooled cookies so they smoothly cover the surface. Decorate as desired, or leave as is!

Warning - these are really moreish. The kids grabbed handfuls of these as they left the party to put in their lolly bags - and I still have heaps in the fridge (despite the fact that I simply just can't just take one at a time!). Enjoy!

Pop! Goes my Cake.

Planning a party is one thing - planning a party AND doing catering is another kettle of fish altogether - and was definitely my biggest challenge (as well as working full time, managing a business - oh and performing in a local production of Chess!). So without further ado - here is Part 1 of our Tea Party recipe collection: Cake Pops.

(Oh and thanks to one of my favourite Hugh Grant films "Music and Lyrics" for the title inspiration!)

CAKE POPS

I've yet to find a Brisbane cake-maker that can make professional quality cake pops (Do you know of one? Let me know!) - in fact it's hard to find anyone in Brisbane who has even HEARD of cake pops, so I knew it was up to me.

Cake Pops are ridiculously easy to make but ridiculously hard to make WELL. Firstly - if you're not aware of Bakerella's blog - do yourself a favour and get acquainted with it NOW!

Here are some instructions aimed at Australian readers:

Ingredients/Resources:

1. 1 x packet Greens chocolate mud cake (I've found this the best cake to work with)
2. 3/4 can of pre-made Betty Crocker frosting (chocolate works well for me)
3. 1 1/2 - 2 packets of Wilton's Candy Melts.
4. Styrofoam block
5. Lollipop sticks (I get mine from eBay - they're so cheap!)
6. Sprinkles or other decorations.


A word on the Candy Melts - these are becoming easier to find in Australia now - Little Betsy Baker has them in practically every colour for around $10.50. Check out eBay also - various cake makers sometimes sell their leftover stock there a little cheaper. We spotted them in Spotlight the other day too - in pink, blue and choc-mint - again for $10.50.

Method:

1. Bake your cake and leave to cool. 
2. Break cake into halves and rub together into a bowl to form fine crumbs - there should be no lumps at all.
3. Scoop out frosting and stir through. You might also need to use your hands (although beware - this is VERY tasty!)
4. Roll into balls the size of chupa-chups. Any bigger and they'll fall off the stick - in my experience anyway. You SHOULD have 50 or so, depending on how many you've eaten off your hands!
5. Place onto a tray and pop into the freezer for an hour or so.
6. Melt candy melts in the microwave (low heat) or over a pot of simmering water. Be careful not to overheat- I've done this - it's not pleasant. Stir thoroughly to eliminate all lumps.
7. Stir in a little oil to thin mixture out a little (there are other thinning agents you can use - but oil works for me - just not too much or you can taste it).
8. Take a few cake balls out at a time. Dip a lollipop stick into the melted candy mixture (about an inch), and push into the centre of the ball. I tend to prep about 5 with sticks before I move onto the next step but it's up to you. 
9. Lower the cake ball (on the stick) into the melted mixture and wriggle it around to get even coverage. Try to avoid spinning the stick - unless you want to risk it falling apart. Lift it out and stick into the Styrofoam block. You have about 5 seconds to decorate with sprinkles before it hardens!
10. Repeat - another 49 or so times. I didn't say it wasn't time consuming!

Bakerella has the BEST decorating ideas on her blog - I am a mere pleb in the world of cake-pop making. But the ones I have made have been received very well and are super SUPER yummy!

Taking the Cake

About six months ago, I had never heard of Cupcake Wrappers. Now I'm a diehard fan. I just couldn't imagine a dessert table, cupcake stack or party without them. To think that years ago, we were all eating naked cupcakes! (You heard me!)

Anyway. Moonlight & Whimsy are currently stocking two types of cupcake wrapper - reusable and non-reusable alike, depending on your needs and tastes. I'd just unpacked my newest shipment from The Cupcake Wrapper Co. and it was good timing actually, as I'd only just bought my new Kuhn Rikon cupcake icing pen (Wheel & Barrow - $29.95) and was dying to try it out. I'd also been looking for a new vanilla cupcake recipe for awhile, so it was win/win!

There has been a spate of new Cupcake shops popping up all over Brisbane recently, mostly sporting the same tasteless cake with super-sickly-sweet frosting. This recipe that I stumbled across however, was recommended by a swag of cupcake-connoisseurs. Yes. Connoisseurs. The real gem here however is the buttercream frosting (honestly - this stuff should come with its own health warning)!!

Heart attack or not though, it is honestly the BEST frosting I have ever tasted, and so I was pretty chuffed that I could make something that could make grown men weak at the knees. (There were tears from my partner as I wrestled the bowl off him to wash up... REAL TEARS!)

It's serious melt-in-your-mouth stuff!

Above: Pink/White Polka Dot and Pink/White Stripe Cupcake Wrappers

Below: Green/White Stripe, Green/White Polka Dot Cupcake Wrappers

Vanilla Cupcakes

• 2 3/4 cups plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 200g softened unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 cups castor sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbs vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 170C. Line two 12-hole muffin trays with cupcake papers.

Sift together the flour and baking powder. In a separate bowl, cream the butter for 1-2 minutes.
Add caster sugar a third at a time, beating for 2 minutes after each addition. After the last addition, beat until the mixture is light and fluffy and the sugar has almost dissolved.
Add eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each minute or until mixture is light and fluffy.

Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

Add a third of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add half of the milk and beat until combined. Repeat this process.

Add the remaining third of the flour and beat until thoroughly combined (don't over-beat or the mixture will toughen!)

Spoon mixture into cupcake papers, filling each about two-thirds. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from the trays immediately and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before frosting.

Buttercream Frosting (from Smitten Kitchen)

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large egg whites
• 26 tablespoons butter, softened (Yes! You heard me! Do it!)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk egg whites and sugar together in a big metal bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk occasionally until you can’t feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers.

Transfer mixture into the mixer and whip until it turns white and about doubles in size. (Here’s a tip: when you transfer to the mixer, make sure you wipe the condensation off the bottom of the bowl so that no water gets into the egg whites. This can keep them from whipping up properly.)

Add the vanilla.

Finally, add the butter a stick at a time and keep whipping until it's thick and luscious. Yes - this can take up to 10 minutes! Be patient!

Above: Blue/White Polka Dot Cupcake Wrappers

Below: Going dotty with wrappers from the Cupcake Wrapper Co!
 

Enjoy and don't forget we're selling the reusable cupcake wrappers for an introductory price $13.95 for 12 at Moonlight and Whimsy,  but be quick! The offer won't last long!