Red velvet cupcake / Clock cup cake

I have been thinking for quite long to make a pull apart version of cake, apart from the fact that my son has been asking me a red velvet cake for a long so, I decided to give it a shot. Finally here it is, with a red velvet cake in pull apart style. I used cheese frosting to form the clock face and the dial was with chocolate glazing.  The original recipe source is from here. 

Red velvet cup cake ingredients:  6 tbsp of butter (soft)   ;    2/3  cup of sugar     ;    1 egg    ;     1 ¼ tbsp. of coco powder      ;      1 ½  tbsp of red liquid food color      ;      ½ tsp of vanilla essence      ;       ½ tsp of salt      ;       ¾ cup of milk       ;         1  5/8 cup of all-purpose flour     ;     ¾ tsp of baking soda     ;    ¾ tsp of apple cider vinegar

Ingredients for  Cheese frosting :     85 gms of cream cheese     ;      2 tbsp of butter ;     1/2 tsp of vanilla essence     ;      2 cup confectioner sugar 

 For Dial (chocolate glazing)  :   150 gms of melted dark chocolate 

Procedure :  In bowl add coco powder and all purpose flour, mix well  and keep aside.

In mixing bowl beat butter with sugar till it becomes smooth and creamy. Add egg and beat further. Add the food colour and continue to beat until the colour evenly mixed.

Continue to run the blender at med-speed and slowly add the flour mix and milk little by little, until all the ingredients are combined well and you got right cake batter consistency. 

Finally add baking soda into apple cider vinegar, quickly mix and add into flour mix.

Divide the batter evenly among the 19 mini cupcake tins about 2/3 filled and transfer to the 180°C pre heated oven and bake for about 20 min or until its done. (Toothpick technique will help) Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting. 

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:  In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until it become smooth. Add the sugar and continue to beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and blend until it become very light and fluffy.

Mexican coffee buns / Papparoti

I had been there in paparoti couple of months ago, I enjoyed the bun and my Husband enjoyed the coffee. Since then, I wanted to make paparoti bun. I am glad, I could recreate the paparoti bun or Mexican coffee bun in my oven. (cyberkitchen). I adopted the recipe from here. Though the making procedure is bit long, it was all worth it in the end.

Ingredients  for bun dough  :  2 cups of all-purpose flour (sifted)     ;      3 tbsp of sugar   ;     1/2 tsp of salt       ;        1 ½ tsp of instant yeast      ;         1/4 cup of milk at room temp.       ;      1/4 cup milk + ½ tsp of lemon juice    ;     1 egg     ;       3 tbsp of unsalted butter at room temp.  

Ingredients  for topping :   ¼ cup of all-purpose flour     ;    1/8 tsp of coco powder     ;        2 tbsp of soft Butter    ;      2 tbsp of sugar     ;    1/8 tsp of salt     ;     1/2 egg slightly beaten     ;    10ml strong coffee 

Ingredients  for filling   :   12 No’s of 3 – 4 grams of  unsalted butter cubes   (kept frozen) 

Combine lemon juice and milk, stir gently and set aside until the milk precipitate and become a slightly sour mixture. This helps the bun to be richer and fluffier.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, instant yeast and mix well. Add milk, milk + lemon juice mixture, beaten egg. Mix well until all the ingredients are combined well. Cover the bowl in damp cloth for about 15 – 20 minutes. Knead the dough further, to form sticky elastic dough. (Use some flour to coat your hands if the dough is too sticky)

Add softened butter (not melted) and knead the dough until the butter is incorporated into the dough. Continue kneading until the dough is completely smooth and elastic and should form a thin layer when stretched.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured tabletop, Gently shape the dough into a ball with a smooth surface. Coat the dough balls with thin layer of oil, to avoid dough from cracking. Place them into greased bowl and cover with damp cloth until the dough become double in size.

Meanwhile, lets do the topping ………………. Combine flour and cocoa powder and keep aside. Add butter, sugar, salt in a mixing bowl and mix until all ingredients are combined. Add egg and continue beating until the butter mixture is completely incorporated. (Over beating may result a spongy texture topping)

Sift flour and cocoa powder into the bowl Add coffee, mix well until smooth and combined. Transfer topping to a piping bag, and keep in the refrigerator. After the dough has doubled in size, deflate the dough, gently knead the dough and divide into 12 small pieces. Take the frozen butter cubes from the freezer.

Gently stretch a dough ball out, press a piece of filling into the dough and pinch edges together. Seal carefully so the filling doesn’t leak while being baked. Roll the bun with the palms of your hands until round and even. Place on baking tray lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Repeat with the remaining buns. (make sure you leave enough space between the buns)

Cover the tray with damp cloth for a second rise. Once the dough has become doubled in size, do the topping. Remove the piping bag from fridge and start from the middle and pipe a circular swirl outward. Only cover about 1/2 – 2/3 of the bun’s surface, the topping will melt and cover the rest.

Transfer the baking tray into a 180°c pre-heated oven and bake for 15 – 18 minutes or until the top crust is golden brown and crisp. (If the top turns brown too quickly, cover the buns with a piece of aluminum foil and continue baking until done)

Mango Truffle

Most of the food bloggers had posted different mango based recipes for the past two months. Now the (mango) season is about to end. Now, it’s my turn to experiment with mango……………

Mangoes are the most popular fruit in the world and it was s originated from India. Mangoes are a very common food used in a number of cuisines around the world especially in the tropics. Mango is known as 'king of fruit' and its very high caloric content.

Ingredient  :   ¼ cup of fresh mango puree       ;          2 tbsp of cream          ;            50 gms of white chocolate      ;             150 gms of tempered dark chocolate  (by double boiler or microwave)

In microwave safe bowl, add white chocolate and cream keep in oven till it melted add mango puree mix well and keep aside.

In chocolate mold spread the tempered chocolate (up to ¼ of the mold) and keep it in the fridge for some time to set. Remove the mold from fridge and spread the mango mixture (up to ½ in the mold) again into the fridge to set. 

Finally, seal the remaining (1/4 of the mold) with tempered chocolate and once again keep it in the fridge to set.

Once, the outer chocolate melts in the mouth and the mango puree flows and mixed with the chocolate…….Mmm…….its Divine.