Red Velvet Cupcakes

This is the red velvet cupcakes from Sally's Baking site. I made mini ones for a tea party. 

Ingredients

Egg - 2 large, room temperature and separated
Cake flour - 1 and 2/3 cups 

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Unsweetened cocoa powder - 4 tsp
Salt - 1/4 teaspoon 
Unsalted butter - 4 TBSP, softened to room temperature

Granulated sugar - 1 cup
Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
Pure vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Distilled white vinegar - 1/2 tsp
Liquid red food coloring - to your preference, about 2 TBSP
Buttermilk - 1/2 cup, room temperature (replaced with 1/2TBSP lemon juice + 1/2cup milk)

cream cheese frosting for topping

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12-count muffin pan or 48-count mini-muffin pan with cupcake liners. 
2. With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat 2 egg whites on high speed in a medium bowl until soft peaks form, about 2-3 minutes. Set aside.
3. Sift the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
4. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy—about 1 minute. Add the sugar and beat on high speed for 2 minutes until creamed together fairly well. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. Add the oil and beat on high for 2 minutes. 
5. Add 2 egg yolks and the vanilla. Beat on medium-high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Beat in the vinegar and the food coloring, until you reach your desired color.

6. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and mixing each addition just until incorporated. Do not overmix. Fold whipped egg whites into cupcake batter with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. 

7. Spoon batter into cupcake liners filling 1/2 – 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 20-21 minutes for regular muffin, or 11-13 minutes for mini-muffins, or until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when gently touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Don’t overbake; your cupcakes will dry out. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

8. Prepare cream cheese frosting. Frost cooled cupcakes immediately before serving. 

Mystery Machine

Inspired by Scooby-Doo, this colorful treat brings the iconic Mystery Machine to life! The cupcakes are arranged in the shape of the van and then piped with Swiss meringue buttercream to create the design. This was made for Diablo Day Camp, whose theme this summer is “Mystery.”

Banana Muffin

Another way to use over-ripped bananas, instead of banana bread. This is from Sally's baking recipes.

Ingredients

All-purpose flour - 1 and 1/2 cups
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Ground cinnamon - 1 tsp
Ground nutmeg - 1/4 tsp
Mashed bananas - 1 and 1/2 cups, about 4 medium or 3 large bananas
Unsalted butter - 6 TBSP, melted
Light or dark brown sugar - packed, 2/3 cup (I used 1/2 cup, could be less)
Egg - 1 large, at room temperature (I used egg replacer)
Pure vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Milk - 2 TBSP
optional: 1 cup chopped walnuts, pecans, or chocolate chips

Yield 10-12 muffins

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or use cupcake liners.

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a medium bowl. Set aside. 

3. In a large bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, mash the bananas. On medium speed, beat or whisk in the melted butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla extract, and milk. 

4. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then beat or whisk until combined. If adding nuts or chocolate chips, fold them in now. Batter will be thick.
5. Spoon the batter into liners, filling them all the way to the top. I filled 3/4 way to have smaller muffins.

6. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Bake for an additional 16–18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

(For mini muffins, bake 12–14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C).) 

7. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to continue cooling. 

Muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Archer Cupcake

This year, GS Diablo Day Camp theme is Taylor Swift's Era. As an archery elf, my daughter brought these cupcakes to share. They are designed based on the "Archer" song. The album cover is pastel pink, blue, and yellow. The cake toppers are made with Cricut machine.

Apple Spice Cupcake

The cupcake recipe is from a friend, and the frosting is the cream cheese frosting. The cupcake is very moist with chunks of apple with every bite. 

Ingredients

Unsalted butter - 1 cup, at room temperature

Apple - about 2 lbs, peeled, coed, and cut into 1 inch chunks

Granulated sugar - 4 TBSP + 1 and 1/2 cup 

All purpose flour - 2 cups

Baking powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Ground cinnamon - 1 tsp

Ground allspice - 1/2 tsp

Ground nutmeg - 1/4 tsp

Egg - 4 large, at room temperature ( I used egg replacer)

Pure vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Sour cream - 1/2 cup

Cream cheese frosting 

Yield 24 cupcakes

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. 
2. In a sauce pan over medium high heat, melt 4 TBSP butter. Add the apple chunks and 4 TBSP of sugar. Cooke until the apple is translucent and soft, about 7 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. Set aside. 

4. In the stand mixing bowl, add remaining butter and sugar, beat at medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add egg (or egg replacer mixture), vanilla extract and beat until combined. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add sour cream and apple mixture, beat until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. 

5. Divide the batter among the muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes. 

6. Let the cupcake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes and then transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack to cool completely.

7. Frost the cupcake with frosting and serve. 

Tribute to a Nature Lover

I designed these cupcakes for a friend's memorial service. He was an outdoor enthusiast and fully embraced what California had to offer, from snowy mountain to sandy beach. 

These cupcakes took multiple steps (days) to prepare: 

1. Made miniature trees and mountains using candy melt
2. Baked the cupcakes, with 50% extras so that I can slice some off to make the headlands
3. Grounded Graham crackers to make sand.
4. Made buttercream. It will be used to secure headland to cupcake, to stick sand to the beach, to cover the headland with green meadow so that the tree and mountain can be installed, to add river and waterfall, and finally to pipe the forget-me-not flower.
5. Assembled and made them fit in the cupcake containers. Sometimes, the mountains had to be trimmed a little.

Vegan Vanilla Cupcake

Followed this recipe for some egg-free cupcakes for a birthday. It is moist, fluffy and very sweet.

Ingredients

[Cupcakes]

All-purpose flour - 1 3/4 cup
Granulated sugar - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1 TBSP
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Milk - 3/4 cup non-dairy milk
Vegetable oil -1/4 cup + 1 TBSP
Apple sauce - 1/4 cup
Water - 1/4 cup
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
[Vanilla Buttercream]
1/2 cup vegan butter, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tsp. non-dairy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line a muffin tin with 12 baking cups and spray with cooking oil. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl combine the non-dairy milk, oil, apple sauce, water, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and gently whisk together until the batter is evenly hydrated and fairly smooth.
3. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin so that they are 2/3rds of the way full, filling all 12 muffin molds evenly. 

4. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

5. In a stand-up mixer, using your paddle attachment, cream the vegan butter on high for 3 minutes, scraping down the sides as necessary. Turn mixer to low and slowly add powdered sugar with motor running, again scraping down the sides as necessary. Once the powdered sugar is incorporated, turn the mixer back up to high and beat for another 3-5 minutes until thick and creamy. Turn down mixer, add non-dairy milk and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
6. Once the cupcakes are COMPLETELY cool, pipe buttercream onto the cupcakes. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Baked Donut

Old-fashioned doughnuts were deep-fried in hot fat; new-fashioned doughnuts are baked in a hot oven! 

Ingredients

Butter - 4 TBSP
Vegetable oil - 1/4 cup
Granulated sugar - 1/2 cup
Brown sugar - 1/3 cup, packed

Eggs - 2 large (replace with 1/2 cup apple sauce for egg-free)

Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Nutmeg - 1/2 to 1 tsp, to taste

Salt - 3/4 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Milk - 1 cup
All-Purpose Flour - 2 2/3 cups

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease standard or mini doughnut pans.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugars until smooth.
3. Add the eggs (or egg replacement), beating to combine.
4. Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, and vanilla.
5. Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined. The batter will be fairly thick; when you draw your spatula through the batter, it will leave a furrow.

6. Use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut at the bottom as piping bag to pipe batter into the lightly greased doughnut pans, filling the wells to about 1/4" shy of the rim.

7. Bake the doughnuts for 5-10 minutes. Remove them from the oven, and wait 5 to 7 minutes before turning them out of the pans onto a rack.

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts

Shake warm doughnuts in a plastic bag with about 1/4 to 1/3 cup cinnamon-sugar. 

Vanilla Glazed Doughnuts

Confectioners' sugar - 1.25 cup

Light corn syrup - 1 TBSP

Melted butter - 1 TBSP

Milk - 1 to 2 TBSP

Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp

Mix all ingredients together and use to glaze the doughnuts.

Japanese Soufflé Pancakes

Gram cafe & Pancake just opened in San Francisco and they are famous for their premium soufflé pancakes. So I found the recipe online to try.

Ingredients

Eggs - 4 large
Whole milk - 3  Tbsp
Pure vanilla extract - ½ tsp
Cake flour - ½ cup
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Sugar - 4 Tbsp
Vegetable oil - 2 Tbsp, for greasing the pan
Water - 4 Tbsp, for steaming
Toppings & Fillings
powder sugar - 2 Tbsp
Fresh berries
maple syrup

Whipped cream

Steps

1. Gather all the ingredients. You will also need a 12-inch non-stick frying pan (large enough to cook 3 pancakes at the same time) with a lid.
2. Separate egg whites and egg yolks into two different bowls. Put the bowl with egg whites in the freezer for 15 minutes. 

3. In the meantime, add milk and vanilla to the egg yolks and whisk until thick and frothy. Sift the cake flour and baking powder into the bowl. Whisk to combine thoroughly (but do not over-mix). Set aside.
4. After 15 minutes, take out the bowl with egg whites from the freezer. The egg whites should be half frozen. Now start beating egg whites. When the egg whites turn frothy and pale white, gradually add in sugar (roughly ⅓ at a time). Continue to whip the egg whites. The egg whites will become glossier and firmer. Stop beating when you lift up the hand mixer and the egg whites stand right up with stiff peaks slightly bending over.

5. Heat the large non-stick frying pan over the lowest heat. Brush with cooking oil and lightly remove any visible oil (otherwise the pancakes will have a spotty pattern). Keep the heat on while you combine egg whites and egg yolk mixture.
6. Take ⅓ of egg whites and add to the egg yolk mixture. Whisk together. Next, take half of the egg whites and add to the egg yolk mixture. Using a whisk, gently fold in without breaking the air bubbles in the egg whites.  Now transfer the egg yolk mixture into egg whites. Carefully fold in two mixtures together without breaking the air bubbles. Make sure to gently mix the batter thoroughly!

7. Since I was not skillful enough to do this freehand. I used a mousse ring lined with parchment paper to help cooking the pancake. Place the rings on the frying pan, and then scoop the batter to make a tall pancake. Set timer for 6-7 minutes, add 1 Tbsp water in empty spaces inside the pan and cover with the lid. Water keeps the pancake moist. 

8. After 6-7 minutes passed, remove the rings and parchment paper, flip the pancake VERY GENTLY. Add water in empty spaces, cover the pan, and set a timer for 4 to 5 minutes to cook the other side on the lowest heat.

9. Once they are nicely browned, transfer the pancakes to your serving plates. Place fresh cream on the pancakes and top with berries. Dust the pancake with confectioners’ sugar and drizzle with maple syrup. Enjoy!

Vegan Blueberry Muffins

Adapted this recipe from my Darling Vegan site. Very moist and full of burst of blueberries.

Ingredients

All-purpose flour - 2 cups
Soy milk - 1 cup, or coconut milk, rice milk
Fresh Lemon Juice - 1 TBSP (was 1 tsp apple cider vinegar)
Baking powder - 2½ tsp
Baking soda - ¼ tsp
Salt - ½ tsp
Sugar - ½ cup + 2 TBSP
Oil - ¼ cup + 2 TBSP
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Lemon zest of 1 lemon
Fresh blueberries - 1½ - 2 cups
Yield: 12 muffins

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with baking cups and set aside.
2. In a small bowl combine milk and lemon juice. Set aside to allow milk to curdle.
3. In a larger bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
4. Mix together sugar, oil, lemon zest, and vanilla extract. Add milk mixture and stir to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients until well incorporated. Be careful not to overmix - a few lumps are okay. Fold in blueberries.
5. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

6. Remove from oven and allow muffins to cool before removing from pan.

Girl Scout Brownie to Junior Bridging Cupcake

Cupcakes made for Girl Scout Bridging Party to celebrating Bridging from Brownie to Junior. They are Vegan Chocolate Cupcake with with Vanilla Buttercream tinted in green and Chocolate Buttercream . The rainbow is Airheads Xtremes Sweetly Sour Candy Belts.

Margarita Cupcake

Found this Magarita Cupcake Recipe which is perfect desert for an adult only Tiki Party.

Ingredients

【Cupcake】
Butter - 1 cup, softened
Sugar - 1 to 1.5 cup
Eggs - 3 large
Lime - juice of 3 limes, plus zest of 1 lime
Pure vanilla extract - 1 tsp
All-purpose flour - 2 Cups
Cornstarch - 3 TBSP
Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Milk - 1/2 Cup
【Frosting】
Butter, softened - 1 Cup
Powdered sugar - 5 Cups
Fresh lime juice - 1/4 Cup
Tequila - 1/4 Cup
Coarse salt, for garnish
Lime zest, for garnish
Small lime wedges, for garnish

Yields: 18

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line muffin pans with cupcake liners. In a large bowl using a mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add lime juice and zest and vanilla and mix until combined.
2. In another large bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Add half the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, beating until just combined. Pour in milk and mix until fully incorporated. Add remaining dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter.
3. Bake until slightly golden and a toothpick inserted into center of each cupcake comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Let cupcakes cool in pans 5 to 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
4. In a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat butter, half of powdered sugar, lime juice, and tequila until light and fluffy. Add remaining powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
5. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes. Garnish with coarse salt, lime zest, and lime wedges and a cut decorative straw before serving.