Ode to Bounty Bars Cupcakes

                                  ode to bounty bars cupcakes

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Reading MasterChef magazine I saw a recipe for chocolate coconut lemon bars, made as a tribute to 'Bounty Bars' the popular chocolate bar produced by Mars. 

Hmmm, I can see why the food editor chose to use the lemon (using the left over egg yolks from the recipe to make lemon curd) & I do love the combination of lemon & coconut, but I felt that's "not really like a Bounty bar".

bounty bars, thickly coated in milk chocolate

The most popular Bounty bars are thickly coated in milk chocolate with a moist coconut filling, the appeal is in the simplicity of umptious milk chocolate combined with soft coconut. Besides that you get two mini bars in each bar & you always feel like you are getting an extra treat!

Today's recipe loses the "lemon", bumps up the vanilla, swaps the melted dark chocolate for milk chocolate ganache and changes from 'bars' to 'cupcakes'. With small amount of flour in the recipe it's ideal to convert to gluten free too. I've included tips on storing & using leftover egg yolks. 

Bounty Bar trivia;

Nigella Lawson has a recipe for deep fried Bounty Bars in her cookbook Nigella Bites. 

2009 saw a trade mark application from Mars to protect the Bounty Bar shape thrown out of court when the judge ruled the rounded end shape is "devoid of any distinctive character" 

On to the recipe... it's any easy one, the cake batter is similar to financiers and friands there is no mixers involved and it results in beautifully moist cakes. 

Ode to Bounty Bars Cupcakes 

Ingredients

150g unsalted butter, melted (5.29 oz) 

120g (1 2/3 cups) shredded unsweetened coconut 

200g (1 1/4 cups) icing sugar (confectioners sugar) 

50g (1/3 cup) self-raising flour

1 tsp pure vanilla extract or essence

1/4 tsp salt

6 egg whites 

Method 

Pre heat oven to 180C. Line a 12 cup cupcake pan with paper liners. 

Place the coconut in a large bowl, sift over flour, icing sugar, and salt. Stir your egg whites with a fork just to break up the whites a bit. Add the cooled melted butter, egg white and vanilla to the coconut and stir until just combined. 

Divide between the paper liners in your prepared tray and bake for 18 to 22 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the centres are "just set"... you want these little cakes to be moist.

Remove from oven & transfer to a cooking rack. Once cool spread with milk chocolate ganache.

Ganache 

makes one cup

1/2 cup cream (125ml)

200g milk chocolate (chopped)

2 tsp corn syrup (optional)

In a small saucepan bring cream to the boil. Remove from heat, wait for the bubbles to subside and chopped chocolate and stir until smooth. If you want the ganache to keep a "high gloss", stir in the corn syrup now.

Leave the ganache to cool until it reaches spreadable consistency, it will look like this...

ganache ready to spread

Alternatives; Make it even simpler by omitting the ganache altogether, adding a cup of milk chocolate chips to the cake batter, dust cooled cakes with icing sugar.

Gluten Free; Swap the flour for the same amount of gluten free self-raising flour. If you are baking for someone with celiac disease, check that your chocolate and other ingredients haven't been processed on machinery that processes wheat products. 

Using your leftover egg yolks;

Store the egg yolks for up to five days by putting them in a small container, cover with cold water and seal the container and refrigerate. The yolks will take on a slightly white appearance, this is normal, drain off water when ready to use.

Leftover egg yolks can be used to; glaze pies/pastries, make fruit curds & butters, use to make mayonnaise/hollandaise/bernaise, moussaka, add extra yolks to quiches, scrambled eggs & omelettes, custard or pastry cream, enrich cake batters, pasta dough, whip up a bowl of carbonara or even a make a face mask!

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   fruit curds and butters

Two Ingredient Chocolate Water Truffles

                 mini chocolate cupcake topped with a water truffle

Two ingredient chocolate water truffles today...

Water Truffles; 

You've heard chocolate and water don't mix, but think "Like water for Chocolate" the South American saying that means the temperature of the water... or boiling mad/angry. Adding boiling water to melted chocolate results in truffles with far less fat than there butter and cream laden brothers. 

If your a truffle lover why not give the water truffles a try! Either go with two ingredient dark chocolate and water or here I've used dark, milk and water. I've used easliy accessible eating chocolate, but if your pantry is full of couverture go for it!  

You'll need 190 grams (6.7 oz) of *dark chocolate (I used Lindt 70%) and *60 grams (2 oz) of good eating milk chocolate chopped.

100 ml (3.3 US fluid oz) of boiling water (plus a bit extra)

Melt your chocolate in a medium bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, once melted add a 100ml of boiling water.... whisk, whisk, whisk by hand for a minute or two! You need to whisk in some air into your truffle mix, but without over mixing (over mixing will result in a grainy truffle).. If you feel like it's a little too thick add a little more more a teaspoon at a time... continue to whisk. 

Refrigerate for one hour, roll small balls and toss in dutch process cocoa or dip in tempered chocolate if preferred. 

Flavours; Truffles can be flavoured with liqueurs (1 or 2 teaspoons at the whisking stage) or dry ingredients i.e. instant coffee, cinnamon, ginger or zest added with the boiling water. 

* Swap milk and dark quantities around if your prefer a more milky truffle. An all dark truffle is also nice if you have a good quality couverture, the extra cocoa butter content gives you the needed "mouth feel". Make vegan gifts but do make sure the dark chocolate you use is suitable for vegans.  

Happy Baking :)

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           Ganache

Baby Dots

'Baby Dots' cupcakes; White Chocolate & strawberry, fondant topped with polka dots. 

Thank you to Eliza and Dan for yesterdays café/patisserie review!! You're wonderful Eliza (you too Dan)... looking forward to your next review. 

Got these super sweet, super mini foil chocolate/cupcake cases by Robert Gordon off Daniel yesterday as part of my mothers day gift :) Fabulous for truffles of course, but you can also bake darling small cupcakes in them. 

How cute are they!! 

Available in four colour pink, red, green and blue in packs of 18 from kitchen ware stores and online at Kitchen Cupboard (Australia)

Or perhaps you fancy a fruit chew lollipop cupcake topper

                 Happy Baking :)

Planet Cake on MasterChef

my first ever fondant covered cupcake thanks to the Planet Cake book

Last nights episode of the reality cooking competition MasterChef was fun as we saw the contestants split into two teams to cater for a nine year olds birthday party. An extra ten points was awarded by the birthday girl for the "best birthday cake". The cakes were whipped up at Planet Cake.

the winning team rushing their cupcakes and cutting cake to the table

I took the plunge and bought the Planet Cake book late last year & went on to produce my first ever fondant covered cupcakes. Have you ever had one of those moments where you have stood back and looked at your work and been surprised that it looked soooo good? Yep, that was me grinning like a fool as I admired my pink & black bowed cupcakes. 

For that reason, I highly recommended the Planet Cake book for beginner cake decorators. The book is split into sections including; equipment you will need, glossary, cake recipes, icing recipes, techniques, "how to" for cupcakes, round cakes, square cakes, shaped cakes, three-dimensional cakes plus templates to help you produce cakes such as the handbag cake on the front cover.

Clear step by step diagrams guide you through the processes, beautiful photographs of the 28 designs show you what you are aiming for. Elegant to whimsical & always vibrant, I just love Planet Cake!!

If you live in Australia or are planning a trip here, consider taking in a cake decorating lesson at Planet Cake. Planet Cake offer an excellent range of cake decorating courses to suit all levels, classes are held in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, they also offer private lessons. Enrol in classes here.

Do browse Planet Cakes website to see the gallery of their cake designs or sign up for their newsletter and gain access to video demonstrations of cake decorating.  

Planet Cakes book available from Booktopia.

Happy Baking :)

Shaping Knife

                                         victorinox shaping knives

Tool time the kitchen tools and gadgets I love.

One of most useful and least expensive tools I own is my red handled shaping knife. I use this small Swiss made vegetable and paring knife for a multitude of baking and decorating jobs; the curved blade is perfect for cutting the centre out of cupcakes ready for filling, shaping fruit garnishes & I use it to trim the rough edges from fondant, chocolate and candy work.

They are super sharp so be careful wielding your blade, other than that a fabulous little knife that is ever so useful & in case your struck with a "cheffy moment" you can turn potatoes with it too ;) 

I bought my Victorinox knife for $3.95 at Everten (Australia)

Pavlova Cupcakes

lychee, raspberry & rose syrup pavlova cupcake

Not much in the way of dessert making on MasterChef as yet, but there was a pavlova courtesy of guest judge Donna Hay. Sooo, to mark the return of MasterChef I thought I'd make mini pavlova's for cupcake toppers.

Ingredients

12 baked cupcakes in flavour of choice (I used vanilla buttermilk cupcakes)

3 egg whites (room temperature)

165g (3/4 cup) caster sugar (superfine)

2 tsps cornflour (cornstarch)

1/2 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp pure vanilla essence/extract

Decoration Ingredients

300ml (0.63 pint) of cream, whipped. Flavour the cream with liqueur if desired

Topping can be anything you like, I used lychees, raspberries & a drizzle of rose syrup.

Other topping suggestions are; passionfruit & flaked white chocolate, strawberries & kiwi fruit, dark chocolate curls and hazelnuts, crushed peppermint candy, milk chocolate & peppermint liqueur cream, mango/paw paw/banana and coconut, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries & red currants, peaches with raspberry puree drizzle, chocolate dipped strawberries, orange and chocolate, fresh or preserved stone fruits.

Method

Preheat oven to 120c/250F (100c/210 fan forced)

Line a cookie sheet with baking paper, trace 12 6.5cm (2.5in) circles onto the paper & reverse the paper on the tray so the ink won't touch the food.

In an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating until sugar is fully dissolved between additions... this will take a few minutes.

It should be looking like this now...glossy and shiny meringue

Fold in the cornflour, vinegar & vanilla.

Divide the meringue between the circles drawn on your baking paper.

Bake for 45 minutes or until cases are firm.

Cool totally in oven with the door slightly ajar; use the handle of wooden spoon to keep the door ajar.

Pavlova's will have a white thin crispy shell and soft marshmallow interior

Just before serving spread a little cream or frosting on the centre of the cupcakes to attach the pavlova. Place pavlovas on the cakes and topping with cream and desired topping.

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                            Violets are blue pavlova  

Matcha White Chocolate Cupcakes

matcha white chocolate cupcake with gold leaf white chocolate fish topper

Goodness, good to see the price of fish quadruple this week with the lead up to Good Friday, I've been told by Daniel "I better get fish!", wonder if he will accept a gold leaf white chocolate fish??

I like white chocolate with matcha, the sweet creaminess of the white chocolate plays off against the bitterness of the green tea. I hope you enjoy it too.

Matcha White Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

125 grams (4.4oz) softened butter

110 grams (1/2 cup) caster sugar (superfine)

3 eggs

80 grams (2.82oz) white eating chocolate melted 

110 grams (3/4 cup) plain flour (all purpose)

1 tsp baking powder

*3 tsp matcha (fine Japanese green tea powder) dissolved in 1 tablespoon of boiling water

 Method 

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add eggs one at a time, beating well after each,  add white chocolate and stir to combine, then add the green tea paste and stir until no streaks can be seen. Sift flour and baking powder over cake batter and fold in until combined. Line a 24 cup mini muffin tin with paper cases, then divide mixture among cases and bake at 180C for 12 to 15 minutes or until cakes spring back when lightly pressed. Cool completely. Ganache 100 grams white eating chocolate 2 tablespoons of cream Melt chopped white chocolate and cream in a medium bowl over a 1/2 full saucepan of simmering water, stirring until smooth. Careful not to overheat or your ganache will be grainy. Set aside stirring occasionally until thick enough to hold it's shape. Spoon onto centre of cupakes, decorate as desired. Cakes keep up to 2 days in an airtight container. If you want to make the fish toppers, use a fish chocolate or hard candy shaped mould sheet. Fill cavities with melted white chocolate, once set pop out the fish and join two flat sides together or leave flat backed depending on whether you want your fish to stand up or lay down.  Apply gold leaf directly onto the chocolates one by one by using a small artists brush to lift and shape to gold onto the fish. You can save on gold leaf by making flat fish or by leaving every second fish plain white chocolate. *matcha is available from some supermarkets and Japanese Grocery Stores.

Voodoo Babies Cupcake picks

Lumi sees everything, knows every thing. A cheater has no where to escape but to confess.

For the young & young at heart,  turn bright and colourful voodoo babies into cupcake picks. Great for Mardi Gras, Halloween and all occasions in-between. 

Voodoo babies are actually key rings, so to turn them into cupcake picks use wire cutters to snip the top ring & slide off to remove.

Insert a matching or contrasting coloured toothpick.

Voodoo babies come in many different designs & 'spells', today I used 'Lumi'

I got my voodoo babies from SilverCrow Creations who carry a vast collection of kitsch, bizarre & fun bits and bobs. 

"Wish" cupcake picks

               If I had a 100 wishes, I would give them all to you

It was love at first sight when I spotted these vintage look 'wish' tickets, I just had to make cupcake picks with them!!

              Available in rolls of 100 in pink & blue

Bake cupcakes in white cases and they would be perfect for baby showers, can't you imagine them on Valentines Day too. Suit's birthdays of any age from a five year olds fairy party to your grandmas 90th.

Change the cupcake case to suit your theme, try carnival cupcake cases for fairground feel, white or pink for princess parties, black for a Cougar Town party for that girlfriend who is wishing for a.... well, you know what she is wishing for.

To make the cupcake picks I glued two tickets together back to back with a coloured toothpick sandwiched in-between.

Tickets are available from SilverCrow Creations & are also available in Kisses and Hugs. SilverCrow carry a large range of scraps, die cuts, desdens, rubber stamps, seals & bits and pieces for all your scrapbooking, crafting and cupcake pick making!

Wishing you a great weekend :)

Cupcake flavour; vanilla sponge with crème fraiche strawberry chocolate ganache

Mini Ice-cream cone cupcakes

                     Mini Ice-cream cone cupcake

Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone ~

Jim Fiebig

The inspiration for today's cupcake comes from the iconic Peter's Ice-Cream signs, that can be still seen attached to milkbar's in Australia today.

Remind me not to work with ice-cream when the weather is warm!! I was happy seeing my idea for a mini ice-cream cone cupcake come to life until I got to filling the cones part. The ice-cream was melting as I scooping it, ahhh haaa I thought, I'll freeze the scoops first.

I thought they were frozen??

Then I went to fill the cones and again the ice-cream started to melt, I froze the filled cones but now they have that "the ice-cream started to melt and it's been re-frozen look".

Apart from that, happy with how they turned out. The cones come from a recipe in David Lebobvitz's Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments . I made mini versions (finished cone 5cm/2 inches high), brushed the edge with melted white chocolate and sprinkled with disco glitter.

Melted white chocolate ready to be painted on top edge of cone

Next time, after checking first the weather & what is wrong with our FREEZER, I'll make an adult version by making a dark chocolate and hazelnut edge, fill with a scoop of Frangelico chocolate ice-cream and serve them in small choc hazelnut cupcakes...yum!

You could of course (and maybe I should have), filled the cones with a little piped frosting, marshmallow or even whipped ganache! 

That's it for today :)