Chrysanthemum tea always reminds me of Grandma. I will always remember when I was young, Chrysanthemum flowers would be blooming around this time of year. The colour and smell in the garden would be wonderful! Then Grandma would pick, wash then dry them out in the sun. Then as the weather got cooler, she would brew us a pot of Chrysanthemum tea. Yum! I'd always ask to have mine with some sugar. As always, she would treat me! 

It's been a very long time since I've had that tea party with Grandma but it's a memory that will always be with me with every Chrysanthemum tea I drink. 

For many, Chrysanthemum reminds us of Mother's day. Also known as May flowers - these fragrant, aromatic flowers are known in Chinese culture to have many health benefits. 

Couple this with mandarin season also coming into full swing, what a perfect time for this recipe. The original recipe came from a cupcake book from a friend of mine and was title Camomile and Mandarin Cupcakes. However, I decided to change it up with Chrysanthemum in place of Camomile. And I'm calling them muffins coz they really don't need the icing - it's too good on it's own.


Ingredients
¾ cup milk
5 grams dried Chrysanthemum flowers
150g butter, chopped
2/3 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
2 tspn finely grated mandarin zest (of about 2 mandarins)
2 mandarins, peeled, seeds removed and segmented
½ cup fine semolina
1 ¼ cup self-raising flour

Happy Mardi Gras! To celebrate 2013 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras - I've made some rainbow cupcakes. I used my white chocolate rainbow cake recipe and made them in miniature form. These were really good - even if I say so myself! It was moist and vibrant and really tasty! As my friend Sheree said – “Not just a pretty face”, in reference to the cupcakes. 

Below a few notes that differ from my original recipe.


Recipe makes 15 cupcakes.

Using dessert/teaspoon to spoon each colour on top of the previous colour into each cup.

Use a tooth pick to swirl (if you want) the mixture before putting in the oven. Be sure not to over do it, otherwise it will just mix together.

Baked for about 20 minutes, check after 10 and 15minutes.

Frosting recipe = Beat together 125g cream cheese (at room temperature), 60g butter, 1/2 tspn vanilla essence, 2 tspn lime juice, 3/4 cup icing sugar.

Pipe frosting with a large star nozzle.

Garnish with 100s and 1000s sprinkles.

Thanks Jason for taking this shot

Thanks Maz for taking this shot

After reading Much a Munch’s recent blog post – I got inspired. I've never cooked with Pandan flavouring before, but love the unique fragrance.

This weekend I went past the Asian grocery store and combed the isles looking for some sort of Pandan flavouring. I found Pandan extract. A little vial size container, only 90 cents (AUD). The liquid is thick, dark green and smells fantastic! Hey it’s only 90 c  why not! After buying it, I did a bit more research on how to use it. Some people get the leaves and boil it down. Others have Pandan syrup. I combined a few different recipes, but mainly based on this one.

The cupcakes turned out moist and tasty, in good cupcake fashion. The cakes themselves were brilliant green! As my boss described it – green tree frog, green. I garnished with desiccated coconut coloured with green food colouring.


Ingredients
Cupcakes
2 cups plain flour (minus 4 tblspn)
3 tspn Pandan extract
2 tspn baking powder
1/8 tspn baking soda
140g butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 tspn vanilla extract
1/2 tspn coconut essence
3/4 cup milk

Frosting
115g butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar mixture
1 1/2 tblspn condensed milk
1/2 tspn coconut essence
1/2 tspn vanilla essence
Juice of half a lime
Handful of desiccated coconut, mixed with a few drops of green food colouring

Method
Cupcakes
1. Preheat the oven to 175C degrees.  Line 15 to 18 muffin cups with liners. 

2. Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set aside.

3. With a mixer, beat the butter and sugar until soft and creamy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.  Then beat in the vanilla & Pandan.

4. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry mixture.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Mix until just combined.

5. Spoon batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling until about 2/3 full.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cupcakes becomes clean.  Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes.  Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely before frosting.




Frosting
1. Beat together butter and icing sugar. Add condensed milk, essences and juice. Taste to ensure the right sweetness and flavour and adjust accordingly.

2. Frost cupcakes when cooled and garnish.

Cupcake day again! For those who aren't aware of what cupcake day is, it's a fundraiser for the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). For me its another excuse to bake. Here are a couple of snaps I took of the different cupcakes on sale.



My parents had a surplus of limes from the garden's tree. Which made picking what flavour easy! Key Lime! Most Key lime recipes call for "key limes". A breed of limes commercially grown in the Florida Keys. I just used ordinary limes. What makes this "key lime" though, is the combination with sweetened condense milk and coconut that is signature to "Key Lime Pie". I adapted this recipe from a recipe I found from the Food Network.

The frosting I adapted from my trusted ol' white chocolate cream cheese frosting. Recipe here.

Ingredients
For the cupcakes
175g butter, room temperature
3/4 cups caster sugar
zest of 2 limes
2 eggs at room temperature
3 tbpsn lime juice
1 1/2 tspns pure vanilla extract
1/2 tspn coconut essence
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/3 cups shredded coconut (can reduce or add, depending on batter's moisture level)
3 tbpsn sweetened condense milk

For frosting
250g cream cheese, room temperature
125g butter, room temperature
100g white chocolate
1 tspn vanilla extract
Juice from 1 lime, (less or more depending how lime-y you want it to be)
2 cups icing sugar, sifted (less or more depending how sweet you want it to be)

For garnish
3 tspn shredded coconut (heaped)
1/2 tpsn green food colouring (yellow and blue)

Method
For cupcakes
1. Preheat oven to 160C.
2. In a large bowl and mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add eggs, 1 at a time. Scrape down bowl after each addition. Add vanilla, coconut essence and lime zest and juice. Mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, bicarb soda.
4. Alternating mix until just combined: a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then half the buttermilk, then another third of the flour mixture, then the rest of the buttermilk, then finish off with the remaining third of the flour mixture.
5. Fold in condense milk and shredded coconut.
6. Line a muffin pan with patty pan (paper lining). Fill each cavity almost to the top with batter. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the tops begin to brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Remove cupcakes from oven, sit for about 5 minutes in the pan then remove from pan and allow to cool completely on wire rack.

Garnish
1. Place coconut in a cup, add colouring and mix with a teaspoon until consistent colour.

For frosting
1. Melt white chocolate and allow to cool. Read my chocolate melting tips.
2. Using a mixer beat together cream cheese and butter. Add vanilla, white chocolate and lime juice. Mix well. Mix in icing sugar in batches. Taste as you go to ensure you got the right sweetness.
3. Frosting cupcakes and garnish with coloured coconut.

Valentine’s day 2012 was a quiet one. But I did celebrate with a little bit of love. I adapted my current red velvet cupcake recipe.

This time around I changed it up a bit.
And I came up with this – loved by all who had it.

Another first for me today. Red velvet cupcakes. A number of people have been talking about it around me. Then I see a few recipes here and there so I decided to try it out, having never actually eaten it before either. I found this particular recipe which tickled my fancy. Like chocolate cake recipes, there are so many red velvet cupcake recipes. After reading the ingredients – I nearly fell off the chair when I saw how much food colouring goes in this recipe. Besides that, the method seemed sound. So I gave it a go. I adapted as I went. I think it turned out pretty good. What’s my gauge for “goodness” considering I’ve never had red velvet cupcakes before? Well – unlike most cupcakes, these aren’t crumbly and dry. Plus they’re really red – with “only” half a bottle of food colouring. Below the recipe – which I adjusted to metric.

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (I used 2.5 cups of plain flour minus 5 tablespoons) 
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Half a bottle of red food colouring (~2 Tblspn)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (125g)
1 1/2 cups caster sugar (I used 1 cup)
2 eggs, at room temperature (lightly beaten)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Method
1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers (I ended up with 18 cupcakes in total)