Hello cupcakes!

It is a couple days after Christmas, and no matter how much food I ate over the holidays, I am still always hungry for cupcakes. When my family got together on Christmas Eve, there were lots of sweets like cakes, and pastries, and candies, but I was still longing the taste of cupcakes because they are my favorite comfort dessert. To fulfill my craving for cupcakes I baked some delicious, chocolate ones.

In my last blog, I did a simple frosting coating on the cupcakes with a spatula. This time, I decided to actually pipe the frosting on. Now, here's a life hack; since we all have Ziploc bags at home instead of piping bags with frosting tips, we can use them to pipe the frosting on. Luckily, the book Hello Cupcake! by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson gave me tips for this life hack method. On page 13, they tell us how to properly fill a Ziploc bag in order to be able to frost cupcakes, "To fill the ziplock, hold the bottom of the bag inside out over your hand. Using a spatula, fill the area of the bag inside your hand. Lift the edges of the bag up and around the frosting, press out the excess air, and seal the bag. Grasp the bag by the zippered edge and squeeze the frosting down to one corner." I used these helpful hints and then I cut a hole in the corner with scissors to create a frosting tip.

And then, I used this Ziploc piping bag to pipe the frosting on my cupcakes. This life hack was so helpful because I don't have piping bags with different frosting tips, but I love baking cupcakes and I want to make them look good, so using a Ziploc bag instead is very useful. 

I did a basic design on my cupcakes, but we're just getting started! Just wait until my next blog post, I'll be using frosting to make decorations and designs on cupcakes, stay tuned! 

What was the most useful life hack you've used? And do you think you will try this one out? 

Richardson, Alan, and Karen Tack. Hello, Cupcake! Houghton Mifflin, 2009.

Devil's Food Cake into Cupcakes



Devil's Food Cake Cupcakes

This recipe is used to make a cake, but I just poured the batter into some cupcake liners and popped them into the oven to make some yummy chocolate cupcakes. The recipe comes from the book, "The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book, the Essential Recipe Collection for Today's Home Baker" published in 2010. On page 152, the recipe requires:

• 2 1/3 cups of all purpose (plain) flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature

For the frosting (I just used frosting bought from the store):

• 12 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 3/4 cups heavy (double) cream
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• Pinch of salt

Flour, cocoa, baking powder,

baking soda, and salt mixture



First, I sifted together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in one bowl and set it aside. In another large bowl, I used an electric mixer on medium speed and beat the butter until smooth. I gradually added the brown sugar into the butter and continued beating it until it turned smooth.





Butter with brown sugar

Adding in the flour mixture

I then beat in the vanilla extract and added the eggs one at a time, making sure to beat well after each addition. After I beat in the last egg, I added the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk in two additions. I mixed them in on low speed. When I was done mixing the batter, I poured

Finished batter

Cupcakes in the oven

the batter into the cupcake tins and popped them into the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, or until when you poke a fork into the cupcake it comes clean. When the cupcakes were done, I took them out and let them cool for 5 minutes before I frosted them (a mixture of vanilla and chocolate frosting for the right amount of sweetness).

This baking experience has made me more knowledgeable on baking cupcakes, and it made me realize I need a lot more practice before I can master the art of making cupcakes. The cupcakes in the end turned out great, and I'm looking forward to making more favorable cupcakes.

What is your favorite flavor of cupcake/cake  flavor and would you guys ever dabble in the baking world?