Bailey's Irish Cream cupcakes

Bailey's on the rocks is used to be one of my favorite drinks in the bar. Being a Bailey's lover, it makes me smile when I found this cupcake recipe.

I modified the recipe by substituting some all purpose flour with cake flour to hopefully get a lighter texture. Also, I couldn't find any baking powder so I used baking soda and added 2 parts of cream tartar with 1 part of baking soda. Some cakes turned out a bit ugly on the first batch but the second batch looked all fine. Wondering if it had anything to do with the chemical reaction with the leavening of the batter.

The cake definitely smells and tastes of baileys but the sweetness of the icing sugar was overpowering the baileys flavor. But with more icing sugar, the icing is a bit harder so it looks prettier after piping. Not sure how to get the perfect balance between presentation and taste. I added some pink coloring on the icing and not completely mixed it so the roses look more natural on the cuppies.

This one is just to practice piping one of my favorite piping styles.

Makes 12 cupcakes

For the Bailey's cupcakes
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup granulated sugar
85g butter, at room temperature
1 whole egg + 1 egg white, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream

For the Bailey's buttercream
115g butter
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Line muffin tins with 12 cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
3. In another bowl, use electric mixer to cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
4. Add egg and egg white one at a time, beating on low between each addition. Add vanilla.
5. Add flour mixture slowly in 3 additions, alternating with Bailey's, starting and ending with flour.
6. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake 15-17 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. For the frosting, beat butter in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add icing sugar 1/2 cup at a time, until completely mixed. Add the Bailey's and beat until well combined.
8. Poke holes in the tops of the cupcakes and brush some Bailey's on each before frosting.
9. Load frosting into a piping bag and decorate as desired.

Adapted from http://www.ericasweettooth.com/2011/03/baileys-irish-cream-cupcakes.html#uds-search-results

Piri Piri chicken

With my last success on the tasty sticky chicken drumlets, I was tempted to cook that again. This time I made a similar marinade but went a bit heavy handed with the piri piri seasoning to spice it up and added some shallots to increase the nice aroma. Oh wow! It's hot and very tasty. Looks like it will become one of my regular dishes then.

Serves 1

Ingredients

6 chicken drumlets

Half an onion

2 garlic cloves

1 shallot

Pinch of garlic salt

Pinch of fresh ground black pepper

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Copious amount of Sainsbury's hot piri piri seasoning

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp light soy sauce

coriander, chopped for garnish

Directions

1. Mix everything except honey, soy sauce and olive oil in a bowl and marinate the chicken. Mix the honey, soy sauce and olive oil and drizzle half on the chicken and mix well. Keep in fridge over night or over 6 hours.
2. Fry the chicken drumlets in saucepan with medium high heat until both sides are browned. Add the rest of honey and soy sauce while cooking.
3. Put in preheated oven at 180C to cook through for about 5 minutes.
4. Serve with vegetables.

Homemade meatballs

Meatballs spaghetti is hubby's favorite. I tried his mum's meatballs spaghetti and it was really good! I kind of miss Sainsbury in UK coz they sell meatballs but here in HK, we have to make from scratch. It was fun to roll the sticky meatballs by yourself though. It tasted good but can't compare to the awesome ones my mum-in-law cooked.

Sticky chicken drumlets

This is a very simple but delicious recipe for chicken drumlets that I created after being inspired by a really tasty steak that I had at a friend's BBQ party. The steak was so good that I asked my friend for the marinade recipe but unfortunately it was a secret family recipe. With my memory of the taste of that marinade, I randomly made up this recipe. It actually tasted very similar to my friend's marinade and I was quite impressed with my palate. haha

I don't know exactly the amount of some seasoning I added but these are what I've used.

Serves 1

Ingredients
6 chicken drumlets
Half an onion
2 garlic cloves
Pinch of garlic salt
Pinch of fresh ground black pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of Schwartz steak herb and steak blend
Pinch of Sainsbury's hot piri piri seasoning
1 1/2 tbsp honey
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp light soy sauce

Directions

1. Mix everything except honey, soy sauce and olive oil in a bowl and marinate the chicken. Mix the honey, soy sauce and olive oil and drizzle a little bit on the chicken and mix well. Keep in fridge over night.
2. Add the rest of honey and soy sauce before cooking. Fry the chicken drumlets in saucepan with medium high heat until both sides are browned.
3. Put in preheated oven at 180C to cook through for about 5 minutes.
4. Serve with vegetables.

Triple lemon cupcakes

I didn't realize my love for lemon until I started to learn cooking, specifically this dish chicken piccata. Lemon is so zesty, refreshing and tart that makes me think of a sunny breezy summer day, which unfortunately is not very common in Hong Kong. I asked hubby what cupcake he liked to try next and he said lemon cupcake. Cool! How come I never thought about it before? With autumn approaching real soon, I grab this chance to make these delicious lemon cupcakes with creamy lemon curd filling and pillowy lemon cream cheese frosting. 

First time I used a mix of plain flour and cake flour together. The cake came out much softer and fluffy, almost a bit too soft but it got denser after storing in fridge. For the lemon curd, it was very tangy and lemony but it was too thick and hard with the medium high heat cooking suggested in the recipe. Maybe I should try cooking it in a bowl on top of simmering water next time. Frosting is so velvety and smooth. The frosting didn't stand very well coz it was quite soft and the lemon zest blocked my nozzle when I piped. Overall, it was lovely and satisfied my crave for fresh lemony cake.

Make 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup cake flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
115g unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. lemon juice
½ cup plus 2 tbsp. milk, at room temperature

For the lemon curd filling:
4 egg yolks
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
70g unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces

For the frosting: (half of the recipe should be enough to pipe 12 cupcakes coz i had so much leftover)
8 oz. cream cheese
70g unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Zest of 1 large lemon
Additional fresh lemon slice, for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 175˚ C. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. 
2. In a medium bowl, sift the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder and salt; whisk together and set aside. 
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, sugar and lemon zest. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and lemon juice.
4. With the mixer on low speed, mix in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Blend in the milk. Mix in the remaining dry ingredients, beating just until incorporated.
5. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared liners, filling each about ¾ full. Bake 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pans 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. For the lemon curd, Combine everything but the butter in a sauce pan and whisk together. Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, scraping the sides of the pan often until thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, about 8 - 10 minutes. 
7. Remove pan from heat and add butter, 1 piece at a time, stirring until incorporated. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the lemon curd and cover with a lid. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before using.
8. To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. 
9. Mix in the lemon juice and lemon zest. Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth.
10. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired. Garnish with fresh lemon slices.

Cake and frosting recipe adapted from lemon blueberry cupcakes

Lemon curd recipe from martha stewart

Squid ink linguine with seared scallops, sea urchin and salmon roe in cream uni sauce

This is a crazy luxurious dish, containing some of my favorite seafood!! I always love sea urchin on sushi but I have never cooked with it. I bought a box of sea urchin, using half of it to serve on pasta and the other half to make the uni cream sauce.  My sister is also a big fan of sea urchin and scallops so she was really happy that I cooked her this dish.

I was quite upset that the dish wasn't cooked to perfection though coz I forgot to dry the scallop before I pan-seared them. So it didn't get the beautiful caramelization. And for the uni cream sauce, I put a bit too much cream so the uni taste is very subtle. But that fresh sea urchin on top tasted like heaven!!

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 dozen or so large fresh sea scallops

pinch of salt and grounded black pepper

1 box of prepared uni

1 package of squid ink linguine (bought from CitiSuper)

1 cup whipping cream

1 box salmon roe

1 clove garlic, fine chopped

baby spinach for garnish

Directions

1. Put a pot of salted water on to boil. Cook the pasta in the boiling water until al dente.
2. While the pasta is cooking, warm the cream and add the garlic. Simmer gently for about 5 minutes.
3. Take the cream off the heat and add half a box of uni to the cream mixture. Use an immersion blender to blend the uni into the cream until large chucks of uni have dissolved into the dairy mixture. Set aside. Keep warm.
4. Make sure to pat dry the scallops before cooking and sprinkle on some salt and black pepper. In a hot pan with a bit of olive oil, sear the scallops until nicely browned, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove the scallops from the pan, set aside.
5. Once the pasta is done, add it to the uni cream sauce.
6. Plate by scooping up some pasta and arranging it in the center of a plate, and then surrounding the dish with the seared scallops. Arrange the salmon roe and remaining uni on the pasta. Spoon some of the cream sauce around the plate. 
7. Sprinkle on some baby spinach.

Adapted from http://winterjade.com/WordPress/2011/09/16/scallop-uni-and-mentaiko-pasta/

Donna Hay's double chocolate cupcakes

This is bake for my friend, Ban's birthday. I'm very tempted to bake my favorite chocolate cupcake again but I decided to try Donna Hay's double chocolate cupcake recipe this time coz I like the way she cooks and who knows, maybe I will like this recipe even more?
The recipe is very easy to follow and perfect for novice baker like me coz it tells you exactly how long you have to whip the batter or buttercream for. I'm not sure whether it's because I sifted the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder two times, so the cake turned out too flaky and loose. So, I have to say I still prefer the other chocolate cupcake recipe I have. But I was so thrilled when I nailed the chocolate buttercream icing coz I had disasters when I tried to make icing before due to the wrong temperature of the butter. Blame the summer weather in Hong Kong! I used my new Wilton nozzle 1M to pipe this icing. It looks a bit different from what I expected but it still looks good.

The boys with the cupcakes haha

Make 15 cupcakes

Ingredients

125g salted butter, softened (oops I just used unsalted)

1 cup plain flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1.5tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1tsp vanilla extract

150g dark chocolate, melted

Chocolate buttercream frosting

250g butter, softened

2 cups icing sugar, sifted

1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted

1/4 cup milk (I didn't use it all coz I want the icing to be less runny)

Directions

1. In a bowl, sift together plain flour, cocoa powder and baking powder
2. In another bowl, whisk together butter, sugar and vanilla extract for about 10-12 mins until pale and creamy. Add in eggs one at a time and beat until well combined.
3. Add in milk and flour mixture alternatively in 3 additions, mixing well in between each addition.
4. Fold in melted chocolate thoroughly.
5. Fill cake mixture in cupcake liners until about 2/3 full. Bake in a preheated oven of 160C for 20 mins or until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool on wire rack.
6. To make the chocolate buttercream icing, whisk the butter in bowl for about 6-8 mins until pale and creamy.
7. Add the icing sugar, cocoa powder and milk and whisk for another 6 mins until fluffy and creamy. Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.

Adapted from http://bossacafez.blogspot.hk/2010/04/donna-hays-double-chocolate-cupcakes.html

Blondie cupcakes

This is bake for my close friend, Chloe's birthday. I wanted to bake her some girly pink cupcakes like this one. It felt wonderful to be able to bake birthday cupcakes for my friend from scratch. The white chocolate cake part went well but then the raspberry buttercream was a complete disaster! I think it had to do with the over melted butter.

Without the beautiful icing, I had to quickly improvise and made some chocolate ganache to spread it on the cupcakes. After adding raspberries and sprinkles, they didn't look too bad. :)

My friend was very happy to receive the homemade cupcakes. Seeing her smile made all the effort count.

Yield 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Blondie cupcakes
1 1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
125g butter
120g sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
75ml milk
100g white chocolate chips

Raspberry buttercream
5 large egg whites
200g butter, softened
175g sugar
puree from 150g raspberries

Directions

1. Heat oven to 175C. Line cupcake pan with 12 paper liners. Into a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.
2. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract.
3. Add the dry ingredients alternating with milk. Add the chocolate chips and beat until combined.
4. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared liners and bake for about 18-21 minutes.
5. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes then remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely.
6. Pour egg whites and sugar in a clean and heat proof bowl. Put the bowl in a double boiler, the water underneath should be simmering. Whisk the sugar and eggs with a whisk to prevent them from curdling. Rub some mixture between your fingers. If the sugar has melted, it is done.
7. Remove from heat, whip until white, fluffy and cool. This step can take up to 10 minutes.
8. Start adding the butter, very slowly. Don't worry if the mixture looks curdled and soupy, it's easy to fix. If the buttercream is too cold, just put the bowl in a double boiler again for a few seconds and whip again. If it's too hot, just put it in the fridge for a few minutes and whip.
9. Add pureed and strained raspberries to the buttercream and whip until smooth.

Recipe from
http://call-me-cupcake.blogspot.se/2012/04/blondie-cupcakes-with-raspberry.html

Potato soup

The is the first time I cooked a western soup. It was fairly easy with the immersion blender and the soup was surprisingly good! So tasty and comforting. Definitely cooking it again.

Cowfish

I have always loved the combination of my favorite food in the world, steak and salmon. My friends even teased me for cooking Cowfish coz I used to cook the steak after salmon on the same frying pan without washing so the steak got fishy flavor in it haha.
Maybe this will become our regular Sunday roast. Tender pink Angus tenderloin and fresh salmon fillet with silky smooth potato puree and veggies. So delicious!

Oops I forgot to remove the trussing string before serving!

It was so good that we cooked it again the next Sunday haha. This time we had steak with French rose shrimps and pea puree. Pea puree was a bit troublesome to make coz you have to run it through a drum sieve to get rid of all the lumps after whisking in the blender. It is not as tasty as potato puree but it got the vibrant green color that I like. Plating was still not satisfactory coz I forgot that even number does not look good on a plate. But the baby spinach standing on the quenelle of mashed potato look quite cute.

Nachos

Homemade nachos