cupcake decorating
31 Jul
cupcakes

Cupcake Decorating

When it comes to party ready treats, cupcakes are one of the best single bite desserts on the table. There are many ways for cupcake decorating from easy without tools to fancy techniques. The decorations will differ depending on your occasion.

You don’t need to spend much money or have professional tools for cupcake decorating. I stick to simple yet attractive toppings that will instantly uplift their appearance. You can also make your cupcake attractive by choosing a beautiful and colorful liner. You can choose your toppings according to the flavor of the cupcakes. There are a lot of simple ingredients available at home for this purpose. It is better to cover your cupcake with buttercream first and then use toppings.

The decoration you place on top of your cupcakes is what will initially grab the attention of the people you are serving them to. Here are some simple and natural cupcake decorating ideas:

 Fresh Fruit Slices: Pipe some frosting to the top of the cupcakes and then place the fruit of your choice. The fruits that most use for cupcake decorating are berries family, banana, cherry, etc.

cupcake decorating

Cupcake decorating

 

Nuts: Sprinkle some fresh nuts like Almond, Pistachio, Walnut, etc on the cupcakes before putting them in the oven.

Chocolate Ganache: Bringing some fresh cream to a boil and then pour it over chocolate until melt. It is ready to use when it comes to room temperature. You can add a few drops of rosewater, mint extract, vanilla extract or what else to your ganache.

Powdered Sugar Glaze:  You have several choice to mix the powdered sugar with. lemon juice, milk and plain water are my suggestion to mix with the powdered sugar. Mix it until you reach to your desired thickness and dissolve the powdered sugar completely, and simply use it for your cupcake decorating.

 

Homemade cake
22 Jul
Cakes, Recipes

Homemade Cake

There is no doubt that a delicious homemade cake is much more fresh, moist and of course healthier because homemade cakes don’t contain preservatives.

Nowadays everyone’s home has an oven but if you don’t have one, don’t worry at all! You can easily bake on the stove.

You can easily prepare a delicious homemade cake with just a few tools and ingredients.

The basic ingredients and tools that you need for baking a homemade cake are flour, sugar, egg, oil (or butter), baking powder, a bowl and an electric mixer. Even if you don’t have an electric mixer, you can easily handle it with a whisk or even with a fork!

If you want your cake to have a different taste then it would be a good idea to add some natural flavors. Fresh fruits, nuts and some other spices are the healthy ingredients for your homemade cake.

If you are in winter the best choice is using nuts, spices or both! Spices such as cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, cardamom and saffron are the best complementary. But if you are in the middle summer, fresh fruits are the best option for your homemade cake.

An important thing to become a good baker is to know how the ingredient works and substitutes.

As you explores more recipes, you will find how the ingredient can be used in many ways to get different outcomes.

 

 

history of cupcakes
08 Jul
cupcakes

History of Cupcakes

History of cupcakes goes back to early 19th centuries. A cupcake is a small single size cake. It can be baked in a small tin paper or an aluminium cup.

Who invented the cupcake?

The earliest extant description of what is now often called a cupcake was in 1796, when a recipe for “a light cake to bake in small cups” was written in American Cookery by Amelia Simmons. Wikipedia

In fact the first official use of the phrase “cupcake” was an 1828 reference made in Eliza Leslie’s recipe cookbook. There is also a 1796 recipe reference of “A cake to be baked in small cups” made by Amelia Simmons in her book American Cookery.

What were cupcakes called in the past?

Back in the day cupcakes were called “Number Cakes” or “1234 Cakes”  because the recipe called for 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour, 4 eggs and also 1 cup of milk and 1 spoonful of baking soda. In short, cupcakes started to become popular in 1919 when the company Hostess started mass producing them. Undoubtedly, they gained more popularity in the early 2000’s when NYC shops like Magnolia Bakery were featured on Sex and the City.
The first shop that only sells cupcakes is called Sprinkles Cupcakes. Opened in 2005, they produce over 25,000 cupcakes per day, from 11 different locations!

What was the first cupcake flavor?

It was a light cake that was baked in small cups. In 1919, Hostess introduced it’s very first snack cake (AKA Hostess Cupcake). Cupcakes were finally decorated with frosting in the 1920’s. Cupcakes were frosted in either Chocolate OR Vanilla Frosting . Bestfriendsforfrosting

How many cupcakes are eaten each year?

National cupcake consumption increased 52% between 2010 and 2011, and U.S. consumers ate over 770 million cupcakes last year.

Each year, December 15th also recognizes as National Cupcake Day.

The history of Persian cupcakes goes back to an ancient city called “Yazd” in central Iran. Yazdi cakes were originally baked in flower shaped aluminium cups. The main flavor in Yazdi cake is Cardamom and some recipes called for rose water as well. Unlike the other new types of cupcakes “YAzdi cake” is quite lowered in sugar and instead strong in taste and aroma.

These days vanilla is one of the most common cupcake flavors. Cupcakes were not frosted in the past. They usually flavored with dried fruits or spices. Chocolate is another well popular and wanting flavors specially with children.

easy cupcake recipe
02 Jul
Recipes

Easy Cupcake Recipe

It is not a very difficult job these days to have a freshly baked sweet at home. in fact, in this post I am trying to introduce you a simple easy cupcake recipe so anyone can easily enjoys her or his own hand cook.

Ingredients for an easy cupcake recipe

Easy cupcake recipe
Easy cupcake recipe required ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cup Flour
  • 2/3 cup Sugar
  • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup Vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
  • 3 Eggs
  • 2 tbsp Rosewater (optional)
  • 1 tsp ground cardamom

First mix sugar and oil together and beat for 5 minutes. Later on add eggs one at a time and then add the cardamom to the mixture. Add yogurt and rosewater and finally add dry ingredients, bake at 180˚C for 15 minutes or when a cake tester comes out clean.

You can use plenty of different natural things to garnish your delicious flavorful cupcakes. I use pistachio and also rosebud to create the vintage feeling of the cupcake, moreover you can use almond flaked, sesame, walnut or even fresh sliced apple on the cupcake.

Other flavors with my easy cupcake recipe

In this easy cupcake recipe I use cardamom for it’s enriched flavor. However you can add your own desired flavors such as vanilla, cinnamon, citrus zest etc … You can also add nuts or fresh berries to your batter and play around to get a desirable taste.

easy cupcake recipe

In this recipe I suggest using of vegetable oil to help having more moist, however you can substitute butter for the vegetable oil. However to use the butter you need to melt it first in the microwave and then let it cool for few minutes till it gets room temperature.

Once your delicious cupcakes are ready, make sure you keep them in an airtight sealed container. This helps the cupcakes remain fresh for up to 4 days.