Banana Cupcakes

Another recipe for banana lovers :) They look cute and taste very good :) They're light and moist, not heavy and 'munchy'. Long time ago I made banana muffins and they were terrrrible... but it was ages ago and it was a bad recipe. This one is Martha's recipe. It speaks on its own so, as always, expect delectable cupcakes :)

The only thing I changed is the measurement and the frosting (I used my favourite swiss one, from for example Reindeers or Christmas Trees)

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 170g of flour
• 150g of brown sugar 
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda 
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt 
• 113g of butter, melted 
• 3 big bananas, mashed bananas
• 2 large eggs 
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Swiss meringue buttercream:

• 4 egg whites
• 1 glass of white sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 300g of butter, in a room temperature, chopped into small cubes
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 teaspoons of yellow food colouring

Decoration:

• 1 banana, cut into slices
• maple syrup
• cinnamon
• sprinkles

Preparation:

1. Prepare muffin tins and paper cases. Start preheating the oven to 175C.
2. Take a big bowl, sieve flour, put sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt inside. Mix.
3. Make a well in the middle of it. Add butter, bananas, eggs and vanilla inside and mix till all the ingredients mix.
4. Distribute the dough evenly into previously prepared muffin cases.
5. Bake for 20-30 minutes, till the toothpic inserted in a muffin comes out clean.
6. Take muffins out from the oven, let them cool down completely.
7. During that time, prepare a buttercream.

Swiss meringue buttercream:

1. Take a heatproof bowl, put egg whites and sugar inside. Prepare a 'bath'.* Keep stiring and heating the mixture over a steam of a boiling water till the sugar completely melts.
2. Cool the mixture down. 
3. Put the egg white mixture in the mixer's bowl and beat for around 10 minutes to get a white, shiny, stiff meringue.
4. Start adding the butter, one piece after another, mixing after adding every piece. While adding it may look like it is curdled, but don't panic, it's perfectly fine :) (it shall take around 5 more minutes).
5. When the mixture is stiff and all the butter is mixed, add vanilla extract and food colouring, mix.

Finishing:

1. Take a pastry bag with a star-like tin nozzle, put the buttercream inside and start distributing on the muffin.
2. Start from the middle of the muffin and making circles go it its edge.
3. Decorate with pieces of banana, cinnamon, maple syrup or any other sprinkles.
4. Bon Appetit! ;)

*A bath is simply heating the ingredients over a steam (but not boiling them in a water), just keeping them over a pot with boiling water, in a heatproof bowl.

Reindeers (Cupcakes)

Those Reindeers are literally galloping to your plate ;) Christmas-like cinnamon taste, delicate dough with sweet buttercream, sweet cherry and salty ears :) Not only they look wonderful but they will also take your palate and stomach straight to heaven ;)
Original recipe - idea comes from this website, though I made some changes, the main change is the top - not whipped cream but Martha's -a-little-bit-changed buttercream.

What's more, children will definitely love them as much as those Christmas Trees! The buttercream I used is more resistant to warm temperatures (one of my reindeers remained in a room temperature for the entire evening plus night and the next day it looked same cute).

I do honestly recommend all of these wonders for the upcoming Christmas :) I promise You will not be disappointed ;)

Ingredients (all of them need to be in room temperature):

• 3 glasses of flour
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon of cinammon
• 230g of butter
• 1,5 glass of sugar
• 4 big eggs
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/4 glass of milk

Swiss meringue buttercream:

• 4 egg whites
• 1 glass of white sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 300g of butter, in a room temperature, chopped into small cubes
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Body parts :)

• candied cherries (optionally cut into halves) - nose
• pretzels, cut into halves - horns
• any hard, small, edible white (chocolate) balls or small edible eyes, if available - for eyes

Preparation:

Dough:

1. Prepare paper muffin cases and muffin tins.
2. Take a quite big bowl, sieve flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon inside, set aside.
3. Take a mixer and its bowl, whisk butter and sugar till it becomes bright and fluffy.
4. Gradually add eggs, mixing after adding each of them.
5. Add vanilla extract and mix again.
6. At the end, take turns at adding the 'dry', sieved ingredients from the bowl and milk. Repeat till both ingredients are mixed inside. 
7. Distribute the dough evently into every paper muffin case (to its 3/4 height).
8. Bake in 180C for around 20 minutes, till they get gold (check with a toothpick).
9. Cool down.

Swiss meringue buttercream:

1. Take a heatproof bowl, put egg whites and sugar inside. Prepare a 'bath'.* Keep stiring and heating the mixture over a steam of a boiling water till the sugar completely melts.
2. Cool the mixture down. 
3. Put the egg white mixture in the mixer's bowl and beat for around 10 minutes to get a white, shiny, stiff meringue.
4. Start adding the butter, one piece after another, mixing after adding every piece. While adding it may look like it is curdled, but don't panic, it's perfectly fine :) (it shall take around 5 more minutes).
5. When the mixture is stiff and all the butter is mixed, add vanilla extract, mix.

Finishing:

1. Take a pastry bag with a star-like tin nozzle, put the buttercream inside and start distributing on the muffin.
2. Start from the middle of the muffin and making circles go it its edge.
3. Decorate with...body parts of your reindeer :)
4. Bon Appetit! ;)

*A bath is simply heating the ingredients over a steam (but not boiling them in a water), just keeping them over a pot with boiling water, in a heatproof bowl.

(Easter) Peach Muffins

Very nice ones, might serve Easter occasion easily :) I like the taste - sweet, thanks to soft, delicate whipped cream, moist cake with delicious fruit and to make a nice contrast to that sweetness -sour lemon curd. Mmmm!
These might be filled with different ingredients. The original recipe is with advocaat, though for the sake of children and family members who needed to drive a car, I made them with peaches :) The dough is actually weird - it is very thick and sticky, but after baking turns out very nice - soft and moist (that's probably thanks to peaches ;)). I know you might be tempted to make a swiss buttercream for the top, but I'd recommend stiff whipped cream, as buttercream would make them very heavy.

To prepare these cute cupcakes I mixed recipes from here and here and added a little bit of my own creativity ;)

Ingredients:

Muffin dough:

• 120g of butter
• 110g of sugar
• 2 big eggs (or 3 smaller ones)
• 200g of flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 3 teaspoons of advocaat (for the dough, not for the filling, but this is optional, I skipped it)

Filling - ideas:

• 1 tin of peaches cut into smaller pieces (and a little bit dried on a paper towel)
• advocaat
• vanilla custard (previously prepared, for example from this recipe)
• lemon curd 
• apricot

Lemon curd:

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• lemon zest and lemon juice from 3 lemons
• 100g of powdered sugar
• 100g of cool butter

Topping:

• 250ml of 36% cream
• 1-2 tablespoons of powdered sugar
• something to stiffen it - either so-called 'smietan-fix' or for example 'fake-powdered-whipped cream' (a powder you mix with milk to get a whipped cream ;) it stiffens the cream as well) or 1 teaspoon of gelatin - though here be careful not to make lumps

Preparation - muffin dough:

1. All the ingredients should be in room temperature.
   During that time you can prepare your muffin tins, greasing them with butter or just simply putting paper muffin cases into every hole. If you decided to use peaches - open the tin, take everything out of it as it isn't healthy to keep food in an open tin, separate the syrup from the fruit. Using a paper towel, dry the fruit and chop into smaller pieces.
2. Sieve the flour with baking powder and put aside.
3. Take a mixer and its bowl. Chop the butter into smaller pieces, add sugar and mix till you get a bright, fluffy mixture.
4. Add eggs, one after another, mixing precisely after adding one.
5. Add flour with baking powder, mix on a low rotation till everything links. 
6. Here you can add advocaat to the dough and mix till it links or you can skip that step.
7. Using a teaspoon, put some dough (+ - 1 teaspoon) to every paper case. Then add the filling and cover with another teaspoon. Don't be afraid while adding the filling - it is really fine to put quite a lot of it (I added 4 peach pieces into every muffin and they seem to get lost in the dough anyway ;))
8. Put the muffins in the oven for around 15-20 minutes, on 180C, till they get gold and the toothpick is dry.
9. Cool down.

Preparation - lemon curd:

Lemon curd requires a 'bath' so it is necessary to have a suitable pot and a bowl, that can be put one on another.

1. Chop the butter into smaller pieces.
2. Take a pot, put some water inside, start boiling it.
3. Take a bowl that matches the pot, put eggs inside, beat.
4. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, powdered sugar and stir till everything links and there are no lumps.
5. Now put the bowl on the top of your pot (make sure the bowl stands out from the pot so that you don't get burn) and slowly keep heating up the mixture (don't boil it). 
6. Keep adding the butter, one piece after another, stiring after adding.
7. When all the butter is melted in the mixture, turn off the heat and put the bowl with lemon curd somewhere aside, to let it cool down.
8. Then put your lemon curd in the fridge so that it stiffens more.

Preparation - topping:

1. Before preparing the whipped cream be sure your cream is really, really cool (I always put it in the freezer before beating, for around 10-15 minutes).
2. Take a mixer and its bowl, put cream inside, start mixing. After a while add powdered sugar and something to stiffen it.
3. Beat for around 10 minutes (depending on the power of a mixer it might take more or less time, keep paying attention not to make butter).

Finishing - cupcakes:

1. When everything is cooled down and ready, using a teaspoon, take some of the whipped cream and start distributing it all over the top of your muffin. In the middle top, make a small hole for lemon curd.
2. When all the whipped cream is distributed, put your muffins in the fridge, so that the cream stiffens a little before adding lemon curd.
3. Then, using a syringe or a teaspoon, put some lemon curd into previously prepared holes in whipped cream. 
4. Keep in the fridge.
5. Bon Appetit ;)
   
   
   
   

Christmas Trees

Ahhh, my favourite muffin dough in one of its creations... :) I bake them only once a year, for Christmas cause of that smell and taste... mmmm! :) entire house smells of cinammon while baking them :) that increases the Christmas atmosphere ;) So - this time - Christmas trees :) They're perfect once baked, wonderful while still hot/warm and still perfect after a day or two ;) Soft, quite wet, mouth-watering :) match a lot of additional ingredients :) Must try ;)

Recipe for the dough comes from this website.

Recipe for the butter-cream comes from this website.

Ingredients (all of them have to be in a room teperature):

• 3 glasses of flour
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
• a pinch of salt
• 230g of butter or margarine
• 1,5 glass of white sugar
• 4 big eggs
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/4 glass of milk (3,2%)

Buttercream:

• 4 egg whites
• 1 glass of white sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 300g of butter, in a room temperature, chopped into small cubes
• vanilla extract
• green food colouring (in a gel or powder, not in a liquid)

Additionals:

• Sprinkles

Preparing muffins:

1. Prepare muffin tins, or any other desired tin (but if it is a metal tin, where you can't put paper muffin cases, it needs to be greased)
2. Take a bowl, put flour, baking powder, cinammon and salt inside.
3. Take a mixer and its bowl, put butter and sugar inside, start mixing to get a fluffy, bright mixture.
4. Add eggs, one after another, mixing after every single egg.
5. Add vanilla extract and mix again.
6. By turns: add some 'dry' ingredients (flour with baking powder, salt and cinnamon), mix, add some milk, mix and again, dry ingredients, milk... till all of them are mixed in a bowl.
7. Put in previously prepared tins (not full, 1/2-3/4 of its height).
8. Put in the oven and bake in 180C for around 20 minutes (check, by using a toothpick).
9. Cool down (at least before putting the cream ;) )

Preparing buttercream:

1. Take egg whites, mix with sugar. Prepare a 'bath' for them.* Keep stiring and heating the mixture over boiling water till the sugar completely melts.
2. Cool down the mixture if it got hot. 
3. Put in the mixer's bowl and beat, around 10 minutes to get white, shiny, stiff a meringue.
4. Start adding the butter, one piece after another, mixing after adding every piece. While adding it may look like it is curdled, but don't panic, it's perfectly fine :) (although I did panic, so you are justified if you did panic as well ;)
5. When the mixture is stiff and all the butter is mixed, add vanilla extract and food colouring, mix.

Preparing Christmas Trees:

1. Take a pastry bag with a star-like tin nozzle, put the buttercream inside and start distributing on the muffin.
2. Start from the middle of the muffin and making circles go it its edge.
3. Decorate with additionals.
4. Bon Appetit! ;)

*A bath is simply boiling the ingredients, but not boiling them in a water, but keeping them in a bowl over a steam.

Lemon Cupcakes

Recipe from this website, as always, a little bit changed ;)

Ingredients:

• 1,5 glass of flour
• 1,5 teaspoon of baking powder
• 115 g of butter
• 3/4 glass of sugar
• 2 big eggs
• lemon peel made from 2 lemons
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1/2 glass of buttermilk or kephir or 12-18% sour cream
• ready made icing sugar (you can use self-made from this recipe)

Preparation:

1. All the ingredients should be in a room temperature. 
2. Sieve the flour and the baking powder into a bowl. Put aside. 
3. Put the butter and sugar in a food processor's bowl and using a mixer, mix it till it gets bright and smooth. 
4. Add one egg, mix till it links. Add another egg, mix again till smooth. Add lemon peels and lemon juice, mix. 
5. Taking turns, add a little flour and a little sour cream to the dough, stir after adding every ingredient till it links with the dough, using a tablespoon. Continute, till both ingredients finish. 
6. Take you muffin forms, put paper muffin cups inside (if your muffin form is made of silicone, you don't have to put paper muffin cups). 
7. Put the dough to every muffin cup to its 3/4 height (or less, not more) 
8. Bake in 180C for 20-25 minutes. Using a toothpick, check whether your cupcakes are ready or not. Read how to do it HERE.
9. Cool them. 
10. You can decorate your muffins with icing sugar, either ready-made or you can prepare your own. 
11. If ready made - follow the instructions on the packing (boil the packing), cut a small hole in the packing, and making round moves slowly pour the icing on every muffin. 
12. Home-made icing sugar here. 
13. Bon appetit!