Some fairly exciting news! I have an official website now.
Something else for everyone to poke through if they're bored :)
---> Teensy Cakes <---
Something else for everyone to poke through if they're bored :)
---> Teensy Cakes <---
Sunday, February 28, 2010
It's Not Banana Bread
"What distinguishes a muffin from a cupcake?" is what I was asked when I presented these banana cupcakes to my co-workers yesterday.
My answer? The density, moistness, the amount of sugar added, and of course, "a muffin doesn't have icing...duh!"
Well after that, I gained the assumption that since everyone is so accustomed to eating banana bread, regardless the treat, it made people believe they were eating a muffin as opposed to a cupcake. Oh well!
Anyways, back on track here.
These were about as easy as it gets. I snared the recipe from Martha Stewart, but tweaked the recipe slightly; the icing, quite a bit.
I doubled the recipe and used only 1/2 the amount of banana and only 1 cup of sugar as opposed to the 1-1/2 cups it called for. To balance out the moisture and acidity the bananas would have imparted I added about 2 tablespoons of buttermilk to the mix.
For the icing, I used the basic recipe on the site, but added another 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar and mixed in 1 tablespoon of honey, approximately 1/2 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger and about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (if I had actual lemons on hand I would have used lemon zest instead). I used the cinnamon I would have mixed in the icing to instead dust the tops of the cupcakes after the icing was freshly piped.
Well they were just about as tasty as they look. I was able to get 18 regular-sized cupcakes and 24 miniature-sized cupcakes out of the doubled batch.
My answer? The density, moistness, the amount of sugar added, and of course, "a muffin doesn't have icing...duh!"
Well after that, I gained the assumption that since everyone is so accustomed to eating banana bread, regardless the treat, it made people believe they were eating a muffin as opposed to a cupcake. Oh well!
Anyways, back on track here.
These were about as easy as it gets. I snared the recipe from Martha Stewart, but tweaked the recipe slightly; the icing, quite a bit.
I doubled the recipe and used only 1/2 the amount of banana and only 1 cup of sugar as opposed to the 1-1/2 cups it called for. To balance out the moisture and acidity the bananas would have imparted I added about 2 tablespoons of buttermilk to the mix.For the icing, I used the basic recipe on the site, but added another 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar and mixed in 1 tablespoon of honey, approximately 1/2 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger and about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (if I had actual lemons on hand I would have used lemon zest instead). I used the cinnamon I would have mixed in the icing to instead dust the tops of the cupcakes after the icing was freshly piped.
Well they were just about as tasty as they look. I was able to get 18 regular-sized cupcakes and 24 miniature-sized cupcakes out of the doubled batch.
Friday, February 26, 2010
French Breakfast Muffins
I made a post about said muffins a few days ago, and decided to make them for breakfast today.
They are just as delicious as Ann said they would be; moist and melt-in-your-mouth. I'm sure they'd be even better if they weren't about |that much| overbaked. Oh well, serves me right for getting distracted, haha.
They don't look quite as pretty as Velvet Lava's, but they're still awfully tasty! I will certainly be making these again, so next time I'll be sure to keep my eye on them!
They are just as delicious as Ann said they would be; moist and melt-in-your-mouth. I'm sure they'd be even better if they weren't about |that much| overbaked. Oh well, serves me right for getting distracted, haha.
They don't look quite as pretty as Velvet Lava's, but they're still awfully tasty! I will certainly be making these again, so next time I'll be sure to keep my eye on them!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Surprise!
My most recent experiment was originally going to be a vanilla cupcake with a chocolate chip cookie base, which, to my demise, wasn't possible since I had run out of brown sugar (and the store had already closed!) "Oh well," I thought, "what else can I stuff into a cupcake?"
Brownies.
What a wonderful little surprise concealed by a tasty layer of vanilla cake, hidden underneath a billow of icing (pink icing at that!)
These were fun, and surprisingly easy to make!
First I made the cake batter and brownie batter.
I then filled each cup half full with cake batter.
After baking them at 325°F for about 5 minutes I put a dollop of brownie batter in the centre of each cup. Pre-baking allows the outside of the cake to firm up just enough to keep the brownie batter from sinking to the bottom. Back in the oven they went!
Fast forward about 15 minutes.
The brownie puffed up a bit more than I was expecting, so now I know for next time to use less baking powder, or save a little cake batter and top off the centres after the brownie dollop.
Topped with a pretty little swirl of pink buttercream, the finished product looks like just a plain vanilla cupcake, right? But then...
...Surprise!
What could be better than finding a second delicious treat inside an already delicious one?!
Brownies.
What a wonderful little surprise concealed by a tasty layer of vanilla cake, hidden underneath a billow of icing (pink icing at that!)
These were fun, and surprisingly easy to make!
First I made the cake batter and brownie batter.I then filled each cup half full with cake batter.
After baking them at 325°F for about 5 minutes I put a dollop of brownie batter in the centre of each cup. Pre-baking allows the outside of the cake to firm up just enough to keep the brownie batter from sinking to the bottom. Back in the oven they went!
Fast forward about 15 minutes.The brownie puffed up a bit more than I was expecting, so now I know for next time to use less baking powder, or save a little cake batter and top off the centres after the brownie dollop.
Topped with a pretty little swirl of pink buttercream, the finished product looks like just a plain vanilla cupcake, right? But then...
...Surprise!What could be better than finding a second delicious treat inside an already delicious one?!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
What to try next?...
I've been stockpiling recipes for ages and all I can think of is how I wish I had a bigger oven and more time in the day just so I could make them all at once and gorge myself on deliciousness.
These Apple Pie Cupcakes just look divine. I, of course, would probably tweak the recipe a bit and throw some cinnamon and fresh-grated nutmeg into the cupcake batter, but that's just me (if I could live off cinnamon I would).
I made these little darlings for Valentines Day and brought them into work for everyone to nibble on throughout the shift, only I rolled them out and used a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut them up. I'm not a huge shortbread fan, but add a little espresso and some chocolate chips to the batter and damn is it tasty. Next time I think I'll use a little extra butter to soften them up and make them extra melt-in-your-mouth, but everyone who had them said they were perfect as is.
A quick tip with this recipe? I rolled the dough between two pieces of wax paper and layed it flat in the freezer for less than 10 minutes (instead of leaving it in the fridge for hours). The dough was perfectly chilled and ready to be cut up without sticking to anything or ripping.
I've been dying to make these French Breakfast Muffins for weeks. Rumor has it that these muffins melt in your mouth, and almost taste like a doughnut.
Really? A doughnut? All the tastiness without the deep frying? I'm in. Plus they're rolled in cinnamon sugar....did I mention how much I love cinnamon? *drool*
These Gingerbread Cupcakes would have been perfect for the holidays. Imagine a spicy little warm-from-the-oven cupcake making those -40°C winter nights seem to dissolve away. What a comforting thought. Well I'll use the excuse that there's still snow on the ground, and even though it's not -40°C anymore, it's still cold enough!
The perfect late-summer/fall treat? Maple Carrot Cupcakes. I love carrot cake, especially when it's really moist and just falls apart at the site of a fork, so the thought of adding a bunch of really rich maple syrup to the blend sounds amazing. Maybe it's the Canadian in me, maybe it's that I have an insatiable sweet tooth and would jump at any opportunity to smother something in syrup, but whatever it is, I can't wait to mix these two flavors together, with a dollop of cream cheese icing on top, of course, and devour them.
Nutella Coffe Frosting I imagine would be delicious on any cupcake you could make. I'm not a HUGE fan of nutella like some people I know, but having it in subtle amounts I must say is uber yum.
I also want to work on finding/adapting a recipe to make a peanut butter cupcake (chocolate chips most likely included).
I WILL be making all of this eventually, and I promise to share the success (or fail) of these recipes and just how tasty (or icky) they are.
These Apple Pie Cupcakes just look divine. I, of course, would probably tweak the recipe a bit and throw some cinnamon and fresh-grated nutmeg into the cupcake batter, but that's just me (if I could live off cinnamon I would).
I made these little darlings for Valentines Day and brought them into work for everyone to nibble on throughout the shift, only I rolled them out and used a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut them up. I'm not a huge shortbread fan, but add a little espresso and some chocolate chips to the batter and damn is it tasty. Next time I think I'll use a little extra butter to soften them up and make them extra melt-in-your-mouth, but everyone who had them said they were perfect as is.
A quick tip with this recipe? I rolled the dough between two pieces of wax paper and layed it flat in the freezer for less than 10 minutes (instead of leaving it in the fridge for hours). The dough was perfectly chilled and ready to be cut up without sticking to anything or ripping.
I've been dying to make these French Breakfast Muffins for weeks. Rumor has it that these muffins melt in your mouth, and almost taste like a doughnut.
Really? A doughnut? All the tastiness without the deep frying? I'm in. Plus they're rolled in cinnamon sugar....did I mention how much I love cinnamon? *drool*
These Gingerbread Cupcakes would have been perfect for the holidays. Imagine a spicy little warm-from-the-oven cupcake making those -40°C winter nights seem to dissolve away. What a comforting thought. Well I'll use the excuse that there's still snow on the ground, and even though it's not -40°C anymore, it's still cold enough!
The perfect late-summer/fall treat? Maple Carrot Cupcakes. I love carrot cake, especially when it's really moist and just falls apart at the site of a fork, so the thought of adding a bunch of really rich maple syrup to the blend sounds amazing. Maybe it's the Canadian in me, maybe it's that I have an insatiable sweet tooth and would jump at any opportunity to smother something in syrup, but whatever it is, I can't wait to mix these two flavors together, with a dollop of cream cheese icing on top, of course, and devour them.
Nutella Coffe Frosting I imagine would be delicious on any cupcake you could make. I'm not a HUGE fan of nutella like some people I know, but having it in subtle amounts I must say is uber yum.
I also want to work on finding/adapting a recipe to make a peanut butter cupcake (chocolate chips most likely included).
I WILL be making all of this eventually, and I promise to share the success (or fail) of these recipes and just how tasty (or icky) they are.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Welcome!
Hi there! and welcome to Teensy Cakes!
My name is Kaitlynd, and through this blog I will outlet my creative cupcaking energy.
I'm 24, from Winnipeg, Manitoba and work as a bartender at a friendly little french bistro in the evenings. I'll be heading back to school in the fall to study science with a focus on microbiology; essentially I'm a big science nerd with a crazy passion for baking, especially cupcakes. I've always said that my backup plan was to become a pastry chef, but for now I'll work on making my little creations on the weekends and having my kitchen colleagues (and of course, boyfriend) critique my work.
Short term goals? Buy lots of books and learn new techniques. Try new recipes and make my own. Get my name out there and supply a few people and events with my miniature concoctions.
Long term goals? Get my business off the ground and make a career out of baking. Maybe become infamous and supply the world with cupcakes. Who knows, but one can dream :)
Anyways, follow along with me as I try new recipes, with success and fail, take inspiration from fellow bloggers and bakers, and maybe even begin a business. This is the start of my journey and who knows where I may end up!
My name is Kaitlynd, and through this blog I will outlet my creative cupcaking energy.
I'm 24, from Winnipeg, Manitoba and work as a bartender at a friendly little french bistro in the evenings. I'll be heading back to school in the fall to study science with a focus on microbiology; essentially I'm a big science nerd with a crazy passion for baking, especially cupcakes. I've always said that my backup plan was to become a pastry chef, but for now I'll work on making my little creations on the weekends and having my kitchen colleagues (and of course, boyfriend) critique my work.
Short term goals? Buy lots of books and learn new techniques. Try new recipes and make my own. Get my name out there and supply a few people and events with my miniature concoctions.
Long term goals? Get my business off the ground and make a career out of baking. Maybe become infamous and supply the world with cupcakes. Who knows, but one can dream :)
Anyways, follow along with me as I try new recipes, with success and fail, take inspiration from fellow bloggers and bakers, and maybe even begin a business. This is the start of my journey and who knows where I may end up!
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