Categories
food general

Moar Cupcakes

 

Chocolatey cupcakes of goodness

 

These are the Divine Chocolate Cupcakes with Best Buttercream Frosting from Baked in Maine. They’re a lot less sweet than the M&M cupcakes. Which means you can eat more. (Also I’m getting the hang of doing the icing, hoorah)

The cupcakes

* 2 cups flour (sub. 1 cup whole wheat flour)
* 2 cups sugar
* 4 heaped Tbsp cocoa
* 226gm butter
* 1 cup boiling water
* ½ cup buttermilk (I make my own by adding lemon juice to milk)
* 2 eggs
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1 tsp vanilla essence

Pre-heat oven to 180oC (350oF).

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
2. In a saucepan, melt butter. Whisk in cocoa.
3. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, remove from heat. Pour over the flour mixture, and stir lightly to combine.
4. In a measuring cup, add beaten eggs, pour the buttermilk, baking soda, and vanilla. (not sure why the baking soda is added with the wet ingredients)
5. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into your pan and bake for 15-20 minutes (or until done).

Best Buttercream Icing

* 85gm butter, softened
* 2 2/3 cups icing sugar
* 2/3 cup cocoa
* 5-6 tablespoons milk
* 2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Beat the butter in a medium mixing bowl.
2. With the mixer on low, add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk, scraping sides of the bowl often.
3. Add vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy.

Categories
general

precious precious treasure

After a day spent chasing the UPS truck around the suburbs, I finally managed to get my parcel of Australian treasure – it’s glorious, just look at it:

australian schwag

(This doesn’t mean that all of you who have promised me food don’t have to send it now! There are some obvious things missing – timtams anyone? … Send more food! I’m starving over here! Starving I tell you! All of the chocolate tastes like cooking chocolate, and has peanut butter in it.)

Categories
general

m&m craziness

m+m'sI’ve just discovered the most amazing thing. Go to the m&m shop, and you can create your own blend up m&m’s, choosing from 21 colours. They have teal m&m’s! And maroon! And gold and silver! Oh, and there’s even pre-mixed packs – such as the Silk and Lace Wedding Pack with light purple and white. Or the Holiday Hannukah pack in blue and white. You can even get them custom printed with your own message.