So who takes the (cup)cake?

Pretty cupcakes are an easy find these days.

But pretty cupcakes that actually taste divine, now that’s another story. Might be just me, but I think that the cake part is as equally important as the frosting. Imagine biting into a pretty cupcake only to find it so laden with sugar that you can’t taste the cakey parts.

As a baker, I know that the secret lies in the flavour & technique. Some recipes just work better than the rest. One of my favourite recipes happens to be the one used by Magnolia Bakery, a famous cupcake bakery in NY.

Their cupcakes are oh-so-pretty that it makes you go weak in your knees and lips.

Unfortunately, I cannot say that I’ve eaten those lengendary cupcakes – those beautiful, fairy coloured cupcakes that makes my heart beat faster.

Those cupcakes are right now beyond my reach, across continents and oceans. So why am I even talking about them? Well the grass is always greener on the other side isn’t it? That’s why I’m always prowling the net, looking for yummy sweet things from all over the world and in my search, I found out about Sprinkles, another cupcake outfit in the States.

For now, all I can say is that those cupcakes look darn pretty but it stops there, because they’re there and I’m here (in Singapore). So until I have enough dough to fly myself to the States, I’d have to make do with reviews from friends.

And today, I have Ronald Wan, my friend and fellow writer who’s gonna size up the two biggest cupcake rivals in the States: Sprinkles in Beverly Hills and Magnolia in Manhattan. He was in the United States recently and tried cupcakes from both bakeries, much to my envy. So bring it on Ronald!

Yes, that’s Ronald basking in the glorious skylight in Dallas. That lucky bastard!

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Magnolia

Where’s the darn place

401 Bleecker Street, corner of West 11th Street in the hip West Village of Manhattan, New York.

The people who walk in…

Since the West Village is home to celebrities like Ralph Lauren and Sarah Jessica Parker, you can expect someone famous walking in here anytime. And of course, those tourists and Sex and the City fans.

I walked in just like any other glamorous person living in the West Village and ordered in my perfect English. I presumed the bloke was half-expecting me to squeal like those annoying Japanese tourists. Well, I had to restrain myself considering those cupcakes really looked damn gorgeous.

What’s on the menu…

The famous vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting ($2). Others include mini cheesecake, coconut cake and blueberry muffins. The cupcakes are sold in a plain white box, which makes everything just so homely about this bakery.

And so the taste…

I tried the vanilla cupcakes (seven of them with different icing colors to be precise) and the red velvet cupcake. The latter startled me when I first saw it sitting prettily on the tier atop the counter. I seriously asked myself, “Is there coloring in it?” because it looked so damn red! But when I sank my teeth into it, I nearly had an orgasm. Life is good. The cake was moist, tasty and extremely rich (My travel companion thought otherwise. She found it jelak). The same applied for the vanilla cupcakes but the only downside was that I found the buttercream frosting a little too much, which made the entire affair too sweet to be true. But hey, on a superficial level, the ample frosting really made the cupcakes appear so much prettier if you ask me.

Sprinkles

Where’s the darn place

3 outlets stateside, including the flagship in Beverly Hills. I went to the one in Dallas located on the Northwest Highway and Preston road.

The people who walk in…

Considering the Beverly Hills is home to producers, directors, actors and just about every other damn person working in Hollywood, you can imagine the type of crowd here.

Anyway, I went to the one in Dallas and my only chances of seeing a celebrity inside here would be Tony Romo (Dallas Cowboys star quarterback) or a Texan country singer I wouldn’t be able to recognize.

The cute girl over the counter told me I couldn’t take any pictures inside the shop. I flirted with her and pleaded. She said no. And I still whipped out my camera and snapped. So sue me.

What’s on the menu…

Strictly cupcakes with more than 20 flavors such as banana (fresh banana cake with creamy vanilla), chocolate coconut and even chai latte. They have different flavors available on each day. You have to refer to their flavor card. Print it at http://www.sprinklescupcakes.com/!

And so the taste…

I bought half a dozen for $19. Definitely more expensive than your typical cupcakes. So was it worth it? I had the black and white (Belgian dark chocolate with creamy vanilla frosting), dark chocolate (Belgian dark chocolate cake with bittersweet chocolate frosting) and of course the red velvet (southern style light chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting), ginger lemon, strawberry and vanilla milk chocolate (Madagascar bourdon vanilla cake with fudgy milk chocolate cream cheese frosting). I really love the latter, which tastes heavenly!

Thumbs up to the cupcakes for the lighter texture. It’s as less sweet, thanks to lesser frosting. Evidently, lesser frosting also makes the taste of the cupcake itself more discernible. The downside? I found it dry but hey, I’m just being difficult here. I would give it 5 out of 5 stars if the girl allowed me to take pictures of the shop or gave me her number if you ask me.

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So there you have it, Ronald‘s take on the two most famous cupcake places in the U.S.
To read more about his recent travels, check out his two travel blogs:

Ronald Hearts New York
Ronald Hearts Dallas

*Photos courtesy of Ronald Wan.

Cocoa & Butterscotch says thanks!

Frequent readers of my blog will know that Dorothy (a.k.a. Dot) and I have been doing up cupcake tiers and baking cupcakes that match them. The cool thing is the customisation part and all our customers have been really happy with their tiers, thanks to Dorothy’s creative talent. It gives us great joy knowing that our tiers and cupcakes are making a difference and putting smiles on people’s faces.

Us being a two-girlie team behind Cocoa & Butterscotch, we really strive to make this world a happy yummy place (yea that’s our tagline!) via our simple rustic ‘from-the-heart’ type of service & goods.

To be honest, it’s a real challenge juggling school & work (yea, Dot’s a full-time graphic designer) with baking and making tiers from scratch. But I do try my best to meet as many requests as possible. And allow me to take this opportunity to thank everyone out there who has given us your support, either by buying our stuff or just dropping comments or emails or even reading this! I really do appreciate all the love… yes I do.

I guess this blog has opened more doors for me than I thought possible and I hope to one day be able to really go all out and finally do my own thing, be it a real bakery/cafe/eatery of sorts. I am no gourmand, that I can safely admit, but what I do know is that I am passionate about food, and it’s lovely to see so many like-minded people around who believe in me and even bother to read this lil ‘ol blog of mine. So thank you all once again!

So there, it’s something I have been wanting to post for a long time now! Especially since I know how much faith alot of you have in us. Dot and I are planning something a bit bigger for next year but nothing’s confirmed but I just wanted to give you a head’s up so that you know that we are always thinking of you, our dearest reader!

And here’s a shout out to Thea’s mum whose birthday was last Friday! Happy Birthday Thea’s Mum! (Sorry I don’t know her name!). Thea’s our recent customer and she was so sweet – she wanted a two-tiered cupcake tier with cupcakes to surprise her mum on her birthday. Dot and I suggested an English-themed tier and Thea liked the idea, and so we came up with something quite sweet and quaint:

Black lace, white ribbons, yellow floral patterns and a touch of grassy green to go with it…

Don’t you think it looks pretty? It reminds me of a summery afternoon by the English countryside. Ahhh…

It was refreshing, doing a two-leveled cupcake tier instead of the usual 3-leveled ones. I guess it’s more befitting, since Thea wanted a simple one to celebrate with her family of four. I heard from her that her mum really liked the tier and the lemon cupcakes! yay!

So there you have it, one more tier in our list of merry-making endeavours.

Cocoa & Butterscotch are once again really happy to know that there are people out there who appreciate the simpler and sweeter things in life

Something green, white & yellow

Cocoa & Butterscotch’s recent project was very green, white, and yellow.

Our sweet customer wanted to surprise her parents with a lovely garden themed cupcake tier & lemon-y cupcakes for their anniversary this week.

We almost couldn’t meet the request because of my busy school week and Dot’s tight schedule at work but I’m really glad I said yes. I mean, how could I turn down such a sweet request?

So in the end, it all panned out nicely. The tier turned out amazing. Check out the ‘grass’ Dot used for the tiers and the summer flowers, together with matching ribbons and details.

I really love the tier. To be honest, I wish I could keep it for myself. haha….

Don’t you think it’s beautiful?

And cupcake tiers need to be filled with cupcakes no?

So I baked some… And my customer’s parents like lemon-y stuff so she asked for lemon cupcakes. I gave her lemon cupcakes filled with lemon curd and frosted with lemon buttercream. She wanted some flower decor so I got some white icing flowers to go with the yellow buttercream.

I don’t know about you, but I am not a huge fan of large amounts of icing. I know it looks beautiful, to see so much colour on top of these little cakes… but really, who eats so much icing? That’s why I always use just enough…. and my frosting’s not really sweet – just nice to get that flavour. I added lemon zest and lemon juice to this one. Came out yum

Okay, I know you’re wondering if I made those flowers. I’d love to say I did but I’d be a big fat liar… So there you go, I bought them.

Aren’t they lovely?

I don’t think anyone can bear to eat it. I know I wouldn’t. I’d just keep them forever… My sister thought it was clay though!

Ah… am pretty happy with this garden themed project.

That’s the beauty of custom-made tiers, you decide what the theme is, the colours and how you want the entire feel to be. You choose, and Cocoa & Butterscotch makes it for you. It’s as simple as that!

I hope my customer & her parents + family enjoyed the cupcakes & liked the tier as much as I did.

Enjoy the weekend ya’ll!

Every cupcake needs a tier

I’m feeling very excited. So excited that I have to share it with you!

Cocoa & Butterscotch now offers customised cupcake tiers and we just had our first order!

It’s for the lovely birthday girl Clara

Hi Clara, if you’re reading this, here’s wishing you a Happy Birthday once again! We really hope you liked the tier.

Here are more photos:

In case you’re wondering about the design, well it’s original and based on Clara’s two favourite colours: blue and white. The birthday tag you see up there is designed by Dot, my favouritest designer in the whole world who happens to be my best friend and baking partner-in-crime! She’s awesome – was the one who conceptualised the entire tier actually. Kudos girl!

Here’s a shot of the entire tier with a vintage feel (after some colour tweaking). I like it because it makes the blue pop!

And so you must be wondering what are these two girls doing? First they sell cupcakes, cookies and lemon curd, and now they sell cupcake tiers too?

Hey, why not ya? Both of us noticed a surging trend for cupcakes instead of the usual cake. Weddings now order cupcakes and some rather celebrate birthdays with little cuppies. So we thought why not provide a customised cupcake tier option for those of you who order our cupcakes!

It’s pretty easy really. Just let us know your prefered colour combinations, what feel you’d like and viola, we will conjure one up for you in no time

Of course this option is only for those who order our cupcakes. Seriously, a tier really makes all the difference. I wish I had one for my own birthday! haha…

So, if you have a birthday coming up and would love to have a tier of your own, complete with cupcakes, then email us at cocoabutterscotch@gmail.com

Oh, and you really don’t need to wait for a birthday to get one These tiers are perfect for afternoon tea parties too.

Do check back on our Cocoa & Butterscotch site for more updates!

Bakin’ & bakin’

Been baking for 4 days straight but it feels as though I’ve been baking for weeks!

A typical day begins with me taking the butter out of the fridge at about 7am and me going back to sleep for a bit. I wake at 9am then start to prep the ingredients. The flour gets sifted, the eggs get beaten, the muffin pans get lined and I get my apron and start to get ready for the day ahead.

Surprisingly, things haven’t been that hectic. I’m usually done before 6pm. It’s been smooth sailing as well – thanks to Dot She manages almost all of the packaging. We’re pretty satisfied with the way things are going. I’ve gotten positive feedback about our goods.

But of course, we always appreciate more feedback. So you, if you have bought our stuff and tasted them, please feel free to leave comments ya…

Here’s more shots for you to munch on…

Sprinkling crumble topping onto the blueberry muffins.

Man oh man, there’s nothing more exciting than exploded blueberry muffins.

Dot and I go ga-ga over them:

I guess their name: Blueberry Burst is befitting!

Then there’s our Swirly Whirly Nutella Cupcakes.

I have so much fun doing the swirls. That’s the best part

I get a kick out of seeing the final product after it gets baked.

There are alot more photos but I’ll post them up another time.

For more information, visit my Cocoa & Butterscotch site. We have some cool wallpapers you can download from there too!

Tata…

Chocolate Cupcakes

Don’t they look like they just jumped off the pages of a whimsical children’s book? Well I think so.

Was baking cupcakes for a bbq gathering with some of my old school mates from poly and thought I could experiment a little. It won’t hurt anyway, I mean if the cupcakes turned out horrible, at least I won’t be sued!

So anyway, I realised I have been baking plenty of vanilla cupcakes and no chocolate ones. Then I felt like making some, so Dot & I did a google search and found the most yummy chocolate cupcake recipe ever.

Why yummy? I totally love the texture of these cupcakes. They’re springy to the touch and really soft and moist. It was just nice. I was too lazy to make some chocolate ganache so I frosted these beauties with Nutella and topped it off with a cute little ‘knob’.

I’m sure it won’t take long for you to guess what’s that ‘knob’. I think it upped the ‘cuteness’ of these cupcakes. I know, it’s nothing compared to those elaborate and delicate designs we find on cupcakes these days. Well, I’m no cupcake queen I have to admit so I’d rather stick to simple raw designs.

They are Maltesers by the way! I think they looked good on my cupcakes – they complemented each other. The cupcakes were a hit and I baked them again the next day for another bbq I attended and whaddyaknow, they were wiped out pretty fast too!

I got the recipe from the Joy of Baking website and you can find the recipe here: Joy of Baking’s Chocolate Cupcake Recipe. Simply click on that link! Have fun ya?

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Here’s a little note to those who bought stuff from the bake sale…

Cocoa & Butterscotch thank all for their kind support and we’re in the midst of consolidating ALL orders and will start baking very soon. So please be patient and try to confirm the collection dates if you haven’t already. Thank you so much! We love you!

Blueberry Goodness

I was to bake something pretty, something photogenic yesterday. Due to a lack of time, I decided to go with my nutella cupcakes and blueberry muffins.

Actually, the blueberry muffins were kind of a last minute thing. That’s because a punnet was going at $2.95! I bought 2 punnets and went home feeling excited. Excited because it’s been quite a while since I’ve baked blueberry muffins. Blueberries don’t go cheap here in Singapore so I always wait till the prices drop – like now

The muffins were filled with so much blueberry goodness that I couldn’t help eating them once they came out of the oven. There’s nothing like warm blueberry muffins on a hot Thursday afternoon I tell ya.

Check out the moist juices and violet hue! Lovely…

I used a different recipe this time, one which called for a crumble topping. That’s why there are so many brown bits on my muffin crowns.

Some of the berries burst, resulting in a volcanic looking muffin:

But I still think they are pretty nonetheless!

I didn’t bother taking photos of my nutella cupcakes because I think they’ve gotten enough limelight :p

Here’s my muffins and the cupcakes all in a box, waiting to be photographed with me…

I won’t say much about the reason for the photos. Haha, all will be revealed in due time! Sooner than expected, trust me.

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Blueberry Muffins
From Williams-Sonoma Muffins

For the topping:
¼ cup (1½ oz/ 45g) all-purpose (plain) flour
2 tablespoons each granulated sugar and firmly packed light brown sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.

For the muffins:
7 tablespoons (3½ oz/ 105g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup (6oz/185g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2¼ cups (11½ oz/ 360g) all-purpose (plain)flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 fl oz/ 250ml) milk
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract (essence)
1½ cups (6 oz/ 185g) fresh blueberries or frozen unsweetened blueberries, unthawed.

Preheat the oven to 375 Fahrenheit (190 degree celcius) . Grease 12 standard muffin cups with butter or butter-flavoured nonstick cooking spray

To make the topping, stir together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut or rub the butter into the dry ingredients just until coarse crumbs form. Alternatively, combine the dry ingredients and the butter in a food processor and pulse just until coarse crumbs form.

To make the muffins, in a bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each edition until blended into the butter mixture.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in 2 increments, alternating with the milk and vanilla. Stir just until evenly moistened. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold in the blueberries just until evenly distributed, no more than a few strokes. Take care not to break up the fruit. Do not overmix.
Spoon the batter into each muffin cup, filling it level with the rim of the cup. Sprinkle each muffin with some topping.

Bake until golden, dry, and springy to the touch, 20-25 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the muffins. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 12 muffins.

Pretty cupcakes all in a tier

Last Friday had me slaving in the kitchen for more than 6 hours. But you know what? It was all worth it – every single second of it. The above photo says it all.

Every cupcake was made with love. All 162 of it. haha yes yes the number sounds odd but heh, it’s just the number of cupcakes I could manage.

You know what? I’m really glad it went well – the entire wedding, Dom and Daph’s wedding which took place on Saturday (May 19). Both of them are two people from ministry whom I love and cherish and I was really excited when Daph tasked me to this wedding cupcake project. Really wanted to do something special for her wedding and am happy to be able to contribute to her big day. Thank God for that and thank God for both of them. They’re truly a match made in heaven. Those of you who know them would definitely know what I mean! Congratulations you two – have a blessed and blissful marriage!

Anyway, the cupcake tier was a simple one and I honestly didn’t expect it to turn out so well. Here’s how it looks like up close:

They’re not meant to be big, just sweet and handy. Daph and I sourced for the decorations and check out the cute sprinkles. Lovely aren’t they? Got them from Phoon Huat.

Vanilla cupcakes made with love – it can’t get any better than that. I heard from Flo that they were well received. Am just relieved I didn’t screw it up. Fr. William Goh came up to me in person to tell me he really liked my cupcakes!

I guess nothing much can go wrong if you have the right recipe and helpful hands – yes yes, Dot, I really want to thank you so much for your assistance. This babe helped me carry lots of heavy flour, eggs and sugar and she is a joy to work with. I couldn’t have asked for a better assistant!

Me and Dot posing with the cupcake tier (which by the way, hasn’t been replenished in this photo. haha). Love ya girl!

Oh, and thanks Joel, for making the tier – it looked really good.

Yes, that’s Joel in pink, with me and Dot.

Phew, my first wedding cupcake tier and I dare say it was a challenge but a fulfilling one and I’m glad I took it up. Thank God! If you’re wondering about the recipe, it’s the one used by the famous Magnolia Bakery in the States. Have posted the recipe here as well.

Speaking of which, I have to give it to Daph. I’ve never met a bride as meticulous as her. She wanted a pink theme and made sure the decor matched the entire feel of the wedding right down to the minute details.

Maybe you’ll understand when you see this:

Pink cones! Aren’t they beautiful? I think they are uber sweet and irresistible. You can’t get the pink paper anywhere mind you. It was designed especially for her wedding. Dot (she’s also a talented freelance designer) did it, together with the wedding invitations and wedding mass booklet. Daph wanted the cones to be filled with those sugar coated peanuts:

I happen to think that it’s a brilliant idea. It made the wedding really special. I mean, who can say they had a cupcake tier and a pink cone tier on their big day? Hats off to Daph and her keen sense of style. She’s one amazing woman! Oh and did I mention, beautiful?

Here’s a snapshot of the gorgeous bride with some of us Amplify girls…

Everyone looked so sweet in their elegant dresses, especially Daph!

Here’s a toast to Dominic and Daphne, the star couple who never fail to put God in the centre always.

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Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcakes
Recipe from More From Magnolia by Allysa Torey

For cupcakes:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 and 1/2 cup self rising flour
1 and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

For icing:
1 cup unsalted butter, very soft
8 cups powdered sugar, divided
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

To make cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing. At the bakery we ice the cupcakes with either Vanilla Buttercream or Chocolate Buttercream.

To make icing:
Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.