Butterscotch and Pecan Cupcakes with Cinnamon Sugar Buttercream Icing

On a recent visit to the shop The Essential Ingredient, I managed to buy a few interesting new things. One item that I picked up was Butterscotch Essence. I had no idea how to use it, but planned to bake with it one day.

On the weekend I had a light bulb moment and finally came up with an idea on how I would bake something using the Butterscotch Essence. I decided that I would try to bake Butterscotch and Pecan Cupcakes with Cinnamon Sugar Buttercream Icing.

I decided to open the Butterscotch Essence and see what it smelt like. The smell was so strong, that my husband could smell it when he entered the room.  At this point I was unsure about how this recipe would work.

In the end I decided to use the good old Buttermilk Cupcake recipe base and add 1 teaspoon of the Butterscotch Essence and 1 grams of Riverside All Australian Pecan Nut Pieces. For the icing, I used the usual icing recipe and then added McCormick’s Cinnamon Sugar.

When the cupcakes came out the oven, I was so worried that the cupcakes would taste disgusting.

I ended up taking a very small apprehensive bite of the cupcake. To be my surprise, the cupcake tasted really nice. The butterscotch flavour was not too intense and the pecans were a delicious addition to the flavour. I was so over joyed that I made my Husband eat some. He said they tasted very nice.

For the icing, I decided to add cinnamon sugar. I was going to make a butterscotch buttercream icing, but I thought that might be too much butterscotch. Once I had a taste, it was obvious that the combination of the cinnamon sugar buttercream icing with the cupcakes worked very well.

I was so excited that my experiment worked well. I cannot wait to see what else I can bake using the Butterscotch Essence.

 

Green Tea and Chocolate Cupcakes

I had one of those days where I felt that I needed to bake something different. I was getting so bored with baking the same old boring recipes, so I decided to experiment.

After much thought, I decided to make Green Tea and Chocolate Cupcakes.

The idea was simple, I would use the base buttermilk cupcake recipe and I would make two batches. First batch would be chocolate and the second would be green tea. Once the mixtures were finished, I would alternate between adding teaspoons of both mixtures into cupcake cases.

Twenty minutes later, the beautiful cupcakes were ready.

 

I was so happy with the colour contrast, but not particularly thrilled with the “rustic” cracks.  (nothing a bit of icing can fix)

The Green Tea and Chocolate cupcakes were so delicious. The cupcakes were so moist. I really liked how the green tea and chocolate combined to make a subtle flavour.

Once the cupcakes cooled down, I piped some icing onto the cupcakes to hide the “rustic” cracks. I decided to use two different type of piping methods.

 

 

I am so happy that my experiment worked out well. I cannot wait to bake these Green Tea and Chocolate Cupcakes again!

Connoisseur Sumatran Coconut Ice Cream

I scream for delicious ice cream!

When I found out that Connoisseur had released a new range of delicious ice cream on a stick, I was very excited. I think I was most excited because they had a coconut flavour.

After my disappointment with Bulla’s Coconut Ice Ice Cream I decided to start off with very little expectations. I headed off to the local Woolies and bought one box. I also noticed that there were other flavours too, but I really wanted to try the coconut flavoured one.

When I got home I decided to try one.  From the delicious milk chocolate shell to the creamy intense coconut ice cream, I think my taste buds went to heaven. I was so impressed that I quite honestly could have eaten another one (but a girl has to have self control).

After day two of eating the Connoisseur Sumatran Coconut Ice Cream, I had become obsessed. I ended up heading to the supermarket again to buy two more boxes.

I have to say that it has been a very long time since I have really loved any ice cream bought from the supermarket, I am really happy that I have now found one that I really love.

Connoisseur Sumatran Coconut Ice Cream… I love you!

Connoisseur Sumatran Coconut Ice Cream is available from most supermarkets for $7.99

Website: http://www.peters.com.au/brands/connoisseur

My Piping Progress

As you may have read in previous posts, I used to have a love-hate relationship with piping icing. I would get so frustrated and then give up.  Lately, thanks to the guidance of my Twitter friend  Tina @bitemeshowme , I have managed to improve my piping skills and now I love piping icing (how would have thought..right?).

One of the best tips that Tina had given me, was to buy a size 1M Wilton piping tip. My 1M Wilton piping tip is seriously my new best friend. I believe that this piping tip helped improve my piping skills. The results after using this piping tip truly amazes me.

 

I also recently bought a small Wilton piping set, I cannot wait to try experimenting with the other tips.

 

Here is a few examples of my recent piping..

Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream icing

Coconut Cupcake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Green Tea Cupcake with Green Tea Buttercream Icing

White Chocolate Mud Cupcake with Coconut Buttercream Icing

Chocolate Cupcake with Multi-tone Buttecream Icing

Chocolate Cupcake with my new yellow food colouring

I can actually say that I no longer have a love-hate relationship with piping and icing, I am now officially addicted!