How i got to know cupcakes

Carrie and Miranda having cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery in NYC

Yes, it may sound strange but i didn't know of the existence of cupcakes until i watched Sex and the city. Since i live outside de US i hadn't had any type of contact with those little delicious treasures and the first time i tried a cupcake was at the Magnolia Bakery in New York City last summer.

I know, I was lucky to be able to try them there for the first time, but since I have tasted paradise, it is now difficult not to have too high expectations :)

Here some pics of my visit to Magnolia's and from the series SATC.

Me in Magnolia Bakery NYC Sept. 2010

My chocolate cupcake :)

My aunt's Vanilla Cupcake

Charlotte making cupcakes in her stylish kitchen

 

 

Cookie and Cupcake Decorating set

Last Christmas I got this Cookie and Cupcake Decorating set from my aunt in the States. This set is awesome and works perfectly plus you can put it in the dishwasher and it comes out safe :)

It is my first decorating set and I can say it works perfectly well and the fact that you can squeeze it makes it easy to use.

 

 

 Here are some explanations of what you can do with this set and it does also come with some recipes for cupcakes, cookies and frosting. <3

Little things i have baked in these 2 last years

Look what i found!! It's like a opening an old box with pictures!! I found some pictures of muffins i baked last year! When i felt stressed and dind't know what to do on a sunday morning 7am i just went to the kitchen to bake something nice for breakfast :)

pink and green muffins

my brother and mum helped me decorating :)

butter marmelade cookies

made this carrot cake for my brother's birthday

milka muffins

easter cookies

Cream Cheese Frosting

There will be enough for 12 cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cupcakes cream cheese (i used Philadelphia light), room temperature
• 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar (i used vanilla sugar)

Beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed in a bowl until creamy.

 Add sugar and vanilla extract (or vanilla sugar) and mix until fully incorporated.

As you can see I added some colour to the frosting to make it more fun.

It's time to decorate!!

Somehow this looks like a little rose :)

You can finish the look of your cupcakes with coloured sugar, little sprinkles etc.

And ready they are :) !

Vanilla Cupcakes

This morning I woke up and i felt the urge to bake something. I had been thinking of making brownie cupcakes but after 1 hour of looking through recipes i finally chose to bake some Vanilla Cupcakes.

Needed ingredients for the dough of 12 cupcakes:

• 1 vanilla bean, seeds only
• 200gr butter (room temperature)
• 160gr sugar
• 4 eggs
• 200gr flour
• 1 table spoon baking powder
• one finger tip salt

Preheat the oven 180'C degrees (160'C air oven)

First ingredient you'll need is the seeds of a vanilla bean. Simply cut it in the middle and scratch out the seeds with a knife.

Mix vanilla seeds, butter and sugar with your mixing machine, if possible. Mix them untill smooth.

Add the eggs and keep mixing. Better if you add an egg, mix. Add an egg, mix. etc.

Mix flour, baking powder and salt and mix it into the yellow dough. Mix till you get a smooth dough.

Put it into 12 muffin forms. With this quantity of dough i could have made maybe 13 - 14 muffins.

There are lots of different paper forms you can use.

Put them into the oven and let it be there 20 minutes. 

Use a toothpick to see if they're ready. If it pulls out clean, your cupcakes are baked :)

My cupcakes are ready! Gold brown and crispy. :)

Now it's time for the frosting! Choose whatever frosting you prefer. I'd recommend Cream Cheese frosting.