Pink and Green, Hearts in Between

These are for Honey. My college roommate who I haven't seen in years. I miss her.

Hope she likes it!

I have been frosting cupcakes in pink (and purple) last week (that's another story I'll be blogging about it next week) I'm still hung over it. On the pink side at least.

So for Honey's cupcakes, I still wanted pink frosting but paired with green frosting this time. Hope the color combination works!

Happy cupcaking!

Aikko

Daddy Cool

The greatest gift I ever had
Came from God; I call him Dad!
~Author Unknown

Let's all celabrate Father's Day!

This is for Papa. He loves to go fishing. I remember when my sister and I were kids, Sundays mean fishing, watching Ready Get Set Go (okay, I am an 80's kid) and the simple fancy for lunch. The day would start with me, my sister and Papa grabbing our bikes and heading to the market to buy bait and then going to the nearby river and "try" to fish. Though I distinctly remember we didn't get to catch a single fish those times (I think my loud, boisterous laugh scared the fishes away), I enjoyed it immensely. Sundays were pure bliss. It still is.

The frosting is supposed to be this big big wave but if it was just frosting alone, it won't be able to support the big fondant topper so I have to use another cupcake and carve it like a big wave to serve as the support. And although there is a support, the topper is still too heavy so I have to shoot it fast in case it topples down. Which did happen... see the middle fish and the cupcake liner? There are snippets of blue frosting where it isn't supposed to be... but that's just our little secret.

Happy father's day to all the fathers out there!

Happy cupcaking!

Aikko

Epic fail

Okay, I'm exaggerating. But please allow me to rant. This Apple Pecan Quick Bread from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook is still edible... I know.

It's just that sometimes bad things happen to good breads...

How bad things are? Let me count the ways. I am exaggerating again. There are just two -

- I didn't use Golden Delicious Apples. I used Fuji apples. Why? Because Fuji apples are delicious. Apparently, the red wine rule (Use only wines in your cooking that you would drink) doesn't apply to apples (Use only apples in your baking that you would eat --- not true. But then again, who said it was true? Oh, I am making things up!)

- The batter although almost liquid in form before baking, when I took it out of the oven it was rubbery. You know when you don't have a cake tester or a cocktail stick, the way to test if a cake is done is to touch it lightly and if it would spring back, you know it's done? Well... this one? It won't budge.

So, to spice things up, I shot it in an interesting angle.

See a vehicle passing by?

There goes another one! Talk about depth of field!

Happy Cupcaking!

Aikko

Maligayang Araw ng Kalayaan!

Happy Independence Day to all Filipinos!!!

To help celebrate the occasion, I made some chocolate cupcake topped with the Philippine flag in fondant. I'll write a tutorial on how make the flag.

But I'm way behind my tutorials post. I promise to do that soon. I have the pictures, it's just the words behind the pictures fail to come out of my brain or I'm just too lazy to write. My bad. Sometimes, instead of spending too much time writing, I'd rather bake and decorate cupcakes. But where's the balance in that? So here I am writing this post which I'm guessing is making you sleepy because I'm babbling ...

...like a brook.

But keep on reading...

Love the red and blue swirls on the frosting? Want me to let you in on the secret? I know you do! The secret is ... putting some food coloring on the sides of your piping bag before filling it up with buttercream. Pretty neat, huh?

Happy cupcaking!

Aikko

Sink your teeth...

into some Apricot Cream Cheese Streusel Bars!

“Sink your teeth” reminds me of Twilight. That’s because I’ve been re-reading the saga in time for the third installment to be shown by end of June. I know someone (ahem) counting the days till June 30.

But this is not about Twilight, (but it gave me an idea… anyone want an Eclipse cupcake?) it’s about this amazing Apricot Cream Cheese Streusel Bars that Allysa Torey and Jennifer Appel generously shared through their Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.

Do you have a sweet tooth?
But isn’t fond of chocolate?
Then this is for…

YOU

Go ahead… satisfy that sweet tooth and sink your teeth into these bars.

Carrie Zinnecker posted Magnolia Bakery's recipe on her site. I'm re-posting it here in case you're interested.

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Apricot Cream Cheese Streusel Bars

Ingredients

Crust

1 cup butter, slightly softened and cut into 1 inch pieces

2 cups all purpose flour

Cream Cheese Filling

1/2 pound cream cheese softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg at room temperature

1 t vanilla

Filling

3/4 cup apricot jam

Streusel Topping

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cup butter, slightly softened cut in 1 inch pieces

Prodecure

Preheat oven to 350

Crust

In a large bowl beat together butter and flour on medium speed until crumbly and well combined. Pat the mixture evenly and firmly into a 13 x 9 pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Filling

Beat together cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Set aside.

Streusel Topping

Mix together the flour and powdered sugar. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

Assembly

Spread the cream cheese filling on the cooled crust about 1/4 inch from the edges. Gently spread the jam over the cream cheese. Sprinkle the streusel over the entire top. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool to room temperature before cutting.

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Happy Cupcaking,

Aikko