How To: Vanilla Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream Frosting (Catcakes 2.0)

Hi Nibblers!

       Last year, I made my first ever Catcakes for my bestie Tree. This year, I decided to take it up a notch and make a 3D version of a cat. There was a lot of sweat involved and thanks to Sydney's humid weather, it almost sabotaged the whole cupcake mission! Thankfully, I had Kevin who offered to be my baker in crime for the day. I'm really happy with how the Catcakes turned out this year and received good feedback in terms of taste as well. I used my Banh Bong Lan recipe for the base and flavoured my standard buttercream with a mocha flavouring. If you want to just learn how I make my vanilla sponge / bang bong lan, click on the link or keep reading on to see how I decorated the Catcakes.

How To: Vanilla Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream Frosting (Catcakes 2.0)

What you will need: Banh Bong Lan
- 6 eggs (separated into whites and egg yolks bowls)
- 180g self raising flour (or plain - just add a pinch of salt) - sifted
- 140g of sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla essence
- 90mL of milk
- 90mL of vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
Mocha Buttercream Frosting
- 250g unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 2 Tbs. of milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla essence
- 110g icing sugar (sifted)
- 5 tsp. of instant coffee (mixed with 2 tsp. of warm water)
- 1/3 cup approx. 90g of melted chocolate (I prefer a dark chocolate (70%) as I don't like frosting to be too sweet)
Cat props
- 1/3 cup or approx. 90g of melted chocolate (I used 70% dark chocolate)
- 6 pink mini M&Ms cut into halves (Cat's nose - you may need a few extras incase they get lost, in your belly)
- 24 brown mini M&Ms (Cat's eyes)

How To: Banh Bong Lan
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Line cupcake tin with patty pans
3. Beat egg whites on high using an electric mixer for 30 seconds before adding sugar into the bowl
4. Continue to beat until egg whites for about 7 mins or until the egg peaks are glossy and are able to hold their shape then put aside
5. Add vanilla, cream of tartar, oil and milk to egg yolk bowl and beat on high for about 5 mins until mixture turns from the deep orange to a light yellow/beige colour
6. Add 3/4 of flour into egg yolk mixture and beat until well combined
7. Transfer egg yolk mixture into large mixing bowl 
8. Add a large spoonful of egg whites into egg yolk mixture then fold until well combined
9. Add remaining 1/4 of flour evenly into mixing bowl and fold until you can no longer see flour trails
10. Repeat step 8 until all egg whites have been well combined
         Note: It is a long process but the end results are worth it. Be sure to fold gently to minimise the loss of air from the mixture
                  The end mixture should be the texture between a sweetened yoghurt (such as Ski)  and greek yogurt. The super runny bits, may indicate oil has not yet been combined well so keep gently folding.
11. Scoop mixture in a measuring jug to make it easier to pop into muffin tins
12. Pour mixture half-way up the patty pans
13. Pop into pre-heated oven for 16 minutes - 20 minutes or until skewer comes out clean  
14. Leave to cool before decorating
Cat Props:

Pink noses and cat eyes ready to go!

1. Melt 90g of chocolate under a double boiler or in a microwave (whichever you prefer) until silky and smooth
2. Pop melted chocolate into a piping bag (careful it's hot!) then pipe on a tray lined with baking paper at least 24 filled triangles with 2cm side then pop into the fridge to set
3. Pipe chocolate lines on a separate baking paper lined tray to act as whiskers then pop into the fridge to set
Mocha Buttercream Frosting:
1. Melt 90g of chocolate under a double boiler or in a microwave (whichever you prefer) until silky and smooth then set aside

      

Our lines were a bit thin and hard to handle so make them thicker!

2. Beat softened butter on high for 5-7 minutes until the yellow butter turns to a creamy - off white colour
3. Add and mix milk and vanilla essence until well combined
4. Add sifted icing sugar and beat for 5 minutes until well incorporated, remembering to scrape the sides
5. Add melted chocolate and coffee mixture into the buttercream and mix well
      Note: - If you find your mixture too runny, add 2x Tbs. icing sugar until you have the perfect
                   consistency
                - If you find it too stiff, add a Tbs. of milk until you have the perfect consistency
                - Perfect - pipeable consistency is when it'll only slide of your spatula if you force it back                     into the bowl with one swift hand movement

Assemble time!
1. Using any closed star tip, pipe rough 0.5cm peaks around the whole cupcake then build upwards in layers until it comes to a point like a mountain
2. Working quickly, pop the chocolate triangles onto the top left and right side corners of the frosting mountain 
3. Pop brown M&Ms about 1cm underneath the ears to resemble eyes
4. Add pink M&Ms 1cm underneath and in the middle of the two eyes
5. Cut chocolate lines into rough 1.5cm lines then add 2 strands (each side) next to the nose to act as whiskers!
        Note: Chocolate whiskers and chocolate ears were hard to handle as it was so hot, it melted in our hands. So take the decorating process slowly, pop the props into the fridge if you need to or even the cupcakes! The taste was not affected at all.

          I hope you love this recipe. If you do try it for yourself, make sure to leave a comment below or tag me on twitter (nibblejo_x) or instagram (nibblejo_x). Unfortunately, I'm still not a cat lover but, I had so much fun making these. Tree is still trying to convert me to the cat world with little progress. Maybe next year, Tree? Hope you all are having a lovely week!

Left over chocolate creations

Three cutie cats

 Nibble Away,

              Jo

How to: Banh Bong Lan (Vanilla Sponge Cake)

Hey Nibblers!

       On Friday, my amazing mum turned 50! She's my inspiration when it comes to cooking. She loves to experiment and always tries to perfect her recipe if she makes the tiniest mistake. She mostly cooks Vietnamese cuisine as that's our background which is great because that way, I've learnt to cook some traditional dishes myself. One of her favourite cakes is the 'Vanilla Sponge Cake' or in Vietnamese translation, 'Banh Bong Lan.' She makes it almost every other week to give to my relatives and is always telling me to learn to make it. I didn't. But, it's only because I wanted to surprise her on her birthday!

        I took it a step further and decorated the cake in one of her other favorite desserts, profiteroles (I'll be sure to post a recipe for these in the future) and had nuts covered on the side. It didn't turn out as symmetrical and neat as I wanted it to. But, the taste was all there. And, she was surprised so win-win situation. I was also time constricted as I had to rush home from work and only had 2hr 1/2min to do the 'banh bong lan' component, the icing for the nuts to stick, the custard, the melting of chocolate and profiteroles casing. My dedication to finish in time override my hunger so, I even skipped dinner.

Mum's cake with the 'Banh Bong Lan' sponge bottom

        The popularity surrounding 'Banh Bong Lanh' lies in how light and fluffy the sponge is. It's all in the technique and so, I failed with Mum's cake last night. The flavours were all there and it did rise a fair amount but, the oil in the batter did not mix in well so, it had a thick layer of thick cake when I cut the cake open. Mum said it took her a couple of tries to make it perfect but, it all comes down to technique/patience. So, since I sort of failed, I re-did it this morning with Mum's supervision but, in muffin form because it's less cooking time. The cake version has the exact same recipe just in a different tin.
        So, let's break it down and take it one step at a time.

How to: Banh Bong Lan (Vanilla Sponge Cake)

What you need: 

- 6 eggs
- 140g of white sugar (doesn't need to be caster)
- 180g of self- raising flour
- 1/2 tsp. of cream of tartar
- 1 Tbs. Vanilla extract or 1/2 Tbs. vanilla sugar
- 90ml of canola oil
- 90ml of milk
        Note: This makes one standard round cake tin, standard bundt tin or 12 large muffins
                          P.s. For muffin form, it's best to use muffin paper (cafe styled) so these babies have space to rise. You can find these papers pre-fold at local supermarkets or simply cut squares out of some baking paper and folding them to make four edges to fit in a standard muffin tin.
                  For large cake form pre-heat oven to 160 degrees celcius and bake for 45-50min
                  For muffin form pre-heat oven to 180 degrees and bake for 20min

How to: (Pictures below show this recipe but doubled in quantity as Mum wanted me to make 24 muffins)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Separate egg whites in a medium mixing bowl and egg yolks in another
3. Beat egg whites on high using an electric mixer for 30 seconds before adding 2/3 of the sugar into the bowl.
4. Continue to beat until egg whites for about 7 mins or until the egg peaks are able to hold their shape

Beating egg whites on high

Until they form peaks/ hold their shape

5. Add vanilla, cream of tartar, the rest of the sugar to egg yolk and beat using the same electric beater on high for about 5 mins or until mixture turns from the deep orange to a light yellow/beige colour

From bright orange yolk to yellow/ beige in colour

6. Add oil and milk into a large mixing bowl

Oil and milk in a large bowl

7. Transfer egg yolk mixture into large mixing bowl filled with oil and milk
8. Fold egg yolk mixture, oil and milk
          Note: Try and fold/ separate as much oil as you can throughout the mixture. Most of it won't disappear until you the rest of the ingredients so, don't stress
9. Add a large ladle full of the egg whites into the large mixing bowl spreading it evenly across the surface and then using a wooden spatula, fold it a couple of times

Ladle dollop of egg whites

10. Sift a thin layer of the flour into the mixture, spreading it evenly across the surface (To prevent lumps in mixture) and then folding it in a couple of times
          Note: Oil may have sunken to the bottom of the bowl so be sure to scoop and fold to make sure there's no oily bits left (it'll leave a thick layer of dough looking bit in your cake). If you see a patch of oil add some flour and keep folding/scooping the area to spread the oil. It'll take time so keep adding flour/ egg whites while taking care of those nasty oil blobs.

Using a normal sift or one like this can help your arm tire less. It also distributes even amounts of flour and allows for flour dispensing direction control

11. Repeat steps 9 and 10 until all the egg whites and flour has been well combined.
         Note: It is a long process but the end results are worth it. Be sure to fold gently to minimise the loss of air from the mixture
                  The end mixture should be the texture between say Ski yoghurt you find in supermarkets and greek yogurt sold at health food stores. The super runny bits, may indicate oil has not yet been combined well.

Mixture well combined

12. Scoop mixture in a measuring jug to make it easier to pop into muffin tins

Makes it easier to pour mixture in evenly

13. Pour mixture to the brim of muffin casings
13. Pop into pre-heated oven for 20 minutes

Beautifully risen at 16 minutes

3 minutes in

14. Let them cool for about 5 minutes and serve

They'll rise a lot in the oven but as they cool, the deflate a cm or so

Ready to eat!

Success! Light, fluffy and delicious

Happy Birthday Mum! <3

           We've just come back from Mum's birthday dinner at 'Criniti's' Darling Harbour which I'll be doing a review on soon. 'Vivid' Sydney is also in full swing at the moment so it was a great post-dinner activity. 'Vivid' is a light, music and ideas festival running from 24th of May to the 10th of June. So, if you find yourself in the city/ Circular Quay side have a look around.
       

Snap shot from Vivid Sydney

           Hope you all have an amazing week.
     
Nibble away,
         Jo x.