Pica, is the name of the disorder that my youngest two seem to have. Whilst Kyla is happy munching down on toilet paper (only fresh, not used I assure you!), Zeke likes the taste of dirt, but, worse than that, is his addiction to foam.
Over the last 6 months, the kitchen cupboard under the sink has returned to 'defense' mode. The re-introduction of kiddie proof locks on the cupboard has seen a huge improvement in thefts and vandalism, however today, someone (and I won't point fingers, its probably me after all) forgot to put the lock back on.
The result of this horrific parental oversight, is what we in the industry call an 'ergonomic sponge'.
Cleverly designed holes for your fingers give you the ability to really get down deep to the filth and grime, giving you cleaner dishes and well-scrubbed counters.
$3.95 a pack of 3. I just hope one day Demand will exceed Supply.
Our other wonderful sponsor is Peppermint. I have a couple of Peppermint Crisps in the fridge, had a cupcake idea, and so begins our foray into baking for today.
First, I wanted to use a really scrumptious and moist cake for the base of the cupcake. I opted to go with my fail safe, super moist and always well received Chocolate Cake for the base.
Moist Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
125g Butter
125g Caster Sugar
40g Sifted Icing Sugar
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
80g Jam
155g Self Raising Flour
60g Cocoa
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
250ml Milk
Now, before we start on the 'how to' of the recipe, just in case you want to give this a try yourself, over at Chez Kate we're...
...cookin' with Gas. Gas fan forced oven to be exact, so factor that in when it comes to baking times.
Time to bake that chocolate cake. First, preheat the oven to about 170 degrees celcius. In a large bowl, combine the softened butter, icing mixture and sugar. Beat together until light and creamy.
Add the eggs at this point, one at a time, continuing to mix through each addition. Add the jam and vanilla, then dissolve the bicarb soda in the milk (just pop it in, stir it around a bit) and gradually add to the bowl the milk, flour and cocoa. You can add alternatively whilst mixing to avoid splashing and puffs of flour, or pop it all in at once and mix slowly and carefully. I opted for the latter this time :-
Next, mix well until the batter resembles something similar to chocolate mousse.
This takes about 2-3 minutes on a medium ish speed on my mixer. Its a $49 'Poor People Can Bake Too' Aldi Sale special that seems to really not have any clear slow setting. I mean, there are numerals that arbitrarily relate to parts of the adjustable dial, but, if you're not supervising this mixer on setting 1, you'll be cleaning flecks of butter rolled in sugar from places you only imagined. Setting 1's speed also sounds suspiciously as fast as settings 2 through to 6, but move it to 7 and beyond, and, you'll think you're attending the breaking of the land speed record by a motorized wheelchair.
Hence my KitchenAid lust. I saw one today and was underwhelmed, but I'll bet that thing at least has speeds that are measurably different. For $49 though, this last paragraph of whinging aside, I won't complain about my Aldi bargain. Its been a good mixer, hasn't died after 12 months of abuse so hey, its a win in my books. It did originally come with two glass bowls though, this large one, and, a smaller one that was great for whipping up small batches of icings and the like. I broke the smaller one showcasing my inability to retain basic scientific core values (don't place cold glass into hot liquid, lol how Science 101 reject is that for ya!) and mourn its passing every day.
Oops, rambling. Sorry.
Get your muffin trays out, some patty liners
Fill each patty cup about 1/2 way or so, you don't need to be overly generous as this cake has a tendency to rise up then sink back. Overflow = big mess and bad news.
Into the oven they go. After about 10 minutes, I turn the trays and drop the heat right back. My oven loves to burn the arse right out of things though. You don't want to overcook this mix, so drop the temp by at least 20 degrees here, at the very least.
After another 15-20 minutes, your cupcakes should hopefully look like this
sinking slightly in the middle, but if you feel the outer diameter, it will feel more like springy cake. As you can see, I got 24 cupcakes out of this mixture. I used every last drop of mixture
Let the cupcakes cool for at least an hour, two is better.
In the meantime, make yourself useful and pull out two Peppermint Crisp bars. Holding a spoon by the very end, whack the crap out of it while it is still in its wrapper
and place the 'bits' to one side in a bowl.
Next, its time for some of the Buttercream frosting. Once you've made up the base buttercream, divide the mixture into two bowls. In the first one, we're going to place about half a teaspoon of Peppermint Essence and a splash of green food colouring (and of course the 1 Tablespoon of Milk at this point).
Mix until you get a nice even colour and consistency.
Now for the chocolate. In the other bowl, place about half a cup of Cocoa Powder and a Tablespoon of Milk.
Mix away until combined well.
Next, take your piping bag and large star nozzle (oh, star nozzle, my limited piping experience loves you), two clean spoons and start loading up your piping bag in an extra special way...
The technique you're aiming for here is 'a little bit of this and a little bit of that', alternate the chocolate buttercream and peppermint buttercream. One spoonful at a time.
Next, take a piece of paper towel or a napkin and start to squeeze the buttercream creation until you see the colours combined
In this photo above, you'll see to the right that the mixture initially came out only chocolate, but, the peppermint began to seep through very quickly after.
Now attack those cupcakes!
Next, apply some of your crushed Peppermint Crisp:-
Repeat 23 times, unless you drop one, or one is stolen before you get to it. Either way, the buttercream recipe covers 24, no leftovers, I didn't kick myself because I'd made too much or too little. A very rousing success.
These will be going to the teachers at the boys school for morning tea tomorrow. I really appreciate Pupil Free Days, and this is my special thank you to them for making such a special occasion possible. The absence of a school run gave me two extra hours in my day today, which really, makes the whole production above possible.
The taste test verdict - SCRUMPTIOUS!!
Its hard to capture how moist the chocolate cake is, but, take my word for it!
Demolition in record time!
The cost - these came in at around 38c per cupcake, not bad!
love the 2 colours/flavours for the icing!
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