Re-Bake: Real Fruits Strawberry Cupcakes
I’ve actually baked these cupcakes a few weeks back but I haven’t gotten down to blogging them, and just when I saw the theme for Bake Along today is cupcakes, I decided to blog about them first. :p
I re-baked a previous favourite of mine – Strawberry Cupcakes as I had leftover Korean strawberries that were on the verge of growing mould (yikes I know!) and I felt that these cupcakes deserved a lot more attention. What I love about these cupcakes is that the cake portion is made using real strawberries. If you Google “strawberry cake”, most recipes that claimed are “Strawberry Cakes” are made with white cake box mix and strawberry jello – and that’s definitely not the strawberry cake that I’m looking for. So when I found this one, I knew it’s a keeper, and I highly recommend it to be yours too!
Apologies for the grainy shot… :/
For the frosting, strawberry cream cheese frosting would have worked very well but I decided to try out the dried strawberry powder that I’ve acquired during my trip in Taiwan last year. I’ve originally bought them to bake strawberry macarons but I don’t have the motivation to bake macarons… yet. :p I’ve included both versions of frosting at the end, so use whichever one you like!
Here are the step-by-step photos!
(Click to see a larger photo in Flickr!)
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1) Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. |
2) Beat in the egg. |
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3) Beat in the milk / buttermilk / yogurt. |
4) Chop up some strawberries! |
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5) Add them into the batter. |
6) Sift and fold in the flour. |
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7) I added a little red food colouring to intensify the colour. |
8) Bake away and then frost! |
Om nom nom!
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This is the strawberry powder that I used for the frosting – I’ve gotten it from Taiwan! It’s dried strawberries processed into a fine powder. 50 grams of this intense powder cost NT$200 (US$6.78). They also sell other quality powders such as matcha, lemon, pumpkin (have yet to try this). They stock up a lot of hard-to-find ingredients such as special flours for making bread (those really expensive Japanese / French flours), and are also well equipped with baking equipments. Do head over there and check it out if you have a chance!
Edit 12 May 2013: I’ve tried searching for strawberry powder here in Singapore, but to no avail. Sunlik stocks up strawberry paste, which the owner was really nice and let me have a whiff of it, but unfortunately the smell is no where near real strawberries. I’ve found a recipe on making strawberry powder from scratch, I’ll give it a try when I ran out of mine, but meanwhile if you’re interested, do head here to read more!
Aiga Food (艾佳西點原料行)
| Taipei Branch (台北): 02-8660-8895 (phone number) |
No. 14, Lane 118, Yiān Rd, Zhonghe District New Taipei City, Taiwan 235 (新北市中和區宜安路118巷14號1) Mon – Sat 10am – 9pm Sun 10am – 6pm |
| Taoyuan Branch (桃園): (03)3320178 (phone number) |
No. 281, Yǒng’ān Rd, Taoyuan City Taoyuan County, Taiwan 330 (桃園市永安路281號) Mon – Sat 9am – 9pm Sun 9am – 6pm |
| Other branches: | Please see here (in Chinese) |
I’m submitting this to Bake Along hosted by these 3 awesome ladies: Lena (Her Frozen Wings), Joyce (Kitchen Flavours) and Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids). Do click on the froggie above to see what other celebratory cupcakes other fellow foodies have came up with!
Edit: I’ve forgotten to say…
Happy 2nd birthday to Bake-Along!
Time really flies isn’t it, it’s already been 2 years! Though I joined the bake halfway, but it’s definitely been more than a year since I’ve joined Bake Along, and I love how it’s growing so fast! It’s really fun seeing everyone’s bake and getting to know more bloggers, do join us if you can! 
This is also for:
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(more…)
Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan (Part 2/2)
On to part 2 of Sun Moon Lake! (Part 1 can be found here!) In Sun Moon Lake area, there are 3 piers – the one at Sun Moon Lake is known as Shuishe Wharf (水社碼頭), the other 2 is known as Itashao Wharf (伊達邵碼頭) and Syuanguang Wharf (玄光碼頭). We bought the boat tickets for NT$300 each, which allowed us unlimited boat rides (if I didn’t remember wrongly).
Our first destination is Itashao village (伊達邵)!
Pretty cafe!
We passed by a very pretty cafe that sells tea ice cream – tea leaves are one of Sun Moon Lake’s popular souvenir items. I’ve seen the tea leaves being used in making ice cream, cookies and egg rolls.
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Left: Black tea ice cream; Right: wishes being hung on a tree
The ice cream is smooth, creamy and intense with tea flavour – pretty good! We also spotted wishes written on small wooden cards and hung on the tree in the cafe. Many were wishing for eternal love and excel in studies 
Mochi stall
More about Itashao Village – the village was once known as Dehua Village and is the main Thao settlement. This area was severely damaged by the earthquake in 1999, but have been restored since then. It is currently one of the most popular tourist destinations in Sun Moon Lake.
Freshly made mochi (麻糬)!
Mochi is a type of glutinous rice cake. The cooked glutinous rice is pounded into a paste, wrapped with a desired filling and shaped into a ball. Fresh, hand-made mochi are definitely the best as they are so soft and chewy! There are many filling variations – chocolate, peanut, sesame, green tea etc.
Passed by a very beautiful villa called Lea Lea Garden Hotels – would love to stay there as the rooms have a fantastic view of the lake, maybe next time
Sun Moon Lake Gondola Station
There’s a cable car station which, besides offering a panorama view of Sun Moon Lake, brings you to another two famous destinations – Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Park and the Amusement Park. The cultural park features traditional aboriginal dances in their unique and pretty costumes at various timings throughout the day. As I had been to the cultural village before (many years back) and since we were planning to go to another amusement park, we didn’t take the cable car ride.
If you plan to visit these two places, I’ve read you’ll need at least 1 day or 2 to cover these places, so do plan well in advance!
Sun Moon Lake Gondola Station
No. 102, Zhongzheng Road, Sun Moon Lake, Yuchi Township, Nantou County
(南投縣魚池鄉日月村中正路102號)
To the culture park: weekdays 1000 to 1530; weekends and holidays 0930 to 1600.
The return cable car ceases operation at 1700/1730 on Weekdays/Holidays.
NT$300 for the gondola ride; NT$700 for gondala and admission to the Aboriginal Culture Park.
A pavilion great for hanging out and relax
Deep-fried vegetarian buns
While in Itashao village, there are plenty of snacks to buy along the way. I’m highly recommending this deep-fried vegetarian buns stall – no doubt it’s a little unhealthy, but the generous serving of vegetables in one bun makes me feel less guilty eating it. There are 2 types of buns – a shiitake mushroom version (香菇包) and a cabbage version (高麗菜包). We bought the cabbage version and it was served piping hot to us (at only NT$40 each!) Pretty awesome!
Grilled rice-stuffed chicken wing (雞翅包邵族飯)
Though this wasn’t as tasty as I hoped it would be, it’s still pretty interesting. The bones are removed from a chicken wing and a cooked rice mixture was instead stuffed inside. The chicken was then grilled until the skin is crispy. There are also deep-fried versions though we didn’t try them out.
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Left: Cabbage bun; Right: Grilled rice-stuffed chicken wing
I don’t have the actual address, but you can find them in the Itashao village:
Itashao
Itashao, Rih Yue Village, Yuchih Township, Nantou County 555, Taiwan
Syuanguang Wharf (玄光碼頭)
After filling our stomach with the snacks and drinks, we headed to Syuanguang Wharf. From the pier, there was a trail leading all the way up to Syuentzang Temple (玄奘寺).
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It’s an upslope climb, so it was pretty tiring by the time we reached the temple.
Syuentzang Temple (玄奘寺)
Syuentzang Temple (玄奘寺) is built in 1965 and faces the Sun Moon Lake. There are 2 levels, one where the remains of the monk Xuanzang (玄藏) are worshipped while the other is where the golden Sakyamuni Buddha (釋迦牟尼佛) is worshipped.
Syuentzang Temple (玄奘寺)
No.389, Jhongjheng Rd., Yuchih Township, Nantou County 555, Taiwan
5:00 A.M. ~ 6:00 P.M.
Ci En Pagoda (慈恩塔)
There was another trail to the right of the Syuentzang Temple that leads up to Ci En Pagoda. The trail was originally closed as the path was semi-destroyed by Typhoon Saola. However, we decided to try our luck and climb up the steps. We met with some of the locals who were fixing the road and they were really nice and allowed us to pass. When we reached the top, there was absolutely nobody at all! It was so quiet and serene and if not for the fog, the place would have been even more beautiful. The pagoda was commissioned by the late President Chiang Kai-shek in memory of his mother. The pagoda was completed in April 1971 and stood at 46 meters tall (9 stories tall).
We climbed up the tower and there was a bell, so we rang the bell and prayed. In Chinese, we called this qiao zhong qi fu (敲钟祈福 ).
Ci En Pagoda (慈恩塔)
Yuchi Township, Nantou County [Longitude/Latitude (23.841985,120.920543)]
南投縣魚池鄉環潭公路
After heading back down from the pagoda, we head back to the pier, but not before stopping at a popular stall selling Chinese Tea Eggs.
The crowd was insane!
The shop, started by a grandma, sells only one food item – and that is Chinese Tea Eggs. The shop is so popular that I heard from a guide that on really good days, she can sell at least 20,000 eggs! We weren’t super fans of hard-boiled eggs, let alone tea eggs, though we did join the queue and bought 2 to try. It was kind of pathetic for us to buy just 2, because everyone around us were buying in 10s… We found that the eggs were not bad, but I have no idea why people were so crazy over it!
Hand-made black tea egg rolls
Egg rolls are one of my favourite snacks and it was really interesting watching these ladies making fresh, warm egg rolls. They spread a little batter on a heated griddle, in which the machine will then press down and flatten the batter into a thin layer. The ladies will then roll the cooked egg roll up and then leave it aside to cool. We bought one to try and was delighted to find that they have a really nice black tea flavour. Yum!
Meihe Garden (梅荷園)
The name “Meihe” means “plum” and “water lily”. The garden was constructed after the earthquake in 1999. It is European-styled and there are benches for one to relax and enjoy the view, even into the night as the place is also lit up.
Meihe Garden (梅荷園)
Jhungshan Road, Shueishe Village, Yuchih, Nantou County, Taiwan
南投縣魚池鄉中山路
An evening shot before we head back for dinner.
Last shot of the place before we leave for the next destination!
Here are all the Taiwan posts I’ve blogged about so far! (Click on the photos to read the posts!)
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Will be back to blog a recipe soon
The Home Bakers #16: Black Tea-Lemon Cornmeal Cupcakes
After getting my cornmeal last week, I finally attempted the Rosemary-Lemon Polenta Cake, chosen by Angela of The Charmed Cupcake. I scaled the recipe down and baked only 1/4 of the cake and ended up with 6 muffins/cupcakes. Unfortunately, no one in the family liked the taste of rosemary in the cake. I have to say that it’s an acquired taste as we don’t usually use herbs in desserts (probably with the exception of mint). But don’t worry, I still had them for the next few days as breakfast as I didn’t want to waste them.
Not wanting to post a recipe that I wasn’t very fond of, I thought of changing the flavour to one that I like. Unfortunately I don’t have lavender, and suddenly an idea struck me.
How about black tea?
I bought some loose Assam tea (black tea) leaves from Taiwan last year and they’re still lying around in my cupboard. Though Assam tea originates from India, it is a very popular tea of choice in Taiwan and is the main tea used in making bubble teas. The tea has a strong flavour, which I think will impart very well into the cake.
And it was a success!
The cake has a very nice and tender crumb, and every bite is filled with a very light tea flavour (imagine the taste of black tea with milk) and lemon. As I ground the tea leaves very finely in a food processor before infusing them, the tea leaves are all added into the batter, creating a beautifully speckled cake and you won’t get those bites of tea leaves in the cake – a win-win situation! It wasn’t very sweet as I reduced the sugar quite a bit so it’s a perfect treat for breakfast and for tea-time.
Just to clarify between polenta and cornmeal: I’ve found out that polenta is actually ground cornmeal boiled with water or stock into a porridge and eaten directly or baked, fried or grilled (Source). Since the cornmeal in this recipe is immersed in hot milk before adding into the batter, I guess that’s why the author called it a polenta cake.
I went a totally different route with the recipe, but I’m really glad to be able to find one that suits my liking a lot more. Off to the step-by-step photos!
(Click the photos to see a larger image at Flickr!)
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1) Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. |
2) Measure milk in a small pot and bring it to a simmer, gently swirling the pot frequently. |
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3) While the milk is heating up, measure cornmeal and some finely ground tea leaves in a small bowl. |
4) Pour the hot milk over the cornmeal and tea leaves, stirring to mix them together. |
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5) Sugar and softened butter – the usual suspects. |
6) After creaming to fluffiness, add in egg, vanilla and lemon zest. |
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7) Sift in 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat in on slow speed. |
8) While the beater is running on low speed, drizzle in 1/2 of the milk mixture. |
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9) Sift in 1/2 of the remaining flour mixture and beat it in. |
10) Add in the remaining milk mixture, remember to scrape in all the tea goodness! |
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11) Stir in the remaining flour – look at how pretty the batter is! |
12) Divide the batter among cupcakes and bake until done! |
And serve!
I’m submitting this to:
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The Home Bakers – check out all fellow home bakers take on the cake here! |
Aspiring Bakers #30: it’s Tea time! (April 2013) hosted by Food Playground |
This is also for:
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And on a very happy note, my Creamy Mushroom and Prawns Pasta was featured! Yay! All thanks to:
Black Tea-Lemon Cornmeal Cupcakes (makes 6)
adapted from Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas
60 ml milk / buttermilk (1/4 cup)
1/2 tablespoon finely ground black tea leaves (from 2 tablespoons of loose tea leaves)
30 grams finely ground yellow cornmeal (1/8 cup)
55 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature (1/4 cup)
55 grams caster sugar (1/4 cup)
1 egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
130 grams all-purpose flour (1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
As part of the rules, I’m not going to write down the full recipe here, please head over to Angela @ The Charmed Cupcake for the full recipe!
For the cupcake version, I used 1/4-cup ice cream scoop and divided them into 6 cupcakes. Bake them at 175 degrees Celsius for 15 to 18 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely on the wire rack.
Happy baking!
Creamy Mushrooms and Prawns Pasta
Today I’m sharing a recipe I’ve adapted from Johnny’s (Feed the Piglet) blog – Johnny used to train as a chef and he has developed more than 200 recipes that he is sharing on his blog. He also take really awesome photos of his dishes – so do check it out!
I adapted Johnny’s Prawn Pasta recipe – adding a little chili for some kick and some French beans as I had some leftover. I was never really a fan of creamy pasta dishes – in the past I used to buy those canned pasta sauces and they are all too thick, heavy and creamy for me. The combination of stock + cream is perfect – the resulting sauce is not too thick and the heat from the chili helps to offset the heaviness I usually get from eating cream pastas. Perfect!
Here comes the step-by-step recipes!
(Click the photos to see a larger image!)
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1) Fry the onion and chili in a little oil until onion has softened. |
2) Add in garlic and fry until fragrant. |
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3) Sear the prawns until cooked through. |
4) Remove the cooked prawns and cook the mushrooms until they have softened and reduced in size. |
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5) Add in water and stock cube (I used chicken stock cube). |
6) Add in bay leaf and simmer until the stock has reduced by 1/3. |
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7) Add in cream and bring the sauce to a simmer. |
8) Add in cooked pasta and vegetables (if using). |
Time to dig in! (Sorry for the over-exposed shot!)
I’m submitting this recipe to:
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Thank you, Johnny, for such a wonderful recipe!
Do check out his blog see the many recipes he has shared!
Creamy Mushrooms and Prawns Pasta (serves 2)
adapted from Johnny’s (Feed the Piglet) Prawn Pasta
10 large prawns, heads removed, peeled and de-veined
1/2 onion, peeled and chopped
1 chilli padi, de-seeded and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
250 grams mushrooms, sliced
125 ml water / vegetable / chicken stock (1/2 cup)
1/2 stock cube (omit if you are using liquid stock)
1 bay leaf
125 ml cream (1/2 cup)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
180 grams spaghetti
Mix the prawns with 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside for 10 minutes. Rinse and drain the prawns. Set aside.
In a large pot, heat a few lugs of olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add in the onion and chilli – the onion should sizzle gently. Turn down the heat to low and cook the onion for 5 minutes, stirring frequently until the onion has softened and is translucent. Add in the garlic and continue to cook on low heat until the garlic is fragrant.
Push the onion-garlic mixture to the side of the pot. Turn the heat up to medium and add in a little bit more oil if the pot is dry. Sear the prawns on both sides until cooked through. Remove the prawns and set aside.
Add in the mushrooms and cook over medium-low heat until the mushrooms have softened and shrunk in size. Add in the water/stock, stock cube (if using) and bay leaf. Turn up the heat and bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently until the stock has reduced by 1/3, stirring frequently. Stir in the cream and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil and season with salt (1/2 tablespoon salt per 1 little of water). Add in the spaghetti and cook until al-dente. Add vegetables during the cooking of the spaghetti if using any.
Drain the pasta and vegetables, reserving 1 cup of pasta water. Add the pasta and vegetables immediately into the cream sauce, tossing to coat the pasta. If the sauce is too dry, add in pasta water, bit by bit until you achieve your desired consistency (but I don’t have to at all). Adjust the seasonings, and add in the cooked prawns if desired, otherwise plate them separately.
Serve immediately!
Happy cooking!
More creamy pasta recipes for you?
- Recipe #34: Creamy Boursin pasta (myfoodchallenge.wordpress.com)
- Creamy Spring Pasta with Ham & Asparagus (teacher-chef.com)
- Frankfurters & pasta tossed in a hot creamy capsicum sauce! (kelipaan.com)
- Syn Free Side – Creamy Pasta with No Cream! (cookingwithcorinna.wordpress.com)
- Everyday Italian: Baked Pasta With Sausage, Mushrooms, and Mascarpone (seriouseats.com)
The Home Bakers #17 – Essence of Orange Chocolate Cake
Smile!
Time really flies, it’s time for another Home Bakers! I have missed the previous one because I kept forgetting to search for polenta. I finally bought a small packet of it today so I will be attempting the bake this weekend There are 9 days left to that bake so if you want to join us, do head over here for more information!
Back to the bake this time, chosen by Eileen of Hundred Eighty Degrees. This is indeed a very interesting cake – orange and raisins are blended into a paste and added into the batter, and because the raisins are soaked in a little rum before hand (tip from Eileen!) the cakes turned out really moist, delicious and very fragrant.
However, so far nobody could make out what was the flavour added into the cake (though they liked the taste of it) until I told them, probably because orange cakes weren’t common here. If you are into fruity and moist cakes, look no further, this is one you should definitely try
Ouch!
Keeping the post short as I really need to catch more sleep (been working late for the past few days), so here are the step-by step photos!
(Click the photos to see a larger photo!)
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1) Chop up 1/2 an orange. |
2) Blend it together with some rum-soaked raisins. |
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3) Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. |
4) Beat in 1 egg. |
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5) Then mix in the orange and raisins blend – looks a little gross here but don’t freak out! |
6) Sift in 1/2 of the flour mixture and beat it in on slow speed. |
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7) Add in the buttermilk and beat it in. |
8) Sift in the remaining flour and beat it in. |
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9) Scoop them till they’re 3/4 full and top with chocolate chips. |
10) Make a smiley face! |
Yum!
I’m submitting this to The Home Bakers, do click here to see all other fellow home bakers’ bakes!
This is also for:
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Essence of Orange Chocolate Cake (makes 10-12 cupcakes)
adapted from Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas
I baked the cupcakes at 175 degrees Celsius for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
For the full recipe, please head over to Eileen’s blog!
Notes:
Making your own buttermilk: To make 1 cup of buttermilk, measure 1 tablespoon vinegar / lemon juice and add into an empty measuring cup. Add in milk until it reaches 1 cup. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir before using.
Happy baking!
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