Surprise M&M Chocolate Cupcakes

Excuse me all as I have been away for a while from blogging. In between, we shifted the house and lots of packing, unpacking, moving stuff here and there, throwing things and so on, lots of things are happening around. I thought I cannot blog till we got settled with everything, but I sneaked some time from packing, for my little space and today I am with a recipe which was in my archives.

These surprise cupcakes I made for my daughter’s birthday for her classmates. If you remember, I posted a lego cake for her birthday. Along with that birthday cake, I made these cupcakes.

She wanted something special for her class, and I came with the idea of these surprise cupcakes. I first thought of mixing the M&M's in the cake batter, but saw many videos on youtube and got the idea of how to hide the M&M’s.

Once the cupcakes are baked and cooled, I cut open the middle portion of the cupcake and scooped out a little bit of cake from the middle using a spoon to form a well. Then I placed 6- 7 M&M’s in the cupcakes and covered with the top portion of the cupcake and frosted it with the chocolate buttercream frosting. My daughter helped me with scooping out the cake and placing the M&M’s. It would be fun for the kids to help you out in small things.

It was a hit among her class friends and she was so happy that she again wanted the same cupcakes for her birthday party, which I ended up baking. These cupcakes are special for any occasion and more over kids will get attracted to this. Try this out and let me know.

Ingredients:

• Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes
• M&M’s or Gems- 1 Cup

Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients:

1. Butter- 1 Cup
2. Cocoa Powder- 3 tbsp
3. Sugar- ½  Cup
4. Milk- 2 tbsp
5. Vanilla Extract- 1 tsp

Method:

1. Cream all the ingredients till well combined. If the frosting appears dry add little more milk until it reaches the desired consistency.
2. If it appears wet and does not hold, add little more sugar, a tablespoon at a time, till it reaches the desired consistency.

Assembling the surprise cupcakes:

• Once the baked cupcakes are cooled, scoop out the middle portion using a spoon and fill with 6- 7 M&M’s and close the top portion of the cupcake. Frost the cupcakes using the chocolate buttercream frosting into desired shapes and enjoy.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins using Blueberry Compote

When I started baking, I used to try to bake almost all the cakes and among them, I loved citrusy flavor of the lemons. Whenever I go to starbucks, I used to order lemon loaf cake. Then one day I tried making the lemon loaf cake at home which came out successfully.

Blueberries are my favorite among berries. I had so many blueberries left out in refrigerator after making cupcakes, smoothies and so on. So before it gets damaged I thought of preparing blueberry compote, so that I can store them and can use whenever I needed.

By using my favorite ingredient and blueberry compote I thought of preparing something and so this delicious muffins are ready within minutes. Now these muffins have become a staple in my house. We can also make these with fresh blueberries. These muffins are soft, moist, lemony, full of blasted blueberries. These are my daughter’s favorite too. We don’t like to frost cupcakes. Plain is what we prefer the most.

Blueberry Compote:

Ingredients:

1. Blueberries- 2 Cups
2. Water- ¼ Cup
3. Sugar- ¼ Cup
4. Lemon Juice- 2 tsp

Method:

• Combine water, sugar and blueberries Boil for about 10 minutes on low flame, till the berries turn soft. Switch off the flame and add lemon juice. Stir and when it becomes cool, transfer in a glass jar and store in refrigerator.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour- 2 cups
2. Baking Soda- 1 tsp
3. Salt- a pinch
4. Butter- ½ Cup
5. Whole Milk- ½ Cup
6. Sugar- ¾ Cup
7. Vanilla Essence- 1 tsp
8. Eggs- 2 nos
9. Lemon Juice- 2 tbsp
10. Lemon Zest- 1 no
11. Blueberry Compote- ½ cup

Method:

1. Beat the butter, sugar along with lemon juice and lemon zest to light and creamy. Beat the eggs along with vanilla essence till fluffy in another bowl.
2. Mix the egg mixture to the butter- sugar mixture and beat well.
3. Sieve the flour with baking soda and salt. Fold this flour into the above butter- egg mixture little by little alternating with milk.
4. Fold well without any lumps Pour this in a greased muffin pans and bake for about 20- 25 minutes or till a skewer inserted comes out clean. Enjoy warm or cool muffins.

Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes using Condensed Milk

I have always been baking cupcakes or cakes using egg, so this time I decided to bake an egg less version of chocolate cupcakes using condensed milk.The end product was quite cool and we got some perfectly baked cupcakes, which my little one, husband and his colleagues liked.

Whenever I feel like baking, I will be baking either cupcakes or cakes and so one day when I was thinking about ideas for my little one’s snack box, I decided to make these by adding chocolate chips and those tasted simply yumm. She finished off all of them within two days.

Since I had this condensed milk lying around, I thought of baking an egg less cake by adding milkmaid. These cupcakes are really soft and moist. There may be so many different varieties of recipes to make an egg less chocolate cake, this is one of them. Just try this out and let me know.

Ingredients:

1. All Purpose Flour- 1 ½ Cups
2. Cocoa Powder- ⅔ Cup
3. Condensed Milk - 1 tin (400 ml)
4. Baking Soda- 1 tsp
5. Baking powder- 2 tsp
6. Butter- ½ Cup
7. Water- ¾ Cup
8. White Chocolate Chips- ¾ Cup

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and place the liners in cupcake molds.
2. Sieve the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder thrice and keep this aside. In this add the chocolate chips and mix well with hand. so that the chips wont settle in the bottom of the cupcakes while baking.
3. In a bowl mix the condensed milk, water and softened butter using a blender.
4. Fold the flour mixture little by little into the wet ingredients till the flour gets over and it will look like a pouring consistency.
5. Pour this in the prepared cupcake liners and bake for about 20- 25 minutes. Enjoy an amazingly delicious flavored cupcakes.

Lemon, Blueberry and Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Since quite some time now, I was in search of fresh blueberries, but I couldn’t get any and those which we get in market were so expensive that I decided to get it through my brother who works in the UK, when he was planning to visit me in July.

I am a huge fan of fresh blueberries. When I visited UK and Europe last year , I had eaten these blueberries in tonnes. My bro was not sure whether they will stay fresh till he reaches Bangalore, but I was confident and he bought about 2- 3 packets.  I wanted to make many dishes out of these, but ended up eating most of it, just like that. And with the last few which I had saved, I made these cupcakes and also a blueberry milkshake (which I will be sharing later).

In these cupcakes, I have added fresh blueberries along with white chocolate chips and lemon zest. The lemon zest imparts a strong citrusy flavor to these cupcakes. These lemon, blueberry and chocolate chip cupcakes would make a perfect addition to your breakfast menu. Try this out and you will end up eating more…

Ingredients:

1. Blueberries- 1 Cup
2. All Purpose Flour- 1 ½ Cups
3. Baking Powder- 1 ½ tsp
4. Baking Soda- ¼ tsp
5. salt- a pinch
6. Sugar- 1 Cup
7. Butter- ¼ Cup
8. Egg- 1 no
9. Buttermilk- ½ Cup
10. Milk- ½ Cup
11. Lemon Zest- 1 lemon
12. Chocolate Chips- ½ Cup (I have used white chocolate chips).

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Coat the blueberries and chocolate chips in 1 tbsp of flour so that it won't sink to the bottom when baked. Keep this aside.
3. Beat the eggs along with lemon zest till fluffy. In another bowl beat the butter and sugar till light and cream.
4. Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt thrice and keep this aside.
5. In the above egg mixture add the buttermilk and beat well.
6. Slowly fold the sieved flour mixture alternating with milk into the wet ingredients well till the flour and milk gets finished.
7. Add the coated blueberries and chocolate chips in the above cake batter and pour this in a greased cupcake liners and bake for about 20- 25 minutes.

Raspberry Cupcakes

During my UK trip last year, I got to eat some of the freshest berries I could get… :-). Here in Bangalore, I am getting only the dry version of these berries so when I went to a supermarket I got this raspberry preserve and grabbed it, so that I could have it whenever I want.

So I thought of baking raspberry cupcakes for my little one as she is a big fan of cupcakes and she likes to eat spoonfuls of this raspberry preserve.

Raspberry cupcakes are simple to make and tastes delicious. This is ideal for parties with its pretty pink frosting. Since this was made at home, I didn’t frost the cupcakes as my little one will be taking them to school. Just try these amazing pink cute cupcakes and I am sure you cannot resist eating one…

Ingredients:

1. Flour- 1 Cup
2. Sugar- 1 Cup
3. Butter- ½ Cup +2 tbsp
4. Baking Powder- 1 tsp
5. Salt- a pinch
6. Eggs- 3 nos
7. Vanilla Essence- 1 tsp
8. Milk- ⅓ Cup
9. Raspberry Preserve / Jam- 4 tbsp

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt trice and keep it aside.
3. In a glass bowl beat the eggs and vanilla essence till they turn fluffy.
4. Beat the butter and sugar well till they turn pale in colour. In this add the above beaten egg mixture little by little and mix well with the beater.
5. Add the raspberry preserve and mix till everything is well incorporated.
6. In the above batter fold the sieved flour and milk alternately till combined.
7. Transfer this batter to lined cupcake liners and bake for about 20 minutes.
8. Yummy and delicious cupcakes are ready to eat anytime.