CakePops (or more like BakePops)!

Not a great fan of cakepops unless they are made binded with rum and not buttercream. :) Rum cake balls are certainly not kids friendly but my children are now young adults, so that's not something that I worry about. 

However recently, when I saw this cakepop pan,  I knew I just had to buy and try it out. Looks promising because I can bake small individual small round cakes instead of smashing and squashing cake into balls. I've seen BabyCakes cake pop maker sold on websites and it certainly looks interesting but this pan is the closest I can get here!  I figured even if it doesn't work, I can use it for something else..(which I still have not figured that out yet..LOL!)

Nice red pan - matches my kitchen cabinet...

(any excuse just to buy something!)

Here are how the cake balls look like after they are baked.  I used the chocolate recipe that came with the pan.  Since the recipe didn't have a leavening agent, it doesn't rise as well and didn't turned up as round as i would like.  I was hoping for them to be really round.  I have to find another recipe that would be able to bake into rounder cake balls, probably one with some leavening agent. 

BakePops after coated with chocolate.  

See how the left Bakepop is flatter and oval shaped? I think I didn't put enough batter for that one.  But even that supposedly rounder one isn't exactly that round either. 

The dark chocolate coating originally was real shiny.. but i dropped them on the table a couple of times after trying to balance them in an empty cup. Didnt work, so i had to hold them with one hand and took photos using my iPhone with the other hand.  

BakePops after I took a bite! :)  

Verdict:  It's delicious!  Yes, it's sweet (all cakes, macarons, cookies etc are supposed to be sweet..if they are not sweet, they are either called bread or crackers!!).. but not as sweet as cakepops smashed up with buttercream.   The cake is moist and chocolatety and goes every well with the hard chocolate covering it.   Most importantly, my son who's such a picky eater, ate them..not just 1 but 2 bakepops! I'm esctatic because this is the first time he tried something new without even flinching or first saying "NO"!  My son doesn't eat lollipop candy, so there is no way he would want to eat this just because it looks like lollipop.  He took a few weeks to even want to try cupcakes and only after much coaxing!  So to me this is already a great pan! LOL! 

Pros:  

1) Recipe is easy to put together - just hand mix

2) Sweet but not as sweet as the truffle-type of cakepops

3) Firmer cake (like mud cake texture) so the stick doesn't slide out or the cake balls 'loosen' from melting buttercream when our weather gets too hot. So i can take my time to coat with chocolate.

Cons:

1) Only limited to round shapes..(or perhaps oval most of the time..lol!). 

2) Limited to that particular size 

3) Not exactly round (but i have yet to try other recipes..maybe it might turn out round)

Can't think of anymore now...

Ebelskivers

My latest craze - Ebelskivers! Danish-styled filled pancakes! What's not to like?  

Last week, I finally bought the Ebelskivers book and pan!  I have been thinking about it for about 6 months or not longer if i should buy the book or not. The pan is not exactly cheap compared to how much it is sold in US. I've seen it in the bookstore (only 1 book) for the longest time and yet nobody has bought it. Finally, I caved in and bought it because Kinokuniya was having a 20% storewide discount..LOL!  

My first try at making Ebelsivers! So much fun!  Ok..i did fumble a bit when turning the pancakes the first time, but after a few more tries, it was much easier.  The trick is not to turn the fire up too high!  

Ebelskivers with Blueberry filling. So yummy! It's actually very light and not sweet. So even after dusting icing sugar on top, i think i could do with some maple syrup or honey.  (I have a sweet-tooth!  If i have a choice, i would eat dessert for every meal... :p) 

This photo taken with my iPhone. :)  

Just thought it was a pretty decent photo taken with iPhone so i had to post it up here too..LOL!

Link to the recipes:-  

http://www.food.com/recipe/blueberry-ebelskiver-belskiver-danish-filled-pancake-211174

or

http://bakingbites.com/2010/07/blueberry-ebelskiver/

ABC - Emergency Blender Cupcakes

ABC - Emergency Blender Cupcakes (page 72, The Weekend Baker) 

I made these cupcakes really early, but somehow got caught up with work and forgot to upload photos from my camera and post this early. :p  

I made 6 batches of these and baked into mini cupcake cases.

Not quite sure if the 'damage' was done by the blender blade or not while scraping the sides of the blender

i was worried that the missing piece might be in the mixture!

So, i strained the mixture and found nothing. I was so relieved..because i found nothing. :) So the spatula has already been damaged earlier just that I have not noticed it earlier. 

The cupcakes were so easy to make and they were delicious as well!  However, i made changes to the chocolate frosting, because no matter how long i waited, it never hardened as it said it would in the book, so i figured it must be because of our hotter weather. So i tweaked it until it could actually hold it's shape and can be piped and yet looked so glossy. One of the best frosting i have made...not is it glossy, it stayed so well and stable in our room temperature, it is so chocolatey too!  Not sure if i can repeat this though..hahahaha.. since i just eyeballed everything and threw in whatever i had that i thought could work. LOL! 

Verdict:  Best chocolate cupcakes i've made. Not only is it very chocolately, it is very moist, dense and tender crumbs.

 Please check out other ABC bakers!  

Cake Keepers Cake: Chiffon Cakes

Made chiffon cakes from the book Cake Keepers Cake. Love her chiffon cake recipes!  Very soft and moist.

This is the first chiffon cake i made and the reason why it became this way is not because i didn't bake or cool it properly. I did!  But i found out that the culprit is my new 3-legged pan (my old pan didn't have any legs..hahaha)!!  It is not a good idea to cool the pan using the 3 legs because the weight of the centre might be too heavy for the cake causing it to collapse and fall out!  The best solution is always invert the cake onto a bottle right in the centre tube focusing the weight on the centre instead.  This way, the cake will not fall out.   Ask me how i found out..  

And because i was trying to conclude if my theory was correct, i proceeded to bake 3 more chiffon cakes.. LOL!  Green Tea Chiffon, Lemon Chiffon (again! since the above collapsed for nothing due to the stupid pan!..hahaha) and Banana Walnut Chiffon. 

I proved my finding correct after all my 3 cakes turned out alright and didn't fall out of the pan!  :))

Green Tea Chiffon, Banana-Walnut Chiffon & Lemon Chiffon.  Flavor wise, Lemon Chiffon still taste the best, followed by Banana Walnut Chiffon.  As for green tea, i think i didn't put enough green tea powder so the taste wasn't as strong as i would like it to be.   Texture wise, these chiffon cakes are wonderful, moist and fluffy.  

Loving the above chiffon cakes i made 2 weeks back,  I decided to make mango chiffon using the base recipe for Chinese New Year.  I replaced the liquid portion with mango puree.  However, I think i didn't put enough mango puree because the mango flavor was too subtle for my liking. Maybe next time i should add mango essence as well.   But the next day, the mango flavor seems to have deepened and taste stronger... 

Mango Chiffon Cake in my cake container/carrier. Loving this cake container/carrier and so far the best i've seen by far. This is the only cake carrier that i found that is air-tight and tall enough as well.  In Singapore, everything needs to be airtight, least the ants will find its way into the container.  

Mango Chiffon cake..oh..with some nuts..i think it's hazelnuts and walnuts..i just added in any crushed nuts that i had available..LOL!

Wishing everyone a Happy & Prosperous New Year!