Showing posts with label food travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food travel. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Bubblegum Cupcakes


I made these for Cupcake Camp London 2010 and they were my second most popular flavor on the day. The kids really loved them. They’re just so fun who could resist! I was really proud they came in as a runner up in the most unique ingredient contest.
My popcorn cupcakes would make good companions to these as well.
They were made with white chocolate chip cake, filled with bubblegum pudding and then topped with Bubblegum buttercream. The pudding was bubblegum flavored Snack Packs that are typically sold in any US grocery store.
They look really cute all together.
All my varieties for Cupcake Camp. Click here for round up.
White Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
adapted from Martha Stewart (makes 24)
Ingredients
3 1/4 cups self rising flour, sifted
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tbs milk
1/2 cup plus 6 tbs unsalted butter at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
5 large egg whites at room temperature
2 cups white chocolate chips
bubblegum snack packs (4 filled all the cupcakes)
I got these from Bake it Pretty
1. Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C. Line muffin tin with cases (these popcorn buckets stand on their own). Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir the vanilla into the milk to combine.
2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter until smooth. Add the sugar in a steady stream, beat until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add flour, mixture in three batches, alternating with the two additions of milk mixture, and beating until just combined after each.
3. In another bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold one-third of the egg whites into the batter to lighten. Gently fold in the remaining whites until just combined. Toss the chocolate chips in one tablespoon of flour and gently fold into batter.
4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three quarters full (I usually do 2 cookie scoops worth of batter for each cup). Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean about 22 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
5. When completely cool cut out the center of the cupcake in a cone shape and scoop in two teaspoons of pudding. Place a small piece of the cut out section back on top.
Bubblegum Buttercream
Ingredients
3 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
2 pounds icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pink food coloring
2 vials bubblegum flavoring
gumballs for decoration
I got these at the $1 Store in the US. They also have them at Cyber Candy in London
1. With an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium-high until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.
2. Reduce speed to medium. Add the icing sugar ½ cup at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed; after every two additions, raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate the frosting, then return to medium. This should take about 5 minutes. Frosting will be pale and fluffy.
3. Add vanilla, and beat until frosting is smooth, add small amount of pink food coloring to achieve a pink color, and beat until color shows through. Add both vials of bubblegum flavor and beat until combined.
To Decorate
Pipe frosting in big swirls and add the sprinkles you want first before the icing becomes stiff.
Or pour some sprinkles into a bowl and roll the edges of the cupcake in. Or pipe the bottom swirl, roll in the sprinkles and then continue and pipe on the top swirl.
More details and photos about decorating and sprinkle techniques can be found here.

Friday, September 16, 2011

My Food Travel

This semester I’m studying abroad in London; although the food here is pretty similar to the food in the U.S., there are always new foods to discover. After a few weeks of being here, I was ready to try fish and chips! Fish and chips date back to the 1860′s in London, where fish was cheap and easily accessible. And today, it remains the same. You can’t walk 10 minutes without spotting a place with fish and chips on the menu, and usually the price for a large piece of fried fish is not too expensive. After going to see Stonehenge, my friends and I got a recommendation from our tour guide for an authentic fish and chips place.
We all ordered the cod and chips, and even ventured to put vinegar on the chips like any real Brit would. Unfortunately, we were let down because the restaurant was out of tartar sauce, so we couldn’t eat our meals as authentically as we would have liked to. Though not all of us enjoyed our dishes, we were glad we stepped out of our comfort zones to try a new food. I thought the fish was okay, but I think I’ve had enough of it for the rest of my time in London. I’m still willing to try new foods I come across here and as I travel to other countries.

This past weekend I traveled to Paris and had my first crepe! Ok, crepes are not really a unique food (we even have places on the Syracuse campus that make them) but I’d never had one before. Crepes are very thin pancakes, and their origin derived from France. I got my crepe with nutella, bananas and almonds. Nutella is one of the most common crepe fillings along with fruit and chocolate. It was very delicious, but also very rich. Fortunately, it wasn’t something I would order again. My next travel destination is Belgium. They’re famous for their waffles and chocolate, two things I’ve had before. I’m looking forward to trying these two treats in the Belgian style once there!