Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Cinnabon copycat cinnamon rolls
Posted by Brisha and Poata Te'o at 11:12 PM 2 comments
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Sesame Street!
Posted by Brisha and Poata Te'o at 9:13 PM 0 comments
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Posted by Brisha and Poata Te'o at 12:47 AM 2 comments
Monday, February 20, 2012
vanilla bean and coconut cupcakes and frosting
sorry for the crappy pictures... |
ingredients
reduced coconut milk
- 2 13- to 14-ounce cans unsweetened coconut milk
cupcakes
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 3 large eggs
- Seeds scraped from 1 split vanilla bean or 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup reduced coconut milk (see above), room temperature
frosting
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup reduced coconut milk (see above), room temperature
- Seeds scraped from 1 split vanilla bean or 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut, lightly toasted (for garnish)
Preparation
reduced coconut milk
- Bring coconut milk to boil in large deep saucepan over medium-high heat (coconut milk will boil up high in pan). Reduce heat to medium-low; boil until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, stirring occasionally, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat; cool completely. Transfer to small bowl. Cover; chill (coconut milk will settle slightly as it cools). DO AHEAD Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.
cupcakes
- Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line eighteen 1/3-cup muffin cups with paper liners. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar; beat on medium-high speed until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add 2 eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition and occasionally scraping down sides of bowl. Beat in seeds from vanilla bean and remaining egg. Add half of flour mixture; mix on low speed just until blended. Add 1 cup reduced coconut milk; mix just until blended. Add remaining flour mixture; mix on low speed just until blended. Divide batter among muffin cups.
- Bake cupcakes until tops spring back when gently touched and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer cupcakes in pans to rack; cool 10 minutes. Carefully remove cupcakes from pans and cool completely on rack.
frosting
- Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar, 1/3 cup reduced coconut milk, seeds from vanilla bean, and salt. Beat on medium-low speed until blended, scraping down sides of bowl. Increase to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy.
- Using pastry bag fitted with large star tip, pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes. (Alternatively, top each cupcake with 2 tablespoons frosting. Using small offset spatula, swirl frosting over top of cupcakes, leaving 1/2-inch plain border.) Sprinkle with coconut. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Store in airtight containers; chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Posted by Brisha and Poata Te'o at 11:58 PM 0 comments
Sunday, January 22, 2012
cakes for friends
no recipes here but thought i'd share some pics of recent cakes. i made these for our neighbor friends. i like the "grace" cake a lot, i thought it turned out sweet. my neighbor's name is grace, this cake is chocolate with peanut butter buttercream. she has 2 daughters and the older of the two turned 4 and the hello kitty cupcakes were made for her birthday party. i didn't get great pictures of them because i forgot to take any until i got to the party and little girls were grabbing at them so i had to hurry! haha. but her parents got some better shots of them that maybe i could get one day and add to this post, but for now here's what i got. =)
Posted by Brisha and Poata Te'o at 1:35 AM 2 comments
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
chocolate birthdays and dulce de leche
so here are some pictures of some cupcakes I recently made. First owl cupcakes for my moms birthday! she loves owls! these are the red velvet cupcakes with a cream cheese and chocolate chip center and cream cheese frosting that I recently posted about. they are divine, and i thought the owls were pretty damn cute! also on this post are mexican chocolate cupcakes that i filled with easy dulce de leche and topped with dulce de leche buttercream. to make dulce de leche, take a can of sweetened condensed milk, peel the label off, put it in a pot and fill with water- completely covering the can with water and cover pot with lid and boil for 2 hours adding water as needed to keep can covered, then cool can completely and ta-da! dulce de leche! crazy if you ask me but completely delicious, especially in these cupcakes!
Posted by Brisha and Poata Te'o at 12:41 AM 1 comments
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Lemon Curd filling and Vanilla Bean and lemon zest buttercream
These vanilla cupcakes are very tender but hold up well with a filling inside. They were moist and fluffy, perfect texture but not a very strong flavor, on their own they would be pretty plain but that made them a perfect base for a filzled cupcake. I made half of this batch with lemon curd and the other half with mango butter, both were tasty! I actually just used store bought lemon curd and mango butter but by all means make your own, I was just being lazy that day and wanted a quick treat! Here are two recipes for lemon curd, this one is actually a MICROWAVE lemon curd! And here is alton brown's recipe:
Lemon Curd via Alton Brown
2 egg yolks
1/3 c + 1 Tbls sugar
1 1/2 lemons, zested and juiced
3 Tbls butter
Add enough water to a medium saucepan (or a double boiler) to come about 1-inch up the side and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, combine egg yolks and sugar in a medium size metal bowl (that will fit well over the simmering water without touching it) and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute. Add juice and zest to egg mixture and whisk until smooth.
Once water reaches a simmer, reduce heat to low and place bowl on top of saucepan. Whisk constantly until thickened, approximately 8 minutes, or until mixture is light yellow and coats the back of a spoon. Remove promptly from heat and stir in butter a piece at a time, allowing each piece to melt before adding the next.
Transfer to a clean container place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
Vanilla Cupcakes:
Posted by Brisha and Poata Te'o at 5:35 PM 2 comments
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Oh my!
photo credit: Ina Mae Unga Taea |
photo credit: Ina Mae Unga Taea |
photo credit: Ina Mae Unga Taea |
Oh my... I'm in love... With these cupcakes! A friend of mine, who is a fellow cupcake-aholic, found some red velvet cupcakes with chocolate chips baked in them. What a good idea I thought! Then that same friend found some red velvet cupcakes with a cream cheese swirl baked in them, wow! That's also a great idea! So my genius idea was to combine the two! So here we have red velvet cupcakes with a baked in cream cheese and chocolate chip center topped off with vanilla bean cream cheese frosting.
For the red velvet cake I used this recipe. That was my first ever blog post! Haha. It's a slight adaption from Paula Deen's recipe.
For the filling:
1 8ounce package of cream cheese
1 egg
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 heaping cup semisweet chocolate chips
Beat cream cheese till smooth, add egg then powdered sugar and beat till smooth again then add chocolate chips.
Preparation:
Fill cupcake liners about 1/4 full with red velvet batter then add about a tablespoon full of cream cheese chocolate chip mixture to each cupcake and top with more red velvet batter to make each cupcake liner about 3/4 full or a little more. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. let cool completely before frosting.
For the frosting:
1 8 ounce package cream cheese
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5-6 cups powdered sugar
Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth, add vanilla. Slowly add powdered sugar, beating well, until desired consistency is reached. Continue to feat until fluffy about 2-3 minutes.
Posted by Brisha and Poata Te'o at 2:32 AM 1 comments
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
S'mores Bars
A bunch of my friends have been having bon fires and making S'mores all summer long which made me really really jealous! I've been dying to have a bon fire, pretty much for s'mores alone but it didn't happen and I couldn't wait any longer! I have had this recipe bookmarked for quite some time now from "the girl who ate everything" and I've been dying to try it! Definitely a success!! I can't wait to make them again! The graham cracker crust is so good, like a soft warm cookie and then obviously the filling is great! I actually used semi sweet chocolate chips instead of the chocolate bars just because it was what I had on hand. Anyways you should try these! super easy and de-lish!
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized Hershey's milk chocolate bars
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (7 1/2 oz jar)
Posted by Brisha and Poata Te'o at 8:27 PM 1 comments
Saturday, April 30, 2011
ocean fun
sorry, no new recipe but here are some pictures of the cupcakes and mini cakes I baked for my friend's twin boys for their first birthday party! The cupcake flavors are coconut, red velvet and chocolate. I made the sea creatures out of royal icing. I also used royal icing to paint the bikinis and surf shorts on the teddy graham cookies. Hope you get some fun ideas.
Posted by Brisha and Poata Te'o at 11:59 PM 3 comments
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Chocolate Toffee Macadamia Nut Banana Bread
lame iphone pic- sorry |
So a while back my dear friend Kami told me she makes her banana bread with chocolate covered macadamia nuts sprinkled on top, what a genius idea!!! So I thought, what about delightful chocolate toffee macadamia nuts because of their crunchy and buttery goodness, and yum! I also added macadamia nuts to the batter itself, not the toffee chocolate ones though. Here is the recipe, I dare you to try it!
Recipe:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups (3-4 medium sized) very ripe bananas, mashed (I used apple bananas)
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1/2 to 3/4 cups chopped chocolate toffee covered macadamia nuts chopped (I think the brand I used was island princess, but I'm sure a few companies make them)
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350. spray 2 (8x4 inch) loaf pans with pam or grease bottoms.
2. In your mixer beat sugars and butter. Add eggs, bananas, buttermilk and vanilla, beat with mixer until smooth. Add remaining ingredients except for chocolate toffee mac nuts and mix just until well incorporated. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans and top with chopped chocolate toffee mac nuts.
3. Bake at 350 f for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for about an hour before slicing(or eat hot because you can't wait).
Posted by Brisha and Poata Te'o at 10:25 PM 4 comments
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
lately
chocolate cupcake filled with cookie dough and topped with cream cheese frosting! |
half baked cookie dough center |
chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and buttercream flowers |
(black) chocolate and (yellow) vanilla layer cake for my friends husband. i wish i had a picture of a slice of the inside! it was 4 layers alternating black and yellow. |
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup black coffee, cooled
1/3 cup vegetable oil or melted butter (I do half and half, butter makes it yummy but oil makes it moist so do both )
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray pans with Pam or grease.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, white sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt until thoroughly mixed.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, water, buttermilk, vegetable oil/butter and vanilla extract. Whisk into flour mixture until all of the ingredients are mixed in and no streaks of flour remain. Add in optional mini chocolate chips, if using.
4. For cupcakes bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one the cakes comes out clean, or with only a few crumbs or if you press one it should spring back. cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
(If you are using this for the cupcakes you will just need 24 balls of dough for the center of each cupcake and just drop them into the batter after you've filled the cupcake liners 3/4 full, try to make sure that the dough is covered with batter. and bake for the normal time of the cupcakes you're making, if you use the chocolate cupcake recipe above then that is 15 minutes. You will have plenty of dough left to make cookies with too =) and you can even freeze the dough to make cookies for later or freeze the dough balls and make cupcakes later.
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons hot water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
- Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.
Posted by Brisha and Poata Te'o at 8:28 PM 2 comments
Thursday, December 16, 2010
chocolate
It was my stepfathers birthday yesterday and this is the cake I made for him. It's this chocolate cake recipe and this chocolate buttercream recipe. Tomorrow I'll post a recipe for the world's best chocolate chip cookies. No, SERIOUSLY the BEST!!
Posted by Brisha and Poata Te'o at 11:23 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup apple sauce
4 eggs, at room temp. and lightly beaten
16 ounces (2 cups) canned, unsweetened pumpkin puree
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2/3 cup water
1 cup walnuts or chocolate chips (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and Flour or spray with pam, 2- 9x5 loaf pans. (I actually had enough batter for my loaf pans as well as 6 muffins) Stir together sugar and oil. Stir in eggs and pumpkin. Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl. Blend dry ingredients and water into wet mixture, alternating. Divide batter between loaf pans. Bake for about 50 minutes or until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool.
Posted by Brisha and Poata Te'o at 12:48 AM 0 comments