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Friday, July 2, 2010

Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcakes


I attempted baking bread for the first time time few days back using a sweet butter bun recipe. Well it was'nt exactly the first bread attempt to be exact. I had made pizza dough prior to that. However I would'nt consider pizza dough to be a proper 'bread'. Before I had time to take pictures of the butter buns, they were all gobbled up. These buns pretty good when they were fresh out of the oven. When the buns were cooled, they did'nt taste as fluffy. This is something I need to improve on when making bread again.

While I looked through the ingredients I had on hand, I was deciding on whether to use the crumbly cream cheese which were meant for my previous blueberry cheesecake. After some deliberation, I decided I would go ahead and use it. The cream cheese might not look appealing physically but it did not mar the taste of the baked goods.


The recipe to work on this time round is lemon cream cheese cupcakes. I love to bake cupcakes. There is much less clearing and washing to be done and the preparation time is kept to a minimum. Just imagine having to wash the beaters for 2 to 3 times just to make a cake sometimes. Thats tedious!

I pretty much looked forward to the end product of the baking session, wondering how a lemon cream cheese butter cake would taste like. The verdict? Truly delicious cupcakes that are soft and fluffy, way softer than the usual butter cakes. Its texture will mislead one into thinking its a sponge cake. I guess the addition of cream cheese works wonders in this recipe.These cupped snackers are kind of like a cross between a lemon butter cake and a light textured lemon souffle cheesecake. Looks like I have found a worthy use for my crumbly cream cheese afterall.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcakes ( recipe adapted from Tempt: Cupcakes to Excite by Betty Saw)
Equipment and materials:
1) Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater or wooden spoon
2) Flour sieve
3) Grater with fine holes
4) Measuring spoon set
5) Muffin tin with holes 5cm in diameter measured from the base
6) Spatula
7) Mixing bowl
8) Cupcake liners/paper to fit
9) Toothpicks, wooden skewers or cake tester
10) Wire rack
Serving size : 11 - 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
135g Self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
125g butter, softened
90g cream cheese, softened
140g caster sugar
2 eggs (55g to 60g per egg)
finely grated zest of 1 lemon (grate lemon zest over sugar)
1 tbs lemon juice

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
2) Sift flour and baking powder into a big bowl. Use a whisk to ensure mixture is evenly distributed. Set aside.
3) Place butter and cream cheese into a mixing bowl. Beat untill creamy.
4) Add in sugar and lemon zest and continue to beat until cream cheese mixture is creamy and fluffy, about 2 minutes on medium high speed.
5) Beat in eggs into cream cheese mixture one by one and continue to beat till smooth and combined.
6) Add in the flour mixture and lemon juice. Beat until batter is creamy smooth and combined on low speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl with a spatula during the beating process to incoporate stray flour and ingredients.
7) Line muffin tin with cupcake liners. Spoon batter into cupcake liner till 2/3 full.
8) Bake for 18 minutes. Test for doneness using a toothpick or skewer. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in cupcake center comes out clean .
9) Leave to cool on a wire rack. Keep in airtight containers for up to 3 days.

Notes:
1) Grating lemon zest over sugar captures more of the lemon oil that is released while grating.
2) You may want to rub the zest and the sugar to release more lemon oil.
3) For moister cupcakes, fold 3 tbs sourcream or yoghurt to the batter, alternating with the flour

7 comments:

  1. the cupcakes look gd! I had baked lemon cream cheese cupcakes b4 and very yummy too

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  2. The cupcakes look SO pretty! Did you purposely style them for photography purpose? Haha! Good idea on the use of jelly bean! (Are those jelly beans?)

    Nice to hear you started on bread making! The last time you told me bread books were outta question since you weren't baking any bread. Seems like you do now. Doesn't bread making give you that sense of satisfaction? It's SO nice to eat home-made bread. When compared, I think I bake bread more than I do for cakes. Haha! Out of practicality I guess. In fact, I just made some whole-wheat loaves to go with my kaya yesterday.

    Which method did you use? You made our type of sweet buns? Not European type, right? Tell you what, based on my experience, the recipe and your kneading skill matter. Of course lar ... Any bread will taste good when fresh out of the oven mah. That's why Rotiboy is doing so ... Haha! But, I'm sure there's addition of improver and other additives in commercially baked goods.

    If you're planning on making bread sometime soon, I recommend you to look into 湯種法 and 中種法. I'd tried another method called 17小時麵包, it was a rage among HK bloggers, sometime after tangzhong rage. Low-temperature fermentation (proofing) works like a charm, too. All these methods yield bread that won't go stale as fast. Resulting in softness, fluffiness and water retention too! My tangzhong bread normally stays soft for 3 days.

    If you need any other help with bread making, let me know! Actually, I gotta admit among the many things we bake, I fair better at bread than cake making simply because I make less cake! Haha!

    All the best! Keep me updated on your bread making journey.

    ReplyDelete
  3. HI jess,

    Thanks for kind words. I am going to make these treats again

    Hi Pei-lin,

    I happened to have some jelly beans on hand. so tot i could put it to good use. Kept it simple so as not to shift the focus.

    I dun have bread books but I do have books have some recipes for bread. ya baking bread at home is fulfilling. But its time consuming for me. I prefer to bake cakes more.

    I dunno the method used lei. ya its our kind of sweet bun. the ones sold in bakeries. The recipe is by agnes chang. I tried using bread improver for the recipe. I tried kneading it using the dough hook untill the window pane stage. not sure if i done it right. My bread did not remain soft when cooled. Its dry and a bit stiff.

    After what u said, I need to go read up more on bread making. I think I fair much better in cakes now that I have made cakes more than other baked goods. Will consult u if I am into serious bread making. Thanks =]

    cheers

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  4. those cupcakes look so very good, and sound so delicious.....I would love to have tasted them!

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  5. Hi Chef Dennis,

    thanks for dropping by my humble blog. I still have a lot more to learn from you and your wealth of experience =]

    ReplyDelete
  6. I stumbled upon your blog... and glad i did - you have a very nice one!

    I baked this, and fully agree this is a keeper!

    ReplyDelete
  7. i stumble upon your blog... and glad i did - you have a very nice one!

    I baked this and fully agree that this is a keeper!

    ReplyDelete

Dear readers, thanks for visiting my humble little blog. Feel free to leave a message so that I can learn and be a better baker. Its a great feeling to share our culinary experience and adventures in the kitchen.

Thank you and have a nice day! Cheers =]