I am extremely pepped up for my upcoming vacation to Texas and London. Partly because, who doesn’t like a vacation? And the other part is because of the choice of destinations! Firstly- Texas. Quite honestly there is an audible dearth of good, well even decent Mexican and tex-mex in the city. It’s one of those cuisines that works fantastically with a vegetarian selection. Also, there is an extremely interesting phenomenon taking over Austin’s food scene- trailer food. It beats the costs and headache of maintaining a physical restaurant with staff, chairs, tables and taxes! Highly tempting is Hey Cupcake!
Secondly, there is LONDON. That’s one big word and one amazing vacation. I love the food in London, you can find something innovative, new and interesting on literally every corner! Something unique about London is that in addition to the expected fantastic European restaurants, there are an overwhelming amount of exceptional Asian restaurants. Whether you go in for a quick bite at the delicious Ping Pong, or stop by the iconic Mr Kai’s, there is something for everyone, anytime and all the time. So while I ready myself for a week long of shopping in the aisles of Waitrose and Borough Market, here are my golden vanilla cupcakes, done two ways- with chocolate ganache, and with chocolate chips and fresh raspberries.Bon Apetit!
Golden Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1. 1 cup milk (low fat works too)
2. 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3. 1/3 cup canola oil/vegetable oil
4. ¾ cup granulated sugar
5. 2 tsp vanilla bean extract
6. ½ tsp almond extract
7. ¾ tsp baking powder
8. ½ tsp baking soda
9. ¼ tsp salt
10. 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 175*c, and line a standard 12 muffin pan with liners.
2. Mix together the milk and the vinegar, and set aside to curdle. Add in the oil, sugar, extracts and mix well till combined.
3. Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour (all sifted) and mix well to combine into a smooth almost loose batter. Scoop with an ice cream scooper into the mould and bake for about 22-24 minutes till golden and test with toothpick.
Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients:
1. 100 gm semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks
2. 75 ml heavy whipping cream
3. 1 tbs soft unsalted butter
Method:
1. Heat the cream over a medium flame until just boiling. Add the cream to the chocolate immediately and whisk in well. This takes just a minute or two!
2. Add in the butter and whisk till well incorporated. Voila!
3. Gently spread over the cupcakes. Do this soon after the ganache is made or else it will lose its glossiness.
Golden Cupcakes with fresh Raspberries and Chocolate Chips
1. Add ½ cup of chocolate chips to the batter of the Golden Cupcakes and mix.
2. Once scooped into the muffin liners, add 3-4 raspberries in each cupcake and bake as set out above.
Feedback:
1. What was wonderful about the Golden Cupcakes with fresh Raspberries and Chocolate Chips was that they didn’t need any kind of icing/frosting/glaze. The raspberries peeking out of the golden cupcakes are enough to make your heart melt! And when you bite into the molten chocolate, your heart just does melt!
2. The ganache is a versatile icing for any cake or cupcake. Extremely easy to make, and the sheer shine of it makes you hungry. I had about half a cup of leftover ganache, in which I mixed a handful of chopped almonds and set in the fridge to make truffles. Win-win!
Credits
1. Whisking Chocolate Ganache Credits: Saumil Shah
2. Golden Cupcakes with fresh Raspberries and Chocolate Chips Photo Credits: Shrinivas Sankaran
