Most of the time my inspiration comes as a result of interacting with others. Was on the Yahoo Messenger with my gal pal Susan the last few days and we were chatting on and on about baking and everything related to it. She mentioned that it is her colleague's birthday on Friday (which is today) and she wanted to bake something nice for her (I just assumed that it is a girl colleague...haha.. i know that it is very presumptuous of me to think that only girls appreciate baked gifts).
We have been looking up blogs to learn more about about baking and specifically cupcake decoration. My current favorite 3 sites baking sites are Yasmin's
Baking Project, Aunty Yochana's
Yochana's Cake Delight and Melinda's
Apple Kitchen.
By the end of yesterday afternoon, I have already made up my mind to bake something which I have not attempted before (yah..I know it can be risky business but this is what I do for kicks...I like trying new recipes). Went checking out some recipe blogs and found this at Cooks.com, Mixed Peel Muffin. So, printed out the recipe from
Cooks.com and was so excited to go home to try it out. Left the office on the dot, before my boss could even realize that it's already knock off time :).
The ingredients and the method have been reproduced here from
Cooks.com Recipe Search.
Ingredients1 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 tbsp. poppy seeds
1 heaping tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 c. melted butter
1/2 c. fresh lemon juice
2 lg. eggs
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon (this I replaced with 1 cup of mixed peel)
Method- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Line muffin tins with paper liners.
- Combine dry ingredients and blend well.
- Mix melted butter and lemon juice. Add eggs and rind.
- Stir egg mixture into dry ingredients and stir just enough to moisten.
- Pour batter into liners, filling just to lip. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, until nicely browned.
- Remove muffins from pan and cool totally before you start decorating with buttercream and fondant.
The muffins smelt so nice and lemony ... interesting flavor (actually that was the comment by the test bunny at home. No indication of whether it was nice or not nice.... just "INTERESTING"). I will have to wait for Susan's colleague's comments later if she liked it.
Played with some fondant and buttercream for the decoration. Was using the Melinda's formula for the fondant. If you want it, do please get in touch with Melinda. The butter cream was the same one I used previously except I added some shortening, based on
Min's advice.
These are the results of what started out as a conversation with a friend and inspirations from the foodie bloggers, especially those 3 whom I've mentioned above :)
This lot will be going to Susan's colleague... Happy Birthday and Many Happy Returns !!
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