Pomegranate Cupcake with Lime Frosting

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY DMITRIY!

I know that I've posted about Dmitriy before; I must have. He's one of my closest guy friends and I just really enjoy being around him. He really makes me sane sometimes when I'm going insane and he's a great friend that I've made at Cal.

Today is his 21st birthday. I was going to make him alcoholic cupcakes, but thought that making a cupcake with alcohol isn't too hard, but making a cupcake for a friend with one of his favorite fruits is harder. Pomegranates are not only not in season, they're kinda too strong for me.

I made a simple white chocolate pomegranate cupcake that I found and then added a little bit of pomegranate juice boiled with a bit of sugar mixture to put into the middle. Also, I topped it with a bit of lime frosting because I've seen so many commercials from Dove that have the two together.

It was simple, delicious and I know he really enjoyed it. Enjoy your 21st and have some fun. I'm super sad that I can't be there, but I know that you'll enjoy it loads!



ps. sorry for the really mess background. I was at my desk, rushing because I had to leave in a couple of minutes to come back home.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

More parties means more baking to do!

These chocolate chip cookie cupcakes are for two of my friends. They decided to do a joint birthday party this weekend at a hotel in South Bay. Last night, my friend told me that he was going, so I decided to go which means that I needed to bake. Perfect since I was pretty bored last night.

See this is how my week typically goes. I start out really stressed out because I don't know if I'll be able to finish all my work and what not, but I do all my work by Wednesday and then relax Thursday and Friday by watching TV shows and what not online. I also bake when there's nothing online to watch. The Fall season has just started and hopefully I'll have enough time to do everything - watch TV and study and bake.

Anyways back to the cupcake, it was really good. It really tasted like a chocolate chip cookie. Hopefully my friends will like them tonight at the party. Alcohol plus cupcakes - seems like a great combo!

Recipe for the cupcakes
[doubled and adjusted from here]
2 cups of self-rising flour
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips [I had added a little bit milk chocolate chips]
2 eggs
1 cup of milk [I used 2/3c of evaporated and 1/3 water]
6 Tablespoons of melted butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
Mix the flour, sugar and chocolate chips together in a large bowl.
Mix the eggs, milk, butter, and extract together in a small bowl.
Incorporate the wet into the dry until just mixed. DONT OVER MIX!
Bake for about 20 mins or until the toothpick comes out clean.

I topped these with a little bit of chocolate frosting and sprinkles on top. It was nice and fun.

Raspberry Chocolate Ice Cream Cupcakes

These were made for the Dmitriy, my "husband." I think the only reason why we're "married" is because we do act like a married couple sometimes. This only happens because we fight and we just know each other pretty well, but of course, I have my own boyfriend, Brent. It's cool haha. ♥

Picture of Dmitriy and I from like March 2009

So yeah, his favorite berry is blueberries, but he likes raspberries too so I decided to make this fancy shmancy cupcake for him. I was inspired from this ice cream cupcake entry that had caught my eye. It was very interesting and I thought I could make something like this, but my version. [Number 10 out of 10! which means I had finished my goal!]

These cupcakes are chocolate cupcakes filled with a raspberry preserve, topped with ice cream shaped in a heart. On top of that, is a bit of chocolate frosting and a raspberry.

Recipe for the chocolate cupcake
(taken from here)
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, softened [I melted mine]
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract [I used 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract instead]
1 cup milk [I used half cup buttermilk, half cup soymilk]

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla.
Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well.
Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full. [I filled mine half full and got 24 of them]
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

To make the ice cream topper:
Put melted vanilla ice cream into a pan.
Then, sprinkled some hazelnuts and chocolate hazelnut truffles in small pieces in the melted ice cream.
Drizzled caramel and hot fudge all over in crazy cool designs.
Then place back into the freezer for it all to set.
Later, use a cookie cutter to cut out the shapes desired. I had used a heart.
To easily cut the ice cream, put the cookie cutter in some warm water and then use to cut.

To put the whole thing together,
Cut a cone from the cupcake and place the preserves/jam inside and replace the top.
Refridgerate the cupcakes and make sure to cut out the shapes from the ice cream.
When serving, place the ice cream on top of the cupcake, frost and serve with some fruit.
Enjoy!

Happy Early Birthday Alex Chu!

So it's the summer, and not very many midnight birthday surprises. Pretend its 12am on the 27th. YAY! It's my friend Alex's birthday!

I baked him boxed mix. SORRY for not creating something too fab! NO TIME! =[

Anyways, it was just funfetti cake mix with some chocolate frosting. All store bought. BUT the cupcake liners. In his favorite color ORANGE!

Pretty cupcakes for one of my close guy friends!