September 22, 2006

One for the boys!

A cupcake enthusiast like me never stops at the perfect chocolate/vanilla. Cupcakes are more than that *wink* Possibilities are endless!My cupcake-ing escapades have often been feminine in terms of design, flavors and compositions... I thought it would be nice to have an entry specially dedicated to the boys. With recent inspirations from a new book I purchased from Gail Wagman, I woke early this morning to compose a unique recipe with the help of some guide lines from her book Cupcak3s Galor3. I stirred-up a mess in my kitchen and produced these glossy morsels of manly-ness!Cupcakes laden with the aroma of beer, spiced with dashes of nutmeg and ginger and topped off with a sticky roasted praline of mixed nuts. I decided to call them "Man enough?" *laughs* It reeks of everything 'Man'; it smells of beer!...It's messy..sticky when moist...soft only on the inside, rough on the surface, not too sweet and a tiny bit spicy!..... *naughty grin*I'm glad I have a full class of grown men to taste test them for me. Aussie boy's love their Beer ('Liquid gold' they call it) and I wanted to see their reactions to beer in a cupcake.

Dylan; the shy "brains" of our class gave them the thumbs up!

Rich-ie; "Sexy dude from Bondi" was impressed.
"Stud-muffin" Scotty reckons I found the key to a man's heart *giggle*
The cupcakes received the nod of approval from the "Cool -biker-hunk" of the classMy Malaysian buddy Wesley Loved the sticky nutty topping.
Pretty and shy Anna, wouldn't let me take a damn photograph! LoL*
I used Carlton Draught for this recipe; but if you can find anything stronger/darker; or your favorite beer; that would work too! Just remember "light" beer...is for girls *wink*
1 full cup strong beer
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup raisins
2 cups plain flour
2 tsp bicarb of soda
1 pinch salt
dashes of ground cinnamon + nutmeg
2 eggs


praline: 1/2 cup melted butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 1/2 cup toasted nuts, 1 tbsp honey (mix to form a thick paste)

Melt and cook butter, beer and sugar in the microwave for 7 minutes in 60 second bursts. Be sure to keep stirring in between to make sure it doesn't burn. Sift in dry ingredients and blitz with a mixer. Add in eggs one at a time and beat well in between each addition. Spoon into large muffin cups till 3/4 full and bake in preheated 180 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and quickly top muffin cups with nut mixture. Return to oven for another 8-10 minutes or until tops are sticky and caramelized.

11 comments:

Su-Yin -Décorateur said...

panda: hehe...you should try some at home :). My recipes are always almost exactly the way I make them; No substituition of special ingredients; just extra effort in making the dishes look nice in the end. Pretty things always tastes better ;) hehe

Wesley: haha...beer+nuts that was the main theme i was trying to get at.

jellyfungus said...

*EYES WIDE OPEN*

ehem.. boleh berkenalan? *grins!*

Anonymous said...

They look so scrumptious!! Yummy! My ex-housemate used to use soda in her cupcakes.. made the cupcakes even softer.. but too bad shes not willing to share her recipes. I asked her so many times but she just kept pushing the topic away, so oh well .. I think its nice of you to share so generously again!

Anyway its great u have a class to feed. At one pt i was so obsessive, I ended up baking but the girls living with me are forever on diet .. so I ended up etaing most of it .. and packed on kilos toooo... dang so hard to shift the wt now.

Su-Yin -Décorateur said...

neemo: *laughs* hahaha gataL!!!! *rofl*

michie: My housemates are forever on a diet toooo :(....*sigh* haha I usually cut the recipes in 1/3 or even less sometimes when I dont have anyone to feed. but *shrug* gym everyday helps I guess...I just start to work harder when my baking improved >.< haha!

Anonymous said...

harlo :P
it's ur favourite 'girl' ;) lol
so great getting to meet you :)
hope to have the opportunity again sometime soon :) (come to more msian stuff la:P)

Su-Yin -Décorateur said...

Hi Bev-vy 'girl' *laughs* I dont like malaysian stuff "La"...hahaha good attempt with the Malaysian slang ..you blend right in! even with the spelling of "Har-lo" *laughs*. Thanks for coming up to say hi with Lyn the other day...really meant alot to know my work is appreciated
...LOL...*blush* I have fans....*giggle*

Anonymous said...

of course you have fans :)
work of your class needs its own fan base :)
*hugz*

Su-Yin -Décorateur said...

*gasp*...
*Tear* LOL....*hugs*

Anonymous said...

*wipes away tear*

***hugs***


WHO COULD IT BE!!!!

Anonymous said...

hi suyin, this is a bit out of topic hehe but what cookie recipe do you use for your cookies, eg the easter cookies one. the many cookie recipes i have tried result in very spreadable cookies and my cookie men end up looking like retarded cookie men, deformed beyond oblivion. :(

thanks in advance!

Su-Yin -Décorateur said...

LTH: I usually use shortbread cookie dough and metal cutters to shape my cookies. Softer doughs dont work too well. Hope that helps >.<