Chocolate and Banana Cupcakes

Yes, I know it has been a looooooooooooooong time since my last post. The month of June was the school holidays here in Singapore and we've been away. So haven't had the chance to bake anything. And after we returned from our holidays, I was just so lazy. And I missed three birthdays in June - my mum, sister no.4 and our sweetie-pie niece, S.

Finally baked something a few days ago. They were chocolate and banana cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting. They were actually banana cupcakes with chocolate pieces in them. I got the recipe from 'Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery' but I didn't use their recipe for the frosting as it requires melting the chocolate. And I didn't have time for that as I made them in the morning. But the cakes were soft and light and very yummy!

It just so happened that my parents were here in Singapore and they brought a couple back to KL. And sister no. 4 had one. So these are dedicated to them for their birthdays ;P

Happy Belated Birthday, Mum, Sister No.4 and Sweetie-Pie S!

Banana Loaf

Don't know if you all know.....my H does not eat cupcakes. Somehow, he thinks cupcakes are for ladies...and eating a cupcake is UNCOOL for a man...making one unmanly!

Anyway, he has been bugging me to make him a banana cake since I don't know when. I supposed it is high time I baked him something...especially I didn't do so for his birthday. *gulp*
Bad WIFE!

Here is the Banana Loaf that I made last weekend. H absolutely loved it...and kept repeating YUMMYYYYYYYY to my younger son, S2 till he was shouting "Dad! STOP IT!"...

Best Seller!

I have to say, our chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting are our best sellers. Well, for Singapore anyway. Most of my orders consist of at least a dozen of these. And the reason I don't post them every single time is that they, well, look the same :p I always just do a swirl with some chocolate pearls (Valrhona chocolate pearls, no less!) on top. And I don't colour them because they are the nice peanut butter brown and it's not easy to colour anyway :)

I had an order for five and a half dozen of the above-mentioned delectable cupcakes and banana cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting (which are heavenly too, by the way). A lady ordered them for her staff (I would like to have a boss who gives me cupcakes. Lucky staff!) and so I put a blue flower on the banana cupcakes as blue is their company colour.

Smiley Faces Cupcakes

I was feeling kinda down lately, so I decided to make these smiley faces cupcakes to cheer myself up. I did cheer up for a while, until I realised that I had already eaten three! *Gulp*

These are banana cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting.

Roses are Red....

Chocolate is brown; Eat a cupcake, if you're feeling down. Er, maybe I'll just stick to baking! ;p These are banana cupcakes (top row) and vanilla cupcakes (bottom row) with chocolate buttercream frosting.

Banana Cupcake vs. Banana Cupcake

Don't know if I've mentioned before, but I'll be selling cupcakes and muffins at my boys' school fair/ carnival/whatchamacallit this Sunday. Thus, have been wondering which banana cupcake recipe I should use. The moist and dense version with lemon frosting, OR the light, soft and fluffy version with cream cheese frosting.

I tell you.... Different people do INDEED have different tastes! My taste test over the weekend with some moms and kids proved that. Some liked the rich, moist banana texture. Some preferred the fluffier version for a cupcake. Some liked the tangy taste of lemon. Others preferred the creamy taste of the cream cheese.

So which am I gonna make?
Decided to go with the fluffier version but with lemon frosting. And maybe some with chocolate buttercream...

Anyway, here are some pictures from the taste test. I haven't really taken the time to do proper decoration .....LAZEEEEEEEEEE !!!


Even too lazy to wait!
Here, cupcakes were not yet totally cool before I slap-on the lemon frosting.


The following 3 photos are all banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting....made the following day.

The Three Little Pigs (Pig Cupcakes)

No big bad wolf though. The first time I made these was a year ago for my younger son's birthday party as party favours (he was born in the Year of the Pig). I made them again recently just for fun. This time, I had smaller-sized marshmallows. So it actually looks like the pigs have lost weight :) The top picture is the one from last year (they were vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream) and the bottom one is the recent one (these were banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting). Are they cute, or are they cute? :)