DIY shrinky keychain

I had seen a shrinky before many years back, probably when I was 8 or 9. It was one of those cool things I saw at a funfair/pushcart stall of some sort. Pardon me, as my memory is a little fuzzy.

And so, when I saw that this shrinky thingy was available in Daiso via this Daiso FB group (this group is addictive, you've been warned) I thought I really need to try this out someday.

In a twist of events, I had a set courtesy of a friend. Yippee! No need to make a trip down and search high and low for it. So I kept it, with eagerness and anxiety not knowing how it would turn out. I really looked forward to use it as an activity with G.

I finally decided on a whim, no plans beforehand, to make this as a "gift" for papa's birthday which is next week. I had to, of course resist, "helping" out with his art work as it would have to be as original as possible, no? Maybe it was my fault, being too anxious, I didn't quite explain to him what was going to happen. Ok, maybe because I didn't quite know how exactly it would come up to anyway.

Anyway, I had him draw on the sheet, whatever he liked (and phew! He didn't meltdown at the fact the mistakes can't be erased.) And I finished off with "happy birthday papa" and his name and the year.

The whole shrinking process was quite nerve wrecking as I was as clueless as G and could only explain based on the instructions behind the sheet (which were in Japanese, so I relied on the pictures) and the verbal instructions my friend had given when she handed me this set.

It was pretty cool seeing how it curled up and shrank and opened up again.

Of course, G was really proud of it that he wanted to give it to papa today and made papa hang it on his house keys. :p

Chocobanana cupcakes with peanut butter swiss meringue buttercream

I saw this recipe sometime back and decided I must one day try it.

Chocolate and bananas in a cupcakes, with peanut butter frosting? Crazy combination. I am usually quite resistant to try new cupcakes recipes because they are mostly too sweet and also because I have my stash of favourites by now.

Although I have been baking for a while now, I actually haven't baked a chocolate-banana cupcake. This is really worth a shot as I'm so impressed with the strong aroma the bananas produced.

Adapted from domestic goddesswannabe
Makes ~30-35 mini cupcakes

225g self-raising flour, sifted
25g cocoa powder
220g caster sugar - I used 150g
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature -I used salted
2 eggs
160ml milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 medium (400g) - mine came out to 215g and thats all i had bananas, mashed

Instructions

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until the mixture turns light and fluffy.

Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix to combine. Add the mashed bananas and mix to distribute.

Finally, fold in the flour and milk in the sequence flour-milk-flour-milk-flour. - I folded in the flour mixture all at once and mixed in the milk.

Dish the batter into cupcake liners until each is 2/3 full. - I used mini cupcake liners and filled them 2/3 full

Bake at 180°C for 20 minutes. -I used a fan forced oven and baked at 160C for 15min

Allow the cupcakes to cool in the baking trays for 10-15 minutes before transferring them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Peanut butter smbc

60g egg white (~2 egg whites)
25g caster sugar
140g salted butter, cubed and cold
40g creamy peanut butter

Whisk egg white and sugar over a pot of simmering water till hot to touch.

Removed from heat and whisk till stiff peaks form.

Add in cubed butter one at a time and whisk till fluffy. The mixutre will look curdled at some point but keep whisking till it comes together.

Add in the peanut butter and whisk till well combined.

frost the cooled cupcakes and top with chocolate shavings and crushed peanuts

Crowd pleaser vanilla chocolate ganache cupcakea

Was tasked to Bake some cupcakes for the church Sunday school teacher's day celebration, so I decided to go with the classic flavours. Everyone loves chocolate, right? That's what I think at least.

Vanilla cupcakes (makes 20 mini cupcakes)

100g salted butter, softened
75g sugar
2 eggs
125g self-raising flour
75g milk

1. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy and pale yellow.

2. Add in eggs, one at a time, and beat till well combined

3. Stir in flour until just mixed.

4. Add in milk and mix well.

5. Scoop batter till about 2/3 full and bakr in preheated oven of 165C for 12-15min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Chocolate ganache

300g dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
400g heavy cream

1. Place chopped chocolate and heavy cream in a mixing bowl

2. Place mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water and whisk till melted.

3. Leave mixture to cool, and refrigerate till cold and whip to desired consistency.

Assembly

Pipe ganache over cupcake using Wilton 1M piping tip and top with colourful Sprinkles.

Speculoos cupcake with speculoos buttercream

I had this amazing speculoos tart at a friend's son's first birthday party, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

I googled almost immediately for a recipe I could possibly replicate and of course, decided a tart would be too tedious. And so, I tried to search for a cupcake recipe instead. Much to my dismay, many recipes call for a vanilla cupcake, holed and filled with a dollop of cookie butter.

And so, I tried to crush a pack of lotus biscuits and add it into my cupcake batter, just like how you would with Oreo cookies. Genius ya? No.. The cupcakes smelled awesome while I made them but the taste was really lacklustre :(

And so, I decided a vanilla cupcake base with a dollop of cookie butter swirled in just like those nutella swirled cupcakes should do the trick :D

Top it off with a cookie butter Swiss meringue buttercream and some crushed speculoos. Yums!

Speculoos cupcake
Makes ~20 mini cupcakes

100g salted butter, softened
75g caster sugar
2 eggs
125g self-raising flour
75g milk
1tsp vanilla extract

Spoonfuls of cookie butter

1. Cream softened butter and sugar till pale yellow.
2. Add in eggs, one by one till full incorporated.
3. Stir in flour and add in milk till well combined.
4. Fill cupcake liners with ~2/3 cupcake batter.
5. Spoon ~1 TSP cookie butter into each cupcake liner and swirl with a toothpick.
6. Bake at preheated oven of 165C for 12-15min. Cupcake is ready when toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Speculoos buttercream

38g egg white (~1 egg white)
20g brown sugar
66g salted butter
40g cookie butter

1. Whisk together egg whites and sugar over a pot of simmering water till sugar is dissolved and egg white mixture is hot to touch

2. Remove from heat and whisk till stiff peaks form

3. Add in cubed butter, a little at a time till it comes together.

4. Whisk in speculoos.

Assembly:

Pipe speculoos buttercream over cupcake and sprinkle some crushed lotus biscuits.