Banoffee Pie for Sweet Punch of January

Hello Friends,


I am here after another long gap. But, I am here with a wonderful Banoffee Pie recipe that was picked as this month's Sweet Punch recipe. It is a wonderful English Dessert.


I got to tell you how daunting it looked first and then how really easy it was to make. It was like just assembling everything, if you use pre-made Dulce De Leche. Of course, I chose to make my own Dulce De Leche, but a short-cut way explained very nicely by Aquadaze. She has listed a couple of ways of making it and me being me, I picked the easiest one. Actually, I made it at the last minute and did not have time to do the original authentic way of cooking condensed milk for 3 hours, which I will surely try the next time.


Without further ado, here is the recipe and enjoy the pics that go with it. Sorry, I didn't get a pic where it looks overall or a slice pic, but hope you like these. 


Banoffee Pie
Recipe Resource: Swapna's Cuisine

Ingredients
Dulce De Leche - 1 can (14 oz.) - I made it using Aquadaze's Microwave method.
Digestive Biscuits - 2 cups, Marie or Parle G (like I used), powdered
Butter - 2 tbsps, melted
Banana - 3 medium ones, sliced
Whipped Cream - 2 cups (whip 2 cups of heavy whipping cream with desired amount of sugar, and that should be good enough)
Chocolate sauce or chips or cocoa powder - to drizzle at top for garnishing
Preparation

• Arrange all items before hand and it will be easy to assemble
• Mix powdered biscuits with butter and make a nice crusty dough and spread it as a first layer on the pie dish (I chose to bake this @ 350 F for 10 min.)
• Once the crust is @ room temperature, spread the layer of Dulce De Leche
• Now, arrange banana slices in any way you want. I added 2 layers of banana
• Cover the whole thing with desired amount of (or all of) whipped cream.
• Now, decorate it the way you want. In my house, none of the boys like chocolate, so I just went white with little grated chocolate.

Serving
Cut it into slices and serve it chilled.


That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Cafe Style Best Ever Banana Bread for December Sweet Punch

Hello Friends,


Another wonderful Sweet Punch posting day. This month Ria gave us a free reign to bake anything we would like to, which as usual confused me. But, I had this recipe bookmarked for a while and I had bananas ready to go bad, so this is what I made for this month.


The bread was as mentioned by Tia, a cafe style and that too a melt in the mouth kind. If you like banana bread, this is the recipe you can count on. I guess this is the best banana bread I have baked so far. Take my word for it.

  Print this recipe

Cafe Style Best Ever Banana Bread

Recipe Source: Buttercream Barbie
Ingredients
Wet
Banana - 3 large ones (about 1 to 1.5 cups mashed banana puree or little chunky as you like)
Eggs - 2 beaten
Buttermilk - 1/3 cup
Oil - 1/2 cup (I used Canola Oil)
Dry
All Purpose Flour - 1 3/4 cups, sifted
Sugar - 1 - 1.5 cups (I added 1.5 and felt that I could have reduced a bit)
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Nuts
Walnuts - 1/2 cup, chopped to bits
Preparation

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease a load pan.
• Whisk together all wet ingredients  till nicely blended.
• Sift together all dry ingredients.
• Now, add dry ingredients to wet slowly and mix till all come together and there are no lumps.
• Add walnuts (you can also add 1/ cup of chocolate chips here, if you want to) and mix them in the batter.
• Pour the batter in the greased load pan and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. Keep checking after an hour to make sure you don't over bake.
• Let it cool on rack completely before you cut them into desired sized slices.
• The ingredients mentioned above made one loaf for me.

Serving
Serve it just as it is. I have tried both warm and cold and it tastes alike, simple delicious.

That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Coffee and Chocolate Pudding - Sweet Punch for November 2011

Hello Friends,


Another month and another wonderful Sweet Punch Entry. This time it was mouth watering and super yummy Coffee & Chocolate Pudding. 


It was super easy to put together, about 5 minutes and then 20 min. to bake and this is a dessert that you can enjoy right out of the oven, so no need to wait for it to cool down completely :)


Enjoy !!!

  Print this recipe

Coffee and Chocolate Pudding

Recipe Source: Fair Lady
Ingredients (makes 4 servings)

All Purpose Flour - 1 cup
Baking Powder - 2 tsp
Cocoa Powder - 2 tsp
Salt - one pinch
Brown Sugar - ½ cup
Butter - 2 tbsp, melted
Milk - ½ cup
Egg - 1, beaten
For the topping
Brown Sugar - ½ cup
Cocoa - 3 tbsp
Strong Black Coffee - 1 cup (I used Nescafe Decaf)
Preparation

• Preheat oven to 180°C. 
• Sift together dry ingredients.
• Stir through butter, milk and egg until well combined.
• Spoon batter into 4 ramekins.
• Sprinkle over brown sugar and cocoa then pour over coffee but do not stir.
• Bake for 20 minutes.
• Dust with cocoa powder or cinnamon and sugar; serve with vanilla ice cream.

Serving
I could not take pics of this, but I served it with a big dollop of Nutella at the top and warming it again to let that Nutella melt and have more gooey chocolate :)


That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Buttery Jam and Nutella Tarts for Sweet Punch

Hello Friends,


Another month and another wonderful Sweet Punch time. This time, we had to re-create Ria's Buttery Jam Tart.


It was so much fun making them. Took me hardly 5 minutes to put them together, another 20 min. for baking them and then the last difficult 30 min. of waiting for it to cool down for us to eat them. Results, we loved them. They were very buttery and the tart themselves were crumbly.


Buttery Jam and Nutella Tarts

Ingredients
All Purpose Flour - 1 cup (this will make about 5 muffin sized tarts)
Butter - 1/2 cup (chilled)
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Jam - 5 tbsps
Nutella - 2 tbsp
Preparation

• Pre-heat your oven to 360 degree Fahrenheit
• Sift the flour and mix butter to it slowly. You will have a smooth dough in less than a min.
• Divide them in equal sized 5 balls.
• Prepare your mini tart pan or muffin pan with liner (as I did not have a tart pan).
• Flatten each ball you made earlier a little and put then in muffin/tart pan to take the shape of the pan.
• Fill some tarts with jam till they are about 3/4 full.
• The tarts that you want to fill Nutella with, bake them without any filling.
• Put your tarts/muffins in the oven and bake for about 20 min.
• Let them cool completely before you take them out.
• Now, fill the tarts that are empty with Nutella. You can let it set and then fill it again with some chocolate ganache per your liking.

Serving
I am guessing you will grab them right out of oven, I mean after they cool down. We would have loved them with ice-cream or whipping cream, but we finished them even before we could get to that stage... lol


Looking forward to baking the next Sweet Punch !!!


That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Banana Strawberry Muffins for Sweet Punch August

Hello Friends,

I think I am the last person posting this or at least the last few :)

I firstly would like to thank Sweet Punch team for hunting for such delicious and mouth watering recipes for us to bake every month. I thoroughly enjoyed baking and eating this month's sweet punch, which was Banana Strawberry Muffins, for which the recipe source was our favorite Joy of Baking. I have used the recipe as it is, so not going to re-write the recipe here. Please follow the link and enjoy the recipe @ her site :)

Soft, moist and loved those strawberry pieces in between. You enjoy the pictures too :)

That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Pound Cake for Sweet Punch

Hello Friends,

I am so happy that after a long time, I am doing Sweet Punch event again this month. I have always wanted to try a Pound Cake. So, when I saw the email from Sweet Punch team (Divya, Ria and Maria), I had to make it and guess what, may be for the first time, I made it way ahead in time.. lol. So, that is how excited I was about this.

I have to tell you here that I totally forgot about the Cake flour that I had to use in the recipe and used regular APF (All Purpose Flour) instead and cake came out pretty well. Now, when I try with cake flour, I may find some difference, but otherwise, it was as if bought from store. So, a wonderful recipe :)

Pound Cake for Sweet Punch

Ingredients

Milk - 3 tbsp
Large Eggs - 3
Vanilla - 1.5 tsp
Sifted Cake Flour - 1.5 cups
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Baking Powder - 3/4 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Unsalted Butter - 13 tbsp, softened

Preparation

• Preheat your oven to 350 F. Butter an 8 inch by 4 by 2.5 inch loaf pan, or any six cup loaf or fluted tube pan.
• Lightly whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla in a medium bowl.
• Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix on low speed for 30 seconds, until blended. Add the butter and half the egg mixture, and mix until dry ingredients are moistened. On medium speed, beat for one minute. This will aerate and develop the cake’s structure. Scrape down sides.
• Add the remaining egg mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds between each addition. Scrape down sides.
• Pour batter into prepared pan. Smooth surface with a spatula. Bake for 55-65 minutes (35-45 minutes if baking in a fluted tube pan), until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cake cool on a rack in the pan for 10 minuets before inverting onto a greased wire rack. If using a loaf pan, flip the cake over so the top is up.

For making Cake flour at home - Take one cup of all purpose flour and remove 2 tbsp from it.Replace the 2 tbsp flour with cornflour and sift together 2-3 times.Cake flour is ready to use.
Serving
Enjoy it warm or at room temperature with your morning or evening tea/coffee or even as a dessert with some ice cream or any sauces you prefer. We enjoyed it with some warm butter as snack :)


That's all for now. Take care till next.

Whole Wheat Eggless Almond Cookies - March Sweet Punch

Hello Friends,


I have missed a few sweet punch bakes in last 3 months. So, here I am back baking after a long time. This was by far the easiest bake for me, very few ingredients and very few steps to follow. Just my kind of bake. I am going to make more of these and enjoy.


This month Ria had selected Whole Wheat Eggless Almond Cookies from Majula's Kitchen. Now, who in the blog world or even regular Indian cooks @home or just learning do not know about this blog. It was a bible when I was nothing but just a learner and even now. She has a great video of this recipe on her blog, so don't forget to check that out. 

Thanks Ria for choosing such great one, I enjoyed baking and eating both... lol


Ingredients

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Sliced Almonds - 1/4 cup
Green cardamom seed coarsely powder (elaichi) - 1/2 tsp
Unsalted butter (8 tablespoons or 4oz) - 1/2 cup
About 2 tablespoons of milk or as needed

Preparation

1. Pre heat the oven to 360 degree F.
2. In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, sliced almonds and cardamom powder well.
3. Next add soft butter and milk to the flour mixture to make dough. Dough should be very soft.
4. Divide the dough into about 24 equal parts and make them into balls.
5. Press each ball between your palms lightly; every piece should be about 1/2” in thickness.
6. Place the dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet about inch a part.
7. Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes or until cookies are lightly gold brown.
8. After they become lightly golden brown remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Let the cookies cool down for two to three minutes before taking them off the cookie sheet.

Serving
Serve it with tea/coffee as a snack or enjoy it for guilt free dessert :)


That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Pear and Chocolate Crumble - Sweet Punch for December

Hello Friends,


It is that time of the month again, don't go on tangents, I mean Sweet Punch. This month Divya picked a delicious wintery - warm dessert for baking. It was warm and it was chocolate, so I can say very much like my kind. 


Guys, so quickly qhip it up. It only takes about 10-15 min. of prep and then waiting for 30-40 min. So, sit back, relax and enjoy it on a cold day or night. You won't regret as I don't. 


Pear, Chocolate and Almond Crumble
Recipe Source - http://www.lochfyne.com/Recipes/Desserts/Pear-Crumble-with-Chocolate-Chunks-and-Hazelnuts

Ingredients

• 1kg (4-5) ripe pears, peeled, cored and chopped into 1cm pieces
• 50g light brown soft sugar [ Can substitute with regular sugar]
• Grated zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
• 100g Swiss milk chocolate, roughly chopped

For the crumble:

• 100g plain flour [ You could substitute this with Whole wheat flour too]
• 50g butter, chilled and diced
• 50g light brown soft sugar
• 50g blanched almonds, lightly toasted in a dry pan and roughly chopped

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Grease 6 ovenproof teacups or ramekins or a pie-dish.
• In a medium bowl, mix together the pears, brown sugar, lemon zest and juice, and half the chocolate. Divide the mixture between the teacups or ramekins, spooning over any juice. 
• To make the crumble, place the flour and butter in a medium bowl and, with your fingertips, rub together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, almonds and remaining chocolate. 
• Spoon the crumble over the pears and press down lightly. Place the crumbles on a baking tray and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden and bubbling. Serve with a scoop of good vanilla ice-cream.

Now, all I am waiting is to cook another batch and try some variations. I will be posting about them pretty soon :)

Take care and have fun till next post.

Molten Lava Cake - Sweet Punch for October !!!

Hello friends,

Molten Lava Cakes, ok, I have to admit that I cannot stop eating this one. I baked it last night and wanted to eat all just by myself. For a chocoholic like me, it was a challenge to save it for others too... lol 

If you have never had it, then you are surely missing on something and you have to try it out and if you have had it ever, then you know what I am talking about. 

I cannot thank Divya enough on choosing this sinful and mouth watering and lip smacking (I am running out of adjectives to describe it) recipe. Thanks Sweetheart !!!

Now, without further delay, here is the recipe.

Molten Lava Cake
Recipe source - showmethecurry.com

Ingredients

Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate – 4 oz (113g)
Butter – 4 oz (113g)
Eggs – 2
Sugar – 1/3 cup (75 g)
All-purpose Flour – 1/4 cup (40g)
Butter – for greasing ramekins

Preparation

1. In a double boiler, melt chocolate.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, beat Eggs and Sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Once chocolate is melted, remove pan from heat and add in butter. Mix until the butter melts fully.
4. Add chocolate/butter mixture into the eggs, add all-purpose flour and mix until well incorporated.
5. Butter bottom and sides of ramekins (small glass/porcelain bowls) and pour in mixture about 3/4 way full.
6. Place ramekins on a baking tray and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 C) for 10 – 15 minutes. Shorter for gooey (molten) inside, longer for stiff inside.
7. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.

P.S - Some people find it gross to have cakes with uncooked centers[not me!!] and feel the lava is nothing but uncooked batter.I have a solution for that too--if you feel so too,just place a chocolate chunk in between--pour half the batter into the ramekin and place a chocolate chunk,and pour the remaining batter and cook for a longer time than mentioned.You could also place cold ganache in between,choices are numerous!!

That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Golden Onion/Cottage Cheese/Spinach Quiche - Savory September for Sweet Punch

Hello friends,


When I saw the recipe Ria selected for Savory September, I was very very happy because, I always saw these mini things at potlucks etc., but never could taste due to strong smell of egg. Now, I had the recipe (of course with an egg), but tried it without one and it came out really beautiful and golden like the name says.

Golden Onion/Cottage Cheese/Spinach Quiche

Ingredients & Preparation

For the pastry:

Maida (All Purpose Flour) - 2 cups

Butter (frozen) - 1 cup (preferably unsalted)

Baking powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - to taste

Ice cold water-as required ( which will be a few drops)

• Sieve maida ,salt and baking powder together. Grate in the butter and mix it with the flour with your fingertips till it resembles coarse sand.
• Gather it into a soft dough.
• Roll it out on a lightly floured surface and lift it up carefully and line the tin that you will be baking it in.If it breaks up and you need to do a patch work, big deal! It wouldn't be seen outside! ;)
• Which ever tin you are using, make sure the dough comes a little way up the sides, so that it can hold the filling in. 
• If you are in doubt, see this.

Filling:

Paneer (Cottage Cheese) - 1/2 c

Onion- 1.5 cups, chopped

Spinach - 1.5 cups, chopped

Milk - 1 cup

Cheese - 1 cup (I used Mexican 3-cheese blend)

Salt and pepper to taste

Oil- as needed.

• Heat oil and slightly fry the paneer till it is golden brown. Add in the onions and spinach and fry till onions have caramelised. Add slight salt and pepper per taste.
• Switch off the flame. 
• Mix milk and cheese and mix well.
• Now, pour the veggie mixture in the tin with the pastry lining.
• Now, pour the milk-cheese mix over the veggie mix and bake @ 350 degree F for 30 mins or till golden brown .

Serving

Let it cool in the tin completely . Serve it in wedges.

My family simply loved it and even though it is supposed to be an appetizer, we had it for dinner few minutes ago and we finished it all :)

That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Black Forest Roulade with Cherry Filling - Sweet Punch for August

Hello friends,


It is Sweet Punch time again. This month, it was Maria's turn to select a theme and she chose Black Forest Roulade recipe. This recipe is from Australian Women's Weekly (AWW) Magazine.


As usual, I procrastinated and prepared it only this afternoon. Now, I have to say, a great recipe Maria, I love dark chocolate and this was an amazing dessert for whoever loves dark chocolate. Not so good for my husband as he doesn't like chocolate and on top it was dark chocolate. Anyways, I am glad that it is all mine... yum... yum... yum...


I was really scared by the recipe and the accompanied picture as I have never ever ate roulade in my life. So, it was like reading about it and making, so a bit skeptical. But, then glad I made it, because it was actually simple to make, just 3 things to make (cake, cherry filling and cream) and then assemble them. It took about 30 minutes (including the time of making cake). So, a great one. The only thing is that, the base cake itself was sooooooooooooooo soft and moist that it was a scary task to roll it up and it did break in few places.


Black Forest Roulade with Cherry Filling

Ingredients

Dark chocolate - 200gm, chopped coarsely

Hot water - 1/4 cup (60 ml)
Instant coffee powder - 1 tsp
Eggs - 4, separated (room temp)
Caster sugar - 1/2 cup (110 gms)
Caster sugar - 1 tbsp, extra
Thickened cream - 3/4 - 1 cup
Kirsch - 1 tbsp (Optional, I did not use)
Cherry filling
Seedless black cherries - 425gm can
Cornflour - 3 tsp
Kirsch - 1 tbsp  (Optional, I did not use)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 360 degree F. Grease 25 cm/30 cm swiss roll pan; line base with baking paper. Combine chocolate, water and coffee in large heat proof bowl; sit bowl over saucepan of simmering water. Using wooden spoon, stir until chocolate melts then immediately remove bowl from fire.


Beat egg yolks & sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until thick &; creamy; this will take about 5 minutes. Using large metal spoon, fold egg mixture into warm chocolate mixture. Beat egg whites in small bowl  with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Using metal spoon, gently fold egg whites into chocolate mixture, in two batches. Spread mixture into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven about 10 mins.

Meanwhile, place a large sheet of baking paper on board; sprinkle with extra sugar. Turn cake onto sugared baking paper; carefully remove lining paper, cover cake loosely with a tea towel. Cool cake to room temp.

Beat cream & kirsch in small bowl with electric mixer until firm peaks form. Spread cake evenly with cooled cherry filling then spread Kirsch cream over cherry mixture. Roll cake from a long side, using paper to lift and guide the roll; place on serving plate. Dust with cocoa powder. Cover roll; refrigerate 30 minutes before serving. You can also dress up the roulade  with cherries or by piping some cream on top. 
Cherry filling
Drain cherries, reserving 1/4 cup (60ml) of syrup. Using knife, chop cherries coarsely. Using wooden spoon blend cornflour and reserved syrup in a saucepan. Add cherries; stir over heat until mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat, cool to room temp.
Serving

Do I need to tell you how to serve? I know I will keep nibbling on it, till it is all over. But, yes, best time, dessert time :)

Notes:

• If you dont have a swiss roll tin, use a rectangular baking tin.
• I used canned red cherries instead of black cherries and skipped using alcohol completely.
• The roulade is a bit delicate and tends to stick on to the baking paper, be careful while removing the paper and also while rolling. 
• It's a very moist roulade, its very soft even if you serve it straight out of the fridge. 
• This cake is a cross between a mousse and a fallen souffle. It's ideal to make it on the day of serving.
• To successfully make this cake, it is vital that the egg yolk/sugar mixture is beaten until thick and that the egg whites are beaten only until soft peaks form. Overbeating will dry out the egg whites and make it difficult to fold them into the chocolate mixture.
• To test if the cake is cooked, touch it with your fingertips: it should feel slightly firm and springy. 

That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Devil's Food Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Filling - Sweet Punch Time Again !!!

Hello friends,


Another interested and mouth watering sweet punch time again :)


Thanks Divya for this great recipe. I would have never dreamt of making filled cupcakes ever, I mean decorated yes, but never filled ones. This was really a great challenge. I tried using the recipe as it is, mainly as I am not a baker and just started and do not have any tips or any ideas on what to substitute something with.. lol.


They came very very moist, little scarier in the beginning as they were moistier than what I saw in pics. Many of mine broke when I was inverting them, meaning the bottom part just kept stuck to the cupcake pan even though I had greased and dusted and everything. Anyways, so, the cutting that I had to make was more like scooping the flesh out and filling and then taping it back again.  I was not sure, so as you can see, I didn't fill it a lot, but it was still enough.


But, believe, they were the softest yummiest cupcakes. The only thing I did different was that I did not use the Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting but used store bought Betty Crocker's Dark Chocolate frosting instead.


Every time I ate them after few hours, I just nuked for few minutes.


Here is the recipe.

Devil's Food Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream filling
Recipe source - Baking Bites
Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream (low fat or full) -can be substituted with yogurt or cream mixed with a tsp of yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2-oz dark chocolate
1 cup water, boiling
Method

Preheat the oven to 350F and lightly grease two 12-cup muffin tins.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light.
Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by sour cream and vanilla extract.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
Add half of flour mixture to the butter mixture, followed by the sour cream and vanilla extract, followed by the addition of the rest of the flour mix.
Stir well between each addition and mix until no streaks of flour remain.
Stir the cocoa powder and the dark chocolate into the boiling water (easiest in a large measuring cup).
Pour chocolate water into the rest of the batter and stir until uniform.
Evenly distribute batter into prepared baking cups. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the cakes spring back when lightly pressed. (It’s fine if you can’t fit both trays into the oven at the same time, just wait until one batch finishes before putting in the second pan)
Turn cupcakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting and filling.


Vanilla Cream Filling

3 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 cup milk (low fat is fine)
1/2 cup butter (or trans fat-free shortening)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 scraped vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together the flour and milk and cook in a small saucepan over medium heat until thick. This will only take a few minutes.
Stir continuously to prevent the mixture from clumping and do not bring all the way to a boil.
When thickened (consistency will be that of a thin pudding or custard), strain with a mesh strainer into a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let cool completely to room temperature.
When the milk mixture is cool, cream the butter (or shortening) and sugar together in a medium bowl until lightl. Add in the milk/flour mixture and the scraped vanilla bean seeds (or vanilla extract) and beat at high speed with an electrick mixer for 7 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape into a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip, or a large ziplock bag with the corner cut off, and set aside until ready to fill your cupcakes.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat, with an electric mixer, until frosting is creamy, 3-5 minutes. Add additional powdered sugar as needed to achieve a thick, but not stiff, frosting that is easy to spread. Add additional milk, if necessary, to thin the frosting if it gets too thick.
Assembly
(A photo how-to of the assembly method can be found here.) Take a cooled cupcake and, using a small pairing knife, cut a cone of cake (1-inch across by 1-inch deep) out of the top. Trim off the pointy end of the cone, leaving a flat circle of cake. Set aside and repeat this process for all the cupcakes.
Take the cream filling and squeeze a tablespoon or so into each cupcake cavity, filling the hole up to the top with filling. Top off with a flat circle of cake to plug the hole and keep the filling in place.
Using a butter knife or a small offset spatula, frost each cupcake with a layer of chocolate buttercream frosting. Place a dollop of icing in the center of the cupcake (on top of the cut out circle of cake) and spread from the center to the sides of the cupcake.
If you have leftover filling, transfer it to a fresh ziploc bag and cut a very small opening in one corner. Pipe a swirly line down the center of each cupcake.
Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.
Makes 2-dozen.

I made half of it as a cupcake and half of the batter as a chocolate cake, both were yummy.

That's all for now. Take care till next post.