Taking a shot at macaron-making was certainly a good experience, but they are definitely more difficult to make with less room for experimentation in terms of ingredients than my go-to cupcakes. As such, when I received an invitation to my friend’s house party I knew it was time to go back to my old stand-by the mini “cocktail cupcake” as those require minimal fuss and the possibilities for experimentation and creative recipe customization are nearly endless. Said house party was being held to celebrate his 2,000th day (5.5 years) living in Japan as well as birthday, so I figured it would be thematically appropriate to make a cupcake inspired by Japanese flavors and went with matcha green tea cupcakes filled with sakura liqueur pastry cream and topped with sakura liqueur butter cream frosting. The result was the beauty of contrast in cupcake form: the less-sweet flavor of the matcha cupcakes paired nicely with the fruity sweetness of the sakura liqueur frosting and pastry cream, not to mention the natural green of the cupcakes made for a beautiful contrast with the vibrant pink icing. These were by far my best-received cupcakes to date, so do yourself a favor and give this feast for your eyes and your stomach a try for yourself★[Continue Reading/続きを読む]
Pink Champagne Cupcakes Filled with Sakura Liqueur Cream
It’s finally starting to feel like spring here in Tokyo and the sakura (cherry blossoms) are blooming, so the long awaiting and highly anticipated hanami (cherry blossom viewing season) is upon us again at last. I did my first hanami of the year this last weekend and since it’s become something of a tradition for me to bring booze-y “cocktail cupcakes,” I made pink champagne mini cupcakes filled with sakura liqueur pastry cream. The pink champagne cake and frosting were made with the same recipe I’ve used a few times before, but the sakura liqueur pastry cream filling was a first try for me, so I was relieved that the cupcakes got good reviews from the people who did hanami with me. The color and flavor of these little guys really does invoke all the best parts of spring, plus mini cupcakes are the perfect size to share no matter how big your hanami picnic ends up getting, so I definitely recommend giving making these a try for hanami season★
Pumpkin Spice Rum Cupcakes
Tokyo has been sliding into Christmas mode since Halloween ended, but I personally can’t bring myself to get into the winter-y Christmas spirit until December. That said, come next week it will be December and I know I will start wanting to leave my beloved pumpkins and kabocha squashes aside for Christmas cookies and mulled wine, so as a fitting last autumn-themed baked goods recipe I figured I would post these pumpkin spice rum cupcakes I made back in October. [Continue Reading/続きを読む]
Absinthe Cupcakes
As those of you who follow me on Instagram know, over the last year I’ve been into making “cocktail cupcakes” inspired by cocktails and alcoholic beverages. Pink champagne cupcakes, strawberry margarita cupcakes, sangria cupcakes, mojito cupcakes, whiskey red velevet cupcakes–I’ve made a lot of cocktail cupcakes and yet up for whatever reason, up until now I had completely overlooked the obvious, “gothy-est” cocktail cupcake: absinthe cupcakes. [Continue Reading/続きを読む]