Selective everything/-/ Maple pecan cupcakes with tiny buttermilk pancakes.

Do you follow recipes in the kitchen? Are you one of those high tech savvy people, who are able to follow the recipe ipad app at the same time as cooking it? Or do you struggle to even read a recipe without putting in your own selective thoughts and missing one or two things?





I know when I read recipes I have to read them at least three times. Yes three. One time for the ingredients, one time for the recipe and one time for the recipe again; but this time without my brain assuming the steps. You have heard of selective hearing right? Well I think I have selective senses, I have always missed things that other can catch on the first go.



Maybe it is just my impatience and that I often day dream but it does mean I have to ask people to repeat things. This is particularly annoying when I am following recipes for cakes and cupcakes. I am anal about the amounts; they have to be on the dot. This means using a scale but for a lot of recipes people use cups and liquid measure cups. I tell you if I had a dollar for number of times I have done this wrong. It also does not help that the best recipes need to be converted to US metrics to Australian metrics. Oh the perils of living in Australia.



I think cupcakes are especially important to follow the recipe to the mark because with such small delicate cakes, ANYTHING can make it go wrong. The too hot oven, under or over whipped creaming of sugar and butter, too much or not enough flour; the list is endless. Thankfully when I was developing this one I was using the baker’s ratio in order to get the amounts as close to right as possible. Also I found you cannot just replace syrup for sugar in a damn cake ( many, many fails attempts to learn this). I never thought about counting that syrup is liquid rather than solid…. Yep selective senses strike again.



For a dessert/sweet blog, I have yet to post a cupcake recipe. Well long time coming but I am no longer a cupcake less dessert blog now! This cupcake is inspired by the most important meal of the day breakfast!

There is place here in Sydney which is infamous for their pancake selection. I think what makes them special is the fact they are not the thin, English style pancakes but the big, fluffy thick ones you see the USA. I have never been a fan of pancakes until I went there and tired theirs. Maybe because growing up I had pancakes out of the shaker bottle and assumed all pancakes were like that. The bottle ones are especially nasty when you do not shake it well, egh…






Wonderfully fragranced cupcakes with a fluffy interior and topped off with a pecan flavour butter cream. The smokiness of the pecan extract is the highlight of this cupcake for me but then again I have always had a weakness for nuts. This buttermilk pancake recipe is a scaled down version of those big thick ones. I love butter milk in pancakes, not only because their slightly sour tang but it lets the bicarbonate of soda work its magic over time! This means very fluffy pancakes because the bicarb is still active. Look a cupcake you can eat for breakfast! No need to feel guilty(FYI, you should NEVER feel guilty about eating anything even chocolate for breakfast).



I know this a bit of self ingulent post but Would you mind checking out this page for the GOOD TASTE Cutest cupcake competition? I have entered this one in to the running and would love for one or two of you to vote for me. It is under “pancake maple cupcake”. Thank you if you take time for your busy lives to help me in my pursuit of cute cupcake cuteness.



Maple cupcakes with Pecan butter cream and butter milk pancakes.



Make 12

195g plain flour

140g raw caster sugar (normal white is fine too)

6g baking powder

4g bi carb

125g butter

3 egg yolks

1 tsp almond extract

90ml milk

100ml pure maple syrup



Preheat oven to 185c. Line your cupcake tin with 12 wrappers

In large bowl cream your butter and sugar for 5 minutes. It should be light yellow, fluffy and sugar grain free.

On medium speed, add your egg yolks one at a time beating well in between each addition.

Add your extract. Beat well once again.

In jug mix your maple syrup and milk. Shift your plain flour, bicarb, and baking powder in a another bowl.

Fold 1/3 of the flour mix to butter. After fold 1/3 of the milk into the batter. Repeat the folding process until all mixes are folded together.

Scoop your batter into the cupcake cases.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until a wooden tooth pick comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool.



Pecan butter cream

Barely adapted From the Taste.com website



150g butter, soften

500g icing sugar

2tsp pecan extract

50ml buttermilk



Cream you butter in large bowl till very fluffy and almost white. Add your extract.

On a slow speed beat one half of the sugar in to the butter. Add your butter milk. Beat again.

Add the last bit of sugar and beat until fluffy and all ingredients are combined.



Buttermilk pancakes



100g plain flour

150g self rising flour

2g bicarb soda

4g baking powder

2g salt

30g sugar

2 eggs

150ml butter milk

30ml rice bran oil.



In large bowl shift you flour, salt, bicarb and baking powder.

In jug whisk the eggs, butter milk, oil and sugar.

Pour your we mix into the dry mix and fold until just combined.

Heat a fry pan on medium. Add your choice of oil or butter. Then wipe around to get rid of excess.

Using teaspoons drop batter into the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side. You know when to turn when it shows bubbles on the surface. Repeat until batter is finished.



Assembly.

Take one cupcake and pipe your butter cream to form a base.

Next stick together three pancakes with extra butter cream and place on to of this base.

Before serving add a piece of yellow chew candy to look like butter and drizzle with more maple syrup.

Linking to the group on Whats cooking wednesday for Bunsinmyoven