Monday 21 October 2013

Owl Cupcakes


'Know your Kolkata Food Blogger' event was on a hold as all of us were busy in the festivity last week. We are back introducing our very sweet, polite and extremely helpful member, Archita Chanda Ray, who blogs from My Food My Life.  Archita, having left her Banker job, now enjoys running a playschool together with her husband. Her blog reflects her ideology about food and is a treasure of some easy to cook and impressive recipes. As much as I tried to look away from her baked goodies, I finally gave in to the sweet temptation and tried her super easy, super soft and very yummy Choco vanilla Mini Cupcakes
Once the recipe was decided, I realized that my OTG(oven-toaster-griller) was at my mother's house. We had a Paath (puja) at home where I had baked some stuffed buns and hence my oven was required there. My Microwave oven is a simple one without the grill feature and I am a very partial OTG baker. That's when I remembered the Electric Tandoor gifted by my Amma(mother-in-law) which I have successfully used to make Pizza, Naan and all sorts of grilled meat. It does not have a temperature control and thus needs high level of supervision while making anything in it. The Tandoor is an amazing appliance which cooks food in a jiffy. It melts the cheese on my pizza in 2 minutes flat! However, baking had never been attempted in it. 
I decided to try half the recipe and see how my Tandoor bakes my cupcakes. The Tandoor needs a preheating time of 3-4 min after which I placed my cupcakes in it. It took less than 5 minutes for my cupcakes to get completely cooked and to perfection with beautiful crumbs. I was shocked and very pleasantly surprised with my results. Though next time, I will consider covering my cupcakes with aluminium foil before baking as the high temperature makes the crust go brown faster.
I had some leftover Pumpkin puree from my last bake (Pumpkin shaped dinner rolls) which I added in my cupcakes to add to the Halloween effect which I created with Oreo biscuits and Gems. The idea was taken from Pinterest, the source of which I could not locate.

My wonder Appliance-Electric Tandoor

Ingredients : Yields 4-5 cupcakes
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar, powdered
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp pumpkin puree(boiled and ground to a paste. Check here)
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda 
  • 2 tbsp boiling water
Garnish :
  • 1 tbsp grated chocolate
  • 1 tbsp cream, room temperature
  • Oreo biscuits/cookies
  • Gems/colourful round candies
Procedure
Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius.
Line cupcake tins with liners.
In a bowl, cream together sugar and egg with a electric blender till fluffy. Alternately, use a hand whisk.
To the bowl add milk, vegetable oil and pumpkin puree. Mix well.
Sift together all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda in another bowl.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and fold in gently. 
Lastly add the boiling water and mix to incorporate.
Pour the batter divided in the prepared cupcake tins till 3/4. 
Bake for 15-20 mins or till a toothpick inserted in the middle come out clean.
Allow to cool.
Melt chocolate on a double boiler or microwave in 15 secs interval till melted.
Add cream and stir well. If this gets thick add little milk. 
Spread on the cupcakes.
Take two cream halves of the Oreo biscuits and put them as the owl's eyes.
Finish the look with Gems as in the eyes and beak.
Note  :
  • If using the electric Tandoor, preheat it for 3-4 minutes and then place your cupcakes
  • Always use metal tins in the Tandoor. (I had put my silicone cupcake which got slightly burnt)
  • Keep a vigilant eye on the tandoor and keep checking by taking the tray out. 
  • Cover your bakes with an aluminium foil to avoid the direct high heat burning tops. 
  • If using Tandoor, keep the batter a little more than half as it tends to rise very fast and high. I had to remove ugly overgrown tops from my cupcakes. 
Check out the Mummy Cupcakes I made last year for Halloween. 


Happy Halloween Baking
Amrita

27 comments:

  1. Awesome creations....Loved it...:)

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  2. Very creative and these are simply so attractive.

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  3. Awwww so cuteeee.... hoot hoot!

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  4. wow that electric tandoor is a killer gadget ;) love those cupcakes so perfectly made :)

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  5. wow so creative and cute!

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  6. wow wow wow they look super cute and so perfectly made cupcakes in a electric tandoor :)

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  7. Hello Amrita, What tasty owls perched all over the branches! How did Vaanya react to them?
    You've kick started the festive mood in your blog.... Halloween.....and now I am waiting for Diwali goodies.:)

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    Replies
    1. Vaanya wanted to add more Gems! Had a hard time keeping her away for some pics :)

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  8. Wowie!! You are outdoing urself each time Amritha! Loved these cuties... such simplicity, yet pretty! Awesome work :)

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    1. Thank you Nandita, I am glad I am able to enjoy doing these little things with whatever little time I have..thanks to my husband Vishal.

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  9. Wow these are great and perfect for little kiddies on Halloween! Adults too :)

    Pls check out my blog!

    zoeamusebouche.blogspot.co.uk

    Zoe

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Zoe for visiting our blog..will surely drop in yours too very soon.

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  10. Cant take my eyes from those cute looking owl cupcakes..Well done and you have baked them through that tandoor,thats amazing..

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    1. Thank you Priya, I found the idea on Pinterest and have been dying to try them and the Tandoor was a desperate but successful attempt.

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  11. This is lovely. I am partial to my OTG and have been ignoring the electric tandoor I bought last year... may be its time to take it out of its box :)

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    1. Hello Anwesha, thank you for dropping in and liking these cupcakes. I am such a partial OTG Baker myself, but the Tandoor came in as a Saviour.

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  12. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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