Black Forest Cupcakes

The sour cherry crop this year was not as plentiful as in previous years but I still had enough to make a few batches of cherry filling. With a more limited cherry supply, I decided to be ambitious and try my hand at making Black Forest cupcakes. I've never made stuffed cupcakes before so I wasn't sure if the filling was just going to sink to the bottom and end up being soggy. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my technique of layering cake batter, then filling and then batter again actually worked. I whipped up some cream and shaved a Lindor chocolate on top for decoration and then voila! Looked good and tasted good too! The only thing I think I'll change is that next time, I will add a bit more rum but otherwise, I count this experiment as a success. :)

We start with fresh picked cherries. It's a fair bit of work but incredibly satisfying to harvest your own fruit.

I pitted about 8 cups of cherries by hand. A pair of headphones and some pop music is recommended.

Flour, sugar and cornstarch made up the dry ingredients. Pretty simple.

Then you cook everything.

Lovely, bright red cherry filling - yum!

The tricky part about layering batter-filling-batter is trying not to make a mess.

I've learned over time how much to fill the cups so that my cupcakes are not overflowing.

I was quite proud of myself that the filling worked!

After that, the rest is just decoration. :)

Not bad for our 100th post, eh? Yep, that's right - it took three years but we've finally broken the 100 mark. Time for some (cup)cake to celebrate!

It's Cherry Season!

I have a sour cherry tree in my backyard and there is also one at my uncle's place. Each summer, the trees produce a bumper crop of fruit. Two years ago, I picked over 40 pounds of cherries from my uncle's tree alone! There is something beautifully tempting about those glistening red fruits gleaming in the summer sun. Although it is a fair bit of work, I really enjoy the harvest. Of my family, I'm probably the one who spends the most time perched on a ladder filling bucket after bucket. My grandfather was the one who planted the cherry tree over at my uncle's place many years ago and although he has since passed away, every time I pick cherries I feel as if he is smiling down from heaven. Even a suburban girl like me can understand and appreciate how harvest time is a blessing from God. :)

This is what 10 lbs of cherries look like. Yes, I weighed them. :)

So what does one do with 40 pounds of cherries? I give most of them away to friends and family who either eat them straight, bake with them or make sauces, jams or gelatos (yum!) with them. My sister and I have made our share of pies, jams and dried fruit. One of my favorite things to make is a cherry crisp. I am not much of a baker so this easy recipe appealed to me when I first found it. (Okay, the tempting pictures accompanying the recipe also had something to do with it.)

Recently, I made one to bring to a friend's BBQ. I was actually feeling a bit nervous as I was preparing the ingredients because I hadn't baked this in two years and wasn't sure how it would turn out.

A lovely golden brown. 

I should have taken it out about a minute earlier because there were a few crumbs that were burnt but all in all, looking pretty good.

As I wrote to a friend in an email: "Baking is an act of faith. You mix all the ingredients, pour it in a pan, say a prayer over it and then put it in the oven. You can't do anything to fix it while it bakes. Then when it comes out, you have to trust that it tastes okay because you can't really cut a piece out to try it before taking it over to someone else's BBQ." Did I actually pray over this while it was baking? You better believe I did. And it ended up tasting great! ;)

Here's the recipe (I found it on allrecipes.com by ARANDYGAIL):

Ingredients for the filling:
4 cups pitted sour cherries
1.5 cups white sugar
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Ingredients for the crust:
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup brown sugar
0.5 cup butter
0.5 cup shortening

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. In a large bowl, combine cherries, white sugar, and 4 tablespoons of flour. Pour into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the 1.5 cups of flour, oats, and brown sugar. Cut in butter and shortening until crumbly. Sprinkle over cherry filling.
4. Bake in oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until the topping is golden brown.

Fair or Fowl...or Fruit?

Some projects are finished in an afternoon. Others take two years.

Yep, that lovely pomelo sitting my cousin Patrick's hands was two years in the making. It all started when my ninth aunt bought a 3D origami crafting book from Hong Kong and my cousins and I ambitiously decided to make a figurine together. Originally, it was supposed to be a chicken (you can sort of imagine it...right?) but due to a little miscommunication it ended up evolving a bit over the course of two years. My cousin Patrick was responsible for the majority of the construction and was also the one who made the executive decision to change the sculpture into a pomelo.

A direct quote from the architect: "Since it didn't go into the shape of a chicken, I decided to make it into a fruit...[I'm going to put this] on my desk."

There are over 800 pieces in this figure. It took over 10 hours, 5 people, and half a bottle of white glue. It's hard as a rock and can seriously injure someone if thrown. I was tempted to try the latter out ;). 

I'm almost a little sad to see the end of this project but now, we're just going to have to plan something new. 

Fuji Paper Apple

I've been meaning to make more paper fruit to accompany my 3D origami Granny Smith from two years ago. I have so many 3D origami modules which haven't been assembled yet, collecting dust in my craft cupboard. This is why, while watching TV the other day, I decided to finally just throw something together.

Simple, quick and could be done with my attention divided between a TV drama and my hands. 

Just One Bite...

Several weeks ago, I was picking up the bulletin inserts left on the seats after church service. The backs of the sheets were blank so I thought it seemed like such a waste to just throw them out. The vivid colour reminded me of a bright green apple so this design was inevitable. Mmm… crisp, tart and delicious.

Front

Back

Top

Dimensions: 8.3 (from base to tip of stem) x 6.5 x 6.5 cm

Materials: neon green printer paper (recycled bulletin insert), brown cardstock, tan cardstock, dark green cardstock

Tools: knife, scissors, white glue, gluestick

Time to make: 3 hours