Cupcakes Fit For A Princess. Pastry Princess Cupcakes

Let me live up to my blog name with this sweet, sweet post. :) 

After my baking classes near Camp Crame. My mum and I went to Greenhills Town Center to check out this lovely cupcake shop that is being hyped around the blogsphere.

I was so hungry after making cakes and cupcakes all day. We went to the McDonald's at the foremost part of Greenhills Town Center. I know there's like lots of new places with really good food around here, I wanted to try those too, but I was so hungry that I just wanna eat something fast and familiar. I promise, I will go back and try those new spots there.

Yay! Twister fries! :)

A good ol' plain Quarter Pounder
I don't like condiments and veggies on my burgers. Only the bun, patty, cheese and I'm good to go. I finished my burger and fries, then we head on to the back most line up of restos.

TA-DA!

PASTRY PRINCESS, where all your cupcake cravings are fulfilled. It started as a home based business like most cupcake shops and only opened their store earlier this year. Pastry Princess is a fairly new cupcakery in town, but is already garnering a lot of raves. Can you believe that the owner started this business when she was only 16! How awesome is that!

A dainty little cupcake shop. The small shop gives a homey feel to it and has all those cute pink accents and decorations all over the store. The place really is small but cozy, with only a few seating arrangements inside. 

The Menu

Their cupcake flavors are by schedule. The best sellers are, of course, sold everyday. The more unique flavors are scheduled through out the week. All home made and baked from scratch. Ahhh, home made cupcakes! :3

Decisions, decisions. Can I just buy them all?

Red Velvet

Red Velvet cupcake with Philadelphia cream cheese frosting. Like most of their cupcakes, it is topped with a mini fondant heart. Which reminds me of DC Cupcakes.

Salted Caramel
Caramel cake with salted caramel frosting

Banoffee

Banana with whipped cream frosting

Nutella

To all you Nutella lovers out there! Need I say more?

Choc-Nut

Made with the pinoy favorite, Choc-Nut!

Lemon Blossom

Sorry, I don't know much about this cake, but it's obvie that it's lemon flavored.

They also have other baked goodies like cookies. I was curious about the crinkles, they kinda didn't look like the normal chocolate crinkles.

How cute are these tea cans/tins? They're one of the many decorations and knick-knacks around the store. I am loving that traditional british red phone box can.

Of course, I love this pink one as well. :)

These things just give that homey personalized touch to the shop.

There's a long couch that goes all along the wall. Which are filled with cupcakes, I took a closer look and those cupcakes all over the walls are hand painted. Check out the photo clothesline. :)

Cork board filled with doodles and praises about the cupcakes or the fans' message to Pastry Princess herself.

I was still kinda full from my mirienda at McDonald's so we had the cupcakes to go. Can you guess what flavors I chose?

The place is so cozy that it's a perfect spot to hang out with friends. Like these people. There are also lots of people who drop by the store to grab a cupcake or two and go.

Hindi naman masyadong relaxed si kuya?

I was surprised when my mum ordered lasagna since we were both very full from our snack. But then again, lasagna and pasta dishes are her favorite.

The lasagna was okay. It was a little bit like left-over lasagna though. Some of the lasagna parts were dry, I'm not sure if it dried up or it was uncooked. But I guess if it was made fresh, it would've been a little better. And I really hope they improve the plastic cups and straws that they use, it just doen't go with the whole look of the store, it gave a sort of carinderia feel. The meat sauce was average. It's okay though, I came for the cupcakes!

More seating outside, alfresco!

We went home anxious to try the cupcakes.

Their packaging is cute plus it's pink! <3

My goodies!

Salted Caramel, Nutella, Tiramisu, and of course, Red Velvet!

Don't they just look delightful? 

The mounds of frosting look like sweet little hills.

Up first is the not so red, Red Velvet.

It was more on the brown/copper-ish side than red. But hey, it's all about the taste.

You can tell just by looking at it that it's a really moist cupcake.

Yes, it was! Moist and soft, oh one bite and you will immediately know that it's a good cupcake. It has the perfect Red Velvet flavour! I have a specific taste that I want in Red Velvet and this just won me over. The cream cheese frosting was a little bit tangy, smooth and creamy. There's a good cake and frosting ratio, the frosting did not over power the cake. I love it! More on the vanilla side, but with the right hint of cocoa.

I was excited to try their salted Caramel. Caramel/ Salted Caramel is one of my favorite flvors.

This one is more dense, not as moist as the Red Velvet.

This was my least favorite among the cupcakes. It was too salty if you ask me. I know, Salted Caramel, but it is just plain salty and not really much caramel flavor. The saltiness of the frosting was way too overpowering. The cake was just okay. A little too much salt that day? I could not finish the whole thing. But I'm willing to give it another try next time.

Nutella, I like you, but I'm just not that in to you.

This was great! The cake was moist and its quite good. The frosting was really sweet and you can really taste the Nutella. I liked it enough to finish the whole thing. A pretty good Nutella cupcake, but I'm just not that in to Nutella and chocolate makes me "umay" faster. But this is definitely for all you Nutella lovers!

Tiramisu

Vanilla cupcake drizzled with rum/coffee liqueur opped with cream cheese frosting and dusted with cocoa on top. 

As you can see, it looks like a really good vanilla cupcake and generously drizzled with the flavored liqueur.

Surprisingly, I loved this one! I hate coffee, but this is really good. The coffee flavor is not strong at all. Everything just comes together, all the flavors are well balanced. I'm really surprised that this ended up as my favorite along with the Red Velvet. There is a coffee flavor but doesn't give a bitter taste.

Here is their new cupcake schedule. Click!

I love the cupcakes at Pastry Princess! The cupcakes are really delightful, a great sweet fix, though not too sweet, just perfect! I'm coming back for the Vanilla and other flavors. The prices are fair and you can definitely afford to have a cupcake fix everyday! If only I lived near the place haha! If you love cupcakes, you must try Pastry Princess, must! Really good cupcakes with a home made taste and you can tell these are made with love.

click to enlarge the map

Another thing, you really have to give other flavors a try, you'll never know it might end up your favorite haha. And the owner, so inspiring! There is really no restrictions when it comes to your dreams that is fueled with passion.

Pastry Princess

#2 Granada St.

Greenhills Towncenter, Quezon City.

P.S It's not on the Greenhills/Promenade area. Behind the McDonald's and Sumo Sam line of restos at the GH Towncenter.

website

facebook

XXXOOO,

   Les :)

My Kitchen Adventures: Red Velvet Fever On A Sleepless Morning

Hello!

I have here a recipe post. Yesterday, I posted about the Red Velvet Crinkles from Little Bites. While writing I had this really bad craving for the crinkles, only problem is that Las Piñas is a bit too far! :( I thought of just making my own red velvet crinkles. Though they were good, I still like the ones from Little Bites better. A few more adjustments I suppose.

I had quite a lot of left over cream cheese frosting and still had the red velvet fever. So, I made red velvet cupcakes. :)

I searched for a Red Velvet recipe that uses the ingredients that I already have on hand. I have my own recipe, but all my recipes are way over at the US. lol long story of how it got there, okay. Here goes, I tweaked this recipe a little.

Red Velvet Cupcakes by Laura Vitale

It makes 12 cuppycakes

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup of all Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp of Cocoa Powder *- I used 3 Tbsp
½ tsp of Baking Powder
½ tsp of Baking Soda
¼ tsp of Salt
¼ cup of Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature
¾ cup of Granulated sugar
¾ cup of Buttermilk *read note
1 Egg
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
Red food Coloring *- I used a little less of 1 Tbsp of liquid red, you can adjust the amount 'til you reach your desired shade.

 Frosting:
2 Cups of Powdered Sugar
4 oz of Cream Cheese, softened at room temperature *read note at the bottom
2 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature *read note at the bottom
1 Tbsp of Milk
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract

Process:

1. Preheat your oven at 350. You shouldn't wait for your oven to get to the right temperature. Line your cupcake pan with liners.

2. In a seperate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. The first 5 stated there at the top, and set aside.

3. In a bowl, you can use a whisk and spatula or an electric/stand mixer. Cream butter and sugar til it's light and fluffy or light in color.

4. Add the egg and vanilla, mix until well combined and creamy.

5. Add half of the dry ingredients and add half of the buttermilk. I added the food color to the buttermilk. When incorporated, add the remaining dry and wet. Then mix with a spatula.

6. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter evenly in your liners.
7. Bake for 18-20min. or until toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean. *Mine was done before 18min. So always check your cupcakes at least 2min. before the indicated time.
8. After 2min. remove from pans and let them cool completely before frosting.

For frosting:
1. Combine all the ingredients and mix until the consistency is of a thick frosting. Best done with a mixer (if using a stand mixer, use paddle attachment and then whisk attachment).
2. Let it cool in the fridge for at least 10-15min for it to set.

**Notes:
1. Use unsweetened cocoa powder. Use the light colored cocoa powder, (I forgot what it's called, sorry, all my notes are with my recipes that are oceans away).
2. Now, here in the Philippines, buttermilk is almost impossible to find. Substitute it with regular milk and vinegar or lemon juice. For every cup of buttermilk, use 1cup of milk + 1tbsp of plain vinegar or lemon juice, let it sit for about 10-15min. If you're going to add the red food color, add it just before you pour the buttermilk in to the batter.
3. Remember, food color gives a bitter taste, don't put too much. Or try to use a no-taste red.
4. Don't over mix your cupcakes or else they will become tough and bread like.
5. The cupcakes will rise, like really big and puffy. So don't put to much batter, never fill more than half full. Best to fill it two-thirds full.
6. Frosting- if you live in a country where the climate is like the Philippines', use cream cheese and butter straight from the fridge. But not frozen! You can adjust the amount of milk or powdered sugar, if it's too thick, add more milk, if it's too runny, add more sugar.

Enjoy and Good Luck! :)

I used this vanilla.

I love the Vanilla Company's vanilla extracts. These are pure and not like the imitation ones, pure extracts are better to use, specially if the vanilla flavor has to stand out. I usually buy at Gourdo's and Cook's Exchange. I prefer the bourbon one over the tahitian one.

The turn out was good, the cupcakes were delicious. It's a dense cupcake, but isn't dry. If you want a more moist cupcake with a tender crumb, you can use recipes that use cake flour. I'm not fully satisfied though, I'm looking for a specific taste. This makes me want to go on a search for the best Red Velvet cupcake recipe. 

The cream cheese frosting on top of red velvet cupcakes that I usually see are piped using big round tips, some with just a big round glop of icing, or topped with a fondant heart, or sprinkled with a little bit of cocoa. But I used a star tip for this one. I wanted to try a sort of rosette look. I'm not sure what tip number this is, it's Ateco, but a Wilton 1M tip is usually used for rosettes.

For a person without sleep, I think I did pretty well. I was bored and couldn't sleep so I ended up baking. :)

Ughhh...

I'm still not sleepy or tired! So I made this post, and I'm done writing this post and still not feeling anything. Hmmm maybe I'll go play Dance Central on kinect and dance my arse off.

XXXOOO,

   Les :)