Sweet Fresh Corn Cupcakes

It's been a long time since I've posted, because of reasons I won't get into, I have been feeling very un-inspired. Until now. And all apologies for the lack of photo - my camera got destroyed on a recent cliff-jumping adventure. Ahem.

There's nothing better than sweet corn-on-the-cob, fresh from the farm! I've created my own recipe on what to do with a bumper crop of fresh (and uncooked) ears of corn. This would work with frozen corn kernels, I assume, but it would certainly be less delicious.

These little beauties are very sweet, just the way I like my cakes. They are relatively one-dimensional in flavour, and would be best served with an accompaniment. These would taste great with some of your favourite spices added to taste, or topped with whipped cream and seasonal fruit or berries shortcake-style. 


1 3/4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 c. sugar (this can be reduced according to taste)
1/3 c. butter, cold
1/2 c. buttermilk
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. fresh corn kernels, cut off the cob


Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare a muffin tin with paper liners.

In your food processor, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar and pulse to combine. Add the cold butter in pieces and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add the corn kernels and pulse until combined. Whisk together the buttermilk and eggs. Add the mixture from the food processor into the milk mixture and stir to combine. Dole out about 1/4 cup of batter per cupcake.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until browned and a toothpick poked into the centre of a cupcake comes out clean.

Enjoy! Yields 12 - 15 cupcakes.

Hummingbird Cupcakes

I used this Hummingbird Cake recipe from Joy of Baking, and turned it into a cupcake. I made a few changes:

Substitute 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour for whole-wheat
No pecans in the frosting
Pineapple tidbits instead of crushed (because J got the wrong can from the store!)
Made 21 cupcakes instead of 2 round cakes

Healthy, moist, and delicious! What a great recipe.

Super Duper Zucchini Muffins

Somehow, these muffins were ridiculously fluffy. That's a good thing. I just didn't understand how, because I put two cups of sopping wet zucchini into these! Vegan alternative in (brackets). Adapted from allrecipes.com

2 1/4 c. flour
1 c. white sugar (Redpath sugar)
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. each cinnamon and nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. vegetable shortening, margarine, or unsalted butter
1/4 c. buttermilk or yogourt (or vinegar + soy milk)
2 eggs (or 2 portions egg substitute)
2 c. shredded zucchini - I left the skin on, and seeds in, and I used a cheese grater to shred it all
Optional: 1/2 c. chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease or spray-oil a muffin tin. Combine the sugar and dry ingredients. Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients, or use a food processor to combine shortening and dry ingredients. This step is important, as it is responsible for the fluffiness of these muffins!

Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, and mix them into the shortening-flour mixture until just combined. Fold in the nuts. Distribute evenly to each muffin cup and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a centre muffin comes out clean.

Serve warm and fresh, on their own or spread with butter.

Chocolate Cake

This is my guarantee: If you follow this recipe exactly, it will yield the richest, most moist and chocolatey cake you have ever tried. Adapted from a recipe at AllRecipes.com, but the changes I made make all the difference.

Save 1 c. of your morning strong-brewed coffee for this recipe, or brew some in advance and cool it off.

1 c. milk
1 Tbsp. vinegar

Combine vinegar with milk to curdle.

1 3/4 c. flour
2 c. white sugar
1 c. sifted cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 c. cold strong brewed coffee
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour 2 x 8-inch round cake pans. Alternatively, grease and line bottoms of pans with parchment. Sift dry ingredients together in one bowl. Whisk eggs and oil together in a large bowl, and whisk in vanilla and coffee. Stir in soured milk. Gradually beat in dry ingredients, until just incorporated. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

This will easily make 24 cupcakes as well - bake for about 12 - 15 minutes.

Pump this recipe up to a Black Forest Cake:

In advance, soak halved and pitted, fresh, sweet black cherries (appx. 30 or 40 berries) in some cherry brandy - overnight is best. When cake is cooled, whip up a carton of whipping cream with sugar and vanilla added (to taste). Drain cherries and spread them generously between your two cake layers. Frost the cake with whipped cream, using a spatula or a piping bag, and decorate with more soaked and fresh cherries.

For those of you who are lactose-intolerant, or who would like to reduce the fat, use Cool Whip or Cool Whip Light instead of whipped cream.

Easy Vanilla Cake

Light, white, delicious. Suitable for cakes or cupcakes. This cake is firm enough to ice and is wonderful with a basic buttercream frosting!

This isn't a recipe of mine, I believe I got it from allrecipes.com

2 c. sugar
4 eggs
2 1/2 c. flour
1 c. milk
3/4 c. vegetable oil
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla (I often add an extra tsp. because I love vanilla)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line and grease two round cake pans (or 2 x 12 cup muffin tins) with parchment paper. Beat sugar and eggs to gether until thickened, about 1 minute. Add flour, milk, oil, baking powder, and vanilla and mix for about 1 minute. Do not overbeat or underbeat! One minute is long enough to develop the glutens in the flour and incorporate lots of air into the batter.

Pour batter into pans and bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean (30 - 40 min for round pans, 12 - 15 min for cupcakes).