Steamed Ladybug Cupcakes

I saw these adorable ladybug cupcakes on several blogs and forums a few months ago and have been wanting to make them. However, I was a little  daunted as pipping the design looked rather complicated and I wasn’t sure if my piping skills were up to scratch. The step-by-step instructions from MiMi Bakery House gave me the confidence to try and I discovered that it wasn’t as difficult as I imagined – all one needs is a steady hand and patience to pipe the design out slowly.

The texture of the cake is like the traditional steamed sponge cake (鸡蛋糕)  which is slightly dense and very moist. My kids really loved it because the slightly chewy texture and pretty ladybug.

Steamed Lady Bug Cupcakes (14 cupcakes)
Recipe from My Little Favourite DIY and MiMi Bakery House

Ingredients

• 3 cold eggs
• 275 g plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 150 ml fresh milk
• 1 tsp ovalette (I used sponge gel)
• 220 g castor sugar ( I used 180 g only)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

• Put all the ingredients ina mixing bowl and beat with medium high speed for 6 minutes.
• Take 1 tbsp plain mixture and put into a piping bag.
• Take 3 tbsp plain mixture (I used 4 tbsp), mix with brown colouring and put into a piping bag.
• Colour the rest of the mixing with bright red and put into another piping bag.
• Cut a small opening at the end of each piping ball. Make sure that the opening is not too big or the lines on the lady bug will be very thick.
• Fill the cupcake liners till about 3/4 full. Draw a cross with the brown mixture and do dots on both sides. Colour the upper half of the cross brown and make 2 plain dots for the eyes and fill the inside of the eyes with a brown dot.  (See below for illustration)
• Steam on meduim high heat for 12 minutes (I steamed for 15 minutes).