Little Twin Stars Steamed Blossoms

I finally got to cross an item off that's long been on my baking bucket list: Nutella Steamed Blossoms! As you know, most of my desserts are baked and dipped in chocolate. I don't really do soft and fluffy chiffons, or anything STEAMED for that matter. But these steamed blossoms are just too cute and many people have been asking me to do them! So excited to finally have tried making them!

Nutella Steamed Blossoms

These Little Twin Stars steamed blossoms were thank you gifts for my girls' catechism teachers. Today is their last catechism class until next year, and I wanted to bake up something special to thank their teachers for all their hard work! 

Little Twin Stars steamed blossoms

I used Simmami's steamed nutella blossom cake recipe, halving the recipe to yield about 20 blossoms. I divided the batter into three, dyeing one third light blue and the other third light pink with a dab of gel food colouring. The natural colour of the batter has a yellowish tinge, which is perfect for "flesh" colour. 

Nutella filling

The steamed blossoms have a Nutella filling, but you can use whatever filling you like, jam, peanut butter, red bean etc, or even just leave them plain. 

Kiki & Lala

I actually didn't have a design in mind. I stared at the pink, blue and flesh coloured batter for quite a while thinking what to pipe, until the Little Twin Stars Kiki and Lala popped into my mind! And so I had to dye a little bit of the batter black too. 

Kiki & Lala

fill the cups all the way to the top

I spooned the batter into piping bags and snipped a small hole off the ends. Don't cut the holes too large or you'll have a hard time piping details. 

using up all the batter with some "fun" designs

I have these mini silicone baking cups that I had bought in Germany years ago and had used to make mini spinach and cheese tarts for my older girl's 1st month celebration. They were the perfect size to support the mini cupcake cases that I used for these steamed blossoms. 

Foooooood! (Hürth, Feb 2012)

place into pot with the water already boiling

Fill the cups up about 1/3 of the way, pipe the filling in the middle, and then fill them almost to the top, switching up the batter colours depending on what design you are making. I like to fill the cases pretty much to the top rather than under-fill them, because the batter will expand and dome in the centre during steaming. If you under-fill the cases, some of the paper casing will still be visible even after the blossoms have fully risen during steaming. 

cute and puffy after 5 mins of steaming!

To steam them, I just used a big casserole pot, placed a raised wire rack on the bottom, and added about an inch of water (less than the heigh of the wire rack). I placed the silicone cups in a round baking pan and then used thongs to lower the pan onto the wire rack. The water should already be boiling when you place the blossoms in the pot. 

love how cute they look all puffed up

odd one out!

The blossoms were done after 5 minutes of steaming. Do check your blossoms after 5 mins, with a toothpick. If it comes out dry, they're done! Over-steaming tends to cause the colours to change, so watch the time carefully. 

gosh those air bubbles, though!

I am really very happy with how these cuties turned out, with it being my first attempt and all! Next time, I will take the time to pop the air bubbles on the surface before steaming, cuz you can see that some of the air bubbles appeared in unsightly places (like on the eyes and mouth)!

Little Twin Stars steamed blossoms set

Thank You blossoms

To add to the cuteness factor, I added some blusher on Lala's cheeks, using Wilton pink orchid lustre dust and a small brush. Love that touch of glitter too. 

closer look at Lala with her rosy cheeks

Once the blossoms were completely cool, I packed them in cellophane bags, tied off with a twisty-tie and a ribbon. Love how these little Thank You gifts turned out. I hope the catechism teachers like them too!

all wrapped up

Thank You gifts for teachers

yummy Nutella filling inside :)