Babyshower cupcakes

Hi All,

Sorry I've been neglecting the blog quite a bit recently and only including regular posts on my facebook page. I have a few tutorials planned which I will upload from tomorrow, but to start with, here is a selection of some sweet babyshower cupcakes I made this week.

These cupcakes are decorated with sugarpaste baby-themed toppers, which I shaped by hand. The teddy bear in the centre is made using modelling paste in a Karen Davies teddy silicon mould. The little baby footprints are made using royal icing on a stencil.

I am running a few babyshower cupcake classes over summer in London so if you would like to come along and learn how to make these cupcakes and more, check out the website for course dates and details.

Happy baking x

Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes

It's National Cupcake Week in the UK - what better excuse than to bake cupcakes!! Here's one of my favourite 'fail proof' cupcake recipes for chocolate fudge cupcakes.

Everytime I make these cakes they always turn out the same - fluffy and moist. Here's what you need:

Chocolate Cupcakes with Fudge  Buttercream Swirls

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 cup dark brown sugar (golden caster sugar is also ok if you don't have dark brown sugar)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup skimmed milk (I use 2% fat)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (I use Dutch processed cocoa)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Fudge Buttercream

• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup double cream
• 70g dark (bittersweet) chocolate, chopped roughly
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/4 cups icing sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 180C (or 160C if fan forced). Sift the flour into a large bowl, then stir in the sugar, baking soda and salt. In a medium-sized saucepan combine the milk, butter and cocoa powder over a medium heat. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly while the mixture is heating up. Once boiling, remove from heat and whisk in the flour mixture, until all the ingredients are combined and the mixture is smooth. Whisk in the egg and vanilla until blended. Spoon the mixture in cupcake cases in baking pan (fill no more than 1/2 of each liner as the mixture rises quite a bit during baking). Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the centre of the cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the baking tin for 5 minutes before transferring them onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

To make the buttercream, combinine butter and cream in a small saucepan, then cook over medium high heat until the butter is melted. Whisk in chopped chocolate and continue whisking until smooth and all the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool to lukewarm (10-15 mins). Next whisk in the sour cream, and then the icing sugar until well combined. Let the frosting rest until thick enough to spread (only takes a few minutes). If it becomes too thick, heat it briefly and whisk again (you may need to do this a few times in order to frost all of your cupcakes). Pipe or spread the fbuttercream onto cooled cupcakes, then decorate as desired. I sprinkled edible gold glitter on my cupcakes for a bit of extra pizazz!

Happy baking!

Flower Cupcakes

Flower cupcakes to enjoy on a sunny day in the garden. I piped buttercream onto each cake to create roses, chrysanthenums, hydrangeas and fantasy flower patterns.

Lemon and Blueberry Cupcakes

Lemon and Blueberry Cupcakes (makes 12 large cakes)

• 125g unsalted butter (softened)
• Juice and zest of 1 medium lemon
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour (sifted)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 punnet of blueberries
  

Lemon Buttercream

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 1/2 cup icing sugar (sifted)
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• Food colouring (optional)
• Glitter or other decorations (optional)
  

Method
Preheat oven to 180C. Beat butter, lemon juice and zest, and caster sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes on medium-high speed). Beat in eggs one at a time, until well combined. Stir in the sifted self-raising flour and milk in two batches until all ingredients are mixed in well. Lastly stir through the blueberries. Spoon mixture into a lined 12-hole muffin tray. Bake cupcakes for 15-20 minutes then leave to cool on a wire rack before adding frosting. Note, if you want your cupcakes to be domed in shape, cook them in a slightly hotter over (~200C).

To make the lemon frosting, mix the icing sugar and butter with electric beaters for about 5 minutes. Add lemon juice once all the icing sugar is mixed in. Mixture should be firm enough to pipe and hold its shape. Add more icing sugar if mixture is too runny. To make two-toned frosting like I did (lilac and yellow) colour half of the buttercream with purple food colouring and use it to fill half of the piping bag. Fill the other half of the piping bag with the other coloured buttercream. Pipe swirls of buttercream onto cooled cupcakes, then decorate as desired. I used a wilton 2D tip to pipe my swirls and edible glitter and handmade royal icing flowers as a finishing touch.

Happy Baking x

Ironcupcake London - Fruit

Last night was the 11th ironcupcake london event and as usual there was a fabulous turn out and more than 30 great entries to taste. Here is a sample of the line up.....

and these are the ones I shared with my friends - yum!!!! So hard to pick a favourite.....

The theme this month was fruit so I decided to try something new and came up with blueberry and earl grey cupcakes, topped with earl grey buttercream and a handmade vintage rose decoration. Nice and dainty......

Here's the recipe if you want to make them.....

Earl grey and blueberry cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes (makes 12)

• 125ml semi-skimmed milk
• 4 Earl Grey tea bags (I used twinnings)
• 110g unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 125g self-raising flour (sifted)
• 125g plain flour (sifted)
• 1 cup of blueberries (washed)

Buttercream

• 250g unsalted butter (softened)
• 400g icing sugar (sifted)
• 2 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
• 2 tsp of earl grey tea leaves

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Heat milk in a saucepan to the boil, then remove from heat and add teabags. Infuse for 20 mins or until cooled. In the meantime, beat sugar and butter with electric beater for 5 minutes until light and fluffy (butter will change to a lighter colour). Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add flours and the tea-infused milk in two batches, mixing well each time. Lastly stir through blueberries (I like to keep them whole, but you can chop them up also). Spoon mixture into lined muffin trays (about two-thirds full), then bake for 15-20 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the centre of one of the cupcakes to see if they are done. If it comes out clean, it’s done! Remove cupcakes from oven, and let them cool for 10 minutes in the muffin tray before transferring them to a wire rack. Once they are completely cooled, decorate with a buttercream swirl.

To make the buttercream beat the butter and icing sugar on a slow speed for 5 minutes. Add milk to make icing a slightly softer consistency if desired. Sitr through tea leaves then put in piping bag, fitted with a star-shaped nozzle to pipe swirl on the cooled cupcakes.

To decorate the cupcakes, I used pale pink flowerpaste in a rose mould (Karen Davies) to make vintage rose toppers. Here's the mould......

I then used lustre dusts to colour the rose and the leaves. So pretty......

Next month is the 1 year birthday of ironcupcake london. Stay tuned for an update on my entry!

Happy baking xx

Earl Grey Cupcakes

There's no better way to celebrate the start of Spring (and hopefully the beginning of better warmer weather!) than making, and eating, a batch of pretty cupcakes decorated with spring blossoms. Here's the recipe if you want to try them:

Earl grey cupcakes

• 125g unsalted butter (softened)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cu[p caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups self-raising flour (sifted)
  
• 1/3 cup skimmed milk
• 2 earl grey teabags

Lemon buttercream

• 125g unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
• 2 tbsp skimmed milk
• zest of 1 lemon
• juice of half a lemon
• yellow food colouring (optional)

Method
Preheat oven to 160C (fan forced). Beat butter, vanilla extract, sugar and eggs in a small bowl with an electric mixer until mixture is light and fluffy. Stir in the flour and milk in 2-3 batches until the mixture is well combined. Lastly, stir through the tea leaves from the 2 teabags. Divide the mixture evenly between cupcake cases (fill cases no more than 2/3 full) and bake for 15-20 minutes. Allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting.

To make the buttercream, beat butter and sugar on a slow speed for 5 minutes until the mixture is as white as possible. Beat in the milk, lemon juice and zest and mix well to a smooth but firm consistency. Add yellow food colouring if desired. Pipe swirls of buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes with a star nozzle (I used a wilton 2D), then add sugarpaste or royal icing decorations if desired. The cherry blossoms I used were made by piping pink royal icing petals with a #57 tip (let flowers dry completely before using them as decorations).

Happy baking!

Ironcupcake UK - October Challenge

On Monday I entered the 5th round of Ironcupcake UK. This month, the theme was "alcohol" and there were 19 entries from 14 bakers. There were so many great cupcakes this month, it was really tough choosing a favourite! I made a batch of mojito cupcakes, and ended up coming 2nd which was such a thrill. Here's my recipe for anyone who wants to try it out for themselves:

Mojito Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes (makes ~20 cupcakes)

• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tbsp. dark rum
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 225g unsalted butter (room temp)
• 2 cups caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs

Rum Syrup

• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 55g unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup dark rum
• Zest and juice from 1/2 a lime
• 1/2 cup fresh mint

Lime and Rum Buttercream

• Zest from 3 limes
• Juice from 1 lime
• 250g unsalted butter (softened)
• 600g sifted icing sugar
• 1/4 cup dark rum

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 175C. Combine butter and caster sugar in a bowl and mix on a medium-high setting with electric beaters until light and fluffy (about 5 mins). Reduce the mixer speed and add the eggs, one at a time, remembering to scrape the sides of the bowl after each addition.

In a separate bowl, sift in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. Combine buttermilk, rum and vanilla extract in another bowl and also set aside.

Using the mixer on a low speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix well. Next add half of the buttermilk mixture and mix well (about 2 mins). Add another third of the dry ingredients (on low speed) and mix well before adding the remainder of the buttermilk mixture and mixing. Add the remainder of the dry ingredients (on low speed) and mix for a few minutes, until the batter is smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that all of the flour has been mixed in well.

Fill a 12-hole muffin/cupcake pan, lined with paper cases, with the batter and bake for approximately 20 mins. Before removing the cupcakes from the oven, test that they are cooked all the way through by inserting a skewer into the centre of the cupcakes. If it comes out clean, they’re done. If not, bake for another 5 mins. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes before poking holes in them with a skewer or toothpick. Immediately spoon the rum syrup over the warm cupcakes and let them soak it all up. Once they’ve cooled completely, you can ice them with the lime and rum buttercream.

To make the rum syrup, put butter, caster sugar and water in a saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often. Once the butter has completely melted and the sugar has dissolved, remove from the heat. Carefully add the rum. The mixture will bubble so take care not to burn yourself. Once you’ve mixed in all the rum, add the lime zest and mint and let the syrup infuse for 5 minutes before spooning over the cupcakes.

For the lime and rum buttercream, beat sugar on high speed for about 5 mins until light and fluffy before gradually adding sifted icing sugar (about 200g at a time) on a low speed. Once all the icing sugar is incorporated into the mixture, increase the mixer speed to high again and mix for another 2-3mins. The buttercream should be light and fluffy. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the rum and the lime zest and mix on a medium speed until well incorporated. If you wish to colour your buttercream, you can also add a few drops of green food colouring to make it a lime colour. Add buttercream onto cupcakes once they are completely cool and the rum syrup has been soaked in. You can spread the buttercream on with a knife, or you can use a piping bag to pipe a swirly design.

For my cupcakes, I made lime pieces from green sugar paste to add as decoration. Here's the final result:

More pictures from the competition are on the ironcupcake website.

Next month, the theme is 'spice'. If anyone has any suggestions on spices I should try, I'd be happy to hear from you :)

Happy Baking!

Miniature Cakes

Yesterday I went on my first cake decorating course at Cakes4Fun in Putney. I had a great time with 6 other decorating enthusiasts learning how to prepare and decorate miniature cakes. It took a whole day to prepare 6 cakes, but it was worth the effort - I was really pleased with the final result and picked up some great tips which I'll be trying out on my next baking project.

The cakes were cut into cylinders from a rectangular block of madeira cake and filled with raspeberry jam and buttercream, before being covered in fondant. We were then left to decorate the cakes, and here's the end result:

Floral Fantasy Cupcakes

This week, I made a batch of white chocolate and raspberry mud cupcakes for a dinner party....it was a good excuse for me to also practice making fondant flowers, in preparation for the next iron cupcake challenge on 1 September. The cupcakes were a hit, so I thought I'd share the recipe so you can make them as well.

Here's what you will need:

Cupcakes
125g butter, softened and chopped
100g white chocolate

1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, lightly whisked
3/4cup plain flour
1/2 cup self-raising flour

Punnet of raspberries

Buttercream Icing

250g unsalted butter - softened

500g sifted icing sugar

75g white chocolate

Preheat the oven to 160°C (I used the fan forced setting also). Combine the butter, chocolate, sugar and milk in a medium saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat. Transfer to a medium heatproof bowl and set aside for a few minutes to cool slightly.

Next, gently whisk in the egg. Sift in the combined flours over the chocolate mixture and gently whisk until just combined. Pour mixture into cupcake cases in a muffin tray. I filled the cases up about 1/3 of the way, then added a few raspberries, before adding more mixture.

Bake for about 30 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Turn onto a wire rack and set aside for 1 hour to cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make up a batch of buttercream. Start by melting the white chocolate in a small bowl over simmering water, then leaving it to one side to cool. Next whip the butter with an electric beater until it is pale in colour (normally takes about 2-5 minutes depending on your setting), then sift in the icing sugar in batches, mixing well after each addition. Once all the icing sugar has been added, stir in the white chocolate. You can then colour your buttercream with food colouring or leave it plain. I tinted half of the mixture a light pink colour. Pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes, or spread it on with a knife - whatever takes your fancy. I did a combination of both, then topped my cupcakes with fondant flowers I made while the cupcakes were baking. Here's what they look like:

There are more photos of these cupcakes in my photo gallery, if you are looking for decorating ideas.

Remember to store your cupcakes in an airtight container to keep them fresh for 3 days....Enjoy!