Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts

Sunday, 27 January 2013

Carrot Cake Cupcakes - Take 2 - Flower Power

Pretty Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Back in 2011 I tried my tried my hand at making carrot cake cupcakes. As a first attempt they wern't half bad, but two years later, I felt ready to give them another go - only this time with a twist. Traditionally Carrot Cakes are quite chunky individuals, but I don't believe that this always has to be the case. I wanted to show that this rough and ready classic can be transformed into something a little more elegant.
Do you think I've succeeded?
 
Carrot Cake Delight

As last time, the recipe for the sponge is as follows:

Ingredients for Cake

  • 175g light muscovado sugar
  • 175ml sunflower oil
  • 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 140g grated carrots (about 3 medium)
  • grated zest of 1 large orange
  • 175g self-raising flour
  • 1.5 tsp baking powder

To make twelve Cakes

*Pre-heat oven to
180C/Gas 4/fan 160C *

1. Pour the Sugar, Oil and eggs into a large bowl and mix together until fully combined.

2. To this mixture add the grated carrots and orange zest, and stir until the carrot is evenly spread throughout the mixture.

3. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture and stir again until completely integrated.

4. Pour the mixture into cupcake cases until about 80% full, because these cakes don't rise too much, and put into the oven for 30-35 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for several hours until completely cool. (You can use a fridge if you want to speed this process up)

The topping was the usual Vanilla Buttercream which can be made mixing around 1/5 margarine to 4/5 icing sugar, with a splash of vanilla essance and milk for good measure!

If you have any questions or recipes you'd like me to have a go at please get in touch!

Until next time,

Happy Baking!

X

Tuesday, 11 October 2011

And the Winner is...

And the Winner is...

Everso slightly late, but congratulations to Jo Wheatley on her Great British Bake Off win last week.

Although I was notsosecretly rooting for Holly, I have to say that I absolutely adored Jo's petit fours and thought that her display case was absolutely divine - like really pretty - which in my opinion made her a really deserving winner!

Congratulations Jo - I'll have a slice of Cake in your honour!

X

PS - Am I the only one who feels sorry for that poor little squirrel? The poor mite's lost all his dignity! Was a bit funny though :)

Thursday, 8 September 2011

National Cupcake Week


Incase you didn't already know, next week is National Cupcake week, and I'm very excited...

Already in it's third year, this annual celebration marking 'bakers' creativity and passion' is going from strength to strength, and promises, this year, to be as exciting as ever.
Set up in association with British Baker Magazine, National Cupcakes week is designed not only to encourage and promote baking bussinesses, but also to raise money for worthwhile causes, with this years chosen charity being CLIC Sargent, the UK's leading cancer charity for children and young people.

The National Cupcake website gives a little more information on this charity:

"Every day 10 children and young people in the UK are told they have cancer, and diagnosis usually comes as a shock. CLIC Sargent is the UK's leading cancer charity for children and young people up to the age of 24. It provides clinical, practical, and emotional support to help the whole family cope with the impact of cancer and its treatment, life after treatment and, in some cases, bereavement. For more information about CLIC Sargent's work please visit www.clicsargent.org.uk or call 0300 330 0803"


There are lots of ways you can get involved with this week...

Suggestions on the organizations website:

http://www.nationalcupcakeweek.co.uk/page/clic_sargent.html

  • If you're a baking business, why not bake some cupcakes in aid of CLIC Sargent and make a percentage donation from sales of a dedicated cupcake during National Cupcake Week
  • Cupcake pin badges: Stock 100 of the National Cupcake Week's scrummy cupcake pin badges for a suggested donation of £1 each and help raise vital funds for children with cancer.
Other Ideas for individuals:

  • If you're just an individual with a passion for baking, then you can take part too... Why not host a tea party for friends and family and ask each guest to make a donation to the CLIC, in honour of National Cupcake week.
  • Had along to your local bakery and show your support by buying National Cupcake week badges or cakes.

CLIC does some amazing work for very poorly Children and it would be wonderful if as many people as possible could take part and spread the word during this coming week, to help raise lots of money for this very worthy charity.

For more information and recipes check out the National Cupcake Week's website at - http://www.nationalcupcakeweek.co.uk/

or Follow them on Twitter at - @CupcakeWeek and show them your support!

Until next time,

Happy Baking!

X

Saturday, 30 April 2011

Royal Wedding Fun!

I've been waiting to do this post for ages, (1) because it's the first time I've written about something I've actually made myself, (2) because I've been planning these little things for about a month and a half, and (3) because...well... it's the royal wedding - only the most exciting day of the year - well my year anyway! (Oh and (4) coz it just so happened to be my birthday as well! so Yay for me!)


Fresh out of the oven

On the 29th April 2011, Royal Wedding day, we had a Tea Party, with flags and finger sandwiches - very refined and very English, I know - and my contribution was a cupcake celebration, so on Wednesday morning I started with baking the cakes, ready for decoration on Friday.
Now, you probably think it was a little premature to bake the cakes three days in advance, and that they might dry out, but oddly enough I always find that if cakes are left to stand for a few days, then they become a lot denser and nicer to eat!

For the occasion, I bought some special little Union Jack cases and flags from The Works, for 99p, so that my cakes had a 'British' feel!
I must admit that I was a little worried about using coloured cake cases, because last time I did the dye somehow managed to leak into the cake and ruin the entire batch, which wasn't good at all! However this time, I threw caution to the wind and used them again - I'm glad I did, because they added a really great feel to the cakes, that no other cases would have given.


Crowns

My other decorations came from a few places... I got the crowns from John Lewis, for about £3 for five, and the Will and Kate toppers came from a company called Simply Topps on Amazon, who sold me a pack of 24 for the brilliant price of around £2 including P&P! (Not bad eh?)

These decorations were brillaint and, as you can see, hid a multitude of sins on my unpiped icing beneath!


Totes Rah! (as Heat Magazine would say - God I'm so classy with my reading materials aren't I?)

The Wedding itself was beautiful (don't you think?)and the tea party a complete success - So I think that all in all it was one of those days which can be classed as pretty damn perfect!

Congratulations Will & Kate!!!

Happy Baking
X