Snowies Cupcakes

I think it's fair to say that in recent months, I've been an appalling blogger. I've neglected this site and perhaps more shamefully, I've neglected my baking responsibilities. For this I can only apologise. However, fear not because the cake-making is about to recommence.

I've been away, but now I'm back and ready to perfect my baking technique. I probably won't be writing another list because, lets face it, the last one didn't exactly reach completion, but I will be posting a lot more often, starting with my very first Cupcake tower next week.

Wish me luck and I'll let you know how it goes :)

And just to whet your appitite before my next post, here are my snowies Cupcakes from last week (Ususal Recipe)

Happy Baking!

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X Factor Cupcakes

X Factor

Since the X Factor started again a couple of weeks ago, I've created a cupcake celebration in homage to the new judges (and Louis Walsh) - I wanted to call them Barlow Buns, but thought it would be a little biased towards my favourite, so X Factor cupcakes it is!!

I used the usual recipe, along with black and red icing, and some cute rice paper toppers to finish :)


If you have any comments or recipes, please feel free to post them below or contact me on the baking disasters email which you'll find under the tab above... I always love to hear from people! :)

Happy Baking!

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Glee Cupcakes

Ahh the Beautiful Cupcakes

This week was the Glee Season 2 Finale in the UK, and being the MASSIVE Gleek that I am, I decided that I couldn't let this occasion pass by without some form of celebration... so drum roll please... I present to you my Glee Cupcakes!
I must say that I was pretty impressed with my efforts and very much enjoyed nibbling my way through one or two of these whilst watching the New Directions competing in the nationals and Klaine saying 'I love you.' (aww)

Gleek

So you're gonna want to know how to make these, coz who doesn't love Glee, right? (and even if you don't love Glee, you must love cake, so you're winning either way!)
This is the easiest recipe in the world, but it's also probably the best sponge I've ever made.
The main body of the recipe comes from one which I was taught at school in home economics, but as usual I've adjusted it a little to make it even better!

Stars

Soo the recipe for four cakes is...

Ingredients

55g (2oz) Margarine
28g (1oz) Caster Sugar
55g (2oz) Self Raising Flour
1 egg
1stp Baking Powder
2tsp Vanilla Essence

Recipe

1. Mix the flour, sugar, egg and margarine together in a large mixing bowl for two to three minutes until fully combined.

2. To this mixture add the Vanilla essence and Baking powder and stir again until completely mixed.

3. Fill the muffin cases to just over half way.

4. Put in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 190C (180C Fan) Gas 5 until springy and a light golden colour.

Mr Shue Cake

For the topping it's the same school of thought as the Carrot Cake I made a few weeks ago, it's a case of trial and error and using a LOT of icing sugar!
The stars were bought from a lovely little online company called Top My Party Cake, who sell the best cake accessories ever and sold them to me for the bargain price of £3.79 - A bargain? I think so...Have a look at their site if you get a minute!
And for the final finishing touches I've used multi coloured sugar sprinkles and pink edible glitter, to give it that extra Rachel Berry sparkle :)

Rachel Berry Sparkle

Like I said before, I loved these and had great fun making them, so watch this space for more Glee Cakes next season!

Until Next time,

Happy Baking!

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2010's Baking

Since I'm going to start my Baking Challenge in just over a month I thought it might be cool to post up some of my previous attempts, so that you can get a sense of what sort of level I'm at at the moment and also so that, I, myself can look back in coming weeks to compare and contrast, and see if any real improvement has been made!
So yeah, here's something I made earlier...

Buns

My first attempt at icing - shocking I know! I had visions of Humming Bird Bakery - esque iced cupcakes but instead I ended up with... well... as you can see it probably wasn't the best idea to use a tube of shop bought icing on fresh out of the oven cupcakes!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These actually turned out really well, some merged a little in the oven, but otherwise they were pretty good - even if I do say so myself! haha :)

Lemon Drizzle Cake

My last baking attempt. Again, at the risk of appearing big headded, this was also fairly good. It was however in dire need of some icing on top to give it an added crunch!

Iced Sponge Cake

I made this last year. After a friend told be that she was going to be making an iced cake, I thought that I'd have a go at making one myself - It was a lot more difficult than I expected, and needless to say, mine was no where near as good as hers! But for a first attempt I suppose it could have been a lot worse. I think the worst thing about it was that the icing started to split as I was placing it on the cake, so I had to desparately try and salvage the situation by hiding the cracks with the polka dots, but shhh I don't think anyone really noticed!

Carrot Cake

This was pretty yummy - a little burnt around the edges but not too noticeable. Yeah on the whole it was A-OK :) and if you want to know the icing on top is orange flavoured!

So that's pretty much everything I made last year... I'd say that on the whole, I was fairly successful (If you ignore some of the horrible icing and eversoslightly charred carrot/cupcakes!)
So my aim this year? - to become Gizzi Erskine or you know, someone who can cook with perfection! Watch this space...

Happy Baking! :)

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