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

I got a new Piping Set... Again

So over the weekend I thought... 'You know what? I just don't have enough Piping Bags and Nozzles' so while I was in Liverpool I headed to the Lakeland shop to buy some new equipment. Here's what I got...

My New Piping Set :)

It was a little expensive at £11.99, but being metal, the quality of the nozzles is far superior to anything that I've used before.
The set includes a large piping bag which is perfect if you want to ice lots of cakes. The only slight problem is that oil tends to leak from the icing mixture through the bag, making your hands a bit messy, but otherwise it's perfect!

Happy Baking!

X

Black Olive Focaccia

Last Friday, I finally got around to making the Black Olive Focaccia that I promised you about a million years ago, so voila!


Having never really made bread before, apart from the occasional pizza base, I hoped and prayed that it would turn out right, and as you can see, it kinda did.
Now it's not something that I would recommend making if you don't have a lot of time, because you really need a whole afternoon to dedicate to it, but if you do I would definitely suggest that you try it (It goes really well with pasta, but is also pretty nice by itself, and gets even better when left for twenty four hours - I really don't know why, do you?)


So you'll want the recipe, because I know it's all you've been thinking about since you saw it on the list, so here goes:

Ingredients

500g/ 1 lb 2oz Strong White Bread Flour, Plus a little extra for dusting
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Easy Blend Dried Yeast
350ml/ 12fl oz tepid water
6 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
115g/ 4oz Pitted Black Olives coursely Chopped (Plus Extra for Topping)
1 tsp Rock Salt
Sprinkle of Rosemary

Method

1. Sift Flour and salt into a warm bowl and stir in the yeast.

2. Pour in the water and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and mix until a soft dough. (If dough is too sticky add a little more flour)

3. Knead dough on a floured work surface for five to ten minutes.

4. Place kneaded dough into an warm, oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm , before leaving it to stand in a warm place for an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.

5. After an hour take the dough and punch it to knock the air out of it.

6. Knead the dough on a floured work surface for one minute.

7. Add the chopped Olives and knead again until fully combined. Divide the dough in half and flatten each half into an oval (roughly 28 x 23cm) and place them both onto seperate pre oiled baking trays.

8. Cover the trays with oiled clingfilm and leave in a warm place for an hour, until dough is puffy.

9. Press fingers into dough to make dimples, drizzle over 2 tablespoons of oil and sprinkle with rock salt. Top with whole olives and a sprinkling of Rosemary.

10. Bake in a pre heated oven at 200C/ 400F/ Gas Mark 6, for 30 - 35 minutes.

11. Remove from oven and drizzle with Olive Oil and enjoy!


Okay, so that's all... Oh other than to be careful to only use 1 teaspoon of rock salt and not a tablespoon like I accidentally did, because it really does make the bread very salty, which isn't always a good thing!

So until next time,

Happy Baking!

X

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

This probably wasn't the most ambitious of recipes, but it did make delicious cakes and gave me the perfect opportuntity to use my piping bags!
Before I started, I had been pretty worried that the icing was gonna be a disaster and that it would all go wrong, but as it turns out, I didn't have too much to worry about, and after a few practice runs I was icing like an almost-pro, or at least, icing a lot better than I'd expected.



The recipe which I like to use when making carrot cake, is one by Mary Cadogan, which I've stolen from the BBC Good Food Website and taylored to my own needs (Check out the original here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3229/yummy-scrummy-carrot-cake)
I generally prefer to leave out the cinnamon, nutmeg and raisins which are usually found in Carrot Cakes, as I feel that they overpower the cake a little. But if you decide to make these by all means include the spices - some people find that they improve the cake!

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 40-45 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)




So this is how mine looked after they came out of the oven, and if you can see they've not risen too high, which allows plenty of space for icing!

For the Icing

You'll need a piping bag and a large(ish) nozzle either spikey or smooth - for want of a technical name! - and a hell of a lot of icing sugar, and a few dessert spoons of margarine.

With icing I always find that it's something which you've just got to keep mixing until you get it right, trial and error. Although the key rule is that you need a LOT more icing sugar than margarine. If you follow this then it should be fine, and you just keep adding icing sugar until the mixture becomes fairly stiff. (sorry I can't be more specific)


Here are my finished cakes - not bad eh? - I must admit I'm quite pleased with my little carrot cake cupcakes - escecially the mini cattots which I think look adorable.

Okay so that's it - Challenge One complete - see you next week for soft centred chocolate bites!

Happy Baking!

X