Strawberry Cupcakes

Strawberry Cupcakes

After my slight culinary detour last week, I'm back on track with my latest strawberry swirl offering. Recipe as usual...

What do you think?

Happy Baking

X

Fraisier Cake GBBO Style

Two weeks ago, I decided to attempt my toughest challenge to date and turned my hand to the Fraisier Cake. Featured on the Great British Bake off, the Fraisier Cake is French Patisserie at its most elegant, combining a light genoise sponge, creme patisserie, marzipan and strawberries together to create visual perfection.

With it being a slightly more technical recipe than I have previously attempted, I decided to follow Mary Berry's method to a 'Tee', so if you want to find how it's done all you need to do is click Here

In terms of success, I would say that my presentation was an absolute triumph - I'm particularly proud of my chocolate swirls. However in the interest of complete honesty, I have to say that the taste wasn't exactly to my liking - perhaps it was just me but the flavours (lemons, marzipan, strawberries and vanilla) simply didn't go. At the best of times I'm unsure about Strawberry cakes, but when teamed with lemon sponge, I just believe it's a step too far. This may be my taste buds being unusual, as I know that the cake is world renowned - Perhaps I just need to develop a more sophisticated palate!

Has anyone else tried making it? What did you think? 

Let me know!

Happy Baking!

X

Diamond Jubilee Baking

Jubilee Cupcakes

Yesterday, to celebrate the Queen's diamond jubilee, we had a royal feast, consisting of a tea party and buffet. Since it was such a special occasion, I couldn't let it pass by without paying homage to the Queen in cake form. Here are my results...


A royal celebration, wouldn't be a celebration without the Queen's face on a cupcake and I was keen not to disappoint, so here she is in all her glory. The recipe was the usual one and I also used gold edible glitter to decorate. The toppers were from a lovely ebayer and the cases from a local baking shop.


To coincide with the cupcakes, I also decided to make a Victoria Sandwich which I'll post about in a separate entry, where I'll add a detailed recipe.

For anyone who just wants a quick idea of how to make it you do this;
Cream 6oz of margarine and 6oz of sugar in a large bowl. Beat three eggs together in a mug and slowly add to the sugar/margarine mix, completely mixing in the eggs inbetween each addition. Once all of the egg is mixed in, slowly add 6oz of self raising flour. Add a pinch of salt. Mix well. Grease and Line 2 cake tins and divide the mixture between both. Put in the oven at 150-160C for 27 minutes. Remove from oven and leave to cool. Spread Jam/Conserve on one of the cakes and then place the other on top. Dust with icing sugar.


Like I said, that's very basic, so if you want something a little easier to follow then look out for my next post which will be a lot more detailed.(I can confirm that it tastes very nice, even if I do say so myself!)

That's it on the cake front, but if you like buffets, then have a look at the rest of our delicacies...

Strawberries and Cream, Making it a truely British affair!

Pasta Salad

Our fair table!

Until next time,

Happy Baking!

X

Exciting Things I've bought

I got insanely excited when I saw these in Tesco the other week and just had to buy them... I mean, come on, it's Strawberry icing sugar who wouldn't get excited?!
I'm gonna make cupcakes using them in the next few days, so I'll let you know the verdict :)
I'm hoping it's gonna be magical!

Happy Baking!

X

PS- Silver Spoon now make lilac food colouring, incase you ever need it!

Strawberry Swirl Cupcakes with Strawberry Centres

I made these last week... Now I wasn't 100% happy with the presentation because I rushed them a little, but I was extremely happy with the taste!

So the recipe, if you'd like to try them...

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.

5. Take cakes out and leave to cool on a wire rack for half an hour.

6. Carefully use a knife to cut a cylindrical shape in the middle of the cake and scoop out a well for the jam to go in.

7. Fill the well with your favourite Strawberry Jam - I like Bon Maman but any will do - and then place your cutout shape back on top.

8. Ice in the usual manner (Buttercream - you could even add some cream cheese for taste) and then drizzle with Strawberry sauce and decorate to taste.

For the Strawberry Sauce

Mix 2 tablespoons of icing sugar with a few drops of water/milk to form a watery paste, stir in one teaspoon of jam and continue to mix until runny enough to pour.

I can guarantee that these are the nicest things I've ever made - so try them :)

Happy Baking!

X

The Fruits of my Labour: Summer Fruits and Cream Cupcakes

Here is the latest offering from my little baking project - I hope you like them - I'm really pleased with the results :)

To make them I used the usual recipe, which incase you've forgotton 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.

Now the topping this time, was different than usual, because I used whipping cream - Oh My Delia, how difficult is it to whip cream? I swear I sprained my wrist!!
But I must admit that I felt oddly satisfied after I'd done it (even if I did over whip it a bit - which I didn't find out until I watched Celebrity Masterchef - apparently if it's got water coming out of it then you've whipped it too much - Thank you Mr. John Torode)

To the cream, I then folded in about 200g of Icing sugar to sweeten, then simply piped it over the cupcakes and decorated with Summer Fruits.

The final effect is slightly more rough and ready than usual, because of the nature of the cream, but I think that this adds a certain je nais se quoi to the look of the cupcakes, don't you?

Until next time,

Happy Baking!

X

PS - Follow me on twitter @CupcakesCakes :)

Chocolate Cupcakes

This week's offerings are Chocolate Cupcakes, technically not on the list, but hey here they are - I couldn't resist!
The recipe is the same as the Chocolate Bites from a few weeks ago, minus the chocolate centres and the topping is made by mixing margarine, cocoa powder and icing sucar together until the mixture reaches a firm consistency.

Topped off with pretty multi coloured sprinkles, these would make the perfect accompaniment to any afternoon tea!

Happy Baking!

X

Soft Centred Chocolate Bites

So what do you think?

This week was the turn of the Soft Centred Chocolate Bites, which were taken from a lovely little recipe book called Everyday Baking, given to me by my friend Laura for my last Birthday.

It's a fantastic book and contains pretty much everything you could ever wish to bake, so you won't be surprised to hear that I'll be using it several more times, as I make my way through the Challenge list!

(Incidentally here's a photo of the book's cover, if you want to look for it - It's very good and very easy to understand!)

Go on, go look for it!

The recipe itself was very straight forward and oh so delicious (I've adapted it everso slightly, but not so much as you'd tell!)

So what you'll need...

* TO MAKE 7/8 CHOCOLATE BITES*

• 4 Tablespoons of Soft Margarine
  
• 55g/2oz Caster Sugar
  
• 1 Large Egg
• 85g/ 3oz Self raising Flour
  
• 1.5 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder
• 1 Teaspoon of Baking Powder
  
• 1 Bar of Plain Chocolate (Segmented is best)
• Icing Sugar for Dusting
• Strawberry Garnish
  

Recipe

1. Put 8 paper cases in a muffin tin.

2. Put the margarine, sugar, egg, flour, baking powder and cocoa into a mixing bowl and beat together until smooth.

3. Spoon half the mixture into the paper cases. Using a teaspoon make an indentation in the centre of each cake. Break the chocolate into eight segments and place a piece in each indentation (although I would recommend you use two, because one isn't quite enough!)

4. Spoon the remaining cake mix on the top of each cake until the cases are almost full.


5. Bake the cakes in a pre heated over at 190C/ 375F/Gas Mark 5 for 20 minutes.

6. Remove from oven and leave to stand for two minutes, before lightly dusting with icing sugar for presentation.

Fresh out of the Oven

The Verdict?

These mini chocolate bites were incredibly delicious - even if I do say so myself - and I would certainly recommend them to anyone who wants make them - really, go on make them, you won't regret it!
The only thing I would say is that the chocolate quantities in the centre should be doubled (I've noted this in the recipe) but this can be easily adjusted to make them the perfect cakes.

Next week I'm jumping over to the savoury side of the wall to make Black Olive Focaccia so check back soon to see how that goes!

Until then,

Happy Baking!

X

Baking Boxes, Partial Lists and Apologies

My Baking Box

As it turns out, I'm a horrible liar and if you read this blog then I'd like to apologize(!)... about a month or so ago I promised that a list of order would be published imminently, but as it stands I've barely given it a second thought. I have my excuses, but they're not good enough... so shame on me... anyway, I don't have a list of order, but I'm gonna use the 'P' word one last time and promise that something will go up in the next few days (if anyone's interested?)

But until then I'd like to make a list of a few things which I'm thinking of including, so (as Kel would say) 'Here goes...'

1. Carrot Cake Cupcakes - These I'm hoping to make early on in the process, coz while I was away in the Lake District I went to the massive Lakeland shop, they have in Windermere and bought some mini carrots that I'm super keen to use!

2. Souffle - Just because it's really hard to make and I promised that it'd be the final thing I'd make in the summer challenge as a way of finishing the whole thing off with a bang, or a mini kitchen explosion.

3. Glee Cupcakes - Yes you heard me, I said glee cupcakes. I'm a MASSIVE gleek and proud of it, so I'm gonna make these to celebrate the airing of the Season 2 Finale in the UK - But how can you make the cup cakes Glee Cupcakes? well watch this space, coz I'm massively excited to show you!

4. Apple Pie - an old classic which just has to be done.

5. Flutterby Butterfly cakes - again these are already designed and will be cool - they have strawberry centres :)

6. Death by Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Spears - again a modern classic with a bit of a twist.

Okay so that's it for now guys, but by Wednesday I WILL have posted the rest so please check back soon! :)

Happy Baking

X