Raspberry Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting

So my friend Lisa lent me her Primrose Bakery cupcake book and when flicking through this recipe caught my eye. I absolutely love the raspberry-white chocolate combo so this was obviously perfect for me! All aspects of the recipe are quite different to my own standard recipes for both cupcakes and icing so it was somewhat of an experiment to see how these methods changed the final result as well as the taste test!

The first thing that struck me about this recipe was that it used both self-raising and plain flour which I have never seen before in a cake recipe like this. It also involved a lot more steps than my all in one method so it was definitely a lot more time consuming! The original recipe says to cut a hole in the centre of the cupcake once its cool and fill it with jam but to add an extra element of experimentation I put a whole raspberry into the centre of half of them instead to see what that turned out like.

Turns out, I totally do not like this recipe! The cupcakes are much denser than I personally like and somehow seem to wet as the cases seem to peel themselves off after a day… The frosting however was delicious and I will be using that again! I also really like the idea of the mixture having jam in it to give it that extra raspberry flavour so I think I will try adding it to my own cupcake recipe next time and see how that goes.

While this was definitely not the best recipe I’ve ever followed (or maybe it was me who did it all wrong) I have at least learnt that when I want to experiment in future, just change one thing at a time instead of ending up with a disaster! You have to admit, they do look good though!

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

The mint chocolate combination has always been a classic pairing of flavours and one that is definitely popular in our household! This little combo is one I’ve been meaning to try for a while but just have too many on my list of things I’m dying to make. Hopefully one day you will see them all up on here. I am very fond of making cupcakes as the decoration and icing of them is fun! Plus the making of the cupcakes has become almost second nature so for me it’s all about the experimentation and presentation.

For these cupcakes I used my basic chocolate cupcake recipe which is the same as the one I used for my Chocolate Orange Cupcakes but with out the orange of course! I enjoy the speed of this recipe as once you've put all the ingredients in the bowl and mixed them you’re done! This mixture makes 16 cupcakes in standard sizes of 12 if you’re using slightly bigger than standard cupcake size like I did here.

I again, used my standard buttercream icing recipe for these cakes. I added a few teaspoons of peppermint flavouring to the mixture and found the more I added the more it affected the consistency meaning I needed to add more icing sugar to make in ‘pipe-able’ again. The flavouring I used wasn’t as minty as I would have perhaps liked it to be so I might look around for a better quality flavouring to use next time! I added a couple of drops of green food colouring to the mixture to make it look pepperminty.

While my cupcakes were cooling I melted some chocolate and put it in a piping bag and made some chocolate shapes to use as decorations. Simply pipe your desired shapes onto a tray lined with greaseproof paper and put in the fridge to set hard. Then all you need to do is use a small palette knife to remove them from the paper and voila! Your own handmade chocolate decorations. Delicious!

Red, White & Blue Cupcakes

Happy Jubilee Weekend Everyone! I hope you enjoy your 4-day weekend, it’s a shame the weather didn’t get the memo. In the spirit of the jubilee, I’ve made some very simple red, white and blue cupcakes. There is something about cupcakes that is just so fun to make whatever the occasion and with the extra time off there is almost no excuse not to!

As usual, I used my basic vanilla cupcake recipe (200g and 4 eggs) to make up the cake batter. I then divided the mixture as evenly as I could between three bowls. For the white section I left the mixture untouched and added a bit of blue food colouring to one bowl and some red to the other and mixed thoroughly to combine. I used basic liquid food colouring for this (blue Dr Oetker and red Silverspoon) but if you don’t already have food colourings and are thinking of buying some I highly recommend buying gel colours. While they can be slightly more expensive they produce much more vibrant colours with a very small amount of product whereas I find the liquid ones don’t have a very good intensity.

Once my mixture was coloured I started to put the mixture in my cases. I did one teaspoon of each colour in the bottom of each case then went back and did another teaspoon of each on the opposite side to mix the colours up as much as possible. I then swirled a cocktail stick through the mixture in each case wiping it clean after each one to gently mix the colours together. I then baked them in the oven for 20minutes.

Once out of the oven and completely cooled I made up a batch of buttercream icing and swirled it onto the top of each cake and decorated with red, white and blue sugarballs. This very simple but effective recipe is perfect for any jubilee celebrations! You can also use different colours and layering to create different effects in your cupcakes or transfer the ideas over to larger cakes!

Flower Cupcakes

I have a little bit of a cupcake obsession at the moment as I recently purchased my first set of icing nozzles so am experimenting with various decorating methods rather than varieties of baking. These flower cupcakes are for the girls at work in my department as I have been promising to bring in what I make for ages. Now that I finally have a car (yay!) I can bring these in without having to negotiate two buses and a walk!

As usual, I used my standard basic cupcake recipe for the cake. I made 16 this time but 4 were experimenting with different cases and tins so do not feature in any of the pictures! The thing I was most excited about in this bake was the frosting. I’ve recently discovered we have the food network on freeview from 6-10pm and they show a lot of cupcake programmes. I’ve heard and seen a lot about marshmallow buttercream so after googling it I discovered it was made with marshmallow fluff which is something I’ve wanted an excuse to buy for ages!

For this particular frosting I used the plain vanilla one (which comes in massive tubs) as I wanted to colour it green but I also bought a raspberry one too for future use which tastes amazing! I’ve been excited all week to try it and it was definitely a success. One thing I will be looking to change in future is the size of the round nozzle I used as I think it needs to be thicker so it doesn’t need to go round so many times.

I topped the frosting swirls with icing flowers I made from regal ice with a dot of white icing in the middle to make it look like a flower! I think these look really cute and girly while still being really simple so let’s hope the girls at work like them!

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

I’ve wanted to make these for a long time now. I came across a packet of orange flavoured buttons in the baking section at the supermarket and they inspired me to make chocolate orange cupcakes. That was during lent, however, so chocolate was off limits but I’ve finally got round to it now! This is the first time I’ve properly adapted recipes myself and not followed someone else’s tried and tested method so luckily it turned out well and I’m pleased with how they look too.

For the main part of the cake I used my basic vanilla cupcake recipe but took out some flour and replaced it with cocoa powder and added some orange extract. Lots of recipes use zests and juices of oranges which I must admit I feel is a lot of work when you can buy it in a bottle. Maybe, I’m lazy yes but! it still tastes lovely. I didn’t put any orange in the icing as the orange buttons are very orangey and I didn’t want to take it too far.

For the icing I wasn’t sure how adding melted chocolate would affect my buttercream so I didn’t add any milk to start but it was too dry without it so I ended up adding the usual amount of milk by the end anyway! One thing I will say about using melted chocolate and piping icing is make sure there are no hard bits in the chocolate as it will block up the nozzle in patches making the icing come out strangely.

To carry on the chocolate orange theme I used orange coloured muffin cases to make them look pretty! The ones I used are from John Lewis and I love them because they really hold their colour. Lots of ones I’ve used in the past go a bit see through and start looking like the cake behind them but these are great and they come in so many different colours. I also got these lovely tins for an Easter present from my mum and dad to keep all my baking goodies in!

Here is my recipe:

For the sponge:

200g caster sugar

200g unsalted butter or margarine

170g self raising flour

5 tbsp cocoa powder

4 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

1 and a ½  tsp orange extract

Put all the ingredients in one big bowl but make sure you sift the flour and cocoa into the bowl. Mix the ingredients with a food mixer starting off on a low speed to combine roughly [or the flour will spray everywhere, believe me] then on a higher speed to make a smooth batter

Once its all mixed together divide between your cupcake or muffin case and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until cooked through [test with a cocktail stick if unsure, if it comes out clean, you’re all set]

Leave to cool for around 15-20minutes before you decorate them

For the icing:

250g icing sugar

80g unsalted butter or margarine

25ml milk

85g melted good quality dark chocolate

Mix up the icing sugar, butter and milk until you have a normal consistency buttercream. Add the melted chocolate, make sure it’s cool-ish first and mix in thoroughly

Transfer into an icing bag and use a star nozzle for swirls like in my pictures and then decorate orangely!

Always remember to Lick Your Spoon

Strawberry Cupcakes

It’s been a little longer from my last post than usual as I was on holiday enjoying sunny Madrid with my brother but I’m back! And full of recipe inspiration so I have lots of exciting (I think) recipes to try out! My mum found this one for me in a magazine but it’s actually from Marian Keyes new book Saved by Cake. As it’s chocolate-free it’s perfect for my lent blog posts and full of yummy strawberries!

It’s an unusual recipe in the fact that it uses plain flour and bicarbonate of soda rather than the typical self raising flour for cake making so I made sure to beat the wet ingredients for a long time as I thought it would help get some air in it. It’s a very straightforward recipe and I have to say the hardest part was mashing the strawberries! I’m sure none of you would be silly enough to try and mash something in a round bottomed bowl, but don’t do it, it doesn’t work. I eventually switched to doing in a pasta dish and that was much more successful!

Don’t be put off by the fact that by the time you’ve mixed in the strawberries and the flour the mixture looks a little grey, and that when they come out of the oven they still look a little unusual. Marian Keyes tells you to decorate them pinkly so by the time you’ve finished you, and your friends and family, will be unable to resist and they do genuinely taste delicious.

I just used basic glacé icing following the instructions on the back of the box as I don’t have any piping equipment currently (another shock I know) and I don’t feel buttercream icing applied with the back of a spoon is a very good look. I used some left over strawberry to decorate but obviously there are hundreds and thousands (see what I did there) ways to decorate your finished cakes.

Here is Marian Keyes’ recipe:

200g strawberries, hulled and mashed

100g sunflower oil (I used vegetable oil)

90g caster sugar

2 eggs

180g plain flour

¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 180°C

Beat the oil, sugar and eggs together for a few minutes until the mix looks caramelly.

Add the strawberries, sieve in the flour and bicarbonate of soda into the wet mixture and fold.

Pour the batter into the cases and bake for about 20minutes.

Then Lick Your Spoon! (and decorate your cakes pinkly!)