Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Give an example of how you deal with stress.



Job interview preparations. Love it. I spend hours by myself thinking of scenarios and examples because I know that if I don't, when crunch time hits my brain will suddenly become empty and I will probably come up with some very poor, weak example. 

So while the proper answer is that I write down everything I have to do, prioritise and just work through it setting time goals, in reality the truth is far more calorific. 

If the stress is emotional and irrational I tend to turn to my Kitchenaid mixer and a viber chat with Alix. At the same time of course.



Anything to distract me and Alix has a magical way of pulling you back down to Planet Normal. Oh and she's great to talk to if you want to complain about boys and how dumb they are and celebrate being on Team Single. Whoop. 

So today whilst chatting away I churned through an entire packet of oreos in the process of making these magnificent creations.



I vowed that every Monday I would bring morning tea to our one fourth year class of the week. Since there are only like ten of us it is a very doable quest. So in practice for next Monday I decided to try out a half batch of these babies from my Home Sweet Home recipe book from the Hummingbird Bakery. My Dad bought be this book as part of a bet/deal we had going. If I get above 80% in a 50% exam I had earlier on in the year he would buy me this book. Between 70-79% I would pay half. Below that and he would disown me. Good deal eh.

Well thankfully I got 82% in that gem so this book was all mine!



But basically all this is just a chocolate cupcake recipe with a few crushed oreos shoved into each one. Preeeety simple. I decided to do an icing with a dollop of cream cheese thrown in there just to make it really lethal. 

I'm really going with the messy cupcake look lately aren't I? I could't pipe these very well anyway, the oreo chunks would get stuck in the nozzle!

So next time you feel like making something that looks epic but is actually really easy, look no further than these babies. 



Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
Adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery's Home Sweet Home

for the cupcake:
70g butter, softened
170g plain flour
250g caster sugar
50g cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
210ml whole milk
2 large eggs
12 oreos, broken into quarters

for the icing:
50g butter, softened
50g cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups icing sugar
couple of splashes of milk
6 oreos, crushed

6 oreos roughly broken to sprinkle over the top

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees on bake.

Mix together the flour, butter, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt until a sandy consistency is reached.

Add in half the milk and vanilla and beat until smoothish then add one of the eggs and beat until smooth. Repeat with the rest of the milk and second egg. Beat until all the lumps have gone.

Spoon into cupcake cases in a muffin pan and bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer come out just clean.





Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.



To make the icing, cream the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth then mix in the icing sugar and a splash of mix to loosen it. Beat until fluffy and voluminous. Stir in the crushed oreo pieces. Spread over the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with a few extra oreo crumbs.




Prepare to see your friends weep with gratitude.

Enjoy!!!

Jam and Custard Cupcakes

Happy Saturday!

I have been trying to write this post for a few hours now. I have had a micro episode of writers block. It is kind of a gloomy day and I have no one to surprise give these so I guess I am lacking the excited surge I usually have to share recipes with you.



Actually scratch all of that. I just munched into another cupcake, I can feel their deliciousness moving into my finger tips, preparing for a full on keyboard onslaught. YOU NEED THIS RECIPE! LIKE NOW!

A few weeks back when I first spied this recipe in my Mum's new Ripe Recipes (A fresh batch) I knew that it be high up on the list of things to make.

These are actually divine. You take one bit and your soul is filled with joy.



What I think I like about this recipe is the custard powder. Yes custard purists out there (myself included) believe that the only custard consumed should be the custard made from eggs. However custard powder has a fond place in my food memory bank. Obviously childhood custard consumption but more recently I have come to associate it with late night custard feasts with my flatmate Alix last year. We went through about six litres of milk each week just to fuel this custard craze. It was always consumed after 12am as well when neither of us could get to sleep or we just couldn't be bothered getting into bed. Good chats were had over the kitchen table and a huge jug of the vanillary yellow goodness.



So these cupcakes remind me of Alix. She is great. I miss her haha.

The jam filling also reminds me a lot of the eccles cakes Nana used to make. So really these are just little cakes of nostalgia. Which is what I like in a cake. Cakes need to be filled with feeling.

The funny thing about these is that the starch provided by the cornflour in the custard powder gives a funny (not good nor bad, just interesting) texture to the icing. It is the starchy texture that you actually find when you make the custard up in the microwave which in a way is kind of cool. The custard powder also gives the cupcakes themselves a nice crunchy outer layer.



I only had raspberry jam in my fridge but strawberry would also be a dream. Obviously the better the quality of your jam the better these will be. I quite like the Anathoth jams as they are quite runny, not so good for your toast but perfect for filling cupcakes with.



Jam and Custard Cupcakes
(from Ripe Recipes - A fresh batch by Angela Redfern)
Makes 10

50g butter, softened
1 cup plain flour
2/3 cup caster sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon custard powder
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

10 small teaspoonfuls of jam

icing:
2-3 cups icing sugar
50g butter, softened
3 tablespoons custard powder
couple of splashes of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla


Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a muffin tray with 10-12 cupcake cases.

In a large bowl or free standing mixer, beat together the dry ingredients and the butter until a fine crumb ed texture is achieved. This could also be done in the food processor then transferred back to a mixing bowl.

Beat in the egg and slowly pour in the milk and vanilla whilst still mixing. Beat until a smooth batter is formed.

Scoop using an ice cream scoop, the batter into each cupcake case until it is two thirds full.



Bake for 20 minutes.

Once cool, use a sharp knife to cut cone-shaped holes out of the top of the cupcake.



Spoon in a teaspoon of jam into each hole.



To make the icing, cream together the icing sugar, custard powder, vanilla and butter, using the milk to loosen the mixture until a light and fluffy icing is achieved.



Swirl the icing onto the cupcakes using a butter knife or a small palate knife.



Share with some good friends :)




Enjoy!





Black Bottomed Cheesecake Cupcakes

Also known as the ugliest cupcakes you will ever lay your eyes on.



That was intentional. They were never gonna be beautiful. Just like my feet were never going to be foot models (thanks Mum).

Sean said to claim them as being rustic. So I will.





I had a bit of a cruisey day today. I can only do lab work every four days at this stage so once I did all my prep I had the afternoon free to apply for a job, pay a power bill and twiddle my thumbs. I decided that I should probably pay a bit of attention to my wee blog. It has been a bit neglected really. I kind of went to Hawaii for 10 days, then I had a whole heap of stuff to do at uni and then I guess I have been in a bit of a baking rut, making the same things over and over again. I offered the chem honours kids that I would bring them in something so it was a perfect opportunity to try something new and to blog about it.



Now to be honest with you, these didn't go as expected. I made up the cheesecake mixture and it was such a failure. It was sloppy and not smooth and fluffy like it was supposed to be. It was somewhat lumpy also. Not ideal. I was also not prepared for the eggless sponge batter. It was the strangest recipe I have ever made. I put the first lot in with little faith in the outcome. But you know what? They didn't turn out half bad so we gobbled them all up and I gave them another go with the left over cheesecake mixture applying what I had learnt from the first lot. The cheesecake mixture was still a mess. Let me know if it works out alright for you.



Goodness, I made so many adjustments. I hope I can remember them in (slash guess how much extra I threw in). This was originally a Hummingbird Bakery recipe. This is the second cupcake recipe that has turned out a little suspicious. My trust in them is being compromised but I shall remain loyal.

The sponge of this cupcake is excellent and rich. It is also quite dense. For those of you who have ever made a mug brownie, this is basically the same thing.

Changes I made:
Add the yolk and only half the white to the cheesecake mixture
Add in about a quarter of a cup of icing sugar to the cheesecake mixture also
Add 3 tablespoons of oil instead of the three
Add 1/2 cup plus say 2 tablespoons of water to the sponge batter
Added chocolate chips to the sponge (hey why not?)
I made up a cream cheese icing then separated off a little and mixed in 5 squares of melted dark chocolate then marbled this through to create an even messier effect.
I also added small half teaspoon amounts of plain cream cheese to each cupcake case, just to break up the sweetness a little.


Black Bottomed Cheesecake Cupcakes
Adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
makes 11-12

For the sponge:
190g plain flour
120g castor sugar
40g cocoa
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
pinch of salt

For the cheesecake filling:
140g full fat cream cheese
60g castor sugar
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 yolk + 1/2 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream cheese icing:
50g butter, softened
60g cream cheese
3 cups icing sugar
5 squares dark chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla

Other:
6 teaspoons cream cheese


Preheat the oven to 180 degrees on bake and line a muffin tray with paper cases.

Filling:
In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese, vanilla, castor sugar and icing sugar. Slowly add in the egg and mix until smooth and creamy (hopefully). Set aside.

Sponge:
Mix together all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa, chocolate chips and baking soda).

In a jug, mix together all the wet ingredients (oil, water, vinegar, vanilla).

In a free standing mixer, gradually add the liquid mix into the dry and mix until the batter is thick.



Spoon dessert spoonfuls of the batter into each cupcake case. Spoon half a teaspoon of cream cheese into the bottom of each case also. Next, spoon a tablespoon or two (as much as fits) of the cream cheese mixture into the cases. Try not to fill too high (leave 6mm space) or else the cheesecake mix overflows.



Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the cheesecake looks set and is no longer 'eggy' looking.



As you can see, these are pretty hideous looking.

Leave to cool before icing.

To make the icing, cream together the cream cheese, butter and icing sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Melt the chocolate using small bursts in the microwave. Stir this chocolate into a small bowl with about half a cup of the cream cheese icing. When spreading the cream cheese icing over the cupcake, dip the edge of your spatula in this chocolate icing and swirl it around to create a marbled effect.



Sprinkle over with chocolate chips if you wish.



Enjoy!!





Coconut Ice Cupcakes

Ice ice baby.

Well that is what should be falling from the sky tomorrow. Hopefully.



I really should have been doing some research for my next assignment due after the holidays but my brain just couldn't cope. So instead I baked. The only problem with said baking is that most of my friends have gone off home and so finding people to give these fellas a home is proving a challenge. So I decided that because tomorrow was likely to be such a terrible (or wonderful depending which way you look at it) day weather wise that these popping up in the Applied Science tearoom would go down a treat.



Hey we are a food science department, we have a bit of an affinity for food funnily enough.

Blogging about Cupcakes I do believe is a nice change. I haven't made any in a while. In fact I think the last time I made cupcakes was actually the lamington cupcakes that I posted here. Man they were good. Haha and also were covered in coconut.

I took the basic Hummingbird Bakery vanilla cupcake recipe and added a quarter of a cup of desiccated coconut and a few drops of coconut essence to the sponge. I then added more coconut essence as well as some strawberry essence to the icing. Oh then chopped up some coconut ice that I picked up at the supermarket from the bulk bins to place on the top of them.


Here are the flavourings I used. Oh and that's Dad in the background. Hi Dad.


So as you can see, they are not tricky at all!

I am just really liking the effect of the coconut on the top. I used both threaded and desiccated for that.

Also, because they are supposed to look quite rough (come on who has ever seen a perfect piece of coconut ice before?) it doesn't matter what the icing beneath the coconut looks like, in fact I think the rougher the icing the better the effect. It almost gives it that whipped, cloud-like look.


I can't wait for my little cousin Lulu to have big birthday parties. Haha I think I will end up going a little over the top with them!

Remember you can add more or less coconut essence, more or less strawberry essence and more or less pink food colouring to the sponge according to your own preferences.



Coconut Ice Cupcakes
Adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook 
Makes 12

40g butter, softened
140g castor sugar
120g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup full fat milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
a few drops coconut essence
1 teaspoon vanilla essece

Icing:
50g butter, softened
3 cups icing sugar
up to a quarter cup of milk (add it gradually until you achieve a fluffy consistency)
a splash of vanilla essence
few drops of coconut and strawberry essence
pink food colouring
threaded and/or desiccated coconut to cover
coconut ice to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a muffin tin with cupcake cases.

Mix together the butter, sugar, coconut, flour and baking powder until a fine, sandy consistency is reached.

Gradually add in half of the milk and mix until combined. Crack in the egg, beat until combined then mix in the remaining milk plus the coconut and vanilla essences. Mix until combined and smooth.

Spoon into the 12 cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until the tops are golden.

Let the cakes cool completely before icing.



To make the icing, cream together the butter and icing sugar, add small amounts of milk to loosen the mixture up. Add in the essences and pink food colouring until it meets your desired shade of pink. Keep beating until the icing is really voluminous. It should not be runny at all ie it should form stiff peaks.

Spoon this icing onto the cool cupcakes and using a knife or palatte knife, smooth the icing into a swirl. Don't worry if it doesn't look perfect. Imperfection is the new perfection. Natural looking is far more pleasing to the eye.

Sprinkle (or totally drown) the cupcakes with the coconut and decorate with the coconut ice (I chopped mine into smaller cubes).





Stand back and marvel at how terribly girly everything looks and curse at your previously spotless floor that is now covered in icing sugar and coconut.

Enjoy!!

x


Chocolate Lamington Cupcakes

I have been baking non stop. I think today is the only day I haven't made anything in the last like ten days. That's pretty bad. In those last ten days I have made another brownie, hot cross buns, countless cookies including the white chocolate, maple syrup spice cookies that I have yet to perfect and a double layered vanilla bean cake. I think it is just turning into a habit. I really need to stop.



I think the problem is that it is actually quite lonely in our little three person flat. The others are always doing something away in their rooms. I like being alone but I prefer friendly company more. Sometimes you don't even have to interact with the person. You can just sit there doing separate things but still feel like you are being part of something and spending time with that person. Take my best friend Cara for example. We can sit in the same room for hours not talking (although lets be honest, going without talking to her never lasts long!) but we still feel like we are spending quality time together. I think thats why my friends sometimes just find me sitting on the end of their bed, or on their couch just chilling, just absorbing the friendly, loving vibes that are around.

How did I get onto this? ah right, I am substituting in-flat human contact with baking. After all baking equals love. Hmm gift giving (especially of the edible kind) and kind acts of service (get your minds out of the gutter people!) are my expressive love languages.



So now it seems I have a whole stack of recipes I need to blog about. Looks like a job for this coming weekend! But for now I will share with you some delicious cupcakes.

Lamingtons are having a bit of a comeback in the trendy department. You find some very cute looking ones hiding away in some nifty cafes. There is nothing better than a fresh lamington filled with whipped cream and a dollop of really good berry jam. Nom! They are quite a retro wee cake, reminiscent of tea rooms and bakeries stopped at during long family car trips in small New Zealand towns. They are on the same sort of nostalgic level as the mighty custard square.

In the Treats from Little and Friday book I have they have these amazing looking lamingtons. The only thing is that thy aren't your typical lamingtons. They are in fact a cone of really moist, dense chocolate cake smothered in ganache and thickly desiccated coconut. They looked amazing. I really wanted to make them. The only problem was that I didn't have the cone shaped moulds that they baked them in.


So instead of making cone shaped lamingtons I made cupcake sized ones. But I didn't make a dense heavy cake, I made a light and airy chocolate cupcake sponge instead which I then smothered in chocolate ganache. They were divine. They looked really effective too. They certainly didn't last long, especially after giving some to the neighbours as well as Maria, Jamal and Jolene on my way to the gym. Its a good thing most of them were given away, like I said, there are only three of us here.





So the cupcake recipe I used came from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook by Tarek Malouf but I made a wee change. Instead of using 140g of caster sugar I used instead muscovado sugar. This is a less refined sugar as it still has molasses in it. This doesn't make it any better for you though! It has a greater moisture content and the granules are slightly bigger. It lends a wonderful colour and more intense flavour than regular caster or even regular brown sugar. This is perfect for making chocolate cakes with. It make the cakes slightly more velvety that they usually would be. It's hard to describe but I feel like velvety is a good world.





Now for those of you who have never made a ganache before (dear lord you have been missing out!) it is really easy but you are gonna want to do it a few hours before you want to use it as it needs to set in the fridge.

In a double boiler (ie a heatproof bowl over a simmering pan of water) you want to heat your cream. Once the cream is hot enough so you cant put your finger in it for longer than five seconds you can pop in your chocolate. Now I like using the Nestle dark chocolate melts for this. I just like the intense flavour but the sweetness too. For these cupcakes I used just a block of Cadbury 70% cocoa solids chocolate but substituted in about a quarter of it with just plain dairy milk to make it sweeter. It's all up to personal preference. Stir in the chocolate until it is all melted and smooth. Take the bowl of the water (carefully!) and leave to sit on the bench until it is cool enough to pop in the fridge. Don't cover it while it is still hot because then you get condensation dripping back into it. Then once it is almost fully set (still spreadable but firm), use a hot knife or palate knife to artfully swirl the ganache onto the cupcake. Then sprinkle over the coconut and you are ready to go.






I used rather large cupcake cases for these. The Jaytee ones (in the supermarket) I find are quite small. I wanted a decent sized cupcake for this. Just whatever you do, only fill it to 2/3 of the way up otherwise you end up with a very messy spill over! Not ideal!




Chocolate Lamington Cupcakes
Adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
Makes 16

200g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
280g muscovado sugar (brown sugar will also suffice)
3 teaspoons baking powder
80g butter, softened
240ml (1 cup) milk (preferably whole but it doesn't really matter)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

about a cup of large flaked desiccated coconut

for the ganache:
400g good dark chocolate (If using really high cocoa solids try try substituting in a proportion of milk chocolate to make it sweeter if you wish)
1 cup full fat cream


To make the ganache, heat the cream in a heatproof bowl over some simmering water. Place the chocolate into the bowl, leave to sit for a minute then stir until melted and smooth. You may want to take the bowl off the heat if you are worried about the chocolate burning on the bottom. Leave to cool on the bench before transferring to the fridge for a few hours.


Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa and baking powder until a fine sandy consistency is achieved.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, milk and vanilla together. Slowly add, in thirds this mixture to the dry mixture. Beat well after each addition. Once all the liquid has been added, beat on high for a minute so that the mixture becomes thick and smooth.

Spoon the mixture into a muffin tray lined with large paper cases until they are two thirds full (!!!).

Bake for 20 or so minutes or until the sponge bounces back when touched, a skewer comes out clean, your house smells like baked cupcake or you can hear them no longer sizzling away.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Leave to cool completely before smothering in ganache and sprinkling with coconut.





Enjoy!!



Christmas Cupcakes

Happy Christmas Eve!!

Ooh so exciting!

In the Edmond's house Christmas is dictated by tradition.

Each year Jack and I get a new Christmas decoration to hang on the tree. However in order to decorate the tree the whole family must be together and Christmas with Bing MUST be playing.

But the best traditions are the ones kept for the big day itself.



Even though Jack and I are 18 and 20 we still get our Christmas stockings filled with treats. Unfortunately due to our more nocturnal sleeping patterns they do not magically appear at the foot of our beds during the night and instead are found outside our doors.

For as long as I can remember both Jack and I ignore our primal urges to sleep in and wake up at the crack of dawn. Whoever wakes up first has to run into the other's room and jump on their bed and say 'Santas been, Santas been!'.



Then we sit there on our beds going through our stockings and begin the munching on treats. Funnily enough the oranges, which we get every year without fail, are eaten last.

Then at about 6.50am we creep downstairs and put the kettle on. You see our Mum and Dad have some rules: no waking them up before 7 and in order to enter their room we must bring with us two cups of tea before we can show them what Santa brought us.

We grab their stockings (yes Mum and Dad get stockings too) and the tea and bound into their room. We all sit on their bed whilst we show them the night's loot. Then they go through theirs and without fail Mum's annual stash of macadamia nuts is opened. Something that isn't opened is Dad's jar of gherkins.


There is a funny story about these gherkins. Apparently when Dad was a kid, each of his siblings got a type of preserved produce like prunes, picked onions or in Dad's case, gherkins. I can't remember what the fourth item was.

So back in 2001 as a 9 year old, I relabelled the jar. Mum and Dad thought it was so hilarious that a new jar has never been purchased. Last Christmas we celebrated its 10th birthday. So once Dad pulls them out of his stocking, they return to the pantry for another year.





In order to go and open the presents under the tree we must then bring Mum and Dad a second cup of tea each. Once that happens everyone takes their place in the lounge around the tree.

Dad sits by the tree. He is the official present hander outer. Mum is always on the couch opposite the tree with Jack sitting beside her. I am on the couch beside the tree. I am the present assistant.

One by one Dad hands out the presents and we all watch while the present receiver opens their gift. This process lasts around 40 minutes. The older we get the less presents there are to open so we try and make them last.

The best presents are always the ones where we surprise Dad. Two Christmases ago Mum and I surprised Dad with an iPad. We wrapped it up in a huge apple (as in the actual fruit) box to try and trick him. When he got through the layers and then came to the small iPad shaped box he stopped in his tracks. He just stared at all of us in absolute disbelief. A few tears came out of his eyes. It was kind of hilarious to see someone so stoked with a gift.

I think the best present I ever got other than my Baby Born doll, Rosie, was my handmade recipe book that Mum had made for me. It is hand bound and made of hand made paper. It was given to be the Christmas before I left for Otago. Before then Mum and I shared with messy ring bound exercise book which had all our favourite recipes written and glued into it. She realised that upon my departure there would be a custody dispute over it. So she took some of the pictures from it, copied them and this lady incorporated them into the design. It was the best thing ever.



This book is filled with special recipe like my Nana's Christmas cake recipe which I got her to hand write.

I think Christmas cake is one of the best foods at Christmas time. Forget mince pies, ham and scorched almonds. The cake is where it's at. Of course it needs to be covered in the white and almond icing.


I found this recipe in the Christmas section of my Hummingbird Cake Days book. It uses fruit cake fruit, a nice dosing of the festive alcohol of your fancy and some delicious almond flavoured icing.

This recipe said to use rum to soak the fruit in. Unfortunately (very unfortunately) we did not have rum in the house hold and I thought Mum's stash of gin wouldn't be quite the same. Nana's cake recipe always uses sherry or brandy so I decided to substitute the rum for sherry to give it a more Edmond's family twist.


I also thing fruit cakes should be nice and dense with fruit so I used more fruit that it said. I also added a few more Christmas cakey spices and flavours such as almond and a bit of brandy essence.

Mum thinks these are better the day after you make them as they don't dry out like normal cupcakes. Try making the cake the day before you need them but ice them on the day.


I also didn't have any dark brown sugar, only normal lightly coloured stuff. This made the cakes not as rich in colour as I would have liked but they still tasted amazing.



Christmas Cupcakes
Adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery's Cake Days book 
Makes 22

 400g dried mixed fruit
100 ml rum/brandy/sherry
200g softened butter
200g soft dark brown sugar
4 large eggs
160g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
60g ground almonds
1 teaspoon almond essence
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
a few drops of brandy essence

For the icing:
500g icing sugar
100g softened butter
50ml whole milk
1/2 teaspoon almond essence


First soak the dried fruit in the rum/sherry/brandy for 30 minutes or overnight (overnight would be best).

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees on bake.

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale brown and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well between each addition. Beat until very fluffy. Add the essences. If the mixture looks like it is about to split, throw in a  few tablespoons of flour to help stabilise it.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and spices then add to the egg, butter and sugar mix. Mix until combined.

Add in the ground almonds and then the fruit and rum mix. The mixture will be quite sloppy.

Transfer some of the mixture into a pouring jug and fill a muffin tin lined with cupcake cases until each case is two thirds full.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean or the sponge bounces back when pressed.

Once cooked, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once fully cooled, cream together the icing ingredients until light and fluffy. More milk or icing sugar might need to be added. Make sure you sift the icing sugar especially if you plan on piping the icing on.

decorate with some festive sprinkles and enjoy!





Merry Christmas!

Enjoy x

Gingerbread Cupcakes

I love gingerbread.



Its so great. I love the crunchy crust that forms on the top. Oh and when it is still warm and the butter melts into it. Ahhh so good.



It's another one of those Christmassy treats that can be made this time of year for no proper reasoning other than that it is Christmas time.



I basically made gingerbread. In a cupcake case. That had stripes on it. Cool eh?



And what makes everything better?



Cream cheese icing.


That's right, sooo delicious.

We are all moving Nana into her new place tomorrow so Mum asked me to make something to fill her tins that we could snack on during the day. She asked for cupcakes, or gingerbread or something.

Two birds. One stone.

I got this recipe here from my Cake Days book (no surprises there). You guys really should buy it. So worth it. The recipe said to add black treacle. Unfortunately we didn't have any here, I just substituted in the same weight of golden syrup. This makes the final sponge not as dark as it should and the black treacle would have lent a deeper flavour. But never mind, there is always next time. Which there will be! These are delicious!


Gingerbread Cupcakes
Adapted from Cake Days
Makes 12-16 regular sized cupcakes or 20 scalloped cupcake case sized ones

 140g softened butter
200g caster sugar
120g golden syrup (or 60g black treacle and 60g golden syrup)
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
310g plain flour
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoon baking powder
240ml hot milk

Icing:
50g cream cheese
50g butter
400g icing sugar, sieved
A couple of tablespoons of milk
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and line two muffin trays with cupcake cases.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the golden syrup (and treacle), eggs and egg yolks and beat until fluffy.

In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture in three lots, alternating with the hot milk.

Once all the ingredients have been added, beat until the batter is smooth.

Pour the batter into the cupcake cases until they are two thirds full.

Bake for 20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.












Once they are cool, prepare the icing by creaming together all the icing ingredients until light and fluffy.  Add as much milk as you need to smooth the icing out.



Enjoy!

I did :)