Cherry Bakewell Cupcakes

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The second almond treat for the weekend was a recipe from the Great British Bake Off book, Holly Bell’s recipe and one of the “best of the bake off” ones

I saw another blogger try this which inspired me to dig out the book and recreate them. The picture will give you a clue as to where the recipe for my next blog post is coming from…

They give a lot denser cake than the standard cupcake, due to the addition of ground almonds

I did make some adaptations to the recipe:

The recipe stated to scoop out the middle, fill with jam, then cover with icing. I scooped out then the bit removed, shaved some off it, filled the cake with jam and then put the cake “plug” back on top to give a smooth surface to ice on and a jammy surprise in the middle of the cake!

I definitely didn’t eat the bits of the plug I cut out. Much.

I also used strawberry not raspberry jam

A tip – when the cakes come out of the oven, whilst still warm use the back of a spoon to flatter the tops using circular motions – this makes them flat and gives the bakewell look. It probably makes the cake denser though – but there were no complaints!

These went down a storm at out monthy family roast dinner with kids and adults alike. And also with our neighbours who received the leftovers…

Happy Baking!

Orange Cake

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As well as cupcakes for our family gathering, I had a load of oranges to use up, so thought I’d dig out my Baking and Decorating book by Fiona Cairnes to see what I could do

This book was a secret santa charity shop find from a lovely colleague last Christmas – yes, last Christmas! – and I hadn’t used it yet, so wanted tyo try it out

There was a lovely orange cake recipe in there so though – perfect – let’s go…

The cake itself uses the zest of the oranges

The icing is made with the orange juice for a sweet zesty topping (flower decor optional)

The texture was lovely sort of like a pound cake and the flavour was great. I think I will be using this book again – plus the decorating section looks beautiful…

Let me know how recreations go!

Happy Baking!

 

Almond Biscotti

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So we got back from Italy late Thursday night, and I still had Friday off, so I decided to make some biscotti inspired by our trip.

I had wanted to make something to give as a gift to our lovely neighbours for looking after our troublesome 3 legged cat Percy whilst we were away, and this seemed the perfect Italian treat

Biscotti is a double baked biscuit so takes a little longer and a bit more time than other recipes, but it is crucial to get the familiar dry crunch

The recipe came from an online blog:

www.italian-desserts-recipes.com/almond_biscotti_recipe.html

I think I’ll be using this site again, loads of great ideas and seeminly authentic Italian as well

The mix was made in the upright mixer, and was a bit wet, so I added additional flour until it was just workable I figured it wouldn’t matter too much as the biscuits are so dry. But I was cautious I didn’t want them to taste of flour and not sugar, so went easy!

It was still a litle weyt but I turned it out on to a floured board and worked it in to a loaf and then popped it in the over for 20 minutes. Afterwhich it looked like this…

 

Once you have your “loaf” out of the oven it needs to cool enough to slice. It needs to be sliced diagonally. Here it is par sliced…

Afterwhich the sliced are laid back on baking trays, the over turned down and they are then cooked (dried) in the oven turning after 10 minutes. Keep turning until they are dry and then take out to cool.

Enjoy with a nice cuppa!…

Or if you want something stronger, dip them in a nice Vin Santo

 Happy baking!

Lemon Cupcakes

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So tomorrow I have a team meeting.

It’s not often we get together as we’re scattered through the South coast and over the past few I’ve made cakes or up cakes for us all post lunch.

Well, it started with us taking it in turns but it’s sort of gone full circle!

Today was the turn for lemon cupcakes with a zesty buttercream.

The cake batter is easy for a Hummingbird Bakery recipe, from which I have adapted the Lemon Cupcakes bake.

The sponges were lovely and pale, spongy and rose evenly-hooray!

The icing was looser than others I’ve made and I didn’t use all the milk-but had added some lemon juice for extra zing, so maybe it was that.

I firmed it up in the piping bag in the fridge whilst the cakes were cooking.

Learn 1: Icing with lemon zest will not go easily through a star nozzle! Cue bag and nozzle replacements, and cake scraping!

Learn 2: Icing with lemon zest in goes much easier through a circular nozzle-and looks cute. Especially with sprinkles!

Happy baking!

Brooklyn Blackout Cake

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So, today was our monthly family Sunday lunch – there are a lot of us! Today there were 11…sometimes there can be 15!

Generally I will make something to take as dessert as a thank you to the parents – and it also gives me chance to try out a new recipe.

As there is always such a crowd, it gives me chance to make some larger cakes as well - so this week it gave me chance to try the Brooklyn Blackout Cake adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery first baking book.

I made this over two days, because I also made a batch of cupcakes for bonfire night, but having completed it, I think it could easily be done in a day.

I was expecting this to be rich, which it is, but the custard type filling and covering, and the cake, does not contain chocolate. This makes it quite a frugal (albeit impressive) chocolate cake, as well as cutting down on the richness of a lot of ganache type frosted cakes.

The cake recipe is really simple, using the usual creaming butter sugar, adding eggs, then dry ingredients alternated with milk. As I said, no chocolate keeping things simple.

The custard type filling is a fun one to make! Sugar, golden syrup, cocoa powder and water brought to the boil, then a corn flour/water mix is whisked in. It will go stiff very quickly once back on the heat – DON’T BE ALARMED! This is normal (I think).

Here you take it off the heat and add in butter until it’s silky then leave to cool.

The texture is then really pliable and easy to spread, by far one of the easiest coverings I’ve made. A crumb coat finishing sets the cake off.

I think this would be great with a white sponge too.

Try it, and let me know what you think!

Second helping requests from my nieces and nephews tells me there must be something good about this one.

Happy baking!

 

S’mores Cupcakes

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So it’s that time of year again when bonfire smoke fills the air, fireworks light up the sky and you get that feeling that Christmas is edging a little bit closer…yep, it’s Bonfire Night!

This year we had a housewarming at a friends so I decided to make some Autumnal type cupcakes to take round as a gift.

The newer Hummingbird Bakery cook book, Cake Days is ideal for seasons, as it is split in to sections according to the festivity, or time of year.

The Smoreanne Cupcakes stood out with their marshmallowy peaks, and I am a sucker for dark chocolate. Plus the OH gets to use the blow torch to brown off the meringue topping, which is always a winner for him!

So what is a S’more? Some American friends may be able to pass more comment, but from what I can gather, it’s a campfire treat of graham crackers with marshmallows and chocolate sandwiched between them – sounds spectacular, and perfectly seasonal!

So, the cupcakes themselves are a basic chocolate cupcake recipe. The addition of grated chocolate and digestive crumbs on top before the oven gives the S’more edge.

Whilst baking you make the topping, which is a basic Italian meringue recipe. I have made Italian meringue once before, and has to start over with this. Why? Because the recipe says whisk the egg whites until foamy I did this, added the hot sugar and flop! No matter how much whisking it wouldn’t come back – sad meringues. It was still usable, just runny. I did a few and toasted the tops, as this was made using the powdered egg white as it’s pasteurised (for my pregnant friend)…

Rather than waste the runnier Italian meringue, I baked it, and it came out lovely thick crisp shiny shards – perfect for Eton mess…or just nibbling…

Then it was time to start a new batch (luckily I started early!) – this time whipping the eggs until soft peaks. Follow this tweak and you shouldn’t experience any problems…

I’m ready for my close up!…

These went down well as a Bonfire Night treat, and you could even serve them still warm, both cupcake and meringue. The meringue was light and arguebly so compared to heavy buttercreams. Plus, no faffing with piping, just slop it on and make it look “peaky” (in a good way)

Happy baking!

 

Perfectly Pink Cupcakes

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So it was my good friends’ little girl’s first birthday – so what better way to celebrate than with perfectly pink cupcakes fit for a princess!

This recipe is adapted from the basic Vanilla Cupcakes recipe in the Hummingbird Bakery book.

After making the vanilla cupcake batter, a generous addition of pink gel food colouring was added to get the great colour – it is hard to see before it is cooked, so just go with your gut – and add as much as your inner girly tells you.

I used the Magnolia Bakery vanilla buttercream recipe for topping, again with the addition of pink gel food colouring. The Magnolia Bakery buttercream, I personally find perfect, nice and smooth and less stiff as some I have tried. This makes it easy for spreading, and piping.

I must admit I am not a piper (yet!) I think a combination of laziness and fear! So this will be a good a place as any to try out piping. Anyway, I digress…

I used royal icing pink, and cut letters and numbers, and dusted them whilst still pliable with edible lustre. This gave them a lovely sheen. Once dry I affixed them to the top of the cupcakes, along with some dusted pink butterflies – I admit I did buy these at a local cake shop, but they are very easy to make – I am yet to own a butterfly cutter!

Any sprinkles will do – obviously for this overly girly bake, anything pink was sprinkled on.

They say the proof is in the tasting, and the husband said the were very nice even though they were pink. As good an answer as you can expect from a man.

Happy baking!

Welcome to Baking, Making etc…

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So this is where I will blog.

About baking, making, etc.

Mainly this will be my documentation of my baking journey, with a few crafty type makes thrown in for good measure.

Expect lots of cakes, frostings and some pastry, sweet and savoury. The odd spattering of hot dinners, cocktails and other non bakery related treats.

The “etc” could be any manner of things, but realistically, mostly girly things like whether a lipstick made me look like a clown or if the new eye cream I used gave me big red panda eyes (sorry guys!)

If you’re following, thank you, and I look forward to sharing with you along the way!