Birthday giant cupcake

Hi everyone, apologies as I'm not very good at remembering to take pictures of my creations after I've made them  - oops! Haven't been particularly busy recently but have experimented with cookies which...must admit I'm not brilliant, they were either too dry or too soggy :( Did make my famous white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake for friends in work which went down well as always!

It was the beautiful Phoebe from work's birthday last weekend so I decided to start a little cake fund for her and make a special birthday giant cupcake as a surprise for her :) So off I went to hobbycraft and got some pink colouring, sugarpaste flowers, glittery shimmery dust (that ended up not actually being edible) and some candy melts and heart moulds (that I didn't even use :p)

The recipe for the cake is just copious amounts of a basic sponge recipe with less baking powder than I'd normally use and plenty of cocoa powder to make it look and taste super chocolatey :)

I used a really small amount of pink paste colouring on the tip of a knife in the vanilla fondant icing then piped it with the largest star nozzle I had for the piping bag. This is the first time I've ever piped a giant cupcake so rather proud of myself!

I decorated it with the sugarpaste flowers, I will try and make my own this time...didn't have time on this occasion. I was going to use the candy heart melts sandwiched between florist wire to place in the top of the cake, but they were too heavy for the wire and ended up being super droopy...plan aborted! So I kept it simple and decorated the cake stand a little with pretty pearly hearts from the wedding decorating section! Finished off with Phoebe's name piped with white writing icing and some matching mini (or normal sized) cupcakes!

and here is the finished product...

Been busy :)

Soo I haven't been on here in a while so going to do a post with a few seperate pictures of things I've baked :)!

Carrot cupcakes - I made these for work and everyone loved them! Just a traditional recipe with oil instead of butter, grated carrot, eggs, dark muscovado, cinnamon, nutmeg and walnuts. Very simple just all mixed together with a cream cheese topping and a decorative walnut!!

Next up is my extra chocolately chocolate chip cookies! They are soo rich and yummy but I had lots of compliments about them! Made by creaming together butter and light brown sugar, adding melted dark chocolate. Add in one egg, beat in flour and cocoa powder and some vanilla extract.I then added big chunks of white chocolate (Milkybar!!) and milk choc chips...yummy!!

Finally we have my very experimental Oreo cupcakes....I took this from an American recipe I found online as I couldn't find any with UK measurements. I then used an online coverter to convert the 'cups' into grams. I had to tweak little bits too as some of the ingredients can't be found in the UK!

I started by lining a cupcake tray with the cases and put an oreo half with cream side up into the bottom of the case. I then began the mix by melting plain chocolate and cocoa powder by pouring over a cup of strong black coffee. I left this to cool completely before adding in caster sugar, 2 eggs, some vegetable oil, vanilla extract, white vinegar and flour.

The frosting was made using whipped cream, icing sugar and crushed oreo crumbs. Finished with half an oreo as decoration! I didn't have one of these as I don't like coffee but everyone else absolutely loved them!!

Hope you enjoy guys :)

xx



Royal wedding cupcakes!

So I decided to jump on the bandwagon with the whole royal wedding thing. I took these into work and everyone loved them :) They were red velvet cakes but I couldn't find Dr.Oetker red colouring which is the recommended one,so they were more purpley pink than red...woops! The frosting was a mix of cream cheese, sugar and cream with some added appropriate decorations :D!

Strawberry and white chocolate cake

Hey everyone, I was recently asked to make a 21st birthday cake for a friend and got given the words 'strawberry or vanilla'...so here's what I made! It's my vanilla sponge (3 layers) sandwiched with fresh cream, strawberries and seived strawberry jam.

The chocolate straws or 'cigarellos' were made using small squares of acetate. I spread a thin layer or melted white or dark chocolate over the acetate and folded it into a straw shape and secured with cellotape. These then went into the freezer until I was ready to use them at the last minute (they cannot be handled for very long!) They are quite thick and as you can see I didn't quite have enough to cover the entire cake with no gaps :( but they still look great!

I finished it off with white chocolate ganache (heated cream, then stirred in white chocolate and allowed it to set slightly in the fridge until it was the right consistencey to spread) and some fresh strawberries and chocoate stars.

Really proud of this one, and got great comments from the buyer too...wohooo! This one will set you back £20 and is huge aswell so really worth it! I am still practicing and obviously no professional which is why my cakes are cheap :)

xx

Perfecting my frosting skills!

Hi everyone, have been practicing my cupcakes recently and bought some lovely cases from Hobbycraft - some pink gingham ones and polka dot brown ones :) I was bored and making a sponge yesterday so decided to use the leftover mix to make some cupcakes. I bought a new piping bag with a bigger star nozzle which is perfect for icing! I made some pink vanilla frosting and some chocolate fudge (the chocolate ones also have hidden craters of nutella :D)...

Think I am getting better now and I'd love to try and make a huge batch of them with lots of colourful frosting for someones birthday or any other occasion so if anyone wants cupcakes.....!!

Here is a quick picture of the sponge I made too....the cupcakes and sponge were made using my foolproof sponge recipe posted below :)

The sponge was filled with seived strawberry jam (I hate seeds!) and fresh double cream..yum yum :)

p.s....Tomorrow I am making a 21st birthday cake for a friend and I'm trying out some new chocolate decorations which will hopefully look great!! Keep your eyes peeled :)

xxx

Chocolatey chocolate cakes!!

Haven't updated this in ages, but still been baking away! I recently made a massive chocolate cake for my Auntie's birthday. I'll put up the recipe up at some point but it was a bit of a mish mash of a few recipes. It had vegetable oil and sour cream instead of butter for a really moist texture. It was then topped with a chocolate fudge ganache. I then decorated it with white and milk chocolate shavings along the side, and some fancy chocolately swirls and chocolate truffles. Everyone loved it!! Great warmed slightly with double cream! nom nom....

I also made some chocolate cupcakes made using a general sponge recipe with some green and blacks cocoa powder. I then made a chocolate buttercream icing and finished with some malteasers!! These were made for a friend in work who covered one of my shifts :D I promised them to her! Hopefully she loved them, I had a try and they were scrummy...even though I'm not a huge fan of buttercream!

Et voila!! Enjoy :)x

My Brownie Recipe

Hi everyone, thought I'd post another recipe. This time it's brownies...I made these a few weeks a go and took them into work (lucky colleagues getting all the yummies). The recipe is a bit of mix and match from all the ones I've used in the past and I find this makes them delicious! But don't overcook - brownies are supposed to be gooey!! You'll need:

250g butter (I use stork)

350g golden caster sugar

60g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

250g  dark chocolate (Tesco do an own brand good quality one that I use - 70% cocoa)

80g cocoa powder

large bar of galaxy and large bar of milkyway (cut into chunks) - this is optional by the way! Chocoholics only :D

4 large free range eggs

80g walnuts

Start by melting the butter and dark chocolate together, most recipes state using a bowl over a pan of boiling water, but I just use the microwave on a very low heat. It works just as well :) Pop the flour (sifted) and baking powder into a bowl with the sugar and add in the melted chocolate mix. Whisk the eggs and add them a bit at a time, whisking well. Once silky, add in the walnuts and chunks of chocolate.

Bake on gas mark 4 for about 25-30 mins. Use a square or rectangular tin lined with greaseproof paper. I'm not too particular with tins, if the sides are higher, bake for slightly longer. If the tin is quite large, you will have shallower brownies. That's why I like to use quite a deep one - massive brownies :D

I didn't take a picture of these though - apologies!

x

Giant Valentines Cupcake

Here's one I made for my friend Lea for Valentines Day! Very proud of this one :)

This one is made with the chocolate sponge recipe and decorated with dark pink (was supposed to be red) buttercream style icing. The little hearts are haribo and I used sugarpaste coloured with gel colouring, rolled out and chilled and then cut into different size heart shapes for a romantic look! Voilaaa.

Made a bit of effort with the stand too, used margarine to stick individual little confetti hearts! <3

Wish list!!

Feeling bitter about my lame baking equipment (I don't even have an electric whisk!) Thought I'd make a wee wishlist of all the expensive things I'd like :) :)

Pink Stand Mixer in John Lewis - stupidly expensive but amazing!!

Amazing cupcake cases!!

Proper scales

And that's about it!! Maybe when I have some extra moneys I can buy some better equipment, but for now my 20 year old wooden spoon will suffice :D

Cupcakes!

Made these yesterday before work as I was superrr bored. Took them into work afterwards and they were gone in 10 minutes! Used my standard sponge recipe and the same frosting as the giant cupcake seen below. 

They were decorated with sprinkles and little white chocolate stars! Popped them on my cupcake stand as I hadn't used it yet! Tadaaa x

Giant Cupcakes

So I got a giant cupcake mould as a present and decided to try it out by making a Valentines cupcake! I've had lots of interest in these since posting them up on Facebook. It was quite difficult to get the timing right as there is no recipe with the mould and the sponge was slightly undercooked in the centre (still nommy though). I used my typical sponge recipe, but added some good quality cocoa powder (not really, it's Tesco stuff!)..but you should use good quality! This made it chocolately! yummm.

This is the one I have:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004DEWBOM/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B003ULZEBG&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=048BXGCRYM1QVP5HHBJE

This is the one I want next:

http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=4018F320-423B-522D-F5ECDA6F3A2ABB5E

Looks a bit better!!

Anyway here is the finished result:

Valentines cupcake! Decorated using standard vanilla buttercream coloured with a VERY small amount of red food colour to make a lovely pink! I basically shoveled it on with a spoon because I'm not good with piping bags. I think this looks better though, nice and rustic! Lots of Love Hearts were used to make the trim, and I stuck some around too. A little sprinkle of sugar bits and some non edible heart confetti to decorate the plate as well. It was really simple! Hoping to make some more for people who have requested one for valentines, so pictures will follow once they have been made!

Perfect sponge recipe

This is the recipe I always use, and my mum is always asking me to make this sponge cake for her to take into work for everyone!

You'll need:

350g plain flour

350g stork

350g caster sugar

6 eggs

5 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp milk

First, cream together butter and sugar (make sure butter has been sat out for a while to make it easier if you don't have an electric whisk, which I don't!)

In a seperate bowl, whisk together the eggs.

Once the butter and sugar mixture is creamy and fluffy, add the eggs slowly, small amounts at a time. This bit takes ages because there's so much egg!!

add the vanilla extract

Sift in the flower. Do half first, fold in, then add the other half.

Add in the milk (if the mixture looks thick, add more milk)

Cook on gas mark 4 for about 30 mins

.....and it's done :D

I like to fill the sponge with raspberry jam and whipped cream!

ENJOY!

Owl Cake

I got this design idea from the UKTV food website and decided to make it for my sisters 23rd birthday! Everyone thought it looked great :)



The cake was made using my standard sponge recipe in quite large tins. I made a chocolate frosting to go between the sponges as well as to cover the cake. Once the frosting was chilled to stop everything sliding off, I started to decorate. This involved giant chocolate buttons for feathers, flake feet, mars bar nose and wings, grated chocolate face and more buttons for the eyes.

It was super yummy too!!

Waybaloo Cake

This is a cake I made for my friends Laura and Mandy and their son Izak, for his first birthday! My sister helped a lot with this one and it was the first time I'd ever tried to colour ready to roll icing (very messy!) It's not perfect, a bit lump and bumpy but Izak loved it (even though he didn't really know what it was) :D

I did the cake by making two standard round sponges with the recipe I always use (really simple) = 350g butter, 350g caster sugar, 350g flour, 6 eggs, 5tsp baking powder, 2tsp of vanilla extract, 2 tbsp of room temperature milk. Makes a really good sponge!!

We used the edges of one cake and 'stuck' them on to a complete round one to try and make an oval shape. It was all pasted together with huge amounts of chocolate spread. The ready to roll icing that was coloured blue with paste (not liquid food colouring) was placed on top and tided up. Then another oval of icing was placed over, this time coloured 'teddy bear brown'. Mouth, eyes and chocolate button pupils made up the face and two little cupcake ears completed the look!

This was my first ever attempt at anything like this so not bad I think! Mostly all of the tins, icing and colouring I used was from Kitchens (on Whiteladies Road).