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Mocha Cupcakes

By Helena on February 11, 2013

These mocha cupcakes worked out so much better than the batch of Chocolate & Mint cupcakes I made a few weeks back! I used a cake recipe from my Great British Bake Off book and then experimented with the icing. The coffee flavour is very subtle so next time I make these I will probably add a bit more coffee.

Cake Ingredients
175g butter or marg
175g caster sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
175g self raising flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ tablespoons instant coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
50g dark chocolate, grated

Icing Ingredients
75g butter
190g icing sugar
60g cocoa powder
1 tablespoon instant coffee dissolved in a tablespoon of water
A few tablespoons of milk

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and put your cases in the tin.
2. Beat the butter for a minute or so and then beat in the sugar until it becomes pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs gradually.
3. Gently fold in the flour and baking powder and then the grated chcocolate.
4. Separate into the cake cases and put in the oven for around 20 minutes.
5. To make the icing, beat the butter until it is creamy and then gradually beat in the icing sugar, cocoa powder and coffee. I always use an electric whisk as it makes the icing really fluffy! Add tablespoons of milk until the icing is the right consistency for piping, or just swirl the icing onto the cakes using a knife.

This entry is filed under Cupcakes and tagged chocolate, Coffee, Cupcakes, Great British Bake Off, mocha, recipe. | 3 Comments

Chocolate & Mint Cupcakes

By Helena on January 14, 2013

I had some fresh mint leaves left over so decided to make some chocolate and mint cupcakes. I had a look though my books for a recipe but all of them said to use mint extract or chopped up mints (as in sweets not the herb). I went ahead and used the herbs anyway but it didn’t really work so I wouldn’t recommend it! The mint flavour in the cupcakes was a little strange and not very strong. I won’t post the recipe as I don’t think these were the best cupcakes I’ve ever made but there are lots of recipes out there for mint and chocolate cupcakes. Next time I make these I will definitely use mint extract rather than actual mint!!!

This entry is filed under Cupcakes and tagged chocolate, Cupcakes, mint.

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Cupcakes

By Helena on December 29, 2012

I’ve been super busy over Christmas and can’t believe it’s been a week since my last post! I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas! I haven’t had time to write anything new so here is a recipe I have been meaning to post for a while now….

Cake Ingredients
115g caster sugar
85g self raising flour
25g cocoa powder
60g margarine
55g peanut butter
2 eggs, beaten

Vanilla Buttercream Ingredients
250g icing sugar
75g unsalted butter
4tbs milk
1tsp vanilla extract

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4 and put 12 cupcake cases in a tray.
2. Cream the margarine, peanut butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until fluffy.
3. Gradually add the eggs to the mixture, beating after each addition.
4. Fold in the flour and cocoa powder gently.
5. Share out the mixture evenly into the cases and then bake for around 20 minutes.
6. To make the buttercream cream the butter and then gradually add the icing sugar. I usually use an electric whisk once most of the icing sugar is mixed it to mae the buttercream nice and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract at the end. For ages I’ve used the Nielsen Massey Vanilla Extract which tastes so much better than other vanilla extracts I’ve tried but here I used the Nielsen Massey Pure Vanilla Bean Paste which I love! It tastes pretty much the same as the vanilla extract but you can see little dots of vanilla in the buttercream which makes it a little different.

I also used my new Vanilla Bean Paste to make some Pecan Tarts from this recipe. They tasted really good even if they didn’t look perfect!

This entry is filed under Cupcakes and tagged buttercrea, chocolate, Cupcakes, Nielsen Massey, peanut butter, pecan tarts, vanilla, vanilla bean paste, vanilla extract.

Star Cupcakes

By Helena on December 2, 2012

Just a quick post with photos of some vanilla cupcakes I made using the silicon star cases I had for my birthday….

This entry is filed under Cupcakes and tagged Cupcakes, stars, vanilla, yellow.

Charity Cupcakes

By Helena on October 8, 2012

I made these cupcakes for a charity bake sale in work to help raise money for Childline. I went with just plain vanilla which I think most people like but to make things a bit more interesting half were pink sponge with white icing and half were plain sponge with pink icing.

This entry is filed under Cupcakes and tagged buttercream, Cupcakes, vanilla.

Coconut & Lime Cupcakes

By Helena on September 29, 2012

Last week I made my first batch of cupcakes in forever! I went with coconut and lime with chocolate fudge icing. Here’s the recipe for you….

Cake Ingredients
115g caster sugar
85g self raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
85g desiccated coconut
115g margarine
2 eggs, beaten
2 tbsp milk
Zest of 1 lime

Icing Ingredients
100g dark chocolate
1 tbsp golden syrup
50g unsalted butterMethod
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4 and put 12 cupcake cases in a tray.
2. Cream the margarine and sugar in a mixing bowl until fluffy.
3. Gradually add the eggs to the mixture, beating after each addition.
4. Mix in the coconut, lime zest and milk
5. Fold in the flour gently, with the baking powder.
6. Share out the mixture evenly into the cases and then bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
7. To make the icing, melt all of the ingredients together – simple! Wait for it to cool and set slightly before trying to ice the cakes or it will go everywhere.

This entry is filed under Cupcakes and tagged chocolate, coconut, Cupcakes, fudge, lime.

Easter Cakes

By Helena on April 9, 2012

I thought I’d show you some of the cakes I made with my sister for Easter. We made raspberry cupcakes with whipped dark chocolate ganache icing and some corn flake cakes. I was going to post the recipe for the cupcakes but they didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped which I think was because my dads oven is a bit useless, but might have been because I sort of made the recipe up as I went! I’ll try them again soon in a different oven before I post a recipe for you.

This entry is filed under Cupcakes, Random and tagged Corn flake cakes, Dark Chocolate, ganache, raspberry cupcakes.

Banana & Nutella Cupcakes

By Helena on February 20, 2012

Here is the recipe for some cupcakes I made this weekend – banana cupcakes with Nutella icing. I wouldn’t normally have chosen to make banana cake but I had some left which had too many brown spots to eat so thought this would be a good way to use them up! I decided to use Nutella in the icing because I love Nutella and banana on toast so thought that it could taste even better in cake form!

Ingredients

For the cakes…..

115g self raising flour

½ tsp baking powder

115g margarine

60g golden caster sugar

60g caster sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 large banana, mashed

1tsp mixed spice

For the icing…..

100g butter

200g icing sugar

1 tbsp Nutella

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4 and put 6 muffin cases in a muffin tray.

2. Cream the margarine and sugar in a mixing bowl until fluffy.

3. Gradually add the eggs to the mixture, beating after each addition.

4. Mix in the mashed banana and spice.

5. Fold in the flour gently, with the baking powder.

6. Share out the mixture evenly into the cases and then bake for 20 to 25minutes.

7. To make the icing, cream the butter and then gradually mix in the icing sugar. Lastly add the Nutella.

8. Once the cakes are cool, pipe or dollop the icing on top.

This entry is filed under Cupcakes and tagged banana, buttercream, chocolate spread, Cupcakes, icing, Nutella, recipe. | 1 Comment

Strawberry Icing

By Helena on February 6, 2012

Over the weekend I made cupcakes for the first time in months! I went with an old recipe I had for cranberry and orange cupcakes which you can see here and I topped the cakes with Renshaw’s Strawberry Simplymelt Buttons. These come in a plastic pouch which goes in the microwave for melting. Once that’s done, you just cut the corner off the pouch and pour onto your cakes. It’s a really quick and easy way to ice your cakes, although the strawberry flavour is quite strong so might go better with plain vanilla cakes. You can buy Simplymelt Buttons in a few different flavours at Lakelands – £1.59 for 200g.

This entry is filed under Cupcakes and tagged Buttons, cranberry, Cupcakes, Lakelands, Orange, Renshaw's, Simplymelt, strawberry. | 1 Comment

Cranberry & Orange Cupcakes

By Helena on November 2, 2011

I made these cupcakes over the weekend. They were a bit of an experiment because I wanted to try out some food colouring paste my housemate had leant me. I didn’t really have many of the ingredients for the actual Orange & Cranberry Cupcakes recipe I found so I made my own version…… They worked well though and Nick said they were the best I’ve made in a while! I’m definitely going to get some food colouring pastes – they are so much better than the liquid stuff!

Ingredients

For the cakes…..

115g self raising flour

½ tsp baking powder

115g margarine

115g golden caster sugar

2 eggs

Zest of one orange

100g dried cranberries

1 tsp ground cinnamon

For the icing…..

100g butter

200g icing sugar

Zest of ½ orange

Purple food colouring

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4 and put 6 muffin cases in a mufffin tray.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl.

3. Whisk the eggs together in a mug using a fork and then add gradually to the mixing bowl, beating after each addition.

5. Mix in the orange zest, cinnamon and cranberries.

6. Fold in the flour gently.

7. Share out the mixture evenly into the cases and then bake for 20 to 25minutes.

8. To make the icing, cream the butter and then gradually mix in the icing sugar. Finally mix in the orange zest.

9. Once the cakes are cool, pipe or dollop the icing on top.

This entry is filed under Cupcakes and tagged cranberry, Cupcakes, Orange, recipe.

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