Jubilee Mini Cupcakes

I bought some Petit Four cases ages ago and have never got round to using them,  I thought they would be perfect for making some mini Jubilee Cupcakes.

Quite a difference from a normal cake case!

I had a go the other weekend as I am hoping to take some to a party one of our neighbours is having.

To start with I used my usual recipe for making the cakes halved:

50g Self Raising Flour
50g Golden Caster Sugar
50g Stork Margarine
1 Eggs
1/2 Tsp Vanilla Essence

Put everything in a food processor and blitz until smooth consistency, put about a teaspoon into the mini cake cases and cook for about 10 minutes!

Once they have cooled I iced with buttercream (I have my own secret recipe but if you need one this one on Baking Mad is really good) which I had split into three, added red to one and blue to another leaving one white.

Top Tip: If you are using a piping bag then a really useful tip is to put it in a tall glass and fold over the sides, you can then spoon the mixture in using both hands if necessary and it stops accidents!

Fold the bag over the top of a tall glass!

Using a Wilton 22 small star nozzle I piped little swirls onto the cupcakes in the three different colours, I decided they look like those mini gems you got when you were a kid. If you don't like too much cake then these are perfect, as well as for the kids!

Although they aren't bright red and blue I love them, if it's possible I think they look a little vintage!

Favourite Recipe Friday - Cupcakes

So in the past few months I must have made a batch of cupcakes every few weeks and so I thought it only appropriate this be my favourite recipe this week.

I use an all in one method, it is simple and easy and my son loves helping to measure out the ingredients and set the cases out into the tins.

The key is to make sure everything is at room temperature, I keep my eggs in the fridge as we don't have space anywhere else so always get them out a few hours before.

Ingredients:

100g Self Raising Flour
100g Caster Sugar (I always use caster sugar in my baking as it makes for fluffier cakes!)
100g Stork Margarine (I always use Stork as it makes them super fluffy too!)
2 x Eggs (I use large but medium are fine)

Method:

Place all of the ingredients in a food mixer/processor and blitz until smooth, you may need stop and scrape the sides using a spatula and then spin again to mix in.

Once it has reached a smooth consistency, spoon into your cake cases, this mix usually does about 14-16 but it depends on your cake case size.

Bake in a 160c oven for 15 minutes or until the cakes are a nice golden colour and spongy to the touch, you can also poke a skewer into the middle and it should come out clean.

 

Once cooled, decorate as required. Our favourite is some yummy butter cream and sprinkles, you can go mad with different colours, tastes and themes :)

Spring has Sprung!

I love that the trees have buds on and that the snowdrops, bluebells and daffodils are all starting to find their way out of the ground.

I took this picture in the garden yesterday, just so perfect and beautiful...

My hubby bought me some daffodils and I just love their trumpets, so simple and yet so great...

I loved the daffodils so much they inspired me to make these cupcakes, I love the pale yellow and they certainly made the day that little bit yummier...

Mothers Day Treats

Mothers day is less than a month away and I have been looking for some ideas, so far I have found lots of scrummy things I just wanted to share.

After seeing a recent blog post over on housewife confidential I decided I am going to become a bit of a tea/hand towel addict, it might just be my new thing.

I love these from Sew White, they are really gorgeous and reasonably priced at £3 for two.

These Mummy Birthstone necklace from Poppy Sparkles are just gorgeous, I would love one for myself but also think it would be great to give my mum. - £45

I think anything from More Than Words is brilliant, I love this one for mothers day - £40-115 depending on size/type.

I love cake, my mother in law loves cake and my mum loves cake so this would be perfect for any of us really, I adore the colour and to be honest anything from the white approach would be fine by me - £12

One of my favourite things, something luxurious, that's right hot chocolate....my anytime of the year drink. I had some of this for Christmas and it went within a few weeks. - £5

And finally, if you fancy doing something home made then how about some lovely home made cupcakes

This recipe for Cherry Cupcakes is from the Dairy Diary (I love my diary it takes me back to my youth, mum had a Dairy Diary every year).

Birthday Cupcakes

It is my daughters first birthday in a few weeks and I all I have ready is the church hall we are having it in.

So at the weekend I gave making some birthday cupcakes a go, they came out looking pretty good! Not as good as a professional by any stretch of the imagination but still for an amateur I think they look OK.

The recipes I used to make these masterpieces are:

For the cakes I use the basic Be-Ro Victoria Sponge recipe, super simple and usually works every time. I use the all in one method of just bunging everything in the food mixer.

For the icing I used a simple buttercream recipe, it needs to be a good piping consistency, too dry and it will crack too wet and it won't pipe and just run!

I then used a Wilton 1M nozzle and pipe to make a swirl, starting from the outside and working inwards, a demo of this can be found on the Wilton website.

I have found some sprinkles on a few websites but have been looking for some that don't contain any E numbers, last thing I need is loads of hyperactive children running about!

Anyway the result is this...

Food glorious food!

So my posts have been mainly Christmas related this week, sorry but you know how it is.

I've been doing a lot of baking and making, here are just a few of my festive offerings.

Me and my son made some Christmas cupcakes on Christmas eve for visiting relatives, he seems just to want them to eat the sweet off the top though!

Some festive cupcakes me and my son made together!

I hadn't made these before but it seemed cheaper to make some tarts than buy them, they were delicious and surprisingly easy. I have never used Filo before but had a stab and they worked out well. Will put the recipe or at least how I did them on the blog at some point.

Some Brie & Cranberry and Goats Cheese and Red Onion Tarts

For the last few years I have bought reduced turkeys after Christmas just to make this dish it is devine, even my three year old loved it! Turkey is so versatile, you can have a roast dinner, and do so much with the left overs. This is from one of my favourite chef's the fabulous Jamie Oliver, it is Chilli Con Turkey and you can use up so much with it :)

Chilli Con Turkey with left over turkey

And finally, fudge! As seen on Favourite Recipe Friday! I was giving to children so left out the pistachios but instead added some cranberries on the top for a festive look.

Some chocolate fudge, see recipe on Favourite Recipe Friday

I have a few other things that I haven't managed to get off the camera yet so will put them on another post but they include trifle and maybe depending on how it turns out a cake I have been feeding and nursing for the last two weeks! Don't ask, but it tastes lovely :)

I love to bake!

I love to bake, I am by no means a pro I just enjoy making cakes and usually eating them.

My latest successes have been cake pops and learning to ice a cupcake after attending a demo by the lovely Liana at Star Bakery.

Cupcakes

This blog was originally going to be named cupcakes and hot chocolate as there is nothing more than I love on a hot, cold or for that matter any day than a mug of hot chocolate and a piece of cake.

In fact I might add a page at the top of my baking triumphs and maybe if I am not feeling totally deflated some of the not so successful attempts, I once made a lemon drizzle cake that fell in and a coffee cake that resembled two sheets of card as they didn't rise.

On of the more successful cakes

But I don't let it put me off and usually figure out what I did wrong and can correct next time, fortunately my family will eat it no matter how it looks and I now know that if my cake doesn't rise I can turn it into cake pops instead....win-win really ;)

My first ever attempt at a cake pop