Feelin' Festive: Cupcakes that look like Christmas trees, if you really, really squint...

 

 

 

Blogging. I used to do it so often once upon a time, but now, well, I think it is going to be a 'high days and holidays' type activity, and talking of holidays, Finn's class were in charge of the cake stall for the Christmas fair, and because the Christmas holidays can't come soon, I thought I would get into the mood for it all with some festive baking.

 

I realised that I hadn't made anything from the amazing Rachel Allen just yet (and this blog is already two and a half years old...) so as a fan of her gorgeous cakes I thought I would use her recipe for chocolate cupcakes and then adorn them with a green swirl and a few strategically placed dragees to make them look vaguely Christmas tree like, if you really, really squint...

 

I decided to finish them off with some sugarpaste stars, which I ambitiously decided to cut out by hand before remembering that my mum had given me my shapes that I used to use to cut out playdoh when I was a kid. In there, I found a cute little star cutter. Problem solved.

 

A few musings about frosting. I don't really follow a recipe to be honest. I mix unsalted butter, some vanilla extract, icing sugar and a bit of milk to slacken it off if need's be, but I have given some approximate weights in the recipe below.

 

Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting from 'Cake Diaries' by Rachel Allen

 

Makes 12 cupcakes

 

Ingredients:

 

100 g (31⁄2 oz) butter, softened

150 g (5oz) caster sugar

2 eggs

125 ml (41⁄2 fl oz) milk

175 g (6oz) plain flour

25 g (1oz) cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

 

For the frosting:

 

200g butter, at room temperature

500g icing sugar (to be added gradually and to taste)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 - 2 tbsp. milk

holly green food colouring

a little sugarpaste

silver balls

edible glitter

 

 

Method:

 

 

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4), and line the muffin tray with the paper cases.

 

 

 

Cream the butter until soft in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

 

 

 

Whisk the eggs together in a small bowl for a few seconds or just until mixed, then gradually add them to the butter mixture, beating all the time.

 

 

Pour in the milk and beat until mixed. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt and mix gently to combine.

 

 

Divide the mixture between the muffin cases, filling each case two thirds full. Bake for 20–25 minutes or until well risen and lightly springy to the touch.

 

Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then remove from the tray and place on a wire rack to finish cooling down.

 

Meanwhile, make the frosting. beat the butter in a mixer until it is very soft. Slowly add the icing sugar a bit at a time with a few drops of vanilla extract until you are happy with the sweetness and the consistency. You could add a little milk to slacken the mixture off or to reduce the sweetness a tiny bit.

 

You will need to beat the mixture for a while so that the icing sugar dissolves and the icing is smooth and becoming fluffy but spreadable (or pipeable... possibly a new word there...)

 

 

 

To decorate the cakes use a large star nozzle on a piping bag, and pipe a swirl on top of each cake. Then place some dragees and sprinkle some edible glitter on top of the swirls. In a final flourish, cut out stars out of sugarpaste and place them on top.

 

 

Baking for the Summer Fair part I: Orange Blossom Cupcakes

 

Yes, it is that time of year again where from a personally joyful perspective I can sense the summer hols coming nearer and nearer. There are the little things that remind meit's nearly time, like what is ripening in the garden, or coming out in full bloom. Then there is the urge to set my classroom on fire in a desperate attempt to get rid of all the bumf I have managed to generate in the past year (mental note to self: stop reinventing the wheel) and there is the call for cakes for Lola and Finn's school summer fair. This year it was Finn's class' turn to do the cake thing so I set to work, with an able assistant...

 

 

My able assistant before...

 

 

and after.

 

We are just embarking on another summer here just now - the cynics amongst us thought that the three days in June was probably 'it' as far as 'Summer 2013, Brit Stylee' was concerned, but no, the sun is back and could be here for a whole week, so to match my summery mood I went for something a bit floral, though the orange blossom thing that you see here is probably wrong on many levels -  am aware that orange blossom for one, is white, and secondly, you might not see orange blossom at this time of year, but don't rain on my parade all you gardening peeps, I had all the ingredients and it made me feel summery, even if it wasn't for any reason based on actual fact.

 

After some time apart I have reunited myself with those lovely 'Hummingbird Bakery' cookbooks that I own. This is from 'Bake Days' and is a variation on the 'Apple Blossom Cupcake' recipe. So here we go...

 

Orange Blossom Cupcakes, from 'Bake Days' by Tarek Malouf and The Hummingbird Bakers.

 

Makes 12-16 cupcakes

 

Ingredients:

 

For the sponge

 

80g (3oz) unsalted butter, softened

280g (10 oz) caster sugar

240g (8 ½ oz) plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder (yes, really!)

¼ tsp salt

200ml (7fl oz) whole milk

1 tbsp orange flower water

2 large eggs

 

For the frosting

 

160g (5 ½ oz) unsalted butter, softened

50ml (1 ¾ fl oz) whole milk

500g (1lb 2oz) icing sugar

3 tsp orange flower water

 

To decorate:

 

Some orange sugar paste and a small flower cutter

 

 

Method:

 

Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F), Gas mark 5, and line a muffin tin with muffin cases.

 

 

 

Using a hand-held electric whisk or a freestanding electric mixer with the paddle attachment, whisk together the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt on a low speed until all the ingredients are well incorporated and resemble fine breadcrumbs.

 

 

 

Place the milk in a jug with the eggs and orange flower water and whisk together by hand.

 

Pour three-quarters of the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix on a low speed to combine. Increase the speed to medium and keep mixing until smooth and thick. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the remaining milk mixture and continue to beat on a medium speed until everything is mixed in and the batter is smooth.

 

 

 

Divide the batter between the paper cases, filling them up to two-thirds. Any remaining batter can be used to fill up to four more cases in a second muffin tin.

 

 

 

Place in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until well-risen and springy to the touch. Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin, then place on a wire rack to cool down fully before adding the frosting .

 

To make the frosting, using the electric whisk or the freestanding mixer with paddle attachment, slowly whisk the icing sugar with the butter until sandy in texture and no large lumps of butter remain. Gradually pour the milk and orange flower water into the icing sugar and butter mixture. Once all the milk has been added, increase the speed to high and whisk until light and fluffy. (Some comments on frosting: I think the quantities don't have to be bang on - my take on it is you add ingredients and mix very well until you get the consistency/taste you require. Also, I may have been a bit stingy on the frosting front, as I did have some left over frosting after icing these cupcakes, which I am going to use to sandwich another cake).

 

 

 

Top each cake with a generous spoonful of frosting, then gently smooth over with a palette knife, adding a swirl at the top if you wish. (Or try, if you're me...)

 

 

 

Decorate with the flowers!

 

Cooking like a star for Finn's Christmas Fair. Martha Stewart's Vanilla Cupcakes with a Christmas Twist

 

 

Because I am disorganised (and a little distracted by tough stuff at the moment) it took 'til Wednesday for me to realise that instead of helping Finn with his 'Busy Bee Book' this week I was on 'Baking for the Christmas Fair' duty instead. Panic. My week was already busy without added cupcake chaos but I would have felt a bit of a fraud if I had popped out to buy half a dozen when I am apparently someone who likes cooking and baking. And to be honest, the mixing of batter, the swirling of frosting and the shaping of holly berries was more therapeutic than I had imagined. Sometimes things happen for a reason, or so I am led to believe.

 

 

 

I had a mind to bake a la Martha Stewart as I was determined to take part in the December blog hop of Cook Like A Star which is hosted by Zoe over at Bake For Happy Kids. After asking some good friends I cooked a couple of Martha Stewart recipes in preparation and then as I discovered that I had cupcakes to create in short time, I decided that another chance to cook a Martha Stewart recipe. So, seeing as it's 1st December, I am blogging this in an attempt to get myself a little Christmas spirit.

 

The cupcake and frosting recipes are both from the Martha Stewart website, but the holly decoration is my own. I had a little green and red sugarpaste left over from my adventures with Angry Birds so with a craft knife and a steady hand I cut out some leaves and shaped some berries. Not difficult.

 

Anyway, these cupcakes provoked some very flattering comments at the school gate, and it was nice to be complimented, especially since these are not onerously difficult to make. I hope you will give these a try!

 

Vanilla Cupcakes with Basic Vanilla Buttercream

 

Makes 24 (though I made 18 big ones!)

 

For the cakes:

 

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature (1 1/2 sticks)

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups milk

 

 

And for the vanilla buttercream:

 

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

And the holly decoration:

 

A little red sugarpaste

About 50g green sugarpaste

 

Method:

 

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

 

Line cupcake pan with paper liners; set aside.

 

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

 

 

 

In another mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.

 

 

 

Add eggs one at a time, mixing until incorporated and scraping down sides of bowl, beat in vanilla.

 

 

 

Add flour mixture and milk alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl to assure the batter is thoroughly mixed.

 

 

 

Divide batter evenly among liners, filling papers about 2/3 full.

 

Slightly domed! I just sliced the tops off to flatten them off!

 

Bake on the centre rack of the oven until tops spring back to touch, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes.

 

With mixer on low speed, add 6 cups sugar, milk, and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy. If necessary, gradually add remaining 2 cups sugar to reach desired consistency.

 

 

 

Using a piping bag with a star nozzle, pipe a swirl onto the top of the cooled cupcakes.

 

 

 

Roll out the green sugarpaste onto a surface floured with icing sugar. Using a knife, cut out a holly leaf (or use a cookie cutter). Mark out the veins on the leaf and place them carefully onto the cupcake.

 

Finn - offering valauble cake decorating advice and all round moral support

 

Take the red sugarpaste and roll into tiny red balls. Place at the bottom of the holly leaves to create the holly sprig.

 

 

Please take the opportunity to visit the blog posts below, all of which contain some amazing Martha Stewart recipes!

Rewarded for getting it wrong: Vanilla cupcakes with mascarpone, maple syrup and toffee frosting

You see, the first advice anyone gives you about cooking is "Read the recipe!" And mostly, I do, but I was busy trying to do twenty jobs at once, decided that I wanted to blog a Barefoot Contessa recipe, thought I had missed the deadline to do so (as it happens, the deadline was a month away. I really need to sort my life out), so thought, I would hurl together her sour cream coffee cake but make it into cupcakes, as was suggested in the recipe. They have a streusel element to them which I forgot to do anything about when I hurled the batter into the cupcake tin and lashed into the oven. Then I thought, how does this streusel thing work again? It should have already been in the oven. Damn! Plan B.

Well, I had this notion that I was going to drizzle some maple syrup over the cupcakes because I thought that it would go well with the nutty, buttery brown sugared element of these gorgeous cakes, so it occurred to me that a frosting may be the way to roll. Cue experimental frosting.

I had some mascarpone in the fridge which I had bought cheaply because of its short date and had a kind of plan for it, but felt this would be a better way of using it. Combined with some butter and icing sugar, then a tablespoon of maple syrup, it created a frosting that was sweet with a syrupy undertone. As I always stress with frosting, it is not necessarily an exact science for me. After adding the butter and in this case, the mascarpone, I add icing sugar until I am happy with the sweetness, and if I find the frosting is a little thick, then I add a little milk. This frosting does need beating for a while too before it becomes fluffy.

A word on the batter mixture. Ostensibly this is a Ina Garten's recipe for sour cream coffee cake, which I changed firstly by subbing buttermilk for sour cream. Cake flour is created by adding cornflour to plain flour, creating a cake that is extremely feather light in texture and glorious to eat. To make, take a cup of plain flour, remove two tablespoons, then replace with two tablespoons of cornflour. Mix, then sift the mixture to ensure the cornflour is easily distributed. A faff, I know, but worth it if you want a 'light' cake.

Anyways, from the jaws of defeat...

Vanilla Cupcakes with mascarpone, maple syrup and toffee frosting

Makes 12

Ingredients:

 (American recipe = ingredients measured in cups; not a bad thing!)

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

3 large eggs at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

2 1/2 cups cake flour (created using the information above, if necessary)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

For the frosting (Frosts 12 cupcakes generously, plus a little for those who like to scrape the bowl)

500g icing sugar (though be prepared to add less. Keep tasting until you're happy with the sweetness and consistency)

250g mascarpone cheese

100g butter

A little milk to slacken the mixture (if necessary)

1 tbsp of maple syrup (or to taste)

Toffee or caramel dessert sauce to drizzle over.

Method:

For the cakes, preheat the oven to 180c/350F. Prepare a cupcake tin with papers

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after adding each egg.

Add the vanilla and then the buttermilk.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate and salt.

With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Don't over beat at this stage, instead give the mixture a final few mixes with a spatula, ensuring that the whole of the mixture is well combined.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake tin (I use an ice cream scoop). Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the tops are golden and spring back when touched. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely before you frost them.

To make the frosting: Beat the butter together with the mascarpone to loosen the mixture.

Add the icing sugar gradually, allowing what you have added to be combined before adding more. Taste regularly to see whether the frosting is sweet enough, and add a little milk if the mixture is becoming too thick. When you're happy with the consistency, add the maple syrup and then beat the frosting thoroughly for a few minutes until it becomes fluffy and spreadable.

Spoon or pipe or swirl the frosting over the cold cupcakes. Drizzle with the toffee sauce.

Preparing for St Patrick's Day? Need some cupcakes? Here is the answer: Guinness and Gingerbread cupcakes.

Readers of the recent Guinness and Chocolate Cake post will realise that after adding some of the black stuff to the mix, there is half a can left. Not a catastrophe by any means as all I would do is reach for a glass from the cupboard and voila! Problem solved. However, if drinking in the afternoon isn't your bag and you are still in cake making mode then frankly you could do such much worse than making these lovely little things.

I remember perusing Amazon and seeing this recipe book with the most gorgeous looking cake on the front and thinking that really I would like to have it on my shelf. As I have no semblance of self control I bought the recipe book, which is entitled 'Tea with Bea' and is chock full of lovely things all begging to be made and devoured. I was intrigued by this recipe which Bea describes as being somewhere between Lebkuchen and beer, and she is sort of right. Depth of flavour, moist, with the warmth of ginger = Yum.

The other thing that I like about these is their understated sense of drama. Cupcakes are often about prettiness, a certain girliness which I don't think these possess that much of. I measure this by Phill not looking too odd whilst eating one. If there is a handsome cupcake, here he is!

A note about quantities and frosting here. The recipe says it makes 24; I got 18. The frosting iced 14 of my cupcakes, but I am nowhere near an expert when it comes to decorating cakes and tend to be somewhere between generous and heavy handed. The 4 that were 'un-iced' I see as 'cook's perks'.

So, without further ado, I present:

Gingerbread Guinness Cupcakes, taken from 'Tea with Bea' (Recipes from Bea's of Bloomsbury)

Ingredients:

250ml Guinness

250g black treacle/molasses

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

280g all purpose flour

1 tbsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 ground cardamom

1/4 ground cloves

3 eggs

100g caster sugar

100g dark brown (muscavado) sugar

1 tbsp finely grated peeled fresh ginger

200ml sunflower oil

chopped crystallised ginger, to decorate

For the frosting:

225g cream cheese

60g unsalted butter, softened

175g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp golden syrup

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170c/Gas 5 and line a cupcake tin with papers.

Pour the Guinness and the treacle into a saucepan with tall sides (you will see why shortly)

Bring the mixture to a boil (over high heat to allow the treacle to 'melt' into the Guinness. Take off the heat and add the bicarbonate of soda. The mixture will fizz up and then dissipate, but be ready for it.

Let this mixture stand until completely cool.

Combine the eggs, both sugars, the grated ginger in a bowl (or in the bowl of a mixer as I did). Gradually add the oil, mix to combine, then add the Guinness mixture and mix until just combined.

Add the flour, baking powder and spices to the mix and stir until well blended but don't over beat.

Spoon the mixture (which is very runny - next time I would probably transfer to a jug and pour it) into the prepared cupcake cases. Fill about 4/5ths full as there is little rise whilst the cakes bake.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 - 25 minutes or so, until they feel springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the frosting: Put the butter and cream cheese on a bowl and mix thoroughly until it looks glossy. At this point add the icing sugar and beat until fluffy. This may take a while. Add the vanilla and the golden syrup and then mix to combine.

I used a large star nozzle to pipe the icing on. I piped reasonably swiftly in a circular motion. To finish, bedeck with a little jewel of crystallised ginger.