Red velvet cupcakes with chocolate dipped strawberry toppers!

 

Wow has this week been hectic. l've finally completed a full week at my new job and I'm still absolutely loving it. l think I'm slowly learning that if you're not doing something you love then you are going to resent having to go in everyday. This week I've even worked late twice, but you won't here a winge or a moan from me because I'm just so excited to be doing such interesting work!
 

Still...work isn't eveything and we all need to find ways to relax. This is going to be quite difficult for me.

 

Much of this weekend was taken up with flat hunting. l'm in a period of transition right row and can't afford to just sit back and watch the weekends pass me by.

 

Nonetheless with all this going on I've decided to make Sunday's a day for baking and blogging. For me there is nothing more relaxing than mixing cake batter or icing swirls of buttercream. Who's with me?

 

I first made these cakes when Wimbledon was in full flow. When the tennis is on it seems inevitable that everyone becomes obsessed with strawberries and cream. I took these two classics and turned them on their head - the cream became buttercream and the strawberries HAD to be dipped in chocolate (it's my favourite way to eat them afterall).

 

This didn't seem enough though. A vanilla cupcake wasn't going to be immensely transformed just by adding Chocolate Dipper Strawberry Toppers, so instead I chose to pop them on top of a red velvet cupcake. Not only did the red sponge look striking against the light buttercream and vibrant red strawberries, but the cocoa powder in the sponge also tied in with the chocolate the strawberries had been dipped in!

 

The combination really is inspired. If you too love the strawberry and chocolate combo then you should definitely give it a go.

National Cupcake Week 17th - 24th September: A cupcake round-up!

It’s that time of year again where you get to gorge yourself on lots of naughty, but pretty treats all in the name of supporting a national celebration week. And what exactly is it we are celebrating………CUPCAKES!

Unfortunately this year I have been celebrating from the side-lines! As close as I got to a cupcake was baking a few batches for a Macmillan Nurses Coffee Morning fundraiser, but even so, I thought I could contribute something to the table.

So here is a round-up of all of the cupcake-y goodness that I've brought to you in the past. They are some of my favourite recipes to cook and share, so please give them a go and share the cupcake love!

Enjoy!

First things first, you’ll need a basic fairy cake recipe! This is my go to recipe for any cakey needs.

These Lemon and Poppy Seed Cupcakes are the perfect grown up cake for a more sophisticated bake.

Kids and grown ups alike will LOVE these American inspired Oreo cupcakes

These Elderflower and Gooseberry Butterfly Cakes won a competition last year! Therefore this recipe is a must have in any cupcake collection.

My Lemon Meringue Cupcakes really are a show stopper!

This is my most favourite recipe EVER – the bakewell muffin is heaven on a plate!

One of my favourite muffin recipes, this is a twist on the classic American muffin – Blueberry and Lemon Curd muffins.

Not quite a cupcake, but these Miniature Carrot Cakes would look good on any cake stand

For a more deep and sophisticated flavour, look no further than my caramel cupcake recipe

The perfect cupcake for Christmas hosting – my After Dinner Mint cupcakes.

Another Christmassy cake, perfect for kids, red velvet Rudolfcupcakes

And that completes my cupcake-y round up for National Cupcake Week! I hope they have inspired you to get creative in the kitchen!

Lemon and Poppy Seed Cakes

This recipe originally started off as a loaf cake. It was super moist and delicious, but I have to admit it was a monster of a cake and never looked as good as it tasted. So I thought I’d downsize and see if I could keep the recipe as zesty and moist, but prettier and daintier than before.

I made these cakes for a little persons 3rd birthday party, Ezra. We visited Laura and her family for his birthday and spent a wonderful day playing in the garden – we set up our own mini Olympics, played in the paddling pool and swung on the swings, and of course we ate lots of lovely cake! Laura made a wonderful birthday cake in the shape of a ladybird (Ezra’s favourite) and I brought along these little lemon and poppy seed cakes.

I chose to decorate some with poppy seeds (for the adults) and fun brightly coloured sprinkles for Phoebe and Ezra. Another cute idea would be to top them with candied lemon peel. You can also change the consistency of the icing to taste.

I like to think these are the perfect summer cake and would look great at any picnic or garden party, so with just a few weeks of sunshine left, I recommend you get out and make these this weekend: you won’t regret it.

Birthday Bake-a-thon!

Firstly, let me apologise for my late night blogging! Who’s up reading blogs at this time of night...besides those of you who don’t live in England and it’s probably a reasonable time of day! I do have an excuse however, as I have been doing ALOT of baking...

Yesterday I embarked on another epic bake-a-thon! Last year I did my first bake-a-thon for my Dad when he wanted to take cakes to work for his birthday, and since I have done a number of bake-a-thons for cake sales that his work often hold for charity.

Yesterday, I was baking for my boyfriend Jon’s birthday (which is today! Happy birthday!) He too wanted to take cakes to work – he’s still very new so wanted to make a good impression! I told him he could have ANY cakes he wanted...after all, he was paying! But we decided to keep it relatively simple, one batch of vanilla cupcakes topped with vanilla butter cream and dolly mixtures, one batch of chocolate cupcakes topped with chocolate butter cream (made with a mix of dark and milk chocolate for depth of flavour and sweetness) and a sprinkle of M&M’s, and finally one batch of blueberry muffins!

Oreo 'Cookies and Cream' Cupcakes

Uh oh I’ve jumped on the bandwagon again, given in, and made Oreo cupcakes! I’m sure most of you in the baking blog world have seen Oreo cupcakes, Oreo whoopie pies, Oreo brownies, giant Oreos, Oreo celebration cakes, Oreo cake pops and much, much more! Now I love Oreos as much as the next person but I have to admit I rarely eat biscuits so they’re not a staple in my house. Nonetheless they were on offer in Tesco’s and I thought I’d take the humble Oreo to the next level and bake with it!

I decided that I would do one cake with an Oreo in the bottom and another one which used crushed up Oreos as chocolate chips in the cake batter. That way, when you took a cake you never knew which one you would get – a new Oreo experience every time. Plus, when making the first batch, I soon realised that there was a lot of leftover Oreo pieces that I didn’t want to chuck in the bin (or gobble all by myself!)

So, if you’re a big Oreo fan, or if you’ve never had one before, I’m sure you’ll fall in love with both of my Oreo Cookies and Cream cupcakes – the perfect balance of vanilla cream and bitter chocolate in sweet cakey form.

Perhaps before giving you the recipes I should introduce you to the humble Oreo. Essentially it is two chocolate wafers (biscuits) separated by a cream filling. You can also get a chocolate cream filling. Believe it or not, the cookie has been around since 1912!!! And unsurprisingly is the best selling cookie in the US! They were first introduced to the UK in just 2008 and were originally only stocked in Sainsburys. If you’re lucky, you may find an Oreo Krushem or Oreo McFlurry in a KFC or McDonalds near you!

In the meantime, you’ll just have to stick to making your own Oreo Cookies and Cream Cupcakes. Here are the recipes.