Mint Choc Chip Cupcakes

Recently I've been hearing good news stories. Of course there is never a lack of doom and gloom but some people that I love are having cool things happen to them and it makes me so happy. I literally feel like it's happening to me. That's because we are all one and if it can happen to you, then surely it can, and is, happening for me.

Last week I met up with my old and good friend who recently had a beautiful baby girl and we hung out at Clissold Park (amazing). She is loving motherhood and it was such a joy to see! I know too much to get broody myself, but I was happy that she was happy :)

The sun was shining & the weather was sweet, but not quite not warm enough for ice-cream. Instead, I made some mint choc chip cupcakes in honour of my favourite flavour. This was a massive experiment (well massive-ish), because I was keen to use real mint as opposed to flavourings. I LOVE the taste of fresh mint, it's subtle and so sweet. I also wanted the cakes to taste creamy, so I went for a very creamy icing rather than buttercream. 

Here is the recipe;

Mint Choc Chip Cupcakes (makes 16)

Mint Choc Chip Icing

250g mascarpone cheese

100g icing sugar

150ml extra thick double cream

25 mint leaves very finely chopped (more or less to taste)

3 drops green food colouring (depending on how strong you want the colour to be)

40g chocolate flakes (approx)

Chocolate Cupcakes (adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery)

80g (3oz) unsalted butter softened

140g (50oz) caster sugar

140g (50oz) soft brown sugar

200g (7oz) plain flour

40g (1½oz) cocoa powder

80g (3oz) chocolate chips (optional)

1 tbsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

240ml (8½fl oz) full fat milk

2 large eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3 and line 2 muffin trays with cupcake cases. 

2. Put the flour, sugars, baking powder, cocoa powder, salt and butter together in a large bowl or food processor and mix until everything is combined and you get a sandy consistency. Gradually pour in half the milk and beat until the milk is just incorporated.

3. Whisk the egg, vanilla extract and remaining milk together in a separate bowl for a few seconds, then pour into the flour mixture and continue beating until just incorporated (scrape any stray ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Add the chocolate chips and continue mixing for a couple more minutes until the mixture is smooth. Do not overmix.

4. Fill the cupcake cases with the cake mixture until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 minutes. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean, or the sponge will bounce back when touched.

5.  Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

While the cupcakes are cooking make the icing. Set aside approximately a tablespoon of chocolate flakes for the garnish. Mix together all of the ingredients until you have a smooth icing that is quite firm. Leave to cool in the fridge.

6. When the cupcakes are completely chilled, pipe the icing on top and sprinkle with the left over chocolate flakes.

The amount of mint leaves that you ought to use, really does depend on taste. When I first made them I didn't quite add enough to get the hit straight away. Also, I think that the cakes are best eaten when the icing is very cold, so perhaps aren't great for picnics on hot days. I spent the rest of the week loving them though. I warmed up the cupcake (10 seconds on full power) & added the icing afterward. 

One of my favourites this year I think, if you decide to give it a go let me know how you get on! Do you have any good news to share?


Peace & Love


xx

Apple Cake Pops... Scrumping at Pick Me Up 2012

scrump [skrʌmp]

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Dialect to steal (apples) from an orchard or garden

Last week I mentioned that I was going to be helping out Puck Studio at Pick Me Up 2012. Aside from the Apple and Cinnamon Cupcakes, I also made some Apple Cake Pops to give out on the opening night. I'd been scouring sweet shops trying to find the perfect thing to make the stalks and the leaves. In the end I settled on using apple flavoured Sour Belts for the leaves and cola flavoured Spogz Lizards Tails for the stalks. (If you want to know how to make cake pops, check out my how-to picture post here.)

Puck Studio are curating an eclectic mix of artists from the South West of England, focusing on illustration. They built a giant tree like structure and used green balloons to represent the leaves. There were prints hanging off special orange balloons that you can take and use to indicate which of the prints you wanted to buy or just to have as a keepsake (limited availability). 

Postcard size prints hanging from the tree... take one to indicate which print you want to buy.

I thought it would be cool to make some realistic looking apple cake pops to add to the mix. Some even managed to get attached to the tree, although I'm not sure how long they lasted before they fell off!

Apple Cake Pops hanging from the 'tree'.

The whole exhibition is amazing with loads of cool art and is running until the 1st April 2012 at Somerset House, London. If you can, definitely get down there before it ends!

Below are some more pictures from the day. 

The tree taking shape with a 'million' balloons.

Putting the final touches to the signage.

Some of the prints on offer from Puck Studio

Tasty cakies...

Thanks to Puck Studio for inviting me down!

Peace & Love

Apple Cake Pops

Don't Try This At Home - Banana Layer Cake with Chocolate Fudge

So I've been quite keen on having a banana cake on my blog for a while and figured now that I have a loaf tin, I really should get on with it! But since I've been feeling experimental recently, I decided to give it a little twist. Instead of a banana loaf, why don't I bake a banana layer cake and have thin servings of chocolate fudge.....?

Well, I made it and discovered that banana cake is already sweet & delicious and needs little if anything else! This cake is very sweet and totally doable with a cup of tea and a small slice. You must not attempt to eat it though if you are in anyway diabetic or are susceptible to tooth decay! :)

Next time I will use a loaf tin and maybe put a small spread of chocolate fudge on top.

Banana Cake Recipe 


Ingredients


170g unsalted butter
100g soft brown sugar
70g caster sugar
2 eggs
170g self raising flour sifted
3 tablespoons milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 pinch of salt
2 ripe bananas mashed up

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160oC/ Gas Mark 3 and line a loaf tin.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Slowly add the eggs and beat until all incorporated.
3. Add the flour and salt, followed by the milk, bananas and vanilla essence and mix well.
4. Place in the loaf tin and bake for approximately an hour until cooked. Leave to cool in the tin slightly before placing on a cooling rack.

The moral of this story is "If it ain't broke don't try to fix it!" :) In all seriousness though, I do love trying out new recipes and you don't know what works until you try!

Peace & Love

xx 

Havana Santiago Part 2

I just wanted to let you guys know how I got on at Havana Santiago. It was a lovely three days and I'm really proud of Pia and Thristian for putting on something so cool!

My sister and I made a selection of cakes inspired by Cuba and the Caribbean.

Menu


Cakes
- Caribbean Black Rum Cake
- Lime and Coconut Cake (click here for a blog post and recipe)
- Carrot Cake
- Banana Cake (a number of different variations)


Cupcakes
- Chocolate with Fudge Sauce
- Vanilla with Vanilla Buttercream
- Chocolate with Chocolate Buttercream
- Mojito (lime and rum flavour with a rum flavoured frosting)
- Pineapple with a citrus glaze and pineapple chunks

I thought it would be nice to show some photos of the day. I didn't take many myself as I was busy trying to be organised so most of these aren't mine. Thanks to Vanessa & Iesha for sending them on to me! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Peace & Love
xx

Apple and Cinnamon Cupcakes with Caramel Sauce

Recently I've been lucky enough to get involved in some cool projects, one of which involves providing some cakies for the opening night of Pick Me Up, a contemporary graphic art fair, in conjunction with Puck Studios at Somerset House. 

They asked me to design apple style goodies for their visitors and I had fun coming up with this cupcake. It has stewed apple at the bottom, a cinnamon cupcake base and is topped with a drizzle of homemade caramel sauce. 

I've included the recipes for the cupcake and the apple filling below. You can get the recipe for the caramel sauce over at Off The Deep End click here for the link...

Apple and Cinnamon Cupcakes - Makes approximately 16 


Apple filing


450g/1lb apples, peeled, cored and cut into small chunks
50g/2oz unrefined brown sugar
1 tbsp plain flour
1 pinch of ground cinnamon


Cinnamon Cupcake (adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery Vanilla Cupcake Recipe)


240g plain flour

180g caster sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp of salt

80g unsalted butter at room temperature

2 eggs

240ml whole milk

1 tsp vanilla

1. First prepare the apple filling. Mix all of the ingredients together carefully, making sure that the apple is completely covered with the sugar but does not get damaged in the process. Put all of the ingredients into a saucepan and cook over a low to medium heat until the fruit has softened. Leave to cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3 and line 2 muffin trays with cupcake cases. Once the apple mixture has cooled slightly place between 1-2 teaspoons of the softened apple mixture into the bottom of the cupcake case according to how much apple you'd like at the bottom

3. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and butter together in a large bowl or food processor and mix until everything is combined and you get a sandy consistency. Gradually pour in half the milk and beat until the milk is just incorporated.

4. Whisk the egg, vanilla extract and remaining milk together in a separate bowl for a few seconds, then pour into the flour mixture and continue beating until just incorporated (scrape any stray ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Continue mixing for a couple more minutes until the mixture is smooth. Do not overmix.

5. Top up the cupcake cases with the cake mixture until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 minutes, or until light golden and the sponge bounces back when touched.

A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean but remember that bits of apple will be at the bottom and may stick to the skewer. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

These cupcakes are actually delicious just as they are but a little caramel never hurt anyone! 

Let me know how you get on :)

Peace & Love

xx

Lime & Coconut Cake

You may notice that this is the first loaf cake that I have done on this blog and there is a good reason for this: my sister is the taker, collector and keeper of loaf tins! She will of course deny this, but let me lay out the evidence.

Exhibit A - I can't find any of my loaf tins, even though I have bought at least 2 of my own.

Exhibit B - Strangely, she has a zillion loaf tins, maybe even 6, some of which look exactly like my missing ones. And if we are honest with ourselves, no normal person has a zillion loaf tins!

Exhibit C - We often share baking equipment and I often forget when I lend her stuff.

Exhibit D - I'm sure she did it!

She has of course strongly denied this accusation, claiming that I should look after my tins rather than accusing her of harbouring borrowed goods. But I have a blog. Plus I'm right. And I'm 80% sure of it!

Anyways, I 'borrowed' one of the (my own) loaf tins to recreate a cake that I made for Havana Santiago: a Lime and Coconut Cake adapted from a recipe by Nestlé. 

I always have a bit of trouble making an icing glaze and I honestly have no reason why something so simple has eluded me thus far. It always turns out looking too watery and a lot like something that really shouldn't be on a cake....

I digress, I decided to use the leftover condensed milk from a standard tin (397g) and jazz it up with some lime juice. It worked really well and tasted great but you need to pipe it if you want the lines or maybe warm it slightly as it's quite thick. I'd compare it to a sort of sweet custard, lovely :).

This cake is a lovely afternoon tea cake, not as rich as some of the cupcakes and things that I usually bake. If you would like to try it, I have put the recipe here; 

Ingredients

Cake:

• 175g (6oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 300g (10½oz) Condensed Milk
• 55g (2oz) desiccated coconut
• finely grated zest and juice 1 lime
• 175g (6oz) self-raising flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt

Icing:

• 90g (3oz) Condensed Milk
• Lime zest and the juice ½ lime

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C, (150°C for fan ovens), Gas Mark 3.
2. Grease and base line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment.
3. Place all the cake ingredients together in a large bowl (or food processor) and beat until smooth and pale. Pour into the loaf tin and cover the top with a strip of baking parchment so that it doesn't get too brown whilst cooking. Bake for 55-65 minutes until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake. 
4. Whilst the cake is cooling, make your glaze. Add the juice of 1/2 a lime to the condensed milk and mix thoroughly. When the cake is fully cooled, pipe the glaze on the top. You will need to pipe it as it is too thick to drizzle! Finally, sprinkle some lime zest on top to garnish.

You may be interested to know that I have also purchased another loaf tin to make more loafy type things. I think my next one will be a banana cake, that is so overdue!


Peace & Love


xx

Off The Deep End (Cake, Cake, Cake, Cake, Cake, Cake Pop)

My second Off The Deep End post, tasty Red Velvet Cake Pops. Check it out here..

Peace & Love