Dairy-Free Vanilla Cupcakes

I know what you're thinking... Dairy-free cupcakes don't have the yummiest reputation, but these surprised me!

I needed to make a batch of dairy-free (or 'Parev' to all you Jews out there) cupcakes for an American-themed party the other day - Parev desserts have never really inspired or excited me; I much prefer a piece of decadent chocolate cake with pilings of buttercream to a dairy-free cake with a simple sugar icing. Regardless, I gave it a go. Instead of using my traditional vanilla cupcake recipe (and substituting the butter for margarine and the milk for soy), I thought I'd pull out my mum's old Evelyn Rose cookbook which prides itself with a wide range of desserts (both milky and Parev), most notably its fool-proof recipe for 'One Bowl Fairy Cakes'. This cookbook is older than me and the pages are covered with stains and crumbs! I think these fairy cakes were the first thing I ever baked in my mum's kitchen, and they have stood the test of time.

 

 

Measurements are in ounces - most scales should be able to weigh in ounces as well as grams. If not, have a look online at a conversion table.

 

INGREDIENTS

4oz butter or margarine (dairy free spreads such as Tomor and Pure are ideal)

4oz caster sugar

2 eggs

5oz self raising flour

1tsp baking powder

a splash of vanilla extract

 

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 200C (190C if you're using a fan oven)

Beat the 'butter' and sugar together with a mixer or wooden spoon until light and fluffy.

Add in the eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla and mix until smooth.

Spoon into cake cases - I made some bigger cakes in muffin cases as well as some small ones in fairy-cake cases; just use whatever you have in the kitchen.

Cook for about 20 minutes (or until they are a light golden colour and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean).

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the side.

 

FROSTING

These days I don't really keep to a specific frosting recipe. I typically use a ratio of butter to icing sugar of 1:3, but it's different each time.

In this instance I used around 100g of dairy-free spread (not too sure, I just eyeballed the measurement), about 400g of icing sugar and maybe 2tablespoons of soya milk. Dairy-free spreads usually have a very prevalent margarine-taste which I really don't like. So, I thought I'd mask it with tons of icing sugar and a lovely big splash of vanilla essence.

Just mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl until light and creamy and tweak the ratios of ingredients to cater to your own personal taste.

Either pipe or spread onto the cooled cupcakes.

Decorate any way you like. In spirit of the theme, I stuck a little American flag into each cake..

 

 

They didn't taste dairy-free in the slightest!

Keeping in line with the American theme, Alex and I turned up in some American-football shirts (sneakily borrowed from my brother's cupboard!).

I have absolutely no clue which teams we're supporting here, but it was a fun evening.

 

 

Also, Zac Efron made a surprising appearance!

Though he's cardboard, he was great company!

 

 

That's all for now!

J xx

 





Red Velvets are a crowd pleaser!

Nothing says 'Happy Birthday' like a batch of your favourite cupcakes!

My friend Hope turned 21 the other day, so a batch of her favourite flavour was in order!

She tried making my Salted Caramel Cupcakes a couple of months back and they turned out really well; so I decided to make these for her.

These cakes were to be unveiled at a friend's house with about 15 people watching, so only making one batch of 12 would be reckless. This was the perfect excuse to make some Red Velvets too!!!!!!

 

I had the BEST sous-chef, until he started eating the frosting when I wasn't looking.

 

 

When I'm baking, I become quite controlling and a tad bossy; I can't help it!!

I'm particularly protective of my piping bags, therefore trusting Alex to frost the cupcakes was a huge step for me! And he did prove very worthy of the Sous-Chef status.

 

 

Surprise!!!!!

She loved them, and I came home cupcake-less so they were a definite hit with everyone else!



 

Next time, I might leave some business cards next to my cakes... Teehee!!
A girl can dream

I'm honestly looking for any excuse to bake a cake; someone give me one!!!!!!!
J xx
 

Lemon Cake Pops

It's mid July.. Where the heck has this year gone?!!

I have officially finished my second year of University and the lease for my third year house has began... But I still feel like I'm that 18 year old finishing her A levels in the summer of 2011!!!!!!!!

My baking-record has been appalling this last year, and I apologise. I usually keep my blog posts strictly cake-based and acknowledge that a majority of my audience don't actually care too much about my personal life. However, a couple of anecdotes here and there never hurt anybody?!

My boyfriend graduated at the start of July, and obviously I wasn't allowed to join his family to watch on the day unless I baked something..

We drove up to Leeds in two cars, stopping mid-way for lunch and dinner picnics. I needed to bake something which was mess-free, easy to eat, and easy to transport..

Voila, the cake pop!!

I'm not too sure where the cake pop originates from, but it's such a great idea and ridiculously easy to eat at 75mph on the M1 with one hand on the steering wheel (and simultaneously keeping our eyes peeled for Eddie Stobart vans).

I baked a lemon cake, crumbled it up and mixed with lemon-cream cheese frosting, forming the mixture into 'uniform' sized balls and enveloping them in white chocolate. A lollipop stick completes this tasty treat and, depending on how big your mouth is, the cake can be demolished in one or two bites.

I used this cupcake recipe.

Instead of a 12-hole muffin pan, I just used a normal 8-inch sandwich cake tin.

I kept the temperature at 180C, but increased the cooking time to 25-30 minutes.

Keep an eye on the cake and it's done when it's firm to the touch and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Leave it to cool for a good few hours.

It can be a little bit sticky, but it's manageable. It's supposed to be a moist cake, and it tastes incredible on its own!

Crumble up the cake either in a food processor or with a hand-grater.

FROSTING

Only a tiny bit of frosting is needed here, so any recipe you use is likely to generate a hefty surplus!

Just use equal parts of unsalted butter and cream cheese. Add icing sugar, to taste. I added a touch of soured cream and a little splash of lemon juice to add a bit of zestiness.

Mix the frosting into the cake crumbs and form into balls.

Mine came out a bit awkwardly-shaped. Practice makes perfect I guess!!

They look a bit like deformed matzah balls...

The consistency makes it really hard to roll them without major crumbling. Just keep working at it. Once you're done, put them in the fridge for a couple of hours (I left them overnight). Once cold, they can be rolled in order to perfect the shape.

For the covering, melt between 2 and 3 big bars of Milky Bar. I know it's a lot of chocolate, but it's yummy, and the molten leftovers were great with my breakfast (so nutritious).
Insert a lollipop stick into each cake-ball, and dip in the chocolate.

Set the pops aside to dry - there is no ideal way of doing this. I stood them up individually in mugs - if anyone else has a suggestion (using typical items found in all kitchens) then please holler at me.
The last time I did this (with chocolate covered strawberries), my mum entered the kitchen and accidentally knocked them all over. This time however, everything stayed upright and intact!

Whilst the white chocolate is drying, sprinkle on a little extra lemon zest - just so the flavour is (somewhat) apparent to the person about to stuff it into their mouth!!

Unless kept at a very cold temperature (i.e in a fridge), these babies are prone to intense melting. Since we took them in the car up to Leeds on an extremely warm day, I wrapped them in foil and put them in a food bag with a couple of freezer packs. They stayed solid all day long, perfect for a nibble on the way back to London at 9pm!!
Undeniably, they are awkwardly-shaped. However, they taste phenomenal, I promise you!!

That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed!
J xx

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

These are GOOD!!

I've made them about three or four times now, each outcome has been slightly different.

It's a plain sponge cupcake (either chocolate or vanilla), filled with a salted caramel sauce and topped with a vanilla buttercream frosting.

The combination of the salty and sweet is one of my favourite, and these cupcakes are a definite crowd pleaser.

I prefer making these with a chocolate cupcake base, it just makes the cakes slightly more decadent! 

Credit to the Hummingbird Bakery (I'm obsessed with their new cookbook).

The cake came out quite dense when I made them a few weeks ago. I prefer a lighter and more crumbly cake so I altered the method a little bit. 

The recipe requires that one mixes the flour, sugar, butter and baking powder until you reach a crumbly consistency. Next, add in the wet ingredients. However, if you cream the butter and sugar together first, and then add in the eggs and flour, the cakes come out a little bit lighter and not as dense.

Ingredients

70g unsalted butter, softened

240g caster sugar

2 eggs

170g plain flour

50g cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

210ml skimmed milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C and line a cupcake tin with 12 muffin liners.
Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt into a medium sized bowl and set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated.
Mix in the milk and flour mixture in alternating batches, starting with the dry ingredients. 
Spoon into the cupcake cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until the cakes are firm to the touch and a sharp knife (or skewer) comes out clean when inserted into the centre.
Leave the cakes to cool, and get started on the toppings.

CARAMEL SAUCE
These cupcakes are filled with a salted caramel sauce. Carnation sell a tinned caramel and this works quite well. Melt a couple of tablespoons of the caramel in a microwave on low power for about 20 seconds (more if needed). Add a pinch of sea salt.
Once the cakes are cooled, cut out a small hole in the centre with a knife. Fill the hole with caramel and then place the top back on.

FROSTING

A simple buttercream frosting goes really well with this cake.

175g unsalted butter, softened

300g icing sugar

little splash of vanilla extract

splash of milk, if needed.

Beat the ingredients with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Pipe or spread onto the cupcakes, and then drizzle on top some salted caramel sauce.

I made these cakes for my sister a few months ago. Here's my brother-in-law Josh; I think he enjoyed them!!!

That's all for now!
J xx

Lemon Cupcakes

Hey peeps!!

Just a quick post...

I made some lemon cupcakes yesterday (they were incredible), thought I'd share the recipe!

Stumbled upon this recipe online somewhere, and they are ridiculously lemony.

According to Ina Garten (my favourite person on the Food Network by far), the most flavour is in the zest of the lemon!!! I didn't use any vanilla extract in the batter, and used lots of lemon juice in the cream-cheese frosting.

A family friend of ours makes the most INSANE lemon pavlova, and these taste almost identical!!!!

Here's how it goes..

Ingredients

60g unsalted butter, softened

140g caster sugar

2 eggs

100g plain flour

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1tbsp lemon juice

1tsp lemon zest (or more if you like it extra tangy)

1/4 cup soured cream

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Line a 12-hole cupcake tin with some muffin liners.

Sift the flour and bicarb into a small bowl and set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, and then mix in the eggs.

Once the eggs are incorporated, add in the flour mixture and beat on medium until well mixed.

Next, fold in the lemon zest, juice and soured cream with a spatula, and spoon the batter into the prepared liners. I usually use an ice cream scoop - it just creates perfectly uniform-sized cupcakes. Because I used large muffin cases and quite a wide ice cream scoop, I only got around 8-9 cupcakes out of this batter. However, if you make them as normal cupcake size, you're likely to get about 11 or 12.

Bake at 180C for about 15-18 minutes, until the cakes are slightly golden and firm to the touch.
Take out of the oven and leave to cool.

FROSTING

A simple cream cheese frosting, with the volume turned up.

Ingredients
100g cream cheese
75g unsalted butter, softened
300g icing sugar
1 tsp lemon juice (to taste).
1 tsp soured cream
splash of milk (if needed)
extra lemon wedges, for garnish.

Beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. 
Add in the icing sugar in small batches (so to avoid making too much mess).
Add in the soured cream and lemon juice and beat on high speed until light and fluffy.
Add milk if the frosting is still too thick.
Either spread or pipe onto the cupcakes and place a small lemon wedge on top to decorate.

So good!!!

Creme Egg Cupcakes

Hello!!!

It's me again, back from my ridiculous three month blog break. Sorry I keep leaving so much time between posts, I promise I'm working on it!

Creme Egg season has ended, but I couldn't allow March to end without whipping up a batch of these easter-themed cupcakes.

I tried out a chocolate cupcake recipe from the latest Hummingbird cookbook (a lovely present from my lovely boyfriend) and decorated it accordingly.

It's probably my new favourite cake-related cookbook - their cupcakes are just so cool!!

Owing to the end of the Creme Egg month (I should've listened to their 'goo today, gone tomorrow' slogan), me and my friend Kristina went on a mission around north London to find as many as we could. After about an hour, we returned home with about ten quid's worth of Creme Eggs, both regular and mini sized (probably the most productive part of my entire week).

Too many Creme Eggs for life!!

Ingredients

70g unsalted butter, softened.

170g plain flour

240g caster sugar

50g cocoa, sifted

1 heaped teaspoon of baking powder

pinch of salt

210ml milk

2 eggs

A years supply of large and mini Creme Eggs

Method

Line a cupcake pan with 12 muffin cases and preheat the oven to 170C

There are two methods of mixing the ingredients. I've only tried one so far (the one directed to in the book) but will try it the other way next time I make these. 

The book - combine the butter, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in one large bowl and beat until just combined (a crumby consistency).

Mix together the eggs and milk in another bowl/jug and pour into the dry ingredients in two batches. Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared cases (around 2/3-3/4 full - I just use an ice cream scoop to create uniform sized cakes) and cook at 170 for 20-25 minutes or until the cakes are firm to the touch and a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Leave to cool and then transfer onto a wire rack until you frost them.

The other method - most cupcake recipes dictate that you cream the butter and sugar together first, add in the eggs and then the dry ingredients and milk in alternating batches. It makes the cupcakes a bit lighter and fluffier, whereas the method I used made the cupcakes appear denser (almost gooey and undercooked, but they were fine after a few hours).

Once cooled, well out a large hole in the centre of the cake (I have this nifty gadget called a cupcake plunger - thanks Dad!!). Chop the top of the Creme Egg (just as if you're having a soft boiled egg with toasted soldiers! Oh childhood..) and place it in the cupcake.

Either place the lid back on (if there's space), or frost directly on top.

FROSTING 

200g unsalted butter, very soft.

650g icing sugar

60-70ml milk

a pinch of vanilla (hummingbird frosting recipe doesn't call for this, however).

Beat the ingredients together until thick and creamy.

Try to avoid getting icing sugar on your clothes and frosting all over the walls by maintaining a slow speed at the start, and increasing the speed as the ingredients start to combine.

When making the cakes, I slightly lost control of the mixer and managed to get chocolate all over the nearby kitchen appliances. I only realised this when my mum handed me a cloth and pointed me in the direction of the mess I had made.

Anyway, anecdotes aside..

Frost the cupcakes either with a knife/spatula or piping bag.

As usual, I piped mine.

Put a mini Creme Egg on top to complete the cupcake!

Mmmmmmmmm

There are still a few left in the fridge - time for tea!!!

J x

Nutella Pretzel Brownies

Wow, it's been basically half a year since my last post - RIDICULOUS!!

Sorry I haven't had the chance to update, I haven't baked anything new to be quite honest. 

I just finished a long period of essay deadlines and exams, and I'm now free!! 

I had a horrific essay to write on Labour Party politics when I was home for the winter holidays, but took a much-deserved break one evening to whip up a batch of brownies. It was the best de-stress method; there is definitely some positive correlation between happiness and baking.

I stumbled upon a lovely Nutella brownie recipe a while back - Nutella is literally my favourite thing in this world. My housemates last year, on numerous occasions, would discover me in the kitchen with a near-empty jar of Nutella in one hand and a big spoon in the other. I think it's hereditary.. My parents never allowed us to have Nutella in the house because it wouldn't last longer than a day! We were (still are) undeniably a Nutella-loving family.. 

Chocolate brownies are amazing anyway, but adding Nutella makes them THAT much better. I added some pretzels on top for a little extra salty crunch.

These are so easy.

INGREDIENTS

For the base

1 and a half cups of pretzels

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

For the brownie

1/2 cup or 113g unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

2eggs

dash of vanilla extract

1/3 cup cocoa powder (I used bourneville)

1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup nutella - and more for snacking!!!

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

More pretzels, set aside

METHOD

Line a brownie tin with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 180C.

In a food processor, pulse the pretzels into a fine dust and add the sugar. Pour in the melted butter and keep pulsing until it is all combined. 

Flatten out the mixture into the baking tin, and bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until it turns golden around the edges and is firm-ish to the touch.

While it's baking, start on the brownie mixture.

In a saucepan, melt the butter. Remove from the heat and add in the sugar, whisking until combined. It'll be a paste-like consistency, but that's fine. 

Whisk in the eggs one at a time, and add in the vanilla.

Add in the dry ingredients and the Nutella (does that count as a dry ingredient?) and whisk until combined.

Pour the batter into the brownie tin, on top of the pretzel base and baked for 35-40 mins at 180C. It's ready when a toothpick inserted comes out clean and the brownie will be firm.

Leave to cool on the side for ten minutes, and then slather the top with more Nutella!! It'll melt because of the heat of the brownie, YUMMY!

Stick the pretzels on top and leave to cool fully.

Mmmmmmmm

I brought these back up to Leeds for everyone. They were particularly yummy as a library snack!!!
I've had no work since last tuesday, so I've just been relaxing lots! 
Hope everyone's had a lovely start to the new year, and that the snow hasn't screwed up your plans too much. Keep posted!
J xx