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

Decadent Chocolate Cake

Hiiiiiii

To my lovely followers (one of them being my Dad), sorry that I take so much time to update this blog! I've baked literally one thing in the last two months.. Hopefully this post will make up for things.

So, it was my friend Kristina's birthday yesterday, and I know how much she likes chocolate cake - I planned a yummy surprise for her. We all went out to an Indian restaurant for dinner (ate too much, as per usual), and just as we're all too stuffed to shovel in more food, the cake comes out (along with a lovely sing song of happy birthday)!!!

Here's the story.

I'd never used this cake recipe before, and knew that everyone in my household would want a piece of it anyway. So, I made two.

The first one (made on Sunday) went really well, and was devoured within about 48 hours. It's just a really rich, yummy dark chocolate cake with the creamiest, fudgiest chocolate frosting. This is definitely the holy grail of chocolate cakes.

The recipe is really easy, and it's pretty quick to prepare - in fact, it doesn't actually require that much effort (it's not like you need to get a piping bag out for the frosting).

Ingredients (usually I quote things in ounces/grams, but the recipe used cup measurements)

From the Hershey's Kitchen - this website has the most fantastic recipes!

2 cups of sugar

1 and 3/4 cups of plain flour

1 and a half teaspoons of baking powder

1 and a half teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup of cocoa powder (I like Bourneville)

1 cup of milk

2 eggs

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1 cup of boiling water

Method

Preheat your oven to 180C, or 160C ish if you have a crap fan oven (like I do).

Line two 9inch cake pans with baking paper and flour the sides.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl (sugar, flour, cocoa, bicarb, baking powder, salt) and whisk together until combined.

Now, add in the milk, oil, eggs, vanilla and beat on medium speed until incorporated. With a spatula/spoon, mix in the boiling water. The consistency of the batter will be quite runny, so it'll drizzle into the cake pans with ease. Now, pop it in the oven for about 30-35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean. Time varies for all ovens.

I actually only own one cake pan, and my oven only has room (on the optimum shelf) for one. The typical individual (or student) isn't likely to own more than one anyway, so I figured a way around it. Before mixing the wet ingredients into the dry, evenly divide the dry mixture between two bowls (I weighed it all out with scales). Then, with your first bowl of dry matter, mix in half of the wet ingredients (i.e the recipe calls for 2 eggs and 1 cup of milk, so make a well in the middle and add in 1 egg and half a cup of milk, and so on).

Obviously, baking time will be overall longer because you have to wait longer for the cakes to cook individually and for them to cool.

In my oven, each half of the cake took around 40 minutes to cook, but this will obviously vary if you have a better oven. Typically, any where between 30-45 minutes will make sense.

Once they're done, remove from the oven and leave to cool, and then transfer onto some other plate/rack to cool further. 

FROSTING

1/2 cup of unsalted butter (around 115 grams)

2/3 cup cocoa powder

3cups icing sugar

1/3 cup of milk

teaspoon of vanilla

Melt the butter, and mix in the cocoa. Then, alternating icing sugar and milk, beat with a handmixer until lovely and creamy, and add in the vanilla. 

Then, assemble the cake!

Bottom half....

Oh my.

Heaven eh?

Just smoothed on the frosting with a rubber spatula - no effort required!

I made the one for Kristina on Monday afternoon, just in time for dinner in the evening!

It's been likened to 'Brucey Cake' (like the one from Matilda)...

And clearly, everyone loved it. Because this is what was left by the time we'd paid the bill.

Quite impressive!! (although there were 12 of us at the table..)..

Anyway, exams are on the way.

It's around 3am right now, and I've been up writing an essay for the last three hours. And the sad thing is, there's no more chocolate cake left in the kitchen, so I have nothing to snack on during breaks!!

I can probably think of a way to resolve this..

:D

Jen xx

Cupcakes For SammyJo

Hello again!!!

Okay, I know it's been a very long time, but I've been very busy!

I finished my first university term in December, and stupidly enough left all of my baking equipment up in Yorkshire when I went back to London.. So, I couldn't really make anything too extravagant. 

And, on another note, I've officially started a no-carb diet (let's see how long this lasts). I'm going to be a Maid of Honour next year for my sister's wedding, so I need to find myself a lovely dress, preferably in a size 2.. Thus, DIET STARTS NOW

I just got back up to uni, and have given in all my assignments (thank god) - don't think I've ever written so much crap in my life. As I write this post, it's been around 45 minutes since I submitted one of my elective essays online. A 3000 word essay on the two models of criminal justice - literally the biggest amount of blabble and waffle known to man. Not in a rush to get my grade back anytime soon.

But, I'VE FINISHED. Finally, after tons of moaning and whining, a few cans of red bull, and the majority of a Dairy Milk bar double the size of my head, I'm DONE!!

I've also persuaded my housemates to help me keep on track with the diet; so whenever they see me eating carbs they're supposed to slap me. Although just before, there was a little bit of an incident. I needed a bit of energy to somehow pull 1500 words of essay out of my ass in 5 hours, so grabbed an energy drink and a bit of the chocolate from the kitchen. And, as I'm standing in the corridor of my flat, red bull in one hand and choccie in the other, I'm spotted.. 

It's nice that they care so much, because they literally charged towards me, snatched the chocolate out of my hands as I curled into a ball on the floor, and walked away. But hey, cruel to be kind I guess..

Anyway, over the weekend I made a bunch of cupcakes for my friend SammyJo's birthday (and no, I didn't eat any, just in case you were wondering)..

I made three batches, using my three favourite tried and tested recipes - red velvet, oreo, and chocolate.

Also, my sister was in the kitchen with me, attempting to help me out but in reality sabotaging my every move. Whenever I turn my back, she creeps up behind me and in an instance a third of the cake batter has magically disappeared. And don't even get me started on the cream cheese frosting. 

Albeit, she was nice company and helpful-ish.. She seemed quite happy that I allowed her to line the baking tins with the paper cases. But also, she was in charge of taking photos of the process, so obviously there were a few silly photos of the plantpots and bananas on the kitchen surface, and for some daft reason, extreme closeups of egg shells and broken oreos. 

Oh, and this.

This happens way too much. Basically all our holiday albums from Florida consist of scenic photos, and snapshots of her feet.

And here she is..

Can't help but love her.

Anyway, back to the cupcakes.

 Left Red Velvet, Middle Chocolate, Right Oreo

I just love taking photos of cupcakes; maybe I should do this for a living...

Enjoy!!x

Twix Brownies

Yay! More brownies!!

This time, with chunks of Twix!

I've been experimenting with lots of different brownie recipes lately, but I always seem to go back to Lorraine Pascale's Brownie Recipe..

I altered the recipe ever so slightly, but all credits go to her!

I've already eaten 3 of these (as well as around 4 from the last batch of Mars brownies - someone please stop me!)

Ingredients

165g butter

220g dark chocolate

3 large eggs

2 extra egg yolks

little bit of vanilla

165 light brown sugar

2tbsp plain flour

1tbsp cocoa powder

pinch of salt

3 normal sized Twix bars, cut into chunks..

Preheat oven to 180C, and line a baking tin etc..

Melt the butter and chocolate either in the microwave or on top of a saucepan, and leave to cool for a few minutes.

Cut up the Twix bars!!

In another bowl, beat the eggs, yolks and vanilla until light and fluffy. Next, add in the sugar in two batches and continue to mix.

Then, fold in the chocolate mixture, and then the flour, cocoa powder and salt until just combined..

Fold in the Twix chunks, and then pour into the prepared tin!

Bake at 180 for 25-30 mins..

You know what, just click this link - Lorraine explains it all much better.

Too Good For Words!!!

This is my staple brownie recipe, and there is no doubt that I'll be coming back to this for years to come..

It's a little bit fussy (i.e. hand-mixer, melting chocolate and using up 5 eggs) but definitely worth it!!

Any type of mix-in work with this! I've used Oreos and Maltesers before and they matched up perfectly with the brownie's texture and sweetness!

Mars Bar Brownies

I was having a little mooch around the supermarket thinking 'what would taste nice in a chocolate brownie?'. 

I narrowed my list down to Mars, Twix, Rolo, and M&Ms. 

For some bizarre reason, Sainsburys DIDN'T sell regular M&Ms, only peanut! Not amused..

So, that plan fell through.

I couldn't be bothered for Rolos either, but I'll attempt that at some point in the very near future (maybe even inside a cupcake?)

Mars and Twix it is...

I thought I'd test out a couple of different brownie recipes for each of the chocolates, so the Twix one is to follow in another post.

For the Mars Bar Brownies..

Ingredients

6oz butter, softened

4oz dark chocolate

1/2 cup caster sugar

3 large eggs

tsp vanilla

pinch salt

1/2cup plain flour + 1 teaspoon

5 snack size Mars bars, cut into chunks.

Preheat your oven to 180C, and line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper, or just use a disposable foil dish (these are SO much easier)..

Melt the chocolate and butter over a saucepan on a low heat, and leave to cool.

While it's cooling, grab a cutting board and knife and dice the Mars bars into small pieces..

Next, stir in the sugar, vanilla, salt and eggs into the chocolate mixture, and then gradually add the flour in until just combined.

Spread half of the batter into the baking tin and then create an even layer of Mars, before pouring the rest of the brownie mix on top so that all the chocolate chunks are covered.

Before the second layer of batter..

Bake for 30-35 minutes depending on your oven, but I took mine out after exactly 30. If a toothpick comes out clean, it's overcooked! You want moist crumbs, and the brownie should be firm-ish to the touch!!!! 

I love how some of the Mars chunks have risen to the top of the batter! Leave the brownie in a cool, dry place until ready to cut and serve.

I find that, with a gooey brownie, they can be a tad difficult to cut unless they've been chilled for a bit. I made these in the evening and was planning on serving them the next morning, so I wrapped the entire brownie up and put it in the fridge overnight. Then, in the morning, they were much easier to cut and retained their texture after sitting at room temperature for half an hour or so.

I was just being silly here - and yes, they did all topple over!

Good recipe..

Could definitely work with other chocolates too, but the caramel and nougat from the Mars works so well with the actual brownie.

Next project, Twix!!

Stay posted, it's coming up next!

J x

Fudgy Brownies

Lorraine Pascale's Cookies and Cream Fudge brownies have been my favourite for quite a while now, but they require quite a lot of time and effort to perfect. So, I've been on the lookout for some other good brownie recipes. I found Laura Vitale's recipe which doesn't require me to get out the standing mixer and make a massive mess in my kitchen, and these brownies tasted so good!

Laura's Recipe

I followed the recipe exactly, and they came out perfectly!! :D

Melted chocolate....  mmmm

The batter was really fluffy, almost like chocolate mousse, but it made the brownies really light. 

Baked for 40 minutes at 180C

Crispy on the surface, and gooey in the middle.. 

 These didn't last very long..

They went down quite well!

I'll probably be testing out some more brownie recipes in the near future, so be on the lookout! :D

Jenny x