Coco Loco Cupcakes

These delicious cupcakes are iced with a coconut and lime butter cream, made with a naturally flavoured coconut and lime icing sugar from Sugar and Crumbs and were inspired by the Coco Loco cocktail. When sugar and crumbs were looking for bloggers to test their sugars and cocoa powders, who could resist volunteering? Not me! I volunteered and the lovely people at sugar and crumbs sent me three samples to try and this is the first. 

When I heard that I was going to get the coconut and lime naturally flavoured icing sugar to try (thank you so, so much!) and was thinking about what to make, the though of coconut and pina colada's entered my head, this may or may not have something to do with the fact that the pina colada was my bedtime drink of choice on a recent trip to Cocoa Beach in Florida, (so wrong and yet so right). 

I love a Pina Colada, but, you know how when it is cocktail time and you really want to have a pina colada, because they are the most unctuously scrummy cocktail, but, somehow a pina colada doesn't seem sophisticated enough, so, you end up ordering a margarita or a mojito instead, which is still yummy, but not in the dizzy heights way of a pina colada? This got me thinking how good would a coconut and lime cocktail be? Would the lime lend the coconut a little sophistication? And that is when I discovered the coco loco cocktail. A blend of rum, coconut and lime. I'm leaving the rum out today and letting that icing sugar do most of the work for me.

Recipes for these cakes and butter cream, follow below then next time, I will share how I made the decorations. 

So, what do these taste like? Amazing. The flavour is definitely coconut and definitely lime, well flavoured and not too strong. This was always going to be a sure fire winner for me, because I love coconut so much. My son and husband who claim not too like coconut enjoyed these too and my other taste testers all declared them smooth, creamy and super yummyily coconutty.

You can tell from the texture of the butter cream (no grainy-ness) that this icing sugar is a good, quality product and it pipes nicely too. One of the benefits of using a flavoured icing sugar, is that you can rely on it to give a good consistent flavour, so there is no worrying about how much of the different flavourings to add.

Is it good value for money? At the time of writing, a 250g bag is £2.99 and 500g bag is £4.99, which is not a lot of money compared to many things and about three times the price of an unflavoured bag of icing sugar. In their recipes Sugar and Crumbs do mention that, because the icing sugar has a strong flavour, you can use half their flavoured sugar and half ordinary icing sugar, you will, of course, get a more delicate flavour. We all have different circumstances, I am a Mum to a young son, working 35 hours a week at my day job, so convenience comes pretty high on my list of priorities, baking and blogging is squeezed into my "free time", so for me, not having to zest a couple of limes, or squeeze ;o) a coconut, or even start a batch again because the flavours are not right, not balanced correctly, or too strong, is worth paying a pound or two more for. If you have ever over salted a salted caramel butter cream, you'll know where I am coming from.

I was lucky to get these samples from Sugar and Crumbs for free, having browsed the flavours, I think I could well become one of their regular customers - Banana Split or Cherry Bakewell anyone? I have two more samples to try, come back soon to find out what they are, or follow me at any or all of the places at the bottom of this post.

If you do pop over to sugar and crumbs, don't forget to say Hi and let them know I sent you.

Coconut Cupcakes Recipe

Ingredients

120g  plain (all purpose) flour

140g caster sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

40g softened butter or margarine

120ml coconut milk

1 egg

Preheat your oven to 170 C / 325 F. (I set my fan oven to 155 C) and lay out your cupcake cases ready. These lovely ivory baking cases are from Culpitt. This recipe will usually make nine to twelve cupcakes.

I am using a crumb method to make these coconut cupcakes, this freaked me out a bit the first time I used it, so I have I have shown the steps below, so you will know what to expect at each stage.

Method

Step One

Put the 120g plain flour, 140g caster sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 40g of butter or margarine into the bowl of a stand mixer.

Step Two

Using the "K" beater, mix on a slow speed until the mixture becomes crumby.

Step Three

Put the 120ml of coconut milk and the egg into a jug or cup and mix together to break the egg up. With the mixer running on a slow speed, slowly pour the coconut milk and egg down the side of the bowl, until the mixture just changes from looking dry to looking wet.

Step Four

The "just wet" mix will probably look a bit lumpy, turn your mixer to a higher speed for a 20 or 30 seconds or so, to smooth out the cake batter and get rid of those lumps. Don't mix for too long though, or you will over work the flour and your cupcakes won't be nice and light and fluffy.

Step Five

With the mixer running on slow speed again, pour the rest of the coconut and egg mixture down the side of the bowl. You should now have a lovely smooth glossy cake batter.

Step Six

Divide the batter between your cupcake cases. I like to use an ice cream scoop to get them all the same size. This scoop is a size 16, which means if you have a litre of ice cream, you would get 16 scoops out of your litre. Next time I make these, I might put more mixture in each baking case, the size 16 was perfect for the flat fondant topped cupcakes, a little more would have been good for the butter cream swirl cupcakes.

Step Seven

Put them in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. When cooked they will be a lovely soft brown colour and spring back when touched lightly on top.

Butter Cream Icing

Now to the star of the show, this lovely icing sugar from Sugar and Crumbs. As soon as you carefully open the bag, you know you have something special here, this icing sugar is so fine that billowy clouds escape as soon as you have a tiny peek and then you are surrounded with the amazing scent of coconut with a little citrusy spike of lime.

Recipe

You don't need a recipe, as such, for a traditional English Butter cream, it is made from equal quantities, measured by weight, of butter and icing (powdered / confectioners) sugar. 250g or 8 ounces of both will give you enough butter cream to pipe swirls on about 12 cupcakes. I live in Gloucestershire, England and the butter here is a gorgeous country yellow. For these cupcakes, I wanted a paler icing, to match the baking cases and also to complement the citrus shades of the decorations I was using, so, I used a mix of half butter and  half vegetable fat (Trex / Crisco).

Method

You need to make sure the butter is really soft before you start. You can soften butter by leaving it at room temperature for a couple of ideas, or microwave it on low power. Once softened, put the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer, with the "K" beater attached and give it a good beat round for a couple of minutes before you start. This is just to make sure it is soft and get it all nice and smooth. You need to sift the icing sugar, to make butter cream, if you don't, any lumps, not only spoil the texture of the butter cream, but, may also get stuck in your piping nozzle / tip later.

I know, you don't need to see pictures of how to sift icing sugar, but, I wanted you to see how fine this icing sugar is.

 Just a couple of taps and most of this icing sugar has fallen through the sieve already.

I don't know about you, but, the brand of icing sugar I normally buy has quite a few lumps and I have to work most of it through a sieve with a spoon. Not only is this inconvenient and time consuming, but, it can also be responsible for that grainy texture, you sometimes get with butter cream. Not so with this one from sugar and crumbs, after a few more shakes and taps, there were only these few small lumps in my pack. Practically nothing.

Sift in about half of the icing sugar, then cover your mixer with something, a tea towel usually works well and start mixing, on slow speed until the sugar is incorporated and the clouds of icing sugar have settled down. Then speed up and beat on high speed for a couple of minutes. Repeat with the other half of the icing sugar. Lift your beater and have a look.

If your icing looks like that above, it is not ready yet, put the beater back in and beat on high speed again, till it looks like the picture below. All ready for decorating.

Call back soon if you would like to see how these cupcakes were decorated and find out what I do with the other samples from Sugar and Crumbs.

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Berry Birthday Bundt Cake

A lot of people who enjoy my cakes, think that my husband must be very lucky to be married to me and have so many lovely cakes to eat. But, do you know what? He doesn't really like cake that much. With his Birthday approaching, I faced a little dilemma.

What sort of Birthday Cake do you make for the husband

that doesn't really like cake that much?

After much thought and mind changing I eventually decided on this berry bunt cake. I wanted to make a cake that looked so unctuously appetising that even a normally non-cake eater wouldn't be able to resist a piece.

This is the first can that I have ever baked in a bundt tin, I am so so pleased with the way it turned out. I used the Heritage bundt tin from Nordic Ware. Such a beautiful tin. When I started researching how to make one, I thought there were going to require a complex recipe with whisked egg whites or such like. To my great delight, it turns out they just require an ordinary pound cake, or equal measures type recipe. 

I added a few summer berries to my plain cake mix raspberries, blackberries and blueberries, baked it in my tin and look what popped out. I stood back in disbelief for a while, then called in my four year old son. I asked him whether he thought Daddy would like it?

"Daddy will like it so much he's gonna fall over"

For a Birthday Cake, I thought that I needed to spruce this up a little bit, so I started with a gentle dusting of icing sugar

Pretty, but not quite what I wanted, I made a little glace icing by mixing together some icing / confectioners sugar with a little hot water and then drizzled this over the cake, where it trickled in lovely rivulets between the swirls.

Hubby's Birthday tea is tonight, so we'll find out soon, whether he is tempted by the Berry bunt cake or not.

Recipe

As mentioned above I discovered in my research that you use an "equal measures" mix for a bunt cake. It seems that four eggs is about right for a 10" pan like this one and five eggs for a 12" pan.

Start by pre-heating your oven to 170C / 330F

Prepare your tin by coating with melted butter and the swishing round a little flour or use a non stick spray.

Our local eggs are very large. I weighed four in their shells and they weighed 263 grams. I used the same amount of

• baking margarine 
• caster / superfine sugar and
• self raising flour

I made my cake by creaming together the margarine and the sugar for about five minutes, then slowly beat in the eggs and gently folded in the flour untill just incorporated. Next I took

150g raspberries
150g blackberries
100g blueberries

and stirred them into the cake mix.

Pour the cake mix into the tin and give it a couple of good taps on the work surface to remove any bubbles and make sure the mixture travels all the way into the pointy swirls.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. When cooked, the cake will spring back lightly when pressed on top. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for a while then flip over and tip out

For my first time making a cake in a bunt tin, I am so pleased at how this turned out and can't wait to make another one!

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Summer Skies Buttercream Beauty

Sometimes a cake is the product of hours planning, slaving and perfecting, not today though, today's three layer vanilla sponge cake is just something pretty for tea, hastily photographed in my kitchen window to share with you.

The cake above is a (quickly snapped on my phone) picture of a Birthday cake that I made for the daughter of a colleague recently, I took it to work for the handover and some of the ladies and gents there were having a sneaky peek. One in particular, (you know who you are) was inhaling so deeply, he was practically drinking the cake through his nose! (Even though I do say so myself, it did smell delicious.)

Well, it just so happened that this particular colleague and his wife were popping over at the weekend for a walk and a spot of tea, so later on I enquired as to his favourite cake, he um-ed and ah-ed and eventually decided on ... "anything with buttercream" and so I promised him a buttercream cake for Saturday tea. Now this was all happened on Friday, so you can understand why this is one hastily put together cake, I decided that I would show it to you, with its imperfections, as sometimes a cake doesn't need to go in the fridge before you ice it, have a crumb coat before its top coat and hours and hours spent perfecting its icing.This whole cake was made on a Saturday morning whilst making breakfast and generally entertaining my beautiful boy.

Recipe

This is a three layer six inch cake and to make one of these you need a four egg mix.

Ingredients

Start by weighing four eggs in their shells, they will probably weigh about 200g or 8oz, or so, and then measure out equal amounts of

- butter or margarine

- caster sugar

- self raising flour

- 1tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Method

1. Cream together the butter, margarine and vanilla extract, if using, until really pale and fluffy

2. Beat the eggs a little to break them up

3. Slowly add the eggs (Add a tablespoon or so of the flour if the mixture curdles)

4. Finally add the flour. Once the flour is added - mix lightly until just combined.

Divide mixture equally between cake tins and bake at 350F / 180C for about 20 to 25 minutes.

Icing

The cake is iced with a simple buttercream icing. As the weather was warm and humid I used twice as much icing sugar as butter to ensure that the buttercream did not melt.

I wanted this buttercream to be sky blue. Blue can be difficult to achieve in buttercream because the buttercream is yellow in colour. To achieve a true blue, you need to take the yellow out of the butter, the way to do this (and i know it sounds strange) is to add violet to cancel our the yellow.

4oz / 250g butter softened

8oz / 500g icing / confectioners sugar

1tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Beat the butter with the vanilla extract, if using, until really soft. If you want to colour your icing, it is a good idea to add the colour now. Use the violet to cancel out the yellow - add a little at a time and beat until well mixed. When you have added enough, the butter will have turned to an unappealing shade of pale grey sludge. This is just what you want and the time to add your blue.

Next add the icing sugar about one third at a time, beating well after each addition until all incorporated. Spread and smooth your icing and then have fun with some piping. I piped the icing on this cake using a Wilton 32 nozzle / tip.

Hope you like it!

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Pink Peppermint Cupcakes

Pink Peppermint Cupcakes

These pink peppermint cupcakes were inspired by the infamous grasshopper pie. You haven't heard of Grasshopper Pie? Well, you are just going to have to google it yourself, I have a blog post to write!

My cupcakes evolved from the design in my head of a  peppermint cupcake atop an Oreo cookie encased in a silver cupcake case and topped with a creamy white frosting and a sprinkle of chocolate was brought to a rather abrupt halt by a severe lack of silver cupcake cases in the County of Gloucestershire, well the three shops that I had the chance to visit anyways.

And so, these are my pink peppermint cupcakes, still a surprise Oreo in the bottom, but now topped with a creamy and light pink peppermint frosting.

Peppermint Cupcake Recipe

Most traditional sponge cake recipes are an approximation of this traditional equal measures recipe.

Ingredients

You have to start by weighing your eggs in their shells. I used two eggs and this made 10 cupcakes. My two eggs weighed 137 grams. You need the same weight of

Margarine or butter

Caster / Superfine Sugar

Self-Raising Flour

Culinary Peppermint oil (I used Pure Peppermint Extract from Star Kay White)

Oreo Cookies (One for each cupcake)
Optional mint green food colouring

Method

Line your bun tin with your cupcake cases and pop an Oreo cookie in the base of each cupcake case if you want to use them

Cream together the margarine or butter, sugar and a teaspoon of the peppermint oil with a stand mixer, hand mixer or wooden spoon until light and creamy.

Beat in the eggs, mix well

Mix in the flour until just incorporated.

Things always taste better when they look like what they taste like, if you want to, add some mint green colouring. I used a mint green liquid colour from Squires Kitchen. (I think actually I overdid it a tiny bit)

Fill the cupcake cases with the batter until they are about two thirds full.

Bake at 180 C or 350 F for 15 to 20 minutes.

Fluffy Pink Peppermint Frosting

I delayed making these cupcakes for days, whilst I mused on what the frosting should be, then, I developed this recipe to be white because I wanted the frosting to have the look of whipped cream on top of the cupcake and then I decided to make the frosting pink!

Ingredients
250g / 5oz solid vegetable fat / shortening (Trex)
250g / 1 cup icing / confectioners sugar
1 397g / 8oz can condensed milk
2 to 4 teaspoons culinary peppermint oil

Mix the solid vegetable fat with about half the sugar and beat in a mixer or with a hand mixer until smooth.
Add the rest of the sugar and beat again until smooth
Next tip in the whole can of condensed milk and beat again until the icing is soft but still firm
Add 2 teaspoons of peppermint oil, mix in and then taste. Add a bit more peppermint if you like it more perpperminty.
Add a couple of drops of gel food colouring if you like. I used a tiny amount of Wilton Rose.

Decoration

Piping the Frosting

The frosting is piped with this Wilton Nozzle 2F

Hold the nozzle perpendicular to the cupcakes to get this flower effect. Squeeze slowly and pause before lifting the bag.

Pipe the flower in the centre first and then pipe a circle of flowers around it. Finish by piping another flower on top of the first one in the middle



Making the Fondant Birds


You will need

A little sugar paste / fondant or modelling fondant in whatever colour you fancy. I coloured mine with a tiny amount of Wilton Gel colour in Leaf

A bird mould. This is the Wilton Nature Mould

Lustre dust. I used Squires Kitchen Magic Fairy Sparkle in Absinthe

Mould the birds by pushing a small amount of fondant into the mould. Press down gently and remove any excess fondant. Then gently flex the mould and lift the moulded fondant out. If you find your fondant is stretchy and or sticky, pop the fondant into the fridge for 20 minutes and then try again.




Add the lustre by dipping a clean paint brush into the lustre and gently brush it over your moulded bird

I thought you might like to see the difference between the bird moulded in fondant and what it looks like when it is brushed with the lustre.

Pop one of the birds on top of each cupcake and you are finished.

One last thing - Grasshopper Pie Recipes. Just in case you were still wondering

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