Jewelled Flower Cupcakes

I see lots of beautiful sets of cupcakes, usually made by English ladies, made of complimentary flowers and colours, each slightly different to the other, usually referred to as "vintage", I love these and want to make a set one day. BUT ... Firstly, I struggle to find time to make 20 or 30 of each of the different flowers and pearls and leaves and other beautiful things that are required and secondly, there is always one design that I like more than the others and that is the only one that I want to make, which I suppose is why mostly, my sets of cupcakes or cookies are all the same.

So, here I am, with only a couple of evenings to spare, needing to make some cupcakes to be sold for charity at a craft fair and wanting to make something more than a buttercream swirl with some sprinkles. Everybody loves sprinkles and I love sprinkles, I just wanted to make something a little more me. One of my aims is to learn to make more sugar flowers and I haven't done as many as I would have liked, so seized this opportunity to make some for the cupcakes.

I suppose this flower is a fantasy flower. It is reminiscent, to me, of a peony, although it is made with a hollyhock cutter. The one I used is from a Sunflower Sugarart set. I love the crinkly outline of the petals.

The Cupcakes were made with this recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Recipe book and my own chocolate butter cream recipe. The chocolate butter cream swirls are piped with a Wilton 1M nozzle.

Making the flowers

You will need

1. Flower cutter and silicone veiner. I used one from Sunflower Sugarart

2. Sugar florist paste in whatever colour you want to use for the petals.

3. Sugar florist paste in whatever colour you want to use for the centres.

4. A ball tool

5. A Dresden tool

6. Round flower formers. I used ones from Wilton, or you can scrunch tin foil into shape

7. A mould for the centre of the flower. The one I used is the Karen Davies Vintage Brooch Mould

8. Lustre dusts and edible glitter. See below for the details of the ones I used.

9. A little vegetable fat (trex/crisco), cornflour / cornstarch and a little edible glue.

Start by rolling out the sugar florist paste as thin as you can and cut out a flower shape. Use the ball tool to stretch the petals and thin the edges a little.

Press the cut out and thinned flower between the two parts of the silicone mould and press together to add the veining. You will notice that the two parts of the mould have  little notch so that you can line them up properly.

I wanted my veining to be a little more prominent, so I used a Dresden tool to make some of the markings deeper. This flower doesn't really look that special yet, it is amazing how it is transformed with a little lustre, a centre and a shape.

I popped the veined flowers into some curved flower formers to take shape whilst I made some centres for the flowers. I  knew that I wanted a stylised centre for my flower, first of all I tried this moulded button, below. It is cute, but, not quite what I was looking for.

Next, I tried the little jewelled centre, below. This was just the look I wanted, so I set about transforming it with a little petal dust, lustre dust and edible glitter.

The mould that I used for the centres, is this Vintage Brooch Mould by Karen Davies.

Moulds are so easy to use, take a small ball of sugar florist paste and work it till soft, roll it into a little ball and press it into the mould that you want to use. Smooth around the edges and remove any excess, then pop out the moulded paste

To paint the centres, I used:-

1. Sugarflair pearl ivory lustre dust all over
2. Edible Art edible glitter in baby blue in the centre
3. Sugarflair  autumn leaf petal dust to add colour around the outside
4. Squires Kitchen gold sparkles on top of the autumn leaf colour

After sticking the jewelled centre in the centre of the flower with a little water, I brushed a little more of the gold sparkles lustre dust on the centre of the petals

Then, back in the flower former to finish drying

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Giant Chocolate and Caramel Cupcake

I was telling you about the cakes I was making to be raffled for charity, this is The Giant Cupcake. It is a chocolate sponge topped with caramel frosting and then decorated with sugar flowers. You can find out more about the sugar flowers here. 

This giant cupcake was in response to popular demand, as a lot of my friends and colleagues had asked for a giant cupcake. I wanted to make a beehive cake. In the end I made both, more about the beehive cake next time.

I have made a couple of vanilla Giant Cupcakes before including this Alice in Wonderland themed one, so I decided to go for chocolate instead. I added caramel flavouring to the buttercream by stirring in some, well, almost a whole jar, of Dulde de Leche.

The wrapper part of the giant cupcake is covered in chocolate sugar paste.

My hubby said that he thought that this was the nicest cake I have ever made :o). 

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John and Fiona - The Happiest Bride and Groom Ever

You remember a little while ago, I showed you my Wedding Cupcake Preview? Well, this is the cupcake tower that this lovely Bride decided upon. Seven tiers of vanilla cupcakes decorated in shell pink and a soft minty green with hundreds of little pink sugar petunias and the whole tower decorated with fresh flowers. A soft country feel for a beautiful Country Wedding and a lovely opportunity for me to put this together for John and Fiona, friends who live in our village.

Fiona chose a combination of three different cupcakes, one piped with ruffles and covered all over with sugar petunias

This lovely palest pink one, with a soft fondant dome and a butter cream swirl, all to be displayed in these laser cut cupcake wrappers.

And finally topped off with a 5 inch cutting cake. A cutting cake is important to many couples as traditionally cutting the cake is the first thing that the newlyweds do together as man and wife.

And, here it is, the seven tiers of cupcakes in all their glory.

It was an honour and a privilege to create this cupcake tower for such a lovely couple and I wish them many, many more happy decades together. Oh, that's right I haven't mentioned, this lovely couple have already spent three decades together before tying the knot, there were many, many jokes at the reception about the oldest stag in the Forest and the longest engagement in history. Incidentally, the longest engagement in history is usually credited to Octavio Guillen and Adriana Martinez who got engaged at 15 years old in 1902 and eventually married when they were both 82 in 1967.

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Best Ever Red Velvet Cupcakes

You know that I said to you when I showed you my Red Velvet Valentine Springerle Cookies, the other day, that I was not too keen on those bright red velvet cakes, because a red velvet cake is meant to be a chocolate cake? Well, I was out shopping with my son at the weekend and we had stopped in a well known chain of coffee shop, here in England, for a spot of lunch and I saw that they had a "New" Red Velvet cake of the very, very red variety. I think it is important to keep an open mind about these things and so, I decided, purely in the interests of research, that I ought to try a piece.

I am sorry to say, that I have rarely been so disappointed in a cake. The frosting / icing was passable, I suppose, though I don't think it was of the cream cheese variety usually accompanying a red velvet sponge, it did have a nice vanilla flavour. Then cake however was spongey like a bath sponge in texture and the only thing it tasted of was red food colouring. In fact, I didn't actually finish the cake and this has only happened once before, when in a local garden centre, I was served the largest piece of mint aero cheesecake you have even seen.

So today, I am going to share my red velvet cupcake recipe (a proper one with chocolate) with you and show you my first experiments with edible icing. I have to warn you up front that this cupcake recipe is an unusual method. If you don't get on with the traditional creaming method, then, this recipe is one you should try. The first time I made it, I was almost to arrogant to follow the recipe given, thinking to myself, "that's not how you make a cake", thankfully though, I did follow the given method and this makes a really lovely cake. You will also note, that the recipe has considerably less fat than a conventional cake recipe. The recipe given makes about 12 cupcakes and you will need a stand mixer to make them

Cake Recipe

(Oz referred to are imperial UK)

100g / 4oz plain flour
20g / 1oz cocoa powder
140g / 5oz caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
40g 1 1/2 oz unsalted butter / margarine
120ml / 4 fl oz whole milk
1 egg
1tbsp LorAnn Red Velvet Emulsion*

*If you don't have the Lorann red velvet emulsion use a teaspoon of red gel colour and for a more authentic flavour, replace the milk with buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 165 C Fan / 170 C / 325 F
Get your tin and cake cases ready

1. Mix together the egg, milk and red colouring or emulsion in a suitable sized jug
2. Measure the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and baking powder and butter into your mixer bowl
3. Mix with "K" beater on low speed until the mixture turns into fine crumbs
4. Slowly start to pour in the milk and egg mix until the mixture just turns to liquid
5. Stop pouring and turn up the speed of the mixer for about 1 minute to get rid of any lumps
6. Switch back to low speed and our in the rest of the milk and egg mix
7. Spoon the mix into cupcake cases
8. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes

Here is the cupcake with all its red, but chocolatey, glory exposed

Frosting / icing recipe

(Oz referred to are imperial UK)

Every good red velvet cupcake must be topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting / icing flavoured with vanilla. This is the recipe I  used. Both the buttercream and the cream cheese need to be soft before you start

250g / 8oz unsalted butter
1tsp of vanilla bean paste or vanilla flavouring of your choice
350g / 12oz icing sugar
300g / 10oz Cream cheese

1. Put the softened butter and vanilla into mixer and beat for couple of minuted
2. Add half the icing sugar and beat again until all mixed through*
3. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat until all mixed through
4. Finally add the cream cheese and beat until all combined

*You may wish to drape a clean kitchen towel over your mixer before switching it on so that the icing sugar does not blow all over the kitchen in clouds

Decoration

Everbody's favourite, the buttercream swirl. The black specks you can see are the vanilla bean seeds from the vanilla bean paste that I used. I piped this by holding the piping bad at 90 degrees to the cupcake, piping a rose out from the centre and piping another layer on top for the swirl

I had been trying to get hold of some large Ateco tips / nozzles for piping buttercream swirls, but have found them quite hard to find. I decided that I would try this one from purple cupcakes. To my delight when it arrived I found that it was the very Ateco 855 that I had been trying to track down. Just to give you an idea of the size of this top / nozzle, here it is below next to the Wilton 32 I used for piping the cupcakes shoe further down the page and the Wilton 1M which I often use for a buttercream swirl

I tried some sprinkles on the top as well

Edible Images

A little while ago, I tried some edible images on my cookies, as shown below, so thought I would try some on my cupcakes too. I find using the edible images a bit tricky, but, I do really like the results they give. The images arrive on a sheet of 12 little icing circles. Before using them you wait for them to dry a little and then carefully detach them from the sheet. I did this by rubbing the sheet over the edge of my worktop. The you put them on top of freshly rolled sugar paste, gently smooth them dow and then cut out the shape you want with a cutter.

First of all, I tried the same technique as the cookies and placed sugar paste with the edible image on top of some piped buttercream.

This isn't quite the look that I wanted, so, I used a different shape for cutting the sugar paste after having applied the edible image. Much happier with this one.

The frosting was piped with a wilton 32 and looks like this underneath the edible image

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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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Blossoming Caramel Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes

When I was making these, I was thinking that they would be another glamorous brownie, but, I am not really sure whether a cupcake brownie can qualify as a glamorous brownie. They are quite glamorous though, aren't they?



























These are easy to make, hardly need any specialist equipment and they taste really delicious too. I made my chocolate brownie cupcakes using the Hummingbird Bakery traditional brownie recipe, but, you can use any recipe you like from scratch or from a box. When the batter is mixed, fill cupcake cases about two thirds full, just as you would for a regular cupcake and bake. You will need to bake for about 10 minutes less than your recipe states. Remember that brownies are cooked when they are still a bit undercooked in the middle!

When the brownies come out of the oven, they will have beautifully risen domed tops and your house will be filled with the delicious smell of chocolate. Don't let your heat sink as the brownes sink a little in the centre. This is what gives them their lovely fudgy texture and when they are decorated you won't notice

This is all you need to decorate them.

1. A little chocolate sugar paste (fondant)












2. A teeny tiny blossom cutter plunger












3. A star shaped nozzle. This is a Wilton 2D
4. A batch of caramel butter cream (recipe follows)

Making the teeny-tiny chocolate blossoms

If you can, make your teeny-tiny chocolate blossoms the day before you are going to use them. It doesn't really matter, giving them a chance to dry out a bit means they keep their shape better when you use them. You need 7 blossoms per cupcake brownie, this recipe gave me 12 cupcake brownies, so that was 84 blossoms! Always make a few more for luck.

1. Roll out a small amount of chocolate sugar past thinly
2. Cut out the blossoms using the cutter.
3. Lift the cutter with a bit of a sideways flick - you should have your newly cut blossom inside.
4. Shape the blossom by pressing down the plunger gently onto a foam sugar craft pad if you have one.
(I usually just press my forefinger and middle finger together and plunge the blossom gently between the two. Place the blossoms somewhere to dry.)

Caramel Buttercream

Buttercream is one of those really flexible recipes that you can't really go too far wrong with. The traditional English recipes vary from between equal amounts of butter and icing (powdered / confectioners) sugar to twice the amount of icing sugar to butter.


For this caramel buttercream I used equal amounts:

250g / 8oz / 2 sticks butter (softened)
250g / 8oz / 1 cup icing / powdered / confectioners sugar
Tin or jar of caramel (at least 200g / 6oz)

The tin of caramel I had weighed a little under 400g / 12oz. You actually only need about 200g (6 oz) to get a good caramel flavour, I didn't have any use for the rest of the can, so I just tipped it all in. For buttercream you need to use really soft butter. Leave the butter at room temperature for a couple of hours to soften up, or give it 10 seconds on low in the microwave.


Method

Put the butter into your mixer and beat really well (or use a hand mixer). You need it to be really smooth. Star nozzles have a narrow centre so any lumps of butter will get stuck. When the butter is soft and smooth add about half the icing sugar and beat until really well incorporated, then add the the rest of the icing sugar ad beat until the butter cream is looking lovely and soft and fluffy. Finally add the caramel and beat until just incorporated.

Decorating

Put your piping nozzle into a piping bag and fill the bag with the caramel buttercream. Pipe a couple of test flowers. If the flowers don't hold their shape, pop the piping bag in the fridge for 10 minutes or so to firm up a little.

Start by piping a flower in the middle.

Hold the piping bag upright and pipe slowly, then pause and lift slowly.

Pipe six flowers around the edge

Pipe a final flower on top of the one in the centre

Then carefully place a teeny-tiny blossom onto each flower



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