Blueberry Flowered Cupcakes

Sometimes I end up with too many cupcakes from a order and, since I don't want to end up 25 stone and sofa-bound, I have to get them out the house as soon as possible! Luckily I had a retirement party to go to last night and decided to turn my six blueberry cupcakes into a beautiful box of summery flowers. Somehow I managed to accidentally match half the decor of the party (bright blue), although the other half was a gorgeous royal purple, which has definitely inspired a new box!

World Cup Final Cupcakes

I made these on request for a musician friend who was having a World Cup Final party. He wanted suitable flavours and colours for the two countries and a trophy cake. For the Spanish cakes, I chose red vanilla icing and a mixed spice/nutmeg sponge with fresh strawberry pieces. For Holland I had to go with a chocolate orange sponge and orange flavoured orange icing - orange, orange, orange! I couldn't think how to make a replica trophy (particularly at 11.45pm) so I used edible lustre dust to colour vanilla buttercream gold and used the same powder on the letters spelling out 2010. I couldn't resist making the mini yellow and red cards for the referee cake - just in case they didn't get the bright yellow icing!

Brandy Buttercream Moustache Cupcakes

My other alcoholic cupcake of the week is the equally delicious, if less summery, Brandy Buttercream Cupcakes. I made these for the comedy show Take the Empire which is based around the idea of a Victorian gameshow. I needed an old-man, posh-type flavour and decided on using brandy (the classic upper-class male after-dinner drink). The final cupcake was a vanilla sponge with brandy buttercream icing, for which I used a creamy brandy liqueur. The brandy really brought out the rich vanilla flavour and, along with those moustaches, went down an absolute storm! All proceeds went to the North London Hospice, a charity which is exceptionally close to my heart as they looked after my father wonderfully in his last weeks. I hope to be selling cakes at the monthly comedy night and continuing sending money to these amazing people who receive no government funding and rely solely on donations.

Pina Colada Cupcakes

While external temperatures hit 30 degrees in London, I have been stuck in my kitchen for the last two days baking for a school summer fair, a comedy night (more of that later) and for a hen party. I say 'stuck' when obviously I love it or I wouldn't be doing it! However, by the time you've made 30 moustaches out of black Regal ice using a sharp knife and a cocktail stick... well, painstaking is the word. "That looks boring," said my kitchen-sharer.

These Pina Colada cupcakes (pictured above) are part of my current experiment to incorporate alcohol into my recipes because after all, cupcakes aren't just for kids! I'm not someone who loves cupcakes for their sprinkles. For me, a cupcake is a miniature dessert. A few bites of deliciousness (or one large mouthful if you're my official cake-testing other half) without the guilt of sneaking those extra slivers of a full-size cake which really add up to a whole other slice by the time you're finished! I searched the internet for a decent recipe but in the end decided to adapt a basic vanilla cupcake from the trusted Primrose Bakery book, which I really can't recommend enough!

Ingredients

110g unsalted butter, room temperature

225g golden caster sugar

2 large free-range eggs, room temperature

150g self-raising flour, sifted

125g plain flour, sifted

120ml coconut milk (in the world foods aisle at any supermarket)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 large fresh pineapple, cut into small pieces (1 tin would probably be fine)

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180C (160C fan oven / 350F / gas mark 4) and line a 12-hole tin muffin pan with cases (I always use muffin cases rather than fairy cake cases)

Cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is pale and smooth (several minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing for a few minutes after each addition.

Combine the flours in a separate bowl and combine the coconut milk and vanilla in a small jug.

Add 1/3 flours to the creamed mixture, beating well. Add 1/3 milk mixture and beat well. Repeat until all the ingredients have been mixed in.

Stir in the pineapple. Use as much or as little as you like, depending on the size of the pieces.

Spoon the mixture into the cases, filling them to about 2/3 full. Bake for about 25 minutes until the tops are golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and leave in their tins for at least five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. I really recommend investing in one of these as sitting them on a plate can leave the bottoms greasy!

Rum and Coconut Buttercream

110g unsalted butter, room temperature

2 tbsp Malibu (coconut rum) - add more to taste

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp coconut milk

400g icing sugar

Desiccated coconut to decorate

Mix all ingredients together. Add more Malibu to your personal taste! Remember if you add a lot, you may need to add more icing sugar to keep it thick. Keep tasting!

Either pipe using an icing bag and star tip or cover with a dome of icing and dip in desiccated coconut. I made the flowers out of Regal ice.

I think these would be perfect for a hen party or girls' night out when you want to bring something delicious but grown up and maybe a little boozy!

As always, contact me for prices or more information. Sold in boxes of six and 12.

Stay tuned for more Cocktail Cupcakes!

Maple Pecan Cupcakes

These were my very first cupcakes created from my own recipe, as part of a box set called Jazz Cakes. This consists of two Whisper Nut (maple pecan sponge with maple buttercream), two Someday My Mints Will Come (chocolate sponge with peppermint buttercream) and two Mousse the Mooche (chocolate sponge with chocolate mousse icing).

I started with a recipe for ginger cake and changed the sugar, added maple syrup and, of course, the toasted pecans, to make a cake that is almost a muffin and could probably be eaten without any icing. The taste I was going for was dark and rich like maple syrup but not too overwhelmingly sweet like a treacle tart. My trusty taste-testers all raved about it (even the nut-haters) and they have sold extremely well this week!

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter, room temperature

175g light soft brown sugar

3 tablespoons maple syrup

150ml semi-skimmed milk, room temperature

2 large eggs, free-range, beaten

300g self-raising flour, sifted

1/2 tablespoon nutmeg

1/2 tablespoon mixed spice

Pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g pecans

Method

First, lightly toast the pecans in the oven. They shouldn't take more than five minutes. Cool on a plate and roughly chop.

Pre-heat the oven to 180C (160C fan oven) / 350F / gas mark 4 and line your muffin trays with cupcake cases.

Melt the butter, sugar and maple syrup in a pan on a low heat, stirring slowly and continuously. As soon as you have a dark, smooth syrup, take off the heat and put to one side.

Add the pecans to the beaten eggs and add to the syrup mixture with the vanilla, combining thoroughly.

Sift the flour, spices and salt and add to the warm mixture, combining thoroughly.

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases (I use a dessert spoon or an ice cream scoop but a jug would work really well with this thin mixture). Fill about 2/3 of each case. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Test with a cake tester, a skewer (should come out clean) or gently press the top of the cake (it should spring back).

Maple Buttercream Icing

The buttercream I make is called American buttercream (as opposed to Swiss, Italian, French...) and does not use eggs, as the others do. It can be stored in an airtight container for up to three days or if you're worried you can refrigerate it. Make sure you bring it back to room temperature before using.

Ingredients

110g unsalted butter, room temperature

350g icing sugar (or more or less to taste)

1 tsp vanilla extract

A splash of milk roughly equal to 1 tsp

Maple Syrup (to taste)

Beat all ingredients together, adding the icing sugar and maple syrup in small amounts to get your desired taste. If your butter isn't quite room temperature, cut into small pieces and beat first before adding the icing sugar - otherwise your kitchen will have a coating of white powder! Make sure you beat until the icing is very smooth and delicious!

I used a disposable icing bag and a star tip to make mine but you can ice yours any way you like! Drizzle with maple syrup and top with a pecan... mmm!

Seriously delicious and moreish.

Well hello there...

I am not a professional baker. I am not a pastry chef. I have not studied in Paris or at a culinary school. I have had absolutely no training. Let's get those facts out of the way first!

I just love baking in all forms and hope to share my triumphs, disasters, recipes and late night shopping missions with you lovely people. Everything I know has come from the beautiful books published by my favourite bakeries, some amazing cake blogs and youtube videos.

In the last months I have progressed from basic cake recipes to designing my own combinations, teaching myself the art of (simple-ish) sugarcraft and selling over 100 cupcakes in one week (that was last week... I still haven't caught up on my sleep).

Hopefully my cake-related shenanigans will help some of you and I'll post my new recipes as I think of them.