Strawberry Milkshake Cupcakes

Now it's officially summer, or at least, the British version of it (only us Brits would dash outside, with an ice-cold Pimms in hand, ready for some hardcore sunbathing when in reality it's only a little bit sunny, with a surprising chill of those subzero temperatures offered in January still in the air. We will get rid of those faded vest top tan lines, we will…we will.) And that means that it's time to bake in accordance with these new (not to subtropical) climes, so this weekend I whipped up some heavenly Strawberry Milkshake Cupcakes. Bake and enjoy them, I urge you.

These little cakes have plenty of fresh ingredients in them, so it's best to ensure they are kept chilled which, to be honest, adds to the various thrills these little cakes offer. They are a fresh, cakey milkshake of a treat and, if you're anything like me, then you will have often guzzled down a milkshake and thought, "What's the one thing that could make this more heavenly?" and left yourself with no other option or answer, other than, "if it was cakey. Yeh, that would be good."
Although to be honest, that's a relatively standard way to make things better in my world. Oh, the cakiness, the chilledness and oh, OH, the milkshakiness. All hail the almighty flavour-combining powers of the cupcake.

As you can see from my pictures, I topped mine with half a strawberry which looks adorable and more than a little bit British Summertime themed, however do be aware this may shorten the shelf life of your cakes. If you don't eat your cakes quickly once they're baked (I've never known or affiliated myself with someone who is like this, but I'm told that such people exist) then you may wish to replace this with something that's blessed with a little more longevity; there's a time and a place for a trusty sprinkle.

Phew, that's enough of my cake-loving/general ramblings. Here's the recipe for you, go forth and bake.

Ingredients (makes approx 12 cupcakes) :

For the sponge:

70g butter
250g caster sugar
2 large eggs
210g plain flour
100g strawberry milkshake powder (Nesquick is the money shot)
1 tbsp baking powder
220ml semi-skimmed milk

For the icing:

190g butter
600g icing sugar
70ml semi-skimmed milk
175g of strawberry milkshake powder
6 fresh strawberries, halved to decorate
(A couple of drops of red food colouring is optional at this point, don't go made with it though or you'll have a chemically tasting cake problem on your hands)

Method:

1.) Preheat your oven to 170 degrees (based on a fan assisted oven) and select some adorable cupcake cases (take your time choosing these, it's a moment of creative self-indulgence that I truly enjoy, and a little of it, I'm convinced, does you good.)

2.) Beat together all the sponge ingredients until smooth and light, before spooning into the cases and cooking for 20-25 minutes, or until they are cooked through.

3.) Remove and leave to cool completely. This should take approximately one hour, so go walk your dog, read that book you're enjoying or watch a short film but definitely don't fill this time with anything horrid. No ironing, eating salad or talking to boring people, please. Please promise me you won't.

4.) Beat together all the frosting ingredients and pipe onto your cakes before finishing off with half a fresh strawberry (or a failsafe sprinkle or two, as discussed.)

5.) Sit back, eat, get all nostalgic about how these cakes taste of your childhood summers and then go get another one. Blame me, I'm ok with it.

6.) Repeat

Frome Independent Market Bakes

On the first Sunday of every month, The Frome Independent Market takes place and it's fast become something I wait the remaining 28-30 days to come around again.

The whole of Frome becomes a sea of stalls selling a lot of locally produced foodie goodness, cute little trinkets, handmade candles and fantastic pictures, paintings and drawings created by local talent. It's an inspiring place to be for a few hours. 

When I went I came back with a haul that included a gorgeous hot air balloon notebook, a heart shaped brie (the one thing that could make brie any better is being heart shaped), a vanilla scented candle in an old milk bottle which, by happy coincidence, had my boyfriend's name on it, a homemade jar of 'slim jim' marmalade, a box of bath melts and bath bombs from Herbs on the Hill and lastly, the showstopper, a box of Earl Grey marshmallows, made by EatToastDunkMe.

These gorgeous marshmallows are cubes of white with a unique purple swirl throughout eat piece, making them as visually appealing as they are delicious. I simply had to bake with them, they near enough begged for me to.

I decided to make earl grey and lemon cupcakes, with an earl grey marshmallow chunk aloft and it resulted in one of the nicest moments of what I like to call 'afternoon-tea-me-time', I've ever had.

I'm going to share my recipe with you all now, but I must insist you invest in and use the EatToastDunkMe marshmallows for the top - nothing else will do. For my cupcakes I used two-tone icing (theres a post a few months back on my blog on how to do this!) this is of course optional, but it is wonderfully in keeping with the marshmallow on top.

Recipe

Ingredients for the Sponge:

• 4 Earl Grey Teabags
• 3 tbsp boiled water
• 80g butter
• 280g caster sugar
• 240g plain flour
• 1tbsp baking powder
• 200ml whole milk
• 2 large eggs

Ingredients for the Frosting:

• 80g of unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 250g icing sugar
• The zest of five lemons
• A few drops of yellow food colouring (optional but pretty!)
• 25 ml of whole milk 

Method:

1. Firstly, pop four earl grey teabags into a mug, with three tbsp of boiling water and just leave to stew while you prepare the rest of the mixture. A lot of recipes will tell you to use less teabags or not leave them to stew for as long, but I don't think the flavour comes through strong enough otherwise, especially with the rather citrusy icing I have in created for the top (you're in for a treat with that, lemon lovers!)
2. Then choose your cupcake cases/any decorations you wish to use - for regular bakers this is arguably one of the loveliest parts of the baking process, so feel free to take your time with this - then place them into your cupcake baking tray and heat your oven to 170 degrees (based on a fan assisted oven.)
3. Lastly, beat together your sponge ingredients, until smooth, adding the earl grey brew last, before spooning into your cupcake cases. Only fill each cupcake case to about half full (of half empty, depending on your life viewpoint) otherwise the mixture will spill out while cooking and cupcakes simply must be beautiful, dahhhhhling.
4. Cook your cakes for around 30 minutes, until cooked through before leaving to cool completely. I usually allow about an hour for this - just enough time to take a bath or watch a couple of episodes of the Big Bang Theory or, on the right day, have a self-indulgent afternoon nap. Whatever you do with you time, enjoy.
5. Once completely cool, get zesting those lemons and beat together your frosting ingredients. If you do decided to go two-tone (and why wouldn't you) simply spoon half of the mixture into your piping bag and add purple food colouring to the remaining half, before spooning into the other half of the bag.
6. Then simply pipe onto the cakes, starting from the edge and working your way in or, if you like a little less icing then simply pipe straight onto the middle to create on 'iced gem' sort of shape. This looks beautiful too. Then decorate as you wish. Serve and enjoy.

Banana Bread with Naughty Chocolate Chunks

 Normally I'm an advocate of cupcakes, however last weekend I decided to try my hand at a loaf cake, a cake form which I've always found to be notoriously dry and therefore, a cake form I was determined to make moist (gah, I hate that word, but there's none better) and one which didn't need to be accompanied by a litre of water, just to make it manageable.

Upon the commencement of this bake up, I poured myself a glass of wine - relatively straight forward protocol for a Friday evening baking session - which led to me deciding to use up a 300g bar of Dairy Milk in my loaf, you know…just to make things more interesting.

I substituted out a few ingredients I found in online recipes, because I was pretty convinced things like light brown sugar would work far better than caster sugar and I was far more generous with the bananas than most recipes tell you to be.

I enjoyed mine with a steaming hot, sugary cup of Graze's Afternoon Infusion, which is ultimately a strong cup of earl grey, which was just perfect. Let me know how you enjoy yours!

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 270g soft light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 large bananas
• 280g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 140g unsalted butter, melted
• 300g Dairy Milk (or a chocolate of your choosing.)

Method (as we know, I like to keep it simple.)

• You will need a 23x13cm loaf tin which you will need to grease, there's no need to line it with greaseproof paper and then you will need to heat your oven (based on a fan assisted one) to 170 degrees.
• Then mix together all the ingredients listed above, aside from the peeled bananas and optional (well, optionalish, I can't force you but I can apply light pressure and that light pressure tells you it's a good idea to do so) Dairy Milk/other such milk chocolate. These ingredients will seem quite thick, but the addition of the banana adds just the right amount of fluidity. 
• Once you have beaten all these ingredients together, simply pop chunks of your banana into the mixture and beat in, until relatively smooth - if you have the occasional bit left in there, don't worry, these add to the fun once cooked!
• Finally, drop in those wondrous chocolatey cubes and mix well, before pouring into your pre-prepared tin and popping in the oven for approximately 45 minutes, or until firm. Just ensure that the mixture is cooked all the way through using a skewer or knife. If it comes out entirely clean then you're good to take the loaf out and allow to cool.

Once completely cool, brew yourself the perfect cup of your favourite tea, put on those dodgy slippers you own but never show to anyone, find your favourite spot and just sit and take time to enjoy. 

Creme Egg Frosted Brownies

Presumably if you're reading this post then you've found this post  via a chocolatey hashtag, meaning you're in search of tasty, calorific inspiration, so welcome, friend. Please come on in.

Each weekend I try to have a bake off, something that is impressive visually, or tasty or that makes my house smell heavenly - if I reach all three, then I've had a truly successful day. Today was that successful day. A day where Cadbury's Creme Eggs and Hummingbird Bakery's Frosted Brownies came together in a beautiful, unspeakable-amount-of-calories-but-such-great-fun, unison.

I'm about to share my recipe with you, which differs a little from Hummingbirds original recipe and, from what I can see, is far simpler than recipes I found online which insist you used the dreaded bain-marie and sift all ingredients. Show me a modern woman who still believes that a microwave doesn't do the same job as a bain-marie in half the time and that things actually need sifting and I'll show you my resting bitch face. A face which shows my disbelief and disinterest.

There is one bit of advice I will give you for these brownies, a thought which crossed my mind in this exact way while stood in the supermarket earlier on, (while shovelling enough Creme Eggs into my basket to begin to wonder whether I should have chosen a trolley instead and loudly exclaiming that I have a lot of cousins to think about for Easter, so people wouldn't believe each one was for my own purposes), you're baking Creme Egg brownies, CREME EGG ONES. One, two or even four Creme Eggs simply won't do, we don't want to hint at Creme Eggs, we want to explode Creme Eggs all over whichever unlucky, clean plate we have chosen to eat it off. We want Easter all up in and around our mouths and we don't want to explain, worry or doubt it.

Please use no less than ten Creme Eggs for this fondanty, chocolately dream, blame whatever happens to the middle of your body on me. I'm alright with that.

So, the recipe. Firstly, you will need:

For the brownie:

10 CREME EGGS (incase not already noted)
5 normal boring eggs
120g plain flour
100g cacao powder (I used raw, organic cacao powder because I had to give a nod to my health somewhere in there.)
250g salted butter (the unsalted butter thing is also a myth. Next time you crack open a recipe book, have a look at the ingredients, you'll often find unsalted butter and salt listed as two of the ingredients.)
30g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

For the frosting:

200g icing sugar
75g salted butter
30g cacao powder
150g cream cheese

Here comes my slap dash, Jamie Oliver (minus the lisp) method, which saves you a bunch of time and gets you a whopping slice on your plate an awful lot quicker.

Head your oven to 170 degrees (based on a fan oven) and line a baking tray (33 x 23 x 5cm) with greaseproof paper. If it doesn't fit, which it never does, and you don't want ugly corners, then just cut a square into each corner and you'll find that the paper sits perfectly.

Beat ALL ingredients, aside from the Creme Eggs, together in a bowl until there are no unsightly lumpy bits, it takes a good three minutes for this to happen, don't be put off.

Once this is done, spoon all your mixture into the baking tray and flatten off, ensuring the majority is even. Don't stress too much about this, as it warms up it flattens off anyway.

Bake for 15 minutes and take this opportunity to have some fun cutting up Creme Eggs, ready for brownie sacrifice.

Once your 15 minutes are up, take the brownie out and push your Creme Egg halves into the top of it. Bake for a further 15 minutes.

Once done, leave to cool completely before beating all your frosting ingredients together and spreading over the top of your brownie, like the ultimate chocolate spread on the ultimate chocolatey toast.

Cut up and impress everyone. You will make new friends with a slice of this brownie. Cake makes you popular.

Enjoy!

Banoffee Cupcakes

After being with my boyfriend for nearly a year, my love of baking all things pretty and cupcakey, has become the world's worst kept secret amongst his friends. So please, just for a moment, imagine my surprise when his muscly, tattoo-covered best friend let slip that he also has a love for all things pretty and cupcakey.
Following this bombshell, some entirely unsubtle hints were dropped about banoffee being his flavour of choice. This fact came conveniently to my attention the week before his birthday, and here we are...twelve baked banoffee cupcakes later...

These cupcakes are super sweet, with a subtle banana infusion. The sponge is much like banana bread, for which I used fresh, mashed bananas. The gluttonous buttercream is a heavenly mixture of butter and dulce de leche. 
All these gorgeous aspects make this a little banoffee cake, that captures a whole lot of perfect.

Makes twelve cakes

Method

For the sponge:

80g butter
280g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
240ml semi skimmed milk
2 tbsp vanilla essence
2 large eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed

• Preheat your oven to 190ºC (Gas Mark 5) and prepare a 12-hole deep muffin tray with cases of your choice. 
• Place your butter, caster sugar, plain flour, baking powder, milk, vanilla essence and eggs into a mixing bowl and beat together until your mixture is smooth. 
• Then mash three ripe bananas, until they have the texture of a paste. 
• Mix your bananas into your preprepared cake mix.
• When well combined, spoon the mixture evenly between your cases. (TIP: only half fill your cake cases to ensure an even rise and no overspill.)
• Bake for 20 minutes. 
• Remove and leave to cool completely. 

For the buttercream:

500g icing sugar

160g butter

50ml semi skimmed milk

100g dulce de leche (or a toffee syrup of some sort, e.g. a toffee ice-cream sauce.)

• Beat all of your ingredients together until fluffy. 
• Frost your cupcakes however you wish.

For my decoration, I opted for various different cases and topped each one with a swirl of squirty cream, a slice of fresh banana and a sprinkle of grated milk chocolate. 

Using a variety of cases always makes me think of parties you attended when you were a young child, and when was a day spent in a soft-play area, followed by ice-cream/jelly and pretty cakes ever not fun? Never, precisely. 

So, enjoy these banoffee miniatures, they're more than a little bit wonderful.

Enjoy, K x

Fudgy, Caramelly Cupcakes

When you're with a man who appreciates your baking, his birthday is the perfect excuse to go a bit crazy with calories.
He dropped some not-so-subtle hints about liking caramel, so I ran with the idea and ended up with a fluffy caramel sponge, coated in a lightly salted caramel buttercream and topped it all off with a homemade fudge drizzle and crushed Daim bar. There's nothing like using a little artistic licence, is there?
My cake loving other half is an unashamed patriot, so I decided to place these cakes in both blue gingham cases and some which adorned Union Jacks. This is just a personal touch and you can, of course, dress these gorgeous little cakes as you wish.
After I made them I did have to taste them, just to ensure that they weren't poisonous...I'm a samaritan like that. They certainly weren't, the end result was a taste not too dissimilar to sticky toffee pudding, so if that's a favourite of yours, then this recipe should take a prominent position on your shelf.




                                                                                                    










(Recipe makes 16-20 cupcakes)

Method

For the caramel sauce:

250g golden caster sugar (if you don't have this, you can use normal caster sugar and just add a little light muscovado sugar to the mixture.)
135ml water

• Put the sugar into a heavy bottomed pan and mix with five tablespoons of your water over a low heat, until the sugar has dissolved. 
• Increase the heat for around 10 minutes, until your sugar has turned dark amber in colour. 
• Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly. You can stir the mixture occasionally to help it cool quicker. 
• Once the mixture has cooled slightly, add your remaining water. Take care as the mixture may spit and will be extremely hot. 
• When your sauce has completely cooled, pour into a bowl and cover, until ready to use. You can store this mixture for up to a week if necessary. 

For the sponge:

100g salted butter

120g light, soft brown sugar

120g dark, soft brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

125g self-raising flour, sifted

120g plain flour, sifted

75ml caramel sauce (recipe listed above)

50ml double cream

• Preheat your oven to 160ºC (Gas Mark 3) and place your chosen cupcake cases into muffin trays. 
• Beat all of your ingredients together until all elements are well combined and the mixture is fluffy. 
• Spoon the mixture into your prepared cupcake cases (attempt only fill them half fill so the baked mixture does not spill over the edge of your cases.) 
• Bake in the oven for around 25 minutes, or until your mixture is cooked through. 
• Remove and leave to cool completely before decorating.

For the buttercream:

80g salted butter

7 tbsp semi skimmed milk

250g light, soft brown sugar

260g icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla extract

A pinch of rock salt

• Melt your butter in a heavy saucepan, along with the brown sugar. Bring the mixture to the boil and boil for one minute. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in half of your icing sugar, before allowing it to cool slightly and adding the remaining icing sugar, rock salt and vanilla extract. Stir until the mixture thickens a little. 
• This icing is best used immediately.

For decoration: 

Fudge sauce:

340g granulated sugar

85g brown sugar

100g cocoa powder

30g plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

400g evaporated milk

250ml water

2 tbsp salted butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

•  Place the granulated and brown sugar, cocoa powder, flour and salt into a saucepan. Add the evaporated milk, water and butter and bring slowly to the boil, stirring constantly. Once boiling, cook for five minutes.
• Remove the sauce from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Otherwise, simply crush your Daim bars and decorate as you wish. 

I hope these little cakes bring you as much happiness as they did one certain 24 year old man recently. I have every faith that they will.

Enjoy, K x

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99p Cornet Cupcakes

Tomorrow afternoon I am meeting someone for the first time, who I need to leave a particularly good impression with. I need to ooze confidence, radiate maturity and remain likeable on all accounts; instead I'm hiding behind cupcakes, which look like 99p cornets, in the desperate hope that I at least manage the likeable part. People can't help but like those who supply them with free cake.
     I found out that Cadbury's, Flake is this ladies favourite chocolate bar of choice, so I ad-libbed a little by introducing the chocolate sponge and vanilla buttercream in order to create cakey versions of everyone's old fashioned favourite, the well-established 99er.
     I placed these gorgeous little cakes in white and brown cupcake cases so as not to detract from the Mr Whippy visual effect! You can, of course, decorate them as you wish - I'm sure a few hundreds-and-thousands would only enhance your gorgeous cakey cornets!
     So, wish me as much luck as you can spare, and lets hope she enjoys these quirky little cakes which are, undeniably, the crumbliest, flakiest, most-beautifulist little cakes in the whole world. 

Ingredients (Makes 12)

For the Sponge:

100g plain flour
20g cocoa powder
140g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
40g butter
120ml whole milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract 

For the Icing

250g icing sugar
80g butter
25ml semi skimmed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

• Simply combine your sponge mixture together in a large mixing bowl and preheat your oven to 170ºC (Gas Mark 3).

• Once thoroughly mixed, divide your mixture between twelve preprepared cupcake cases in a muffin tray. (Ensure you only fill your cupcake cases half full, otherwise your mixture will spill over the top of your cases when baking.)

• Place in the oven and cook for 25 minutes. 

• Remove and leave to cool completely. 

• Once cool, combine all your icing ingredients together in a bowl. Beat until fluffy. 

• Frost and decorate your cakes as you wish.

So, with a sprinkle of hope, a teaspoon of excitement and an evening full of outfit planning and general unnecessary fuss, I will say goodbye. I hope you all have a fun time creating these summery, nostalgic little cakes, they're a small taste of everyone's childhood.
     As you pass yourself one of these charming cakes, don't be embarrassed to go as far as to say "99er is it, my love?" in a gentle, lilting grandfatherly West Country accent. It adds to the general ice-cream van ambience, I promise. 

Enjoy, K x

Valentine's Raspberry Confetti Cake

I am one of the few women you will ever meet who is deadly serious when they say they don't like Valentine's Day. 
     I've never appreciated the obvious tackiness of it all: heart balloons that deflate too quickly, boxes of chocolate I won't eat for fear of them never leaving my hips and being given bouquets of luridly coloured flowers, by misinformed men, that clash with the monochrome décor in my bedroom.  
    Despite being in relationships, I choose to spend Valentine's Day with my best friend every year, getting horribly drunk, without a love heart or neon pink flower petal in sight. 


     However, now I'm taking my cake making quite seriously, I decided I should probably bake something for Valentine's Day, seeing as lots of people do seem to rather enjoy it.
     I'm more than slightly ashamed to say that I surprised myself with how horribly glittery, heart-filled and smushy I became. Apparently the one thing that can melt my icy exterior and stony heart, and in turn, make me a sickening 'hearts-and-flowers' kind of girl, is cake. I'm not quite sure why I'm so surprised...
     This cake is a raspberry sponge with cream cheese frosting, which you can decorate however you please. I planned on topping it solely with raspberries, however, as you can see, this plan soon changed and became just a few raspberries and far more heart sprinkles than I care to admit. So decorate as you wish, I won't judge you now mine looks like romantic carnage.

For the Sponge: 

350g butter
350g caster sugar
6 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract 
450g plain flour
2 tbsp + 2 tsp baking powder
300ml soured cream
250g fresh raspberries
(One 25cm ring mould, greased.)

• Preheat your oven to 170ºC (Gas Mark 3)
• After you have whisked together the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, baking powder and soured cream, spoon in your raspberries and mix well using a wooden spoon. 
• After this, pour the mixture into your preprepared ring mould and place in the oven for 40 minutes. 
• Once your cake has been baking for the full 40 minutes, test with a cake skewer. If your skewer comes out clean, leave to cool completely. If it doesn't place back in the oven for 5 minute instalments, testing after each one. 
• Leave to cool completely on a cooling rack, do not remove the cake from the tin until it is completely cool. 

For the Frosting:

600g icing sugar
100g butter
250g cream cheese 

• Simply whisk all your ingredients together for around 5 minutes, or until your mixture is light and fluffy.
• Once your cake is completely cool, spoon on your frosting and smooth over the cake. (Preferably using a standard palette knife.) 
• Once your cake is evenly covered in frosting, decorate it as you wish. Having raspberries on the outside looks beautiful and slightly rustic, but feel free to add whatever else you like.

     You'll be surprised how allowing your creativity to run free, also allows the hidden romantic in you to run far freer than you would usually allow it to. So have some fun with this loved-up little cake because; as the English proverb goes: "If you can't beat them, join them."

Best of luck with your amorous baking,

Enjoy, K x

Merry Cakemas!

I would like to wish you all a very merry, cupcakey Christmas! Thank you for all your support this year!

Enjoy, K x

An Electrician Frosts a Cupcake

My younger brother, Max, began an electrical apprenticeship last year, and has since become a lot more 'blokey.' This has manifested in daily pub trips, calling lots of people (girls and boys alike) "mate", and eating more red meat than is healthy for normal humans. 

Recently, one evening, | somehow managed to prize him out of the aforementioned 'pub trip', and got him frosting and decorating chocolate orange cupcakes - here is the rather amusing outcome.

I proudly introduce the first video upload for Kate's Cakes and Cupcakes, proving that making a pretty little cake is within anyone's reach, 'An Electrician Frosts a Cupcake'. 

Enjoy, K x :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6PCQ_HvqxM

Super Boozy Christmas Cake

This isn't just any old Christmas cake, this is a special, take-your-breath away, boozy type of Christmas cake. Once you've had a slice of it,  no other cake ever compares, nothing else in life is ever quite as good...

      I made this cake for the first time last year and it received rave reviews, including one from my Grandma (one of my biggest baking rivals...) who claimed it was the best christmas cake she had ever tasted. I immediately assumed it wasn't simply a biased comment, based on our relation to one another, and took it as a massive, jaw-dropping compliment. 

     This cake is gluttonously rich, packed full of fruit and, by the 23rd of December, (when it has been  casually soaking in brandy for around five weeks...) it is also devilishly alcoholic. 

     The recipe I am uploading today is a work in progress, so I only have pictures of phase one - the cake itself. However, eventually your cake will end up covered in marzipan and rolled fondant icing, which will nonetheless be explained in this post. 

     It is of paramount importance that you spoon over a couple of tablespoons of brandy, three times a week onto your cake, until it is ready to be iced and served. 

Think of it as an old Uncle who has come to stay for the festive period who needs preserving with large quantities of alcohol. You should almost be able to hear it hiccupping by Christmas Eve!

(For the Cake)

250g plain flour

2 tsp mixed spice

2 tsp cinnamon 

225g butter

225g dark brown sugar

2 tbsp black treacle

1 tbsp marmalade

1 tsp vanilla essence

4 large eggs

850g mixed fruit, dried

150g mixed peel, chopped

200g glacé cherries, halved

150g blanched almonds, halved
(23 x 23 x 8cm, square cake tin)

Method:

• Preheat your oven to 150ºC (Gas Mark 2) and generously grease and line your cake tin.
• Initially combine the flour, spice, cinnamon, butter, sugar, treacle, marmalade, vanilla essence and eggs with an electric whisk.
• Once beaten into a creamy texture, stir in the remaining ingredients until they are well combined. 
• Then pour your mixture into your preprepared cake tin, before placing in the oven for 3 hours. (It may seem like a long time, but no raising agent is used so it is essential to cook for At LEAST this long!) 
• Remove your cake and check to see if it is cooked all the way through. If it is, remove and leave to cool. If not, place back into the oven for 20 minute intervals, until cooked thoroughly.
• Once completely cool, turn out into an airtight container and puncture roughly 10 small holes into the top of your cake. These holes will allow the brandy to soak through the sponge, leaving it deliciously moist.

Over the next few weeks - Pour 2 tbsp of brandy over your cake, 3 times a week, to ensure that your cake is moist for Christmas. Any more than this will soak your cake too much and it will crumble!

(For the Marzipan/Fondant Icing)

I firstly must admit to something - I never, ever make my own marzipan and wouldn't even know where to begin with it, even if I wanted to. Rolled marzipan is a wonderful thing and I suggest you all invest in some. If you plan on making your own then I salute you.

250g marzipan

1-2 tbsp apricot jam
675g icing sugar
2 egg whites 
1 tsp vanilla extract 
2 tbsp liquid glucose

Method:

• Initially, roll out your marzipan. Cut one piece large enough to cover the top of your cake and a further 4, smaller pieces for each, individual side of the cake.
• Paint apricot jam all over your cake. This acts as a glue for your marzipan and also helps to keep your cake moist. 
• Once you have entirely covered your cake in both apricot jam AND your rolled marzipan, place back in your airtight container for at least 24 hours. 
• Then combine your ingredients for the fondant icing, beginning with the beaten egg whites and ending with the glycerin and lemon juice, adding the icing sugar gradually.
• Once all your ingredients have been added, you should be left with a block of fondant icing. Then lightly dust a surface (and your rolling pin) with icing sugar, before rolling your icing out over it.
• Then place your icing over the cake, all in one piece. Don't worry if this doesn't work the first time, simply remove and re-roll!
• Once your cake is completely covered, decorate as you please and be as creative as is humanly possible.

This is a link to a short video about simple ways to decorate your cake if you are struggling for inspiration: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xmf627_christmas-cake-decorating-ideas_lifestyle

Simply remember that glitter is your one true love, cake is your passion and brandy is your best friend.

Happy baking and Merry Christmas

Enjoy, K x

Two-Tone Icing Tutorial

This 'Two-Tone Icing Tutorial' has been requested by a few people I know, so I thought it was about time I did it. 
     So, tonight I got on my old 'Bath Rugby' shirt (standard cooking attire, showing both dedication to cooking and my favourite team. Talk about killing two birds with one stone...) and started baking my 'Halloween Cupcakes' (see previous blog post). 
     For these particular cupcakes, given the slightly morbid theme, I chose to use black and white, two-tone icing because I wanted to each little cake to give the impression of being a spooky shadow. 
     So here is how I did it, in step-by-step pictures and annotations. 
     Obviously you can achieve this two-tonal effect using whatever alternative food colouring you choose. I simply used black because it was Halloween cupcakes that I was creating!

I hope at least some of you find this helpful :)







First of all, roll your piping bag down. This enables you to get closer to your piping nozzle (thus being more accurate) and it also helps to avoid getting icing all over both you and your bag.


















Then spoon the half of your frosting mix you have NOT yet added food colouring to over to one side of the bag.
I tend to find that the easiest way of doing this is to lie the bag on one side in your hand, then spoon the mixture in. Gravity is your friend!
You should see a clear division down the middle of your bag as shown in my picture.
If you don't, simply use your spoon to manipulate the icing back over to only one side!

After this, add whatever food colouring you wish to use, to the remaining frosting mix and whisk together. 
Then spoon this mixture into the other, free half of your piping bag. 
Once again, you should see a clear division between the two colours in your bag, as shown in my picture.

Once this is done, roll the sides of your bag back up and pipe some of your mixture out, into your mixing bowl, until you see the two colours coming out simultaneously. 

















Once you see both colours coming out, you can begin to pipe your frosting onto your cakes or cupcakes (as shown.) Simply continue to do this until all your cakes are frosted, then decorate as you wish!




















Enjoy, K x

Cupcakes Under Construction!

For the last few weeks, my house has looked like the a scene from Pearl Harbour, due to our sitting room, kitchen and dining room being entirely reconstructed.

On multiple mornings I have been woken up by deafeningly loud drilling, or walls being knocked down instead of the soothing sounds of my iPod. Trading waking up soothed and well-rested, for blistering headaches at times that feel like the middle of the night, has not been my idea of a good time.

This has also meant that my twice-weekly bake off's have been forced to happen at night, after the various workmen leave, which adds a general feeling of espionage to my baking. The various builders, carpenters, carpet layers, electricians and plumbers that have traipsed through my house, have all become rather accustomed to the daily sweet fixes that follow the morning after. 

The image of burly builders, sooty electricians and plumbers with pencils behind their ears, eating tiny sparkly cakes has started to become a regular source of amusement for me and I thought it would share it with you all.

I am consequently now on a one woman mission to  make the construction trade swap burgers and coke for pretty cupcakes and civilised cups of tea! So far it appears to be a great success - what an adaptable bunch!

Enjoy, K x

Galaxy 'Minstrel' Cupcakes

My very best friend was coming home from uni today for her reading week and, being the dutiful friend that I am, I decided to make her some cupcakes using her favourite chocolate - Galaxy!
     Emily is a fellow university student, so naturally the combination of these cakes being both free AND her favourite chocolate meant they brought her untold amounts of happiness!
     I decided to use a simple chocolate sponge, then infuse the buttercream frosting with a gluttonous amount of Galaxy chocolate...
     To decorate, I used some Kitchen Craft - Sweetly Does It cupcake cases and I then simply decorated each cake with one 'Minstrel' and some of my compulsory edible glitter. For girls and boys alike, glitter is a wonderful thing, so don't be afraid to glitz up your cakey creations!


Now, for the recipe :)

(For the Sponge - Makes 18)


200g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
280g caster sugar
3 tsp baking powder
80g butter
240ml semi skimmed milk
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract



(For the Frosting)

250g butter 
150g icing sugar
250g Galaxy
2 tbsp vanilla essence

• Simply preheat your oven to 170ºC (Gas Mark 3) and bake your cakes for 20-25 minutes.
• Once your cakes are cool, begin melting your chocolate in a bain-marie before adding it to the rest of your buttercream ingredients. 
• Frost, decorate and eat!

Ensure you devour these with a bigger cup of tea than you would usually opt for - I insist you treat yourself to some quality time alone with these sinfully chocolatey cakes!

Enjoy, K x