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

Bootealicious

 It's rare that I agree to try anything that centres around a poor play on words, but alas, I appreciate the premise that drinking tea could make me thin. Tea drinking is after all one of my favourite things and if it makes me Bootealicious, then that's all the better.

The daytime teatox has a citrus flavour and really isn't at all unpleasant (despite the moany reviews I read online prior to trying it)  however, I'm a lifelong fan of lemon green tea and it's  along a very similar line. The nighttime teatox is ultimately peppermint tea with some spooky laxative ingredients which don't taste of anything but certainly are present (don't be fooled by the pastel, girly packaging…you'll be in for a long night.)

I assigned a gorgeous little pink and cream Cath Kidston cup and saucer to the fortnight of teabags, which made it all the more enjoyable and, to my surprise, this stuff works. A little on the waste line and a lot to your sense of well-being.

I lost about five pounds while taking the teabags but the most noticeable changes were in how I felt - my skin was better, I felt 'cleaner' inside and the daytime teabags particularly make you feel rejuvenated and invigorated  throughout the day.

I will probably aim to re-order and stick to this teatox for a fortnightly period every six months, just for the way it makes me feel.

My body is probably never going to be too bootealicious for ya, babe but a little of what you fancy does, in this case, do you good.

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

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

My Cupcake Toolbox

This is just a quick post about the cupcake "stationary" I use! I read a blog post similar to this one when I started making my cakes and it made everything seem a lot simpler!

First of all: the icing nozzles I use. I use the three bigger plastic ones (left) more often and save the small silver ones (right) for more delicate decoration. I got the big plastic ones from The Happy Cupcake Company (as we all know...it's the best baking place in the whole world, so why go anywhere else?)  The silver ones I bought from Amazon. They can all be bought relatively cheaply but, as a general rule of thumb, the plastic nozzles work better with disposable piping bags!

Next, the piping bags. I buy and use disposable plastic piping bags off Amazon in bulk where a pack of 20 cost £1.15! ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Classikool-Branded-Savoy-Disposable-Piping/dp/B004QYHF86/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350340012&sr=8-1 )

     This is largely because 1.) I can't be bothered with washing out a re-usable material piping bag...lazy cupcake chef that I am and 2.) because it seems more sanitary - being also the OCD cupcake chef that I am!

I hope you have enjoyed this sneaky peak into my cupcake toolbox - it's among my most treasured possessions! It's always jam packed full of gorgeous cake cases, intricate decorations, nozzles and lots of other fun little things.

     I love to give all my cakes little personalities, so I think to think of this box as a wardrobe, packed full of fun outfits!

I hope you have all found this blog entry useful and not sinfully boring!

Happy Baking,

Enjoy, K x

Macmillan Coffee Morning

On Friday 28th of September I held a Macmillan Coffee Morning at my house, in memory of my Granddad, who I lost to cancer in September 2011. 

I spent the whole of Thursday covered in cake mix (including a slither of cream cheese frosting on the end of my nose that I only got pointed out to me at the very end of the day.) Alas, six hours of baking, one ring cake, a batch of sugar cookies, dozens of marshmallow twizzlers and two tiers of Terry's Chocolate Orange and marshmallow cupcakes later, I was prepared for a cake-filled Friday morning. 

The overall showstopper of the morning was the blueberry ring cake, with everyone having more than one helping. It is a recipe based on one from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook, however I tend to use a lot more blueberries than suggested, both in the sponge and for decoration. This is because I think they enhance everything and, due to their antioxidant properties, they also make a huge slice of cake seem a little healthier. However, If you don't want to use as many, you don't have to.

Here's the recipe:

(For the Sponge)

350g butter

350g caster sugar

6 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

450g plain flour

2 tbsp + 2 tsp baking powder

280ml soured cream

250g fresh blueberries

(25cm ring mould, greased.)

(For the Frosting)

600g icing sugar

100g butter

250g cream cheese (Such as 

Philadelphia)

Around 250-300g of blueberries, to 

decorate.

• Heat your oven to 170ºC (Gas Mark 3) and ensure you have a well greased ring mould (works beautifully for this cake). 
• Beat all your sponge ingredients together, until light and fluffy.
• Bake for 40 minutes. Skewer your cake at it’s deepest point, if the skewer comes out clean (with no cake mixture on it) then leave to cool. If not, place back into the oven for five minute intervals, until cooked through.
• Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely, before removing from the mould.
• Once totally cool, beat all frosting ingredients together and use a palette knife or spatula to ensure that your cake is completely iced.
• Once frosted, spread the blueberries evenly over the top of the cake to decorate.

Enjoy, K x

P.S - The morning was a great success and it was lovely to see so many familiar faces, all from different walks of life, come together to support my chosen charity. Despite the current economic climate, between only twenty people we managed to raise a truly overwhelming £144.28, over the course of two hours. 

It was a truly heartwarming morning and one my Granddad would certainly loved to have been a part of - he was a fellow cake lover after all.