Christmas Yummies!

I made a little selection of cupcakes with christmas inspired designs and flavours. A nice little gift for someone this christmas, colleagues, friends or family...why not instead of the usual biscuits or chocolates (boxes of 6, 12 or 24)?

Tahitian vanilla sponge, frosted with cinnamon frosting, brandy butter frosting, spiced orange frosting and vanilla cream cheese frosting and more to come.

With a snowball design, holly sprinkles, mini gingerbread men and snowflake sprinkles, and my favourite of these, the christmas tree design...they looked good and tasted seriously yummy! I actually can't wait to bake some more!

 

 

 

 

 

Greg's Rock Guitar Cupcakes

I had an order for 12 cupcakes the other day, and was asked to personalise them for someone I didn't know. I asked "what kinda stuff is he into?", and the reply was "rock guitar!" and so I came up with these.

I tried to make little guitars out of icing, but unfortunately when I actually placed them on top of the cupcakes the strings (all 3 of them!!) snapped a bit. Next time I need to remember to try and lay them flatter, not on the curve of the frosting, or to roll the icing a bit thicker. I was still pleased with the result, and was told that Greg loved them too, which is after all what really matters!

 

Robyn's Birthday 12

Just a quick blog to show the cute 12 cupcakes that I made for an order. 6x fluffy vanilla sponge with vanilla, cream cheese & butter frosting and 6x rich double milk chocolate cupcakes. Yummy....what a great little gift for someone!

Sophie & John's Wedding Tower

When Sophie asked me to do the cupcakes for her wedding, I was delighted! She didn't have any colour theme as such, and was having white flowers. The venue was the picturesque and romantic setting of 'Cripps Barn' in the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire and it was a Black tie affair. Sophie had asked for 2 of the tattoo style cupcakes at the top, as she wanted something a bit different, but other than that she was flexible on the design. That made the task a lot more interesting as I had creative freedom. I made a combination of 4 flavours (details on previous blog) and these are the cakes! I was pleased with them and so were the happy couple, I was told that the cakes went down an absolute treat and were gone within about half an hour....a great compliment I think!!

Wedding Photography by the amazingly talented Nick Tucker

http://nicktuckerphotography.wordpress.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/medicatewithcoffee/

These are the photos that I took before some of the cakes left home

 

Mini cupcakes

 

And set up on the tower

 

 

 

Pina Colada Cupcakes

These cupcakes are without a doubt one of my favourite flavours ever. They're so different from a regular cupcake, very tropical, and the coconut frosting is to just die for. They remind me of mini pineapple upside-down cakes. Again, I got this recipe from 'The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook', listed as 'Coconut and Pineapple Cupcakes' which to me = Pina Colada!

 

 

Makes 12 Cupcakes


120g plain flour
140g caster sugar
1 and a half teaspoons baking powder
a pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter, at room temperature
120ml coconut milk
half a teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
9 tinned pineapple rings, chopped into small pieces
desicated coconut to decorate


Coconut Frosting (frosts 12 cupcakes)

250g icing sugar, sifted
80g unsalted butter, at room temperature
25ml coconut milk





Preheat the oven to 170.c (325.f) Gas 3.

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on slow speed until you a sandy consistency and everything is combined.


Mix the coconut milk and vanilla extract in a separate bowl, then beat into the flour mixture on a medium speed until well combined. Add the egg and beat well (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula).


Divide the chopped pineapple between the paper cases. Spoon the cupcake mixture on top until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until light golden and the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer insterted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.


For the coconut frosting: Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Turn the mixer down to a slower speed and slowly pour in the coconut milk. Once all the milk has been incorporated, turn the mixer up to a high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is very white, light and fluffy, 5-10 minutes.

When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the coconut frosting on top and finish with a sprinkling of desicated coconut.

Hummingbird Bakery Chocolate Cupcakes

I was given 'The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook' as a gift, and have tried out a few of the recipes.

For some of Sophie & John's wedding cakes, I used the chocolate cupcake recipe, and they were great!

Ingredients (makes 12 cupcakes)

100g plain flour

20g cocoa powder

140g caster sugar

1 and a half teaspoons baking powder

a pinch of salt

120ml whole milk

1 egg

quarter teaspoon of vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 170.c (325.f) Gas 3.

Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.

Whisk the milk, egg and vanilla extract together in a jug, then slowly pour about half into the flour mixture, beat to combine and turn the mixer up to high speed to get rid of any lumps.

Turn the mixer down to a slower speed and slowly pour in the remaining milk mixture (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Continue mixing for a couple more minutes until the mixture is smooth. Do not overmix.

Spoon the mixture into the 12 paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the Chocolate, Vanilla or Cream Cheese Frosting on top and decorate with chocolate vermicelli or silver balls.

Although I actually didn't use the Hummingbird Bakery's recipe for the frosting. I used a chocolate frosting recipe by 'Peggy Porschen' as I wanted a really rich sumptious chocolate flavour, and I've tried this one before and know it delivers exactly that.

The recipe is for enough frosting for 24 cupcakes, so you could just half it. But personally, I like ALOT of yummy frosting so always make double the quantity anyway....better to have too much than not enough I say!

100g full-fat cream cheese at room temperature

50g soft unsalted butter

300g icing sugar, sieved

200g dark chocolate drops 

200ml single cream

Put the cream cheese, butter and icing sugar in a mixing bowl.

Slowly mix together, using an electric hand whisk or wooden spoon, until light and fluffy, and put this aside for a moment whilst you prepare the chocolate for the mixture.

Put your chocolate drops in a seperate bowl.

Bring the single cream to a simmer in a pan, and then pour over the chocolate. Stir gently until the chocolate has melted. 

Let it cool until slightly set, and then mix with the frosting. If it's too soft, chill before using.

Enjoy!!

 

Noah's Baptism Tower

Finally my acrylic cake stand arrived, just in time for Noah's baptism on Saturday. It was a little stressful as I didn't have much time to actually set the cakes up at the venue but I was pleased with the results. I was also a guest at the baptism, which was a beautiful day and Noah was very well behaved....for most of it anyway! Everyone loved the cakes, especially the chocolate ones, which I frosted with a vanilla bean and cream cheese frosting. I did have a bit of a glitch when making the blue frosting though, as I over mixed it a bit so it became it became a bit whippy and had some air bubbles in it, they still tasted great but I'll definitely remember not to do that next time!

 

 

 

Baby Treeson Loves Cupcakes

I love my Baby Treeson, and they love Yummies Cupcakes!

 

Thaila's Birthday

A good friend of mine wanted 24 cupcakes for her daughter Thaila's 13th birthday instead of a cake. She wasn't having a party so wanted to take some cakes to school to share with some of her friends. I thought it would be fun to use sweets on top as decorations, and I made 12 chocolate cupcakes, and 12 vanilla. I was told that they went down an absolute treat!

Photoshoot Cupcakes for Nick Tucker

When Nick asked me whether I'd be up for donating some cupcakes for a photoshoot he was doing I jumped at the chance. I think Nick is an amazing photographer, and for my humble little cupcakes to appear in one of his shots was an honour for me. Check out his Flickr page for some interesting and beautiful images....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/medicatewithcoffee/

And prior to leaving my house for the shoot they looked like this....