Death by Chocolate Cupcakes.

I would really love to one day run my own baking business and at the moment I am hoping to start my own mobile food business after university so that I can travel from beach to beach in Cornwall serving up my cupcakes and various other treats such as; ice cream, doughnuts and veggie burgers. I don't know how realistic my dream is right now and I don't know if my business would ever become very popular or if it would even be affordable or worth trying but, nothing makes me happier than baking and I really would love to give it a go.

One cupcake that no cupcake menu would be complete without is a decadent chocolate cupcake and this is my favorite recipe. A moist, soft sponge filled with rich, dark chocolate ganache and topped with a luxurious, creamy chocolate frosting and crunchy maltesers. Perfect.

Recipe

For the Chocolate Cupcakes-

110g unsalted butter, softened

220g dark brown sugar

2 eggs

165g self raising flour

55g cocoa powder

½  tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp baking powder 

140ml sour cream

For the Chocolate Ganache Filling-

100ml double cream

100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

For the Chocolate Frosting:

200g icing sugar, sieved 

100g unsalted butter, softened

140g cocoa powder, sifted 

40ml whole milk

Maltesers for decorating (12 whole and some crushed using a rolling pin)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°c.

2. Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin cases.

3. For the cake, cream together the butter and sugar using an electric whisk. Gradually beat in the eggs. Add the sour cream. Sieve together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and fold in to the mixture. Divide the mixture between the cake cases, filling about 2/3 full.

4.Bake for 15-17 minutes or until risen and just firm to touch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

5. Prepare the chocolate ganache. Heat the cream until it simmers and stir in the dark chocolate until it completely melts and produces a glossy, dark chocolate ganache. Allow to cool until it thickens slightly but, not too much as it will be difficult to fill the cupcakes.

6. Once the cupcakes are cool use an apple corer to cut out a dip in the centre of each cupcake and once the ganache is cool fill each dip/hole with 1-2 tsp. chocolate ganache.

7. Finally, prepare the chocolate frosting. Beat together the butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder and milk until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Then pipe a swirl of the frosting onto each cupcake, scatter with crushed maltesers and place a whole malteser on to the top of each cake.

Enjoy!

Lemon Curd Cupcakes.

Hello! Long time no speak. I have now officially finished my exams and also my first year of University which, literally just flew by and I can't actually believe it's already over! I am so happy to be home now though and can't wait to spend my summer at home in Cornwall with my family. As lovely as Liverpool is, Cornwall is home and there is no place I'd rather be, especially in the summer when you can spend your days lying on the beach and munching on clotted cream and jam scones! Lovely.

I don't think there is anything more summery, refreshing and delicious than a lemon cake and last weekend I decided to embrace the gorgeous weather we were having and bake some yummy, zesty lemon cupcakes. I really love this recipe; the lemon and poppy seed cupcakes are so moist and soft, the lemon curd is zesty and delicious (thanks very much Delia!) and this lemon curd frosting, oh this lemon curd frosting is so sweet and velvety. If you decide to give these a go I really hope you enjoy them and let me know what you think!

Recipe

For the Lemon and Poppy seed Cupcakes:

225g self-raising flour

175g golden caster sugar

zest of 2 lemons

1 tbsp. poppy seeds

3 eggs

100g natural yoghurt

175g unsalted butter,melted and cooled a little

For the Lemon Curd:

Grated zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 2 lemons

2 eggs

90g golden caster sugar

55g butter

For the Lemon Curd Frosting:

250g icing sugar

80g butter

50g lemon curd

To decorate- Crushed lemon sherbet sweets, grind in a food processor or crush with a rolling pin

Method

1. Heat oven to 180°C/ 160°C fan and line a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin cases. 
2. Mix the flour, sugar, lemon zest and poppy seeds together in a large mixing bowl. Beat the eggs into the yogurt, then tip this into the dry ingredients with the melted butter. Mix together with a wooden spoon or whisk until lump-free, then divide mixture between the cases. 
3. Bake the cupcakes for 20-22 mins until a skewer poked in comes out clean or the surface springs back when lightly pressed – the cakes will be quite pale on top still. Cool for 5 mins in the tin, then carefully lift onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
4. Next, prepare the lemon curd. Sit a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, but don't let the bowl touch the water. Then place the eggs, sugar, lemon zest and juice in the bowl and whisk together. Now add the butter piece by piece and cook for about 15 minutes, giving it a good whisk from time to time, until the curd has become smooth, glossy and thickened. Allow to cool.
5. Once the cupcakes are cool use an apple corer to cut out a dip in the centre of each cupcake and once the lemon curd is cool fill each dip/hole with 1-2 tsp. lemon curd.
6. Finally, prepare the lemon curd frosting. Beat together the butter, icing sugar and 50g of your homemade lemon curd until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Then pipe a swirl of the frosting onto each cupcake and scatter with the pieces of crushed lemon sherbet sweets.

This time next week I'll be queuing up to see McBusted so I can't wait to revert back to my 10 year old self again as I sing and dance along to Year 3000 and Air Hostess. As much as I pride myself on loving rock music, I do love a good boyband and I always will! McFly and Busted are two of my favorites as well so I can't wait to see them, I think it will be a lot of fun and McFly are also singing Shine A Light which, I'm really happy about as it's one of my favourite songs. Dougie Poynter also happens to be one of the most beautiful men alive so, he'll also be pretty wonderful to look at, Ellie Goulding you lucky girl! 

Have you got any exciting plans for the rest of may? How will you be spending your summer?

Carrot Cake.

Hello everyone! Welcome to my new blog and a very happy Easter to you all! I thought I would start by sharing this delicious carrot cake recipe with you which, I made last weekend for my sister's 26th birthday as I thought it would be the perfect cake for this Easter weekend. 

It is a lovely recipe and a gorgeously moist cake with a nice cinnamon flavour and a lovely cream cheese frosting. I've never been the best at making large cakes, in fact you can almost guarantee that every time the lid goes on all of the filling will squidge out the centre and my cake will be left looking like a sloppy mess. I tend to stick to baking cupcakes which seem to be more forgiving to my impatient, slap everything together attitude but, as it was my sister's birthday I thought that I would give this carrot cake a go and I was very pleased with the results. I even managed to colour some marzipan orange and green and create my own little carrots which I don't think look too shabby. So, whatever you are doing this Easter weekend whether it be; having an easter egg hunt in the garden with the kids, munching on hot cross buns, relaxing in the sun with a few days off work or whipping up this carrot cake or some of your own Easter treats, have a lovely time!

Recipe

For the Carrot Cake:
100g walnuts and pecans
340g raw carrots, finely grated
260g self-raising flour
1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 large eggs
300g caster sugar
240ml sunflower oil
2 tsp. vanilla essence
120ml pureed pineapple 
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
300g icing sugar
50g butter
125g mascarpone or full-fat cream cheese such as, Philadelphia
1 tsp. finely grated orange zest (optional)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/ 180°C fan and grease and line the base of two cake tins with greaseproof paper.

2. Chop the walnuts and pecans coarsely and toast in the oven for about 8 minutes until lightly brown and fragrant.

3. Peel and finely grate the carrots.

4. In a large bowl mix together the walnuts and pecans, sieved self-raising flour, cinnamon, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

5. In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the eggs until frothy (about 1 minute). Gradually add the sugar and whisk until the batter is thick and pale in colour (about 3-4 minutes). Add the oil in a steady stream and then beat in the vanilla extract. Pour the liquid into the flour mixture along with the pureed pineapple (blitz pineapple chunks in a food processor until pureed) and beat until incorporated.

6. Fold in the grated carrot and evenly divide the batter between the two cake tins.

7. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the cakes are just firm to touch and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

8. Remove from the oven and after about 5 minutes remove the cakes from the tins and allow to cool on a wire rack.

9. Make the cream cheese frosting by beating the cream cheese, sieved icing sugar, butter and orange zest, if using, together with an electric whisk, blending until there are no lumps and the frosting is light, fluffy and smooth. 

10. Spread about half of the cream cheese frosting on the top of one cake, leaving a gap of about 1cm around the edge to allow for spreading when you place the other cake on top. Spread the remaining cream cheese frosting on top and sprinkle with cinnamon or grated chocolate e.g. terry's chocolate orange. Arrange walnut pieces around the edge or bought or homemade marzipan carrots. I used a few drops of red food colouring to colour some golden marzipan orange and some blue food colouring to colour some golden marzipan green. I then formed little carrots and used a tooth pick to indent them.

It is also easy to convert this recipe into cupcakes and the mixture will produce about 24 cupcakes but, it can be halved if you only want 12. If making the full 24 cupcakes you may need to double the quantity of frosting. Pipe a swirl of frosting on the top of each cupcake and top with a walnut or marzipan carrot.