Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes.

Yesterday, I made these chocolate coconut cupcakes because I thought they sounded like a really yummy flavour combination and I've got to say I was actually really pleased with how they turned out as they tasted lovely and I kind of just made the recipe up on the spot. I adore Bounty's but, I know they're not everyone's cup of tea. Does anyone else find that when the celebrations tin goes round at Christmas you always get left with half a tin of Bounty's and Milkyway's which, nobody else wants? That's always fine by me though as I think Bounty's are delicious so, while everyone else is fighting over the Galaxy's and Maltesers, I'm happily munching away on a pile of Bounty's. 

Anyway, I'm starting to feel like a bit of a Bounty saleswoman right now with the amount of times I've said Bounty in this post so I will stop now. If you do like the combination of chocolate and coconut though, I hope you enjoy these cupcakes! In a few weeks I am going to trial this recipe again too and add in a chocolate and malibu ganache so, I will let you know how that works out, I'm hoping pretty well as I can't really think of anything more delicious than a cake oozing with chocolate and malibu ganache right now!

Recipe

For the Chocolate Cupcakes-

110g butter, room temperature 

220g dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

165g self raising flour, sifted

55g cocoa, sifted

½ tsp. bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp. baking powder

140ml sour cream

For the Coconut Frosting-

520g icing sugar

90ml Coconut milk

115g butter

100g desiccated coconut

Plus extra desiccated coconut and 12 chunks of bounty (chop two bars of bounty into 6 pieces) for decorating.

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°c.
2. Place 12 muffin cases into a 12 hole muffin tin.
3. For the chocolate cupcakes, cream together the butter and sugar using an electric whisk. Gradually beat in the eggs and add the sour cream. Sieve together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and delicately fold into the mixture.
4. Divide the mixture into the 12 cake cases and bake for 15-17 minutes or until the sponge springs back when the surface is pressed lightly.

5. Place the cupcakes on a wire rack and allow to cool.

6. Whilst the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the coconut frosting. Beat together the butter and icing sugar. Pour in the coconut milk and beat again until smooth and fairly thick. Stir through the desiccated coconut.

7.  Next, place a fairly deep layer of about 100g of desiccated coconut into a bowl, tray or on to a plate. Cut a small hole in the centre of each cupcake using an apple corer and fill with the coconut frosting. Using a palette knife then spread a layer of the coconut frosting on the top of each cupcake and roll in the tray of desiccated coconut to completely coat the top. 

8. Finally, place a chunk of bounty on the top of each cake and there you have it; twelve delicious chocolate coconut cupcakes to enjoy!

Black Forest Cupcakes.

Today I made my lovely Dad some Black Forest cupcakes as part of his Father's Day present as Black Forest Gateau is one of his favourite cakes. I actually make these cupcakes quite often and somehow every time I do, they seem to get even tastier. A combination of chocolate, cherries and cream though, it's a match made in heaven! Add a good slosh of brandy too and you're good to go. Well, you have to really don't you? Happy Father's Day Dads!

Recipe

For the Chocolate Cupcakes-

110g butter, room temperature 
220g dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

165g self raising flour, sifted

55g cocoa, sifted

½ tsp. bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp. baking powder

140ml sour cream

For the Cherry Brandy Filling-

1 Tin of Hartley's Cherry pie filling (reserve 12 cherries to decorate the tops of the cupcakes)

2 tbsp. Brandy

For the Topping-

600ml Double Cream

12 cherries

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°c.
2. Place muffin cases into a 12 hole muffin tin.
3. For the chocolate cupcakes, cream together the butter and sugar using an electric whisk. Gradually beat in the eggs and add the sour cream. Sieve together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and delicately fold into the mixture.
4. Divide the mixture into the 12 cake cases and bake for 15-17 minutes or until the sponge springs back when the surface is pressed lightly.
5. Allow the cupcakes to cool and prepare the Cherry Brandy filling. Take a tin of Hartley's cherry pie filling and add 2 tbsp. of Brandy and mix. 
6. Once the cupcakes are cool, use an apple corer to create a hole in the middle of each cupcake and add about 2 tsp. of the cherry brandy filling to the centre.
7.  Finally, beat the double cream with an electric whisk until it thickens and light peaks form and then you can either scoop it straight onto the cupcakes or use whatever piping bag and nozzle you wish to create a swirl of cream on the top of each cupcake. Last of all, top each cupcake with one of the cherries you have reserved from the Hartley's Cherry pie filling and you are finished! Now go enjoy!

Blueberry Crumble Cupcakes.

Hello again! Yes I know, yet another cupcake recipe for you. I promise I do do other things and don't just sit in my kitchen baking cupcakes all day, not everyday anyway. I do occasionally make other types of food too I swear, in fact I am actually making some homemade nachos, guacamole and salsa tomorrow. Yum. Does anyone else adore nachos? 

I really wanted to sell my cupcakes at farmers markets this summer to see if anybody would like and buy them but, I haven't had much luck with hearing any good news back from farmers markets yet so I don't think it looks likely now. As I mentioned in my blog post the other day, I'd really like to start up my own little baking business after University and to run a food truck so that I can travel around Cornwall selling my food. I thought that selling my cakes at farmers markets would be a good place to start just to see if people would actually like my food but, never mind. I'll just keep practicing my recipes for now and then hopefully one day CeeJay's Cupcake Cafe will be trundling along from beach to beach in Cornwall serving up ice cream and cakes. Who knows ay? Fingers crossed.  
Anyway, on to the cupcake recipe.

Recipe

For the Blueberry Cupcakes-

300g plain flour

155g caster sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. bicarbonate of soda

¼ tsp. salt

250ml whole milk

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla essence

85g unsalted butter, melted

50g fresh or frozen blueberries, plus extra for decorating

50g fresh or frozen raspberries

For the Crumble Topping-

50g plain flour

40g unsalted butter

30g soft light brown sugar

40g pecans, chopped

1 tsp. cinnamon

For the Blueberry Sauce-

70g blueberries

20ml water

60ml orange or lemon juice

40g caster sugar

20ml cold water

10g corn flour

1 tsp. almond extract

1 tsp. cinnamon

For the Lemon Curd Frosting-

250g icing sugar

80g butter

50g lemon curd

Method

1. First, prepare the crumble topping. In a bowl, rub the flour and butter together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the remaining ingredients and place enough (perhaps 1 tbsp.) of the crumble topping into a tray and bake in the oven for about ten minutes until golden and crunchy, ready to scatter on the tops of the cupcakes. Set the rest aside for later.

2. Next, prepare the cupcakes. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C and line a cupcake tin with 12 muffin cases. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, caster sugar and salt and place in a large bowl. Pour the milk into a jug, add the eggs and vanilla essence and mix together by hand.

3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and mixing slowly, pour in the egg and milk mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to catch every bit of the mixture, increase the speed to medium and continue beating until smooth. Then pour the melted butter in and beat again to incorporate.

4. Stir in the berries by hand, making sure they are evenly spread throughout the mixture, then spoon the batter into the muffin cases, filling each up to two-thirds full and sprinkle with the remaining crumble topping.

5. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the cupcakes are bronzed and bounce back when lightly pressed. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

6. While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the blueberry sauce. In a saucepan over medium heat combine the blueberries, water, orange or lemon juice and sugar. Stir gently and bring to the boil.

7. In a cup, mix together the corn flour and cold water. Gently stir the corn flour mixture into the blueberries so as not to mash the berries. Simmer gently until thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, about 3-4 minutes.Remove from the heat and stir in the almond extract and cinnamon. Allow to cool slightly.

8. Cut a hole out of the centre of each cupcake and fill with 1-2 tsp. blueberry sauce. 

9. Next, prepare the lemon frosting. Beat together the butter, icing sugar and lemon curd until fluffy, light and smooth and pipe onto the cupcakes using your favorite piping bag and nozzle. Finally, scatter the top of each cupcake with some of the crunchy crumble you prepared earlier and finish with a plump, juicy blueberry.    

Note. instead of using the lemon frosting on these cupcakes you can also top them with whipped double cream and they are delicious, like mini gateau's! Just whip up 600ml double cream and dollop away! 

I also forgot to say the other day but, McBusted were incredible! Oh I do love a good boyband. It was just so much fun and such a great show and all of the guys looked like they were having a great time which, was really lovely to see. They were all hilarious and Danny and Dougie were looking particularly gorgeous too which, was rather nice. Since finding out James spends some of his time living in Padstow I also seem to have become quite attracted to him which, gives me even more reason to trundle to Padstow selling my cakes all in the hope that James will one day fall in love with me and my cooking. It was fun to be able to dance and sing along to every song and at the end of the night I just wanted them to do it all over again. It was honestly one of the best concerts I've ever been to! I definitely need to start going to more concerts, it's always such an amazing atmosphere and really incredible and overwhelming when you see a band you really like.

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!