Cupcakes with Jam

These cupcakes are just made from the normal cupcake recipe I use, but instead of icing them, I just piped some raspberry jam into the middle of them. So, when you eat one, the jam filling is a hidden surprise!

Method:

• Fill your piping bag with jam
• Stick the nozzle of the piping bag into the middle of the cake
• Pipe out a little bit of jam into the inside of the cake.

Be careful you don't over do it...you don't want jam spilling out over the top!

You could always ice the cakes on top as well...so there is double the sweetness :)

Fondant Icing

In a couple of days I plan to start making my very first home-made Christmas cake. I'm a little late on starting it..so says Delia anyways...but I've got it all planned :)

But anyway, today I bought some pre-made (cheating I know) fondant icing & I decided to have a go at making some fondant decorations that can go on top of cakes to make them look nice.

I'd never made anything with fondant before...only ate it on shop bought cakes, but I keep seeing lovely decorations being made out of it on other people's sites, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Here are the results:

I didn't really know what I was doing really, & I don't think I had all the right equipment...I just used a sharp knife & scissors to cut the icing.

It got a bit tricky though, so I just kept to making simple shapes.

I plan on buying some metal cutters in the shape of holly leaves & such, so I can decorate my Christmas cake when I (eventually) make it :)

Silicone Bakeware

The newest line of bakeware products to reach the shops are made out of silicone and to be honest I was a tad reluctant to purchase anything made out of silicone for a while, as I thought it was a bit of a strange material to use to make cake tins & such...it just didn't seem normal.

However, I'd read a few blogs and articles about silicone bakeware & the reviews were all good. The material is supposed to make it easier and quicker to clean your equipment, your foods are meant to stick less & you are even able to skip on greasing your tins.

At first, like I said, I was very skeptical...surely the silicone would melt in the oven, I thought. But eventually I gave in...although, I only started off small...only risking it with a silicone spatula.

I didn't notice a massive difference between using a silicone spatula than using a metal one..but it didn't melt like I thought it would...result!

So once i had had a taste of baking with silicone I couldn't resist trying something else,

so my mum bought me 12 silicone cake cases...just like the ordinary paper cupcake ones, but made out of silicone.

So today I decided to try them out & i instantly fell in love!

Despite the fact they come in nice pastel colours & look oh so pretty, they also make my cakes come out of the oven in a different way than normal paper cases. They seemed more shapely and formed...none of them overflowed like normal or came out misshapen. They were (almost) perfect!

And another great thing I just love about them is that when you take the cakes out of their cases, they come out perfectly. No getting stuck to the case one little bit & no losing the bottom half of your cupcake...they just drop out, without a fuss :)

I highly recommend using silicone bakeware.

I think my next buy is going to be a silicone mat to roll out dough & such so it doesn't stick & a cake tin...can't wait :)

Different types of icing/frosting methods

One thing I LOVE about baking cakes is decorating them.

I've not done a lot of cake decorating & I am definitely not at expert at it.

I see some cakes online that people have made & decorated & I'm really jealous of their skills at cake decorating.

I've promised myself that one day in the very near future I'm going to take a class in cake decorating...it would be just one of the best things ever I'm sure!

So, anyway, as I said, I am no way at all that good at decorating cakes & to be honest I am still learning about the different ways of icing/frosting cakes myself.

There are lots & lots of ways to decorate cakes, from a quick dust of icing sugar to thick creamy dollops of buttercream icing. You can also add all sorts of added decorations such as chocolate shavings or sprinkles.

I found this video by Wilton Cake decorating on youtube, and although it is an American video, which means that some products that they mention are sometimes different or harder to get hold of in the UK, it is very helpful for showing you the different types of icing/frosting that there is to use & what they are each best used for.

So take a look:

Their website Wilton.com is also full of really great tips for decorating your cakes and advice on things like icing consistencies and colouring icing.

Hope it helps :)

Ingredient Weight Conversions

A lot of recipes that I find on the internet that I want to try for myself are often in American measurements.

At first I thought that when a recipe says "1 cup", for example, I thought that it was the same measurement for whatever ingredient I was measuring out.

However, some of the recipes that I was trying to bake kept going wrong and not coming out as good as I hoped. At first I started to doubt my baking capabilites, but simple recipe's that I couldn't really go wrong with were not coming out as expected.

So then I researched the different measurements that I was using & realised that "1 cup" can mean different measurements for different things.

This table below shows clearly what the measurements convert as depending on what the ingredients are:

1 cup of butter or caster sugar	8 ounces	About 250 grams
1 cup of flour	4 ounces	About 125 grams
1 cup of icing sugar	5 ounces	About 150 grams

A few weeks ago, to make my life a little easier, I bought a cup measurement from the supermarket. This is not the exact one, but mine looks very similar:

Picture: elana's pantry (flickr)

In the set that I bought from Sainsbury's supermarket, I got 5 cup measurements which are different sizes. For example, one measures 1 cup, where as another measures 1/4 cup.

Obviously, it is not essential that you buy a cup measure, as you can just use the table above or other converters to help with your cooking. However, I definitely recommend buying one just to make things easier :)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I recently stumbled across a website called Ehow.co.uk, which hosts video's and articles on how to do certain things.

I was looking for some new recipe ideas and feeling in the biscuity mood I found this video on how to make chocolate chip cookies.

So firstly here is the video showing you how to make the cookies:

How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies -- powered by eHow.com

The ingredients aren't shown too clear so here they are:

• 2 1/2 cups of plain flour/ all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of butter
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 3/4 cup of white sugar
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 1/2 cups of chocolate chips

Here's what mine turned out like after following this video recipe..

For Christmas why not give someone some of your homemade baking as a present?

These gold favour bags from Tesco are great to present them in as a

gift...

Carrot cake

This recipe is for carrot cake, which I got from The Pioneer Woman's website

Ingredients:

Cake -

• 2 cups of caster sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups of self-raising flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups of grated carrots

Cream cheese icing -

• 100g butter
• 200g of cream cheese
• 1 pound of icing sugar
• 1 cup of pecans
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla

Method for the cake:

1. Mix the sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl
2. Sift the flour, salt, baking powder & cinnamon & add to the first mixture
3. Add the carrots & mix well.
4. Pour the mixture into a greased pan.
5. Cook for 25-40 minutes
6. Allow to cool.

Method for the cream cheese icing:

1. In a large bowl cream the butter & add the cream cheese.
2. Add the sugar & vanilla and blend.
3. Mix the nuts into the mixture
4. Spread on the cake once it has cooled.

Triple Chocolate Brownies

This is my recipe for triple chocolate brownies..

Ingredients:

• 275g plain chocolate
  
• 275g butter
  
• 175g plain flour
  
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  
• 325g caster sugar
  
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
  
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  
• 85g milk chocolate, cut into large chunks
  
• 85g white chocolate, cut into large chunks
  

You can switch the quantities of chocolate if, for example, you prefer milk chocolate to plain chocolate. However, with brownies, I find that plain chocolate works better for the main chocolate as it creates a nice bitter taste & the milk & white chocolate chunks add a hint of cream.

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4 & line a baking tin (12in x 8in, 1.5in deep) with lightly buttered greaseproof paper or foil.


2. Put the plain chocolate and butter into a large bowl & place over a pan of simmering water & allow to melt.


3. Place the flour & baking powder into a bowl and set aside.


4. Remove the melted chocolate & butter mix from the heat and stir in the sugar


5. Add the eggs & vanilla essence & stir.
   
6. Add the chocolate mixture to the flour & fold together.


7. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin & place in the oven & bake for 25-30 minutes.

The brownies will be ready when the top is firm, but the inside is soft.

Allow the cake time to cool in the tin before removing & cutting into squares to serve.

Cupcakes with piped buttercream topping

So finally i have found a recipe for buttercream frosting that is thick enough for me to pipe & make my cupcakes look pretty.

I went through a bit of a trial & error before discovering the perfect concoction for my buttercream.

I tried one recipe which had me making a type of meringue type solution, involving egg whites & sugar being whisked over a bowl of simmering water.

At first i thought it was working..the mixture seemed thick & sticky enough to be piped, but after 20 minutes of hand whisking i gave up as the egg white's weren't 'peaking' as it was advised on the recipe :(

But then eventually my day was made & i discovered a great recipe for thick buttercream!

It actually contains similar ingredients that i used in my first attempt at making buttercream, which turned out much thinner & wouldn't pipe (click here for recipe)

So, here's the ingredients:

• 400g Icing sugar
  
• 220g butter
  
• 3 tablespoons of milk
  
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Method:

1. In a bowl, cream the butter until smooth.
2. Beat in the vanilla extract
3. Then beat in the icing sugar, a bit at a time.
4. Add the milk and beat to combine.
5. Preferably with an electric mixer/hand mixer beat the mixture, at a high speed, for an extra 5 minutes until it is lat a light & fluffy consistency.

The buttercream can be stored in a fridge for up to about 10 days. After taking it out of the fridge & before using it, bring it to room temperature and re-whip before use.

With this buttercream recipe i used my piping bag & topped gluten & wheat free cupcakes with pretty frosting & sugar decorations. (Please note that the buttercream is gluten & wheat free, but th sugar toppings are not.)

Here is the result...

Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes

This next recipe is for cupcakes which contain no gluten or wheat...ideal for people with coeliac disease.

My mum has coeliac disease, so now when i bake cakes or desserts I mostly make them using a gluten free recipe so my mum can enjoy them too.

I have come across a lot of cupcake recipe's for coeliac's & often they are made with almonds & bulked up with all sorts of things because a gluten free cake is often harder to bind & crumbles easily.

However, I've found that keeping the recipe just the same as a normal cupcake and just replacing the normal flour with a gluten & wheat free one works out just as great.


These are the flours i use when baking gluten & wheat free foods. They are 'Doves Farm' plain white & white self-raising flour blend.

It works just as well as ordinary flour..it's just a bit more expensive!

Also, to ensure & help the mixture to bind better i sometimes add milk or an extra egg.

So, here is my recipe for gluten & wheat free cupcakes using this flour..

Ingredients:

• 115g Doves Farm gluten & wheat free flour
• 115g butter
• 115g caster sugar
• 3 egg
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 2 tablespoons of milk

If you are making these cakes for somebody with a gluten & wheat tolerance, ensure that the other ingredients you use are suitable for coeliac's have not been contaminated with foods containing gluten or wheat in them. For example, ensure the butter you use does not have gluten bread crumbs in it.

Serves 20-25 cupcakes

Method:

1. Firstly grab your paper cases & line them in your bun tray & pre-heat your oven at Gas Mark 5
2. Put butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat together with whisk or wooden spoon until a fluffy & pale mixture is formed.
3. Add the eggs one at a time & beat.
4. Once the eggs have been mixed in, add the flour, baking powder & vanilla extract & mix until everything has blended together and a pale mixture has formed.
5. Divide the mixture evenly between the cases. I like to use either a teaspoon or a small sized ice cream scoop to do this.
6. Put the bun tray into the oven and bake the cake mixture for about 15-20 minutes or until cakes are a light golden colour.

And as you can see they turn out just like normal cupcakes...

Enjoy :)