Boston cream cupcakes

Page 60 - Boston cream cupcakes

"A jazzed-up vanilla cupcake"

 

I was a little disappointed when I made these, simply because I'd expected them to be chocolate cupakes with chocolate frosting, but they're actually plain. However the frosting is quite rich and the custard inside gives them another dimension so they were actually really enjoyable.

As usual - the recipe says 12-16 cupcakes, but I halved the recipe and it actually made 11 "normal" sized cakes...


How to make Boston cream cupcakes

Ingredients:
80g unsalted butter
280g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
240ml milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 large eggs

1- Preheat over to 190 degrees centigrade and line one or two deep muffin tins (recipe says it makes 12-16 cupcakes but I found it makes about 20)

2- Whisk the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt until it resembles breadcrumbs
3- Mix the milk, vanilla and eggs in a jug. Add 3/4 to dry mixture, mix and scrape from the sides. Add the remainder and mix until smooth
4- Pour mixture into cases and bake for 18-20 mins. Leave to cool in the tray and cool completely 

 

How to make the vanilla custard filling

Ingredients

250ml milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 large egg yolks

50g caster sugar

1 tbsp plain flour

1 tbsp cornflour

1) Pour milk and vanilla into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Meanwhile, mix the rest of the ingredients by hand until combined

2) Remove the boiling milk from the heat, pour 4-5 tablespoons of the milk in to the egg mixture to combine, and then add all of the egg mixture to the milk in the pan and stir

3) Bring it all to the boil, boil for at least a minute until flour is cooked

4) Once thickened, transfer in to a glass bowl, cover over with cling film and leave to cool for 30-40 minutes

How to make the chocolate frosting

Ingredients
400g icing sugar

100g cocoa powder
160g unsalted butter
80ml whole milkFood colouring if required 

1) Beat the icing sugar, cocoa and butter until sandy
2) Gradually add the milk, and whisk again until smooth and light
3) Spoon the icing on to the cupcakes and smooth  with a palette knife

Yummy Boston cream cupcakes



Pistachio whoopie pies

Page 55 - Pistachio whoopie pies

"Marshmallow Fluff is the way forward...!"

I wasn't looking forward to making this recipe as my last two whoopie pie experiences haven't been great. HOWEVER - I bought Marshmallow fluff for this attempt and it made a huge difference. Previously I'd melted ordinary marshmallows bt it was too stodgy and just didn't work.

Also - I made half the recipe quantity and made the pies half of the size as they were just too big - much better this size. I know in the bakery they are approx 5cm in diameter but these were more like Viennese Whirl size.

I think I didn't leave the icing to set before filling them as it oozed everywhere and to be honest wasn't that pretty - noted for the next batch :-)

How to make pistachio whoopie pies

Ingredients
1 large egg
150g caster sugar
125g plain yogurt
2ml milk
2 tsp vanilla essence
75g unsalted butter
275g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking podwer
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
60g ground pistachio (I bought them shelled and chopped/ground them myself)

1 - Whisk the egg and sugar until light and fluffy
2 - Separately - mix the yogurt, milk and vanilla. Add to the egg/sugar mixture and mix on a medium speed
3 - Add the melted butter
4 - Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarb. Add to the egg mixture in two batches, mixing thoroughly after each addition
5 - Stir the ground pistachios in by hand. Leave to set in the fridge for 30 minutes
6 - Pre-heat the over to 170 degrees centigrade and line baking trays
7 - Once chilled, spoon the mix on to trays, approx 3-5cm in diameter and spaced 2-3cm apart. Bake for 10-13 mins until golden and allow to cool completely

How to make marshmallow fluff filling

Ingredients
170g unsalted butter
280g icing sugar
220g marshmallow fluff

1 - Using an electric mixer, mix the butter and icing sugar until blended. Add the marshmallow fluff and mix until light and fluffy. Place frosting in the fridge for AT LEAST 40 minutes
2 - When chilled and firm-ish, spoon the filling on to half of the halves and piece together

Vanilla Cupcakes

Vanilla cupcakes for Sophie's birthday

"Another trusty recipe!"

These are similar to the chocolate cupcakes - the recipe seems to just "work" everytime I make them! They're really moist and I'm now making so many of these that I can generally judge the right amount to fill the case up so that they don't overfill but aren't too light.

Again - this recipe makes more like 20 cupcakes than the 12-16 the recipe suggests. I made 50 of these for a birthday and only needed to make two and a half times the recipe, with a couple to spare...

How to make vanilla cupcakes

Ingredients:
80g unsalted butter
280g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
240ml milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 large eggs

1- Preheat over to 190 degrees centigrade and line one or two deep muffin tins (recipe says it makes 12-16 cupcakes but I found it makes about 20)2- Whisk the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt until it resembles breadcrumbs
3- Mix the milk and eggs in a jug. Add 3/4 to dry mixture, mix and scrape from the sides. Add the remainder and mix until smooth
4- Pour mixture into cases and bake for 18-20 mins. Leave to cool in the tray and cool completely before adding frosting

How to make the vanilla frosting

Ingredients
500g icing sugar
160g unsalted butter
50ml whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
Food colouring if required 

1) Beat the icing sugar and butter until sandy
2) Gradually add the milk and vanilla, and whisk again until smooth and light
3) Spoon the icing on to the cupcakes and smooth with a palette knife

Page 92 - Vanilla cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes

Page 126 - Chocolate Cupcakes

"Such a versatile recipe"

I've made these cupcakes before out of the original Hummingbird book, but made these this time for a friend along with some lemon ones. As usual the recipe didn't let me down - they were so tasty! I especially like to icing from this recipe as it's really rich :-)

One thing - the recipe says this makes 12-16 cupcakes but I actually think it makes more than 20! So unless you do actually want to be eating chocolate cupcakes for the next month I suggest you half the recipe :-)

How to make chocolate cupcakes

Ingredients:
80g unsalted butter
280g caster sugar
200g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
240ml milk
2 large eggs

1- Preheat over to 190 degrees centigrade and line one or two deep muffin tins (recipe says it makes 12-16 cupcakes but I found it makes about 20)
2- Whisk the butter, sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt until it resembles breadcrumbs
3- Mix the milk and eggs in a jug. Add 3/4 to dry mixture, mix and scrape from the sides. Add the remainder and mix until smooth
4- Pour mixture into cases and bake for 18-20 mins. Leave to cool in the tray and cool completely before adding frosting

How to make the chocolate frosting

Ingredients
400g icing sugar

100g cocoa powder
160g unsalted butter
50ml whole milk


1) Beat the icing sugar, butter and cocoa until sandy
2) Gradually add the milk and whisk again
3) Spoon the icing on to the cupcakes and smooth with a palette knife

Chocolate and lemon cupcakes

Chocolate Guinness cake



Page 59 - Chocolate Guiness cake



"Leigh's rating: 9.9 / 10!"

I've been looking forward to this one for a while and I think it's lived up to expectation - Leigh marked it 9.9 out of 10! It's really moist, but only has a hint of Guinness which is good as I don't like the stuff much. The cream cheese frosting really compliments the rich chocolate but you wouldn't want a big piece!

I find it really hard to ice the sides of cakes - if anyone has any hints please do share as it never seems to look like the picture. I have a turntable and pallet knife but is there a trick!?

Leigh's highest scoring cake so far!

Apricot crunchies



Page 56 - Apricot crunchies

"Apricot crumblies, not crunchies!"

These are like flapjack-y cakes - lovely! They're more moist than I was expecting (based on their recipe title!) but the fruit in them gives them a lovely texture. Also, soaking the fruit in orange juice prior to baking does really give them an extra zing.

I'm not sure how to make these not fall apart if I made them again simply as there's so much fruit in them - however to be honest I don't mind as it just means more for me as it falls apart...!

Breakfast bran muffins



Page 48 - Breakfast bran muffins



"Ok but not the most interesting recipe"


These muffins are exactly as the title says. They taste nice, but are quote dull compared to all of the other goodies in the Cake Days book. They contain oats, wholemeal flour and raisins so feel quite healthy but I'm sure they're not really - If I'm going to eat a cake I'll have a hardcore one next time please!

These didn't seem to rise as much as I'd expected them too, and some of them seemed to sink in the middle - I think it could be because I opened the oven quite a few times while they were cooking. Or also perhaps I had the temperature too high... I'll have to use my thermometer next time!

Mixed berry muffins



Page 50 - Mixed berry muffins

 "Nicer than Tesco's finest!"

I wasn't sure about these as i thought they might come out like cupcakes rather than muffins. HOWEVER they came out perfectly! I've never thought to sprinkle sugar on top of cakes before baking, but again it gave them a lovely finish - a generally nice recipe!

A special thank you to Paul, who gave me the advice of coating the berries in flour before mixing them in so they didn't sink to the bottom - it worked a treat! And another thank you to Jacquie and Paul too as the raspberries came from their garden :-)

Cranberry magic bars

Page 49 - Cranberry magic bars

"All of my favourite foods in one!"

Just looking at the ingredients for these made my mouth water! Cranberries, white chocolate, pecan nuts and coconut on a biscuit base - what more could you want out of a dessert?!

The pastry in particular was really nice and I'll defnitely use this recipe in other desserts, i.e. millionaire's shortcake. It's just butter and flour, but with 40g icing sugar so it's quite light and crumbly :-)

These are definitely in my top five of the project to-date...!

Rhubarb and almond loaf (to be re-visited!)

I haven't actually made the rhubarb and almond loaf on page 46 yet....

I'm going to cheat and skip this one for the time being. Not because I want to but because I don't think rhubarb is currently in season and I don't want to use the tinned stuff! So I'll come back to this one when I get my hands on fresh rhubarb - I hope no-one minds!

Grasshopper Pie



Page 45 - Grasshopper pie



"Not a grasshopper in sight!"

I didn't know what to expect with this one - just looking at the picture, I thought it might have contained lime. Its a chocolate biscuit base (which I made with bourbon biscuits as the recipe just said "chocolate flavour"), with a mint and marshmallow middle (sounds wierd but the marshmallow give it a nice texture) and whipped cream on top. The biscuit base in particular was really more-ish!

Tips for future reference:
#1 - Don't melt the marshmallows/milk in the microwave - I was lazy so did this in the microwave first-time round which was a disaster as it all separated. For my second attempt (this project is indeed costing me a small fortune in ingredients!) I actually did it on the hob and it worked much better, the texture is fab.
#2 - Ideally use white marshmallows only - I used pink and white marshmallows as I couldn't get a bag of white-only ones and it made the colour slightly faded rather than the bright green in the picture.
#3 - Dont overwhip the cream for the top layer - I think I did mine too much as it didn't sit s prettily as the picture looks!