Let's Go To The Circus! A Cupcake Design

At 28 years old, I had never (as far as I could remember) been to a circus. So my husband took me to the one that was in town this week and I had a blast! All the performers were incredible acrobats, and the clown was very sweet.

I was inspired by my time at the circus to make these cute themed cupcakes! Chocolate cakes with a mildly peanutty buttercream, topped off with a mini candy floss!

I know that circuses don't have animals anymore, but I still associate elephants and camels and that old timey sense of wonder at amazing spectacles! And because of elephants, I thought of peanuts.... thus peanut butter. Also, while at the circus I had some candy floss; yumyum!

INGREDIENTS

12 chocolate cupcakes, in pink or blue cases

6 ounces (170 grammes) salted butter

3 fluid ounces (105 millilitres) condensed milk

3 ounces (85 grammes) smooth peanut butter

12 ounces (340 grammes) icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

A few drops of almond essence

6 paper straws with pink stripes

A tub of candy floss, pink and blue

Pink and blue sprinkles

METHOD

• Make a buttercream icing with the butter, condensed milk, peanut butter, icing sugar, vanilla and almond essences. 
• Use the icing to pipe swirls on top of the cakes, and sprinkle with the blue and pink sprinkles.
• Cut the straws in half and use each half as a stick for the candy flosses: wrap pieces of candy floss around the straws and gently squeeze to secure. Keep the candy flosses in an airtight container until serving.
• Decorate the cakes with the mini candy flosses immediately before serving, not in advance, otherwise the candy flosses will melt.

Making My Own Wedding Cake, Part 2: Wedding Cake Recipe

And here it is at last: the actual recipe for the wedding cake and cupcakes! After months of planning, designing, and practicing, it finally came together.... with a few unfortunate incidents (which you can read all about in Part 1)

(I'm awaiting the professional photos: this was taken by a guest, Simon)

This recipe isn't complicated, just time consuming. I made the main cake and 120 cupcakes over the course of a few days: I can only fit 24 cakes in my oven at once, so I had to do 5 batches in total. 

I baked, cooled, and iced each two-dozen cupcakes at a time before freezing, iced and all. However, if you want to add other decorations like sprinkles, they don't freeze well at all so the cakes will have to be frozen un-iced then iced and decorated after defrosting.

I baked the Madeira cake, sliced it into layers, and then froze it in advance before completely defrosting to fill and decorate a few days before the wedding. I recommend making the cake about two days in advance to let the syrup soak in and for the whole cake to set nicely.

My husband Simon hand-painted the figurines that sat atop the cake. Despite giving the hotel instructions on how to mount them on the two provided flower nails and place them into the cake, they simply balanced the models on the cake. Next time I do a cake like this, I'll send a family member in to oversee the construction if I can't be there!

(I'm awaiting the professional photos: these were taken by a guest, Katie)

The ladybirds were bought from Lidl during their Easter season. I used them because they're black and red, like our theme colours. You could always decorate with seasonal flowers, toothpick flags, or even fondant figures or flowers.

For the cupcakes, make sure to get cases that are coloured inside and outside: some coloured cake cases are white cases that have been printed with edible ink on the outside, but better quality cases are made out of paper that is dyed which gives them a solid colour, inside and out. SuperValu sells them in packs of 50, and as of writing this they cost €2 a pack. Or, buy Culpitt brand cases online from Amazon or eBay.

INGREDIMENTS
There are many, many ingredients

Lemon Cupcakes

For 2 dozen cupcakes

5 eggs, at room temperature

10 ounces (285 grammes) caster sugar

5 ounces (140 grammes) sunflower oil

2 teaspoons vanilla essence, or 1 teaspoon of vanilla pod paste

10 drops almond essence

Grated zest of half a large lemon

5 tablespoons (75 millilitres) milk

10 ounces (285 grammes) plain white flour

⅝ teaspoon baking soda

¼ tsp ground sea salt
24 solid black cake cases (see note above)

To ice

8 ounces (225 grammes) salted butter

8 ounces (225 grammes) condensed milk

1 pound (455 grammes) icing sugar, sifted

Up to 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) extra milk

Zest of quarter of a large lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla pod paste

Chocolate Cupcakes

For 2 dozen

5 eggs, at room temperature

10 ounces (285 grammes) caster sugar

5 ounces (140 grammes) sunflower oil

2 teaspoons vanilla essence, or 1 teaspoon of vanilla pod paste

5 tablespoons (75 millilitres) milk

1½ ounces (45 grammes) cocoa powder, preferably Bournville or another good brand

8½ ounces (240 grammes) plain white flour

⅝ teaspoon baking soda

¼ tsp ground sea salt
24 solid red cake cases (see note above)

To ice

8 ounces (225 grammes) salted butter

8 ounces (225 grammes) condensed milk

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

1½ ounces (45 grammes) cocoa powder

14½ ounces (410 grammes) icing sugar, sifted

Two 19g packages of red gel food colouring (I bought mine from Aldi)
If you're not using the colouring, add up to 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) of milk to adjust the consistency


To Make the Cupcakes

• Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) and line two muffin tins with cupcake cases (mine measured 3cm x 5cm). Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature.
• Sieve the flour (and cocoa) with the baking soda and salt very well. Set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until about doubled in size, a pale lemon colour, and looks like a loose foam.
• While running the mixer, drizzle in the oil in a steady stream. Don't overbeat, though: adding the oil should take all of about 15 seconds.
• Fold in the milk and flavourings (vanilla, almond essence, lemon zest, etc.), then sieve in the dry ingredients. Fold well: don't fret too much about overmixing, and be careful not to undermix.
• Divide the mixture between the 24 cake cases, using a scoop or measuring cup/spoon. Fill the cases about halfway, two-thirds at the most.
• Bake the cakes for 14 to 16 minutes, turning the trays through 180 degrees halfway through baking. If the two trays are on different shelves, swap them around too. Do this very carefully so the cakes don't get deflated.
• Once baked, remove from the oven and tap the tins very firmly on the work surface to burst any air bubbles.
• Transfer the cakes to a cooling rack and cool completely before decorating.

To Make the Icing

• Make sure your ingredients are all room temperature, including the condensed milk.
• In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and condensed milk together until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients in four additions, beating well after each one. To adjust the consistency, add milk between the additions of dry ingredients, but add no more than one or two teaspoons at a time.
• If colouring, add the colouring in gradually until you have the colour you want.
• Ice the cakes, and then immediately freeze for later use, or store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Lemon Layer Cake

For the cake

One 8 inch Madeira cake, made with 5 eggs' worth of ingredients, and flavoured with lemon zest, lemon juice, almond essence, and vanilla pod paste (details below)
4 ounces (115 grammes) lemon curd, homemade or shop-bought
Lemon simple syrup, or soaking

For the icing

9 ounces (250 grammes) white chocolate, cut into small pieces
3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar
3 fluid ounces (85 millilitres) milk
3 ounces (85 grammes) salted butter, in small pieces
Vanilla pod paste
Optional: 1 teaspoon of lemon zest


To Make the Icing

• In a saucepan, heat the milk and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil, and cook for only a minute.
• Take off the heat and stir in the white chocolate and butter. Return to very low heat, stirring continuously, until all the chocolate and butter has melted and the icing is smooth and consistent.
• Stir in the vanilla pod paste (and zest, if using) then allow the icing to cool completely, about two hours, stirring every so often to prevent crusting.
• Once cool, beat with an electric mixer until creamy, fluffy, and spreadable. Whipping the icing makes it lighter and makes it go further, but if you want a denser, American fudge style icing don't whip it.
• Be careful not to whip too much! It can cause the icing to go crumbly. If that happens, simply melt it down again, and repeat the cooling and whipping.

To Assemble the Cake

• Bake the cake according to the above link, scaling up all the ingredients in proportion with 5 eggs. Flavour it with the zest of a lemon, 2 teaspoons of vanilla pod paste, and half a teaspoon of almond essence.
• You can use the juice of the lemon to make the lemon simple syrup. Pour the syrup into a large dish, big enough to dip the cake layers in.
• Once the cake is baked and cooled, slice into two layers and dip both sides of each layer in the simple syrup. Layer the cake with the lemon curd in the middle
• Crumb coat the cake, then chill for about 20 minutes before finishing the icing and decorating.

As you can see, there's a lot of making here! But, it was all worth it in the end. I think the cake disaster was a blessing in disguise, as it led me to using the white chocolate fudge icing that was a mega hit! If, however, you want to see how I was going to make the cake with the white chocolate glaze, I'll shortly be uploading a lovely white chocolate and coffee cake recipe....

To everyone who came to the wedding, and to everyone who helped on my journey, thank you all from the bottom of my heart! I hope that in sharing my experiences, anyone out there who wants to attempt their own cake is well and thoroughly warned!!

"Jacob's Mikado" Cupcakes: Coconut, Raspberry, and Marshmallows

Mikadoo, doo, doo, push Pineapple shake the tree.... 

Y’all know I love Mikado biscuits. I don’t think I’ve ever done a Mikado recipe on this blog before, but I’ve probably enthused about this all-Irish treat at some point on some blog post in the past. A Mikado, produced by a company called Jacob’s, is a small rectangular biscuit topped with two parallel rows of pink marshmallow, between which is a row of tangy raspberry jam; the whole confection is dusted with desiccated coconut. Although they are available all year round, they are especially popular at Christmas time, where they’re sold in massive plastic tubs to make sure you have enough for all the guests you’ll be entertaining throughout the Christmas season. 

Mikados are just one biscuit in a range of marshmallow biscuits produced by Jacob’s: there are Coconut Creams, which are round plain biscuits topped with a splodge of coconut sprinkled marshmallow (which are either pink or white); and there are Kimberleys, which are a sandwich biscuit made of gingerbread and marshmallow, the exposed edges of which are encrusted with coarse white sugar crystals. And all of these, of course, come in a chocolate coated variety for greater indulgence at special occasions (there’s even a triple chocolate Kimberley, where the biscuit and the marshmallow within the chocolate coating are also cocoa flavour. It’s sinfully delicious). 

This simple combination of plain, buttery biscuit, jam, marshmallow and coconut is easily adapted to all sorts of baked goods, including these here cupcakes! These are a nice vanilla almond cake (a flavour which is commonly referred to as “birthday cake” flavour in the States, sans the sprinkles) filled with seedless raspberry jam and topped with pillowy 7-minute frosting, before being dunked in desiccated coconut. The whole thing is then crowned with a Mikado. 

I make 7-minute frosting by mixing 2 egg whites, 2 tablespoons of water, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, and 8 ounces of caster sugar in a heatproof bowl. I then gently heat this over simmering water until the sugar dissolves and it’s warm to the touch. I take it off the heat and whip it with an electric hand mixer for a full 7 minutes, until it is marshmallowy light and cool to the touch. This is easily flavoured and coloured: in hindsight, I should have coloured mine pink to mirror the biscuits, but the white it also pretty; I flavoured mine with vanilla. 

This is best eaten within three days, as after three days the icing turns all dusty as the sugar re-crystalises. To avoid this, you can replace up to a third of the sugar with glucose syrup. 

Red Velvet Cupcakes with "Cream Cheese" Butter Cream

In recent years I have found that the best way to make cream cheese icing is to not use cream cheese at all. Intrigued? Well, read on a to find out how I made these delicious red velvet cakes with "cream cheese" icing!

Here in Ireland, cream cheese can be very inconsistent: some brands are perfectly thick and creamy, but other brands can be watery and thin. Sometimes you can make a cream cheese icing that whips up beautifully, then other times it will turn into a sugary cream cheese sauce.

The issue at play here is the moisture levels in the cream cheese. Sugar absorbs water and goes runny, and the more water there is for the sugar to absorb, the sloppier your mixture becomes. I'd found the best way to avoid this is to make an icing that tastes like cream cheese, without actually using cream cheese.

Creamy cheese is rich and fatty, but it's also slightly tangy from the fermentation process, and salty to preserve its freshness. Understanding this balance between fatty, tangy, and salty is the key to mimicking its flavour.

In my previous foray into non-cream cheese icing, I made a white chocolate and greek yoghurt fudge icing, and it was absolutely fabulous. However, if you don't want to cook up a yoghurt simple syrup, or you don't have any white chocolate, there is a way to make plain old vanilla buttercream taste like cream cheese icing.

To make enough icing for 12 cakes, simply beat together 4 ounces (115 grammes) of unsalted butter with 4 ounces (115 grammes) of condensed milk. Gradually beat in 8 ounces (225 grammes) of sieved icing sugar to make a thick and creamy icing. Add vanilla essence to taste.

And now we get a little bit adventurous: it's time to add small amounts of sea salt and distilled white (or apple cider) vinegar. I think vinegar is the best because it was a fermented sourness that is like cream cheese. However, if you don't want to use vinegar, you can substitute fresh lemon juice.

Add the salt and vinegar, a pinch and a few drops at a time, until you have the right level of "cheesiness". I used just under a quarter teaspoon each of salt and vinegar, but please add slowly and to your taste: you can always add, but you can't take it out!

If you want it to taste like lemon cheesecake icing, you can also add some lemon zest to taste.

To make the cupcakes, I used my newly revised cupcake recipe and substituted a teaspoon of the flour with cocoa powder, and substituted buttermilk for milk. I also added red food colouring.... but I don't think I added enough!

I also added some nice little red and white flowers that I had got in a Halloween cake decoration kit, although sadly one of the red flowers crumbled in the packet and had to start a new life as sprinkles. The kit also had sugar devils and ghosts, which I still haven't found a use for.

I hope you give these delicious cakes a try soon!

Nice and Simple Lemon Cupcakes

As I teased in my previous choco-cinnamint cupcakes, here is another delicious cupcake idea: yellow and purple lemon cupcakes!

When I went to art college, we were taught about colour theory, how each of the primary colours have an opposite and complementary colour: blue goes with orange, red goes with green, and yellow goes with purple. If you're painting a picture and want to dull a colour for a shadow, per se, you don't mix the paint with black, you mix it with its complement.

Of all the complementary colours, my favourite two are yellow and purple. It's such a pretty, floral palette that makes me thing of a pretty summer field. My least favourite is blue and orange: it's extremely hard to get that to look un-garish.

That's why my eye was immediately drawn to these one day a few years ago when I was walking down the homebaking aisle of Tesco....

I saw them and I knew it was fate.

I bought them and thought one day, I'll have a use for these, and that day finally came recently during my cupcake experiments. I thought making some lovely lemon cakes in purple wrappers would be the ideal way to make the best of these decorations.

For these cakes, I made a two-egg quantity of my newly revised cupcakes, adding in a teaspoon of lemon zest along with the vanilla essence. To make the lemon icing for 12 cakes, I mixed together 4 ounces (115 grammes) of room temperature butter with 4 ounces (115 grammes) of shop-bought lemon curd in a bowl with an electric mixer. I then gradually added 8 ounces (225 grammes) of sieved icing sugar and a splash of vanilla essence until I had a lovely soft icing. I then piped this onto the cakes in a swirl using a star-shaped nozzle, and sprinkled with some multicoloured sprinkles before popping a yellow and purple sugar swirl onto each cake.

Lemon cake is a classic, and I have done lemon cupcakes in the past, but I'm very pleased with the revised cake and buttercream recipe!

Choco-Cinnamint Cupcakes: a Flavour Experiment

I am finally back from a week-long summer camp where I taught teenagers how to play the bass guitar! And just before I left I made some delicious little cupcakes, including these fabulous Choco-Cinnamint cakes!

I think I may have mentioned it before, but I really like the combination of cinnamon and mint (I love "cinnamint" tea) and I especially love the combination of chocolate, cinnamon, and mint. I first discovered it when I ordered a hot chocolate from a coffee stand in the train station, and had forgotten that I'd asked for mint syrup and asked for cinnamon sprinkled on top instead of cocoa powder. The accidental discovery of this warm and aromatic flavour combination is one of my best culinary experiences.

I've always wanted to try making a cake using the choco-cinnamint theme, and my recent experimentations with cupcakes seemed like the perfect opportunity! I think cupcakes are a great outlet for flavour curiosities because they are single serving and can be made in small batches. As seen above, I made these with some delicious lemon cupcakes around the same time.

I made these cupcakes by making a two-egg quantity of my most recently revised cupcake recipe and replacing an eighth of the flour with cocoa powder, and adding half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon. I also made some chocolate buttercream with a little pinch of cinnamon, and then half as much buttercream flavoured with peppermint essence and tinted green. I filled a piping bag fitted with a star tip, keeping the minty icing to one side and the chocolate icing to the other, then piped each cake with a swirl. As you can see, I didn't quite get the icings even on either side so some cakes are greener than others!

If you feel like something different, I encourage you to give this interesting flavour combination a try!

Perfectly Rounded Cupcakes (Wheat Free with Dairy Free Option)

I was starting to worry about my cupcake fixation: I thought I'd need some kind of psychological intervention at some point. But, as it turns out, engaging in a compulsive and obsessive trial and error process until you get the results you want works!

Sure, my house may have been littered with cupcakes for a solid fortnight, and that was after palming them off continually on my fiancé's coworkers, but it meant that I finally cracked the code to perfectly rounded cupcakes like these:

Aren't they a thing of beauty? When this batch came out of my mother's oven I was dancing with glee, and when I was able to replicate the results in my own problematic home oven I was even more excited. I learned a few things along the way about what was causing my cupcake problems.

I learned:

• From my tests, using a egg-foam (sabayon) based cake mixture gets the most consistent and roundest results. Whenever I used a butter-based creamed mixture, like Madeira, the tops peaked and cracked open, producing a mostly flat cupcake with a nose.
• However, using an egg-foam technique where the egg whites were whipped separately and added to the mxiture later made cupcakes that shrank after cooking. It also made very dry cupcakes.
• I found that using baking powder sometimes made the cupcakes rise too fast and then collapse immediately after baking. The combat the issue, I used baking soda instead, and the results were massively improved. Baking soda is a slower acting raising agent, which in this scenario I think helped a lot.
• Melted butter made a deliciously rich cake, but they went hard once they were cold and staled quickly. Using all sunflower oil made for a lovely moist cake that stayed moist for days on end, and had a nice soft springy texture.

So, the main takeaway is use baking soda instead of powder, whip the eggs and sugar together as a base, and don't overwhip the eggs.

I am so pleased that I found the way to make lovely round cakes. Now, I have to experiment with storage, freezing, and defrosting: I'll be a monkey's uncle before I make and ice 120 cakes the day before my wedding.

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

DIFFICULTY
Requires whipping eggs and gently folding

TIME

About an hour

RECIPE RATING

Intermediate

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

INGREDIMENTS

For 12 cupcakes

2 medium (US Large) eggs, room temperature

4 ounces (115 grammes) caster sugar

2 ounces (55 grammes) sunflower oil

2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) milk, or milk alternative, room temperature

1 or 2 teaspoons (5 or 10 millilitres) vanilla essence

4 ounces (115 grammes) plain white spelt flour

¼ teaspoon (2 grammes) bicarbonate of soda

Two pinches of salt

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

METHOD

• Line a 12 hole muffin tin with regular cake cases, measuring about 2 inches (5 centimetres) across the base. Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F, Gas Mk.3).
• Set a sieve over a bowl, or a piece of baking paper, and add in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and a pinch of salt. Sieve thoroughly and set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, a pinch of salt, and the sugar with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes, or until the mixture has turned a pale yellow colour and has doubled in volume.
• With the mixer still running, pour in the oil gradually, followed by the milk. Mix only enough to combine. 
• Sieve over the flour mixture, and fold through quickly with a balloon whisk. Stir until the flour is completely absorbed, and the mixture has a ribbon consistency: if you lift the whisk, the mixture will run off the end like a ribbon.
• Divide the mixture between the cases and bake on the centre shelf of the preheated oven for 14 to 16 minutes, until the tops are perfectly rounded the the centre of the cake springs back when gently pressed with your little finger.
• Take the cakes out of the tin and transfer to a wire cooling rack. Cool completely before decorating, about 45 minutes to an hour.

VARIATIONS

• For chocolate cakes, replace an eighth of the flour with cocoa powder.
• For lemon or orange flavoured cakes, add in a teaspoon of lemon or orange zest.
• For toffee flavoured cakes, use soft brown sugar instead of caster sugar. If you like, you can replace half of the oil with cooled melted butter.
• For coconut cakes, add in an ounce (30 grammes) of desiccated coconut and use coconut milk.
• For coffee flavoured cakes, you could add in a teaspoon (5 millilitres) of ground instant coffee with the flour, or you could use espresso in place of the milk.
• If you'd like a red velvet style cake, you can double the vanilla, replace a teaspoon of flour with a teaspoon of cocoa and add some red food colouring. For extra points, you could use buttermilk instead of milk.
• You could also add any kind of ground mixed spices you like: add in 1 to 2 teaspoons (5 to 10 millilitres) of ground spice per dozen cakes.
• You could also add in mix-ins for a bit of texture interest: chopped nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips. For a dozen cakes, add 2 ounces (55 grammes) of mix-ins, but make sure they are tossed in a little flour before adding to the cake mixture.
• Of course, any of the above ideas can be combined: for example you can add mixed spice to a brown sugar cake to make a gingerbread cake, you could add orange zest to a chocolate cake.

STORAGE

These keep well in a completely airtight container, stored at room temperature, for up to 5 days. After 5 days, they start to go dry. These can be frozen, based on previous experience of using this style of cake, for up to 3 months. In the spirit of full disclosure, I have frozen these for 6 months and they've been completely fine on defrosting, but were only edible for about 2 days before going completely stale.

THIS DAY IN 2014: Anniversary Gift: Chocolate Dipped Gingerbread Teddies (Wheat Free)
There were no blogs on this day in 2013, 2015, 2016, nor 2017

I've Got OCD: Obsessive Cupcake Disorder!

I've made about four dozen fairy cakes over the past few days, possibly more because I've been sending the excess cakes to work with my fiancé.

I'm going a little mad in the search for the perfect fairy cake: fluffy yet moist, tall and rounded, and deliciously sweet but not sickly.

However, the oven in my current house has become my worst enemy: recipes that worked like a treat in my mother's and two of my previous homes' ovens are routinely failing in my current oven. I think all my experiments are to be done anymore in my mother's oven because I no longer have access to the ovens in my previous rental homes, obviously!

Here is a batch of cupcakes using the traditional pound cake recipe: a quarter pound each of sugar, flour, eggs, and butter. I'm not a fan of pound cake, personally, but normally it turns out nicely in my mother's oven. These however were simultaneously peaked and flat, and dense in texture.

This batch was made using my Madeira cake recipe. These too had noses, which I couldn't work out how to prevent.

On the right hand side is a batch of cakes using the light sponge cake recipe that I normally use for fairy cakes, which normally works in my mother's oven, but in my oven they were dry, dense, and flat.

This final batch is the same recipe, however the baking powder in the recipe was replaced with a quarter teaspoon of baking soda for every quarter pound of flour. The rise on these cakes was much more even, but in fear of the cakes deflating after coming out of the oven I overcooked them and they were dry.

I think I'll have to redo all my tests in my mother's oven and see what the issue is because I'm at my wit's end. I cannot find a way to prevent my cakes from:

• Either rising flat, or peaking and growing 'noses'
• Being too dense, or too dry
• Shrinking or flattening after cooking.

The tests continue......

Pull-Apart Pumpkin Cake (Dairy-Free Sponge Recipe) with Video!

If you are planning a Halloween party for entertaining, you will always need some kind of cake as a centre piece for the party table. Layer cakes, like the Bat 'n' Burg, will always impress older kids and adults, but little children are much more easily impressed. So, if you're entertaining little ones, you don't need to go to so much bother: this pull-apart cake will make your life easier, and will make sure everyone has a piece of cake that's the same size.

This video demonstrates how to make a pumpkin themed cake, but you could do anything like a bat, or a ghost. It's completely up to you!

 

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

DIFFICULTY

Requires mixing and piping icing

TIME

About 2 hours

RECIPE RATING

Easy!

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

INGREDIMENTS

Makes 12 cupcakes

4 ounces (115 grammes) white spelt flour

½ teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) cocoa powder
2 medium (US large) eggs

2 ounces (55 grammes, 60 millilitres) sunflower oil

2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar

2ounces (55 grammes) soft light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

To decorate

Melted milk or dark chocolate, roughly 3 ounces (85 grammes)
12 ounces to 1 pound (340 to 455 grammes) buttercream icing, coloured orange, made using margarine for a dairy-free option

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

FREE FROM

Dairy, nuts, wheat, yeast

CONTAINS

Spelt, eggs, refined sugar

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

STORAGE

These keep for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container at room temperature.

Strawberry Malt Shake Cupcakes

Here in Ireland, there are a few American style diners, the biggest chain used to be Eddie Rocket's before there was a big fallout and the franchises fell to pieces. Now, the only Eddie Rocket's restaurants are near to Dublin, our capital.

There used to be an Eddie Rocket's in Limerick (which is Ireland's third largest city) and they used to make absolutely sinfully delicious malted milkshakes. But now the new franchise has taken over, it's just not the same.

I decided to capture my delight in these malty pink delights my making a super fluffsome fairy cake topped off with swirls of super pink strawberry flavoured Ermine icing. You can use any kind of icing recipe you like, as long as you follow the instructions below to make it strawberry malt flavoued.

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

DIFFICULTY

Requires the ability to make icing

TIME

About an hour

RECIPE RATING

Easy!

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

INGREDIMENTS

12 vanilla cupcakes, in pink paper cases

1 pounds (455 grammes) cupcake icing of your choice, prepared as below

Strawberry milkshake powder, for icing

Barley malt extract, for icing

Pink decorations

6 pink paper straws

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

METHOD

Make a good cupcake icing of your choice, such as traditional buttercream or Swiss meringue buttercream, but replace a quarter of the sugar with strawberry milkshake powder. Add some barley malt extract to the icing a teaspoon at a time to your taste, and beat very well. Adjust the consistency of the icing with milk or cream.

Fit a piping bag with a closed-star nozzle, and pipe swirls or roses on top of your 12 cakes. A pound (455 grammes) of icing is enough to generously ice 12 cakes, but if you're in doubt you can make another half a pound (225 grammes). Decorate with pink sprinkles or dragées, and then cut the paper straws into halves or thirds to decorate the cakes.

STORAGE
These will keep an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, or at room temperature for 3 to 5 days.

Happy World Goth Day! (Goth Fairy Cakes)

Happy World Goth Day, everyone! A day to celebrate the colour black, bats, and everything morbid and macabre!

The first time I wore a completely black outfit, I was about fifteen years old. That was the start of a love affair with the gothic that has never stopped. Once you embrace black, you can't go back! My wardrobe and drawers are populated with black, grey, red, blue, purple, and the odd neon accent; leather, fishnet and opaque coloured tights, tartan, and pirate paraphernalia, too. I started my collection of piercings when I was 17 (12 in total, so far), and my tattoos followed later on at 25. Neither collection is finished.

So, as you can probably guess, Goth Day and Halloween are my favourite times of the year. This year, however, is the first time I've got around to wearing false vampire teeth! When I say teeth, I mean some white false stiletto style fingernails stuck on with denture adhesive. Does the job though!

To celebrate, I made some lovely purple velvet fairy cakes, swirled with buttermilk-spiked cooked milk icing, drizzled in super-black chocolate glaze, and crowned with a marzipan batty-bat.

I made the cakes using my red velvet cake recipe, using two eggs and scaling the other ingredients down accordingly, and using purple food colouring instead of red; this amount made 12 cakes. I topped off the cakes with the same icing as the red velvet cake too, only I used half the amount.

The chocolate glaze was made using 2 ounces (55 grammes) dark chocolate, 1 ounce (30 grammes) butter, half a tablespoon of black liquid food colouring, and half a tablespoon of milk. I melted all these ingredients together in a bowl in the microwave, heating for 15 seconds at a time and stirring between. I allowed it to cool down enough to pour over the icing swirls without melting it.

I coloured some marzipan purple, rolled it out to roughly a quarter inch (5 millimetres), and cut out bats and skulls. I drew the designs freehand on some card and cut out them out to make the templates.

The outside crusts of the cakes aren't very purple, I must admit. But the insides are suitably luminous! I was very pleased with how these turned out, and I'm even more pleased about the Goth ensemble with false teefs!

THIS TIME IN 2016: Mocha Cupcakes: Chocolate and Coffee Join Forces (Gluten Free; Dairy Free Option)
THIS TIME IN 2015: Super Moist and Rich Chocolate Cake
THIS TIME IN 2013: Coconut Custard Creams (Wheat Free)
There was no blog this time in 2014.