Rhubarb and Custard Cameo Cupcakes & a Brand New Blog Layout!

Hello there! It's been a while hasn't it? Far too long I say, but I'm back now and as The Inky Kitchen has had a bit of a facelift I thought it was only right to celebrate with some delicious cupcakes. Not just any cupcakes either, cupcakes that celebrate two of my favourite things - rhubard and custard sweets and Victorian cameo jewellery.

If you're British and born pre-1990 then you will surely remember those little magenta and buttercup coloured boiled sweets, both tart and creamy at the same time , glistening in big plastic jars on corner shop shelves. Their flavour is such a strong childhood memory to myself and so many others, just like the cupcake, so what better than combining the two into one special teatime treat.

Obviously the white chocolate cameos are not mandatory, I was just itching to use my new mould, but if you would like to you can buy the mould here. I bought the little sugar pearls from this online shop where I buy a lot of my baking supplies including edible glitter, cupcake cases and cookie cutters.

I would love to know what you think of the new layout too, do let me know!


Rhubard and Custard Cupcakes
Makes 16-20 depending on case size
Recipe adapted from Cupcakes by Martha Stewart

Rhubard Cupcake Ingredients
125g unsalted butter, softened
200g caster sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
115g sour cream, room temperature
2 stalks of rhubarb, trimmed and cut into small chunks

Custard Buttercream Frosting Ingredients
120ml milk
75g (one sachet) Bird's custard powder
125g unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
500g icing sugar
a few drops of pink food colouring, if using

White Chocolate Cameos
100g white chocolate, finely chopped
plastic cameo mould as shown above

Cupcakes Method
Preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, and then add the vanilla extract. Add half the flour, baking powder and soda and pinch of salt and mix well, then add the sour cream. Now add the second half of the flour and mix until just combined, before gently stirring in the diced rhubarb.

Divide between the cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until the tops spring back when touched and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Cameo Method
Melt half of the chopped chocolate in the microwave or over a water bath, then remove from the heat and beat in the rest of the chopped chocolate. This is a very easy way of 'tempering' the chocolate so that it has a nice shiny finish when set again.

Carefully spoon the chocolate into the voids in the mould and then tap several times on your worktop to remove any trapped air bubbles. Refrigerate until needed.

Buttercream Method
Heat four tablespoons of the milk until just boiling, and then whisk in the custard powder, set aside to cool a little. Beat the butter and vanilla extract and then add the cooled custard paste along with the rest of the cold milk and the food colouring if using. Beat until well combined and then start adding the icing sugar. You may not need it all, just keep adding and mixing until you get the desired consistency.

Spread or pipe over the frosting and then add your decorations.

Pumpkin Fest Part Five : Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin cupcakes! I know that to my English readers this may seem a little odd as we don't tend to use pumpkin in sweet dishes very often, but to make them easier to imagine, they taste a lot like carrot cake. Moist and deliciously spiced with ginger and cinnamon and more, the cream cheese frosting is to die for and the added splash of bourbon seems to intensify the sweet spicing to perfection.

It's a real shame that pumpkin isn't readily available in the UK other than at Halloween, as these really are one of my favourite cupcakes of all time. Oh well, I shall make do with carrot until I run away to the US to live in my Victorian porched wooden house in the South... one day, I hope...

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from a recipe by the genius that is Martha Stewart
Makes 12 standard American sized cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients
125g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda / baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
pinch of salt
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
pinch of ground nutmeg
pinch of ground allspice
pinch of ground clove
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
110g light brown sugar
50g dark brown sugar
50g caster sugar
2 eggs
220g pumpkin puree

Frosting Ingredients
125g full fat cream cheese, at room temperature
25g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp bourbon whiskey
1 tsp vanilla extract
300-400g icing sugar

Cupcakes Method
Preheat oven to 180 C / 360 F. Line a muffin pan with 12 cupcake cases.

Sift the flour, baking powder and soda and all the spices into a large bowl and stir until evenly combined and then set aside - you don't want any pockets/lumps of spices in the batter.

Beat together the butter and three sugars until fluffy and then mix in the eggs until just combined. Add half the flour mixture and beat again gently, then add the pumpkin puree. Mix until thoroughly combined and then beat in the second half of the flour and spices.

Divide the batter between the cupcake cases and bake in the preheeated oven for between 20-25 minutes. They are ready when they have changed to a dark amber colour and spring back to the touch.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes in the tray before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting Method
Gently beat together the cream cheese and the butter with the vanilla extract and bourbon until well combined. Now mix in the icing sugar a little at a time until you reach the right consistency - if you run a fork through it the indentations should stay - you may not need all the sugar.

Pipe or spread the frosting onto your cooled cupcakes and decorate any way you wish - I love the tiny chocolate pumpkins I found at my local supermarket!

Lychee Cupcakes with Rose & Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting and Rose Syrup Tuile Curls

Ladies and gents, prepare yourselves for a seriously girly recipe. Pink in colour with a creamy floral flavour, these are some very ladylike treats. Reminiscent of turkish delight, but with a cheesecakey edge to the frosting thanks to the mascarpone and whipped cream. The pureed lychees keep the sponge cake wonderfully moist, although I must admit that their perfume like flavour didn't come across as much as I'd like, so I added some to the frosting to amp it up a little. I do find it difficult to get more delicate fruit flavours to come through in cake batter - watermelon is another flavour that baking seems to cancel out.

The rose syrup tuile curls are like little flowery brandy snaps. Unfortunately they don't hold their crispness for too long so it is best to bake these and add them to the cakes just before serving so they keep their shape and crunch.

It may seem silly to some people to bake a batch of little cookies just to decorate some cupcakes, but that's just how I roll. A dessert on top of another dessert? Yes please! To be honest though, they were more of an experiment to see if I could make a rose version of this cookie from Dorie Greenspan's wonderful book Baking: From My Home To Yours. A real treasury of delicious treats and a must have for the avid baker, Dorie's book shows how to prepare these little cookies using maple syrup; but seeing as I had a lovely bottle of rose syrup on hand I thought it a good chance to have a play around and hopefully make a tasty and unusual cupcake topper. I think I succeeded!

I quartered the recipe from the book and still came up with too many tuile cookies, but adjusting it to make any fewer cookies would result in some seriously difficult ingredient measuring and I would never be averse to eating ten or so little leftover rosey curls...

The curl batter needs to be made the evening or morning before as it needs to refrigerate for at least 3 hours before baking. Of course they are optional, and could be replaced with a simple icing rose if anything at all, although the glitter is a must to create the required ludicrously girly visage.

Lychee Cupcakes with Rose & Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting and Rose Syrup Tuile Curls
Makes 12 standard American sized cupcakes

Rose Syrup Tuile Curl Ingredients
15g unsalted butter, at room temperature
15g light brown muscovado sugar, packed
30ml rose syrup
15g plain flour, sifted

Lychee Cupcake Ingredients
180ml pureed lychees (skinned and pitted)
60ml milk, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
110g butter, softened
400g caster sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 large egg whites, at room temperature

Rose & Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting Ingredients
80ml pureed lychees
1 tbsp rose syrup (or see notes for an alternative)
75g mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
100ml double cream
300g icing sugar, sifted

Rose Syrup Tuile Curl Method
Mix the butter, sugar and rose syrup until well combined and then gently stir in the flour until just incorporated. Cover the dish with cling film and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 1 week.

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F while you line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and then wrap some more greaseproof around a rolling pin.

Spoon small hazelnut size scoops of the tuile batter onto the tray leaving around 2 inches space between them (they spread a lot) and then bake for 5-7 minutes until the edges turn golden brown but the centres are still a deep pink.

Remove the tray from the oven and leave the cookies to cool for about 10 seconds. Then take a thin flat palette (such as you use to smooth frosting) and gently slide it under a cookie seperating it from the paper. Gently life the cookie from the sheet and place it over the greaseproofed rolling pin - it will wrap around it making the required curl shape. If the cookies on the sheet become solid before you can curl them over the pin, just place the tray back in the oven for a few seconds so they soften up and become pliable again.

Repeat with the other cookies and leave them to cool on the rolling pin while you bake the next batch. When cool place on a piece of greaseproof paper in a safe area where they won't get knocked or broken while you bake the cupcakes.

Lychee Cupcakes Method
Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F and line a tin with a dozen standard American cupcake liners or muffin liners.

Mix the pureed lychees withthe milk and vanilla extract and set aside. In another bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. Cream the butter for 2-3 minutes and then gradually add the sugar. When well combined and fluffy add the egg and egg whites and mix until just combined. Now add half of the flour mixture and blend, then add the lychee and milk mixture and combine before adding the final portion of flour. Mix until just combined.

Divide the batter between the cupcake liners and bake for 22-25 minutes until the tops are lightly golden and spring back to the touch. Leave to cool for ten minutes in the tray, then remove to a rack to cool completely before frosting.

Rose & Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting Method
Whip the double cream to stiff peaks and set aside. Beat the pureed lychees, rose syrup, mascarpone and vanilla extract and then gently stir in the whipped cream until just combined. Now fold in the sifted icing sugar until you reach the required spreadable/pipeable consistency - you may not need it all.

Spread over the completely cooled cupcakes and top with a tuile curl or your decoration of choice.

And a sprinkle of glitter. Don't forget the glitter.

Notes
I bought the rose syrup from my local supermarket in the ethnic foods section. It can also be found in many Asian and Indian supermarkets.

The rose syrup is necessary to make the tuile curls but for the frosting you could substitute the same quantity of rose water and a few drops of pink food colouring.

I think these would look beautiful with little fresh pink rose petals or buds on top, or a little cube of turkish delight would also be very fitting.

I know these seem outrageously feminine, but they got the thumbs up from some nice gents in my office. If you like turkish delight, I'm pretty sure you'll like these.

Chamomile and Spiced Apple Cupcakes with Honeyed Cinnamon Nutmeg Frosting

I'll start with an apology as this recipe is nearly a week late in being posted. Pete and I have spent the last seven days trying to finish decorating our flat so I just haven't found the time to blog - one room left to go! It's been a pretty epic task and we're both all tidied out, but I'll be posting a second recipe tomorrow to make up for it! Something delicious, savoury and tall, it's a good one I promise.

These cupcakes were inspired by a new tea I've been having at work, it's chamomile, apple and cinnamon - one of those fruit and herbal infusions. It's meant to be calming - believe me I need all the help I can get, the civil engineering trade is mighty stressful at the minute. It's a really nice blend and while I can't claim it has completely helped keep me calmer I always find a nice smelling hot drink by your side to be comforting.

I've taken elements from two of my previous cupcake recipes to produce this one - the milk infusion method from the earl grey and the main batter method from the fresh strawberry. It's not often that a first time recipe comes out perfect but I think these turned out beautifully - nice moist cake with a good high domed top. The chamomile flavour isn't immediately apparent but is a nice undernote that comes through a little more in the after taste. The spiced vanilla buttercream is really lovely, leaving a soft warmth on your palette - they are probably more of an Autumn time treat, but I'm sure I'll be making them again before September.

Chamomile and Spiced Apple Cupcakes with Honeyed Cinnamon Nutmeg Frosting
Makes 12 standard American size cupcakes

Chamomile and Spiced Apple Cupcake Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
1 large (or 2 small) golden delicious or cooking apple, peeled, cored and cut into a half cm dice
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 chamomile tea bag, contents removed and ground as fine as you can in a pestle and mortar
2 tbsp apple juice (from concentrate gives a more pronounced flavour)
80ml milk
2 chamomile tea bags
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
110g butter, softened
400g caster sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 large egg whites, at room temperature

Honeyed Cinnamon Nutmeg Frosting Ingredients
115g butter, softened
3 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
500g icing sugar
2 tbsp runny honey - preferably manuca honey

Cupcakes Method
Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F and line a tin with a dozen standard American cupcake liners or muffin liners.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan and then add the diced apple, cook on medium heat for a minute or so and then add the brown sugar, cinnamon and ground chamomile tea. Cook for a further minute before adding the apple juice. Lower the heat and cook until the apples soften enough to be lightly mashed with a fork. Set aside to cool while you infuse the milk.

In a seperate saucepan heat the milk with the two chamomile tea bags until it just comes to a simmer, then turn off the heat and leave to infuse until the milk is at room temperature and then remove the tea bags. The milk will have reduced down - you need around 60ml so measure what you have left and if you need to top it up with more plain milk. Mix with the stewed apples and set aside for a moment.

In a mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. Cream the butter for 2-3 minutes and then gradually add the sugar. When well combined and fluffy add the egg and egg whites and mix until just combined. Now add half of the flour mixture and blend, then add the stewed apple and milk mixture and beat before finally adding the second half of the flour. Mix until just combined.

Divide the batter between the cupcake liners and bake for 22-25 minutes until the tops are slightly golden and spring back to the touch. Leave to cool for ten minutes in the tray, then place them a rack to cool completely before frosting.

Honeyed Cinnamon Nutmeg Frosting Method
Cream the butter, milk, vanilla essence, cinnamon and nutmeg until well combined and then gradually mix in the icing sugar. You should be left with a smooth creamy white frosting flecked with the spices.

Spread or pipe onto your cooled cupcakes and then drizzle over the runny honey.

I believe the picture below shows one of the best ways to eat a cupcake... cakey sandwiches y'all!!!

Fresh Strawberry Balsamic Cupcakes with Strawberry and Raspberry Vodka Frosting

Unfortunately it seems that Summer has already ended in little old Loughborough. Sunny afternoons sat in the beer garden with friends has now turned to staring out of the window at grey drizzly skies and wishing for sunburn and Pimms. It does not seem to have affected the deliciousness of British strawberries however, and this Saturday I tottered into town and bought up as many boxes as I could carry home (along with some luscious looking blueberries...) restraining myself from elbowing over excited teenagers in the face if they bumped into me and bruised my lovely berries. Word to the wise - do not squish a tattooed cook's fruit, she may poke you with her pairing knife.

The previous weekend we had dined on these lovely strawberries drizzled with balsamic and strewn over homemade (pink) meringues and vanilla whipped cream. Absolutely heavenly and one of the most perfect desserts ever. Every time I make meringues I just can't seem to stop myself tinting them pink, much to Pete's amusement - I am very used to that 'you are SUCH a girl' look.

As I spoke about these cupcakes at work today I got a few funny looks when people heard strawberries and vinegar in the same sentence, but believe me this is a magical combo. The Italians have been doing it for ages and we all know they don't tend to get food wrong. I don't know what it is but something in the balsamic seems to suck out the juicy sweetness of the berries, amplifying it much louder than if you ate them with sugar or indeed nothing at all. Try it for yourself it is just so versatile - over ice cream, with angel food cake, alongside white chocolate mousse or as the topping for the most divine pavlova you could dream of.

Fresh Strawberry Balsamic Cupcakes with Strawberry and Raspberry Vodka Frosting
Makes 12 standard American size cupcakes

Strawberry Balsamic Cupcakes Ingredients
150ml fresh pureed strawberries
1.5 tsp good quality balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp caster sugar
60ml milk, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
110g butter, softened
400g caster sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 large egg whites, at room temperature

Strawberry and Raspberry Vodka Frosting
115g butter, softened
75ml fresh pureed strawberries
2 tbsp raspberry vodka (I used Absolut Raspberry)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
800g icing sugar

Cupcakes Method
Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F and line a tin with a dozen standard American cupcake liners or muffin liners.

Mix the pureed strawberries, balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoon of sugar together and set aside for five minutes to develop before adding the milk and vanilla extract. In another bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. Cream the butter for 2-3 minutes and then gradually add the sugar. When well combined and fluffy add the egg and egg whites and mix until just combined. Now add half of the flour mixture and blend, then add the strawberry milk mixture and beat before finally adding the second half of the flour. Mix until just combined.

Divide the batter between the cupcake liners and bake for 22-25 minutes until the tops are slightly golden and spring back to the touch. Leave to cool for ten minutes in the tray, then place them a rack to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting Method
Cream the butter with the strawberry puree, raspberry vodka and vanilla extract and then add the icing bit by bit until you reach a spreadable consistency - you may not need all 800g.

To Finish
Spread onto the cooled cupcakes with an angled spatula, tilting it to do a little swirl in the middle to finish, then sprinkle with a little pearlised sugar or the decoration of your choice. Or leave them plain, they're your cupcakes after all, and enjoy the fruity goodness.

As you can see I was too impatient to let the frosting set. Or to take the photographs before eating half of the above cupcake. Oops...

Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

Although I cannot say I am a big tea drinker I do quote often partake in some of it's more fragrant and floral relatives like herbals and fruit infusions, green teas and I have recently grown a liking for earl grey with a slice of lemon. Such a lovely combination, as the earl grey itself has bergamot notes which the lemon enhances wonderfully so you can imagine sitting by a swan filled pond at a stately home under a white parasol. I hope I'm not the only one who gets this excited about teas!

Concidering the images these flavours brought up for me I think they will be the perfect flavouring for some of the cupcakes I am taking to one of my best friends' wedding next Saturday. These are the test batch and I think they turned out almost perfectly. I may use less frosting next time as the delicate floral taste of the cake needs to shine through a little more! I may even make myself a batch to eat plain - did I really just say that? I'm so addicted I'm pretty sure I bleed buttercream...

I'll be taking three batches to the wedding - these earl grey babies, chocolate and salted caramel as Jon the groom loves them and a batch of my victoria sponge cupcakes - vanilla cake stuffed with jam and topped with a good swirl of creamy vanilla buttercream. I think I'm going to make some cute toppers for the salted caramel cupcakes too, Jon is an awesome artist and drew a cartoon of himself and Sarah for the invitations so I think I'll use that and maybe draw up some monograms. I'll get some photos as long as I remember this time, I've been forgetting to photograph stuff a lot recently, boo.

Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting
Makes 12 standard American size cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients
120ml semi-skimmed milk
1 earl grey teabag (or a homemade one using loose tea leaves like I made, see notes below)
120g plain flour
140g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp earl grey tea leaves, ground as fine as you can get them in a pestle and mortar with the salt
40g butter, softened
1 egg

Frosting Ingredients
125g butter, softened
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
500g icing sugar
a few drops of yellow food colouring (optional)

Cupcakes Method
Preheat the oven to 170 C / 325 F and line a muffin tray with 12 standard American size cupcake liners. Set aside.

Slowly heat the milk in a small saucepan until just to the boil, then remove from the heat and add the earl grey teabag. Leave to infuse for 5 minutes then remove, squeezing what you can from the teabag, and leave to cool completely.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, ground tea leaves and salt, add the butter and beat for 2-3 minutes until it reaches a sandy consistency.

Whisk the egg into the cooled tea infused milk and then slowly add to the dry ingredients mixing until well combined, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and then mix again for a further 2-3 minutes until it has thickened slightly.

Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, turning halfway through, until the cake tops have gone slightly golden and spring back when pressed lightly. Leave to cool in the tray for ten minutes, then remove and leave to completely cool before frosting.

Frosting Method
Beat the softened butter with the lemon zest and juice until combined and then add the icing sugar in 3-4 batches, making sure each is mixed in well before adding the next. After all the sugar is combined add your few drops of colouring and mix until blended.

Frost the cooled cupcakes with either a piping bag and nozzle or a spatula or knife and then decorate as you wish.

Notes
As I was using loose tea leaves I made my own taebag for infusing the milk. Just cut the top from a standard tea bag, empty all the leaves into the bin and then fill with 1 tsp of earl grey leaves. Fold over the top and sew closed with white cotton - you could just staple it down as long as you knew your staples were very clean!

I used what is called a French icing tip for these cupcakes, they make tight stripes in the icing which look sharp to me like the lemon flavour.

If you can't find icing roses you could always use sugared jelly lemon slices which you can find in most supermarkets' baking section.

Mad Hatter Cupcakes and Free Downloadable Toppers

Firstly, I'd like to apologise for being absent for a few weeks. It's been a bit of a crazy one at work and at home and then we had to spend last weekend in Liverpool. Don't ask me about it, we had an awful time and I may explode with anger when ranting about it. The only good things to come of it were buying a sprinkle covered pretzel, visiting Tate Liverpool and the Picasso exhibit, M&S chocolate brownie dessert and finally, finding this postcard in Paperchase.

See that cake that the birds are sitting in? That's a Saint Honore cake from legendary french patisserie Laduree. That's a pricey cake right there. So who the hell would think to cut it open, drain out the rose creme patissiere and stick some fake birds in it? That's the kind of imagination I could only wish to have. Props to you crazy bird cake person, whoever you may be.

FYI the pretzel tasted pretty lame, but boy was it pretty. I'm a sucker for anything with sprinkles on, although to be honest I'm not big on the taste.

But anyway, back to the cupcakes. I had been pretty stuck on what recipe to do this week, I wanted it to be a goodie as I've missed a few weeks and when the lovely Tara called to order some cupcakes for a Mad Hatters Tea Party my mind got a whirring. Of course they'd have to be a little crazy, but not so crazy that they tasted gross. Visual kookiness was key and I think I hit that combination of looking pretty but tame from the outside and containing a lovely surprise inside.

I ended up trying Hummingbird Bakery's standard vanilla cake recipe which is a good standby, not as good as my go to vanilla but still tasty and pretty moist. The frosting was a combination of vanilla flavoured white and strawberry flavoured grey swirled together. And what was the surprise inside? Well here you go...

Mad Hatter's Rainbow Vanilla Cupcakes
Makes 12 standard American size cupcakes
Recipe adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook by Tarek Malouf

Ingredients
120g plain flour
140g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter at room temperature
120ml milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tsp each of blue, red, green and yellow food colourings
extra plain flour for thickening the coloured batter if needed

Method
Preheat the oven to 170 C / 325 F.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter until it reaches a sandy consistency and everything is combined. Gradually pour in half the milk and mix until well incorporated.

Whisk the egg, vanilla extract and remaining milk in a seperate bowl and then add to the flour mixture. Beat until well combined, scraping down the bowl sides if needed and then mixing for a further few minutes until the mixture is thickened and smooth.

Divide the mixture equally between four bowls. One at a time tint the batters with the food colourings, the strength of colour varies depending on which make of food dye you use. Gel colourings are best as they are more concentrated and therefore need less adding to give a good bright hue.

Add one teaspoon of colouring at a time, you want a really vivid colour to the batters. If when the correct colour is achieved the mixture is quite thin add more flour a tablespoon at a time until it is back to the consistency it was before adding the dye.

Split each colour of batter between twelve standard American cupcake cases so that there is a little of each of the four colours in each one - you should end up with something like the image below.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the tops are slightly browned and the cake springs right back when touched. Leave to cool thoroughly before frosting.

Vanilla and Strawberry Monotone Frosting
Makes enough to generously frost 12 cupcakes with a little leftover

Ingredients
500g sifted icing sugar
160g unsalted butter at room temperature
50ml milk
1/2tsp vanilla extract
1-2 drops concentrated strawberry flavouring oil
1-2 tsp black food colouring

Large 14" piping bag
Extra large closed star tip
Card suit sugar sprinkles
Gold edible glitter
12 Eat Me cupcake toppers - link below

Method
Beat the butter and half the icing sugar until well combined, then add the milk and remaining sugar. Mix until smooth and thoroughly combined and then divide between two bowls. Add the vanilla to one and mix thoroughly. Next add the black food colouring to the second bowl along with the concentrated strawberry flavouring oil and beat until smooth and there are no streaks in the colour.

Put both the colours of frosting into the piping bag trying to keep one colour to each side of the bag in order to give a good stripe. Squeeze the icing out of the bag until you start to see the stripe in the icing and then frost the cupcakes squeezing the bag gently and using a circular motion so as to cover the cakes completely.

Sprinkle or place on the card suit sprinkles as quickly as possible so they stick before the frosting starts to set and then add a little shake of gold edible glitter to each. Stick an Eat Me cake topped into the centre of each frosting swirl and arrange on a lovely platter ready for a wonderfully mad tea party.

Notes
I use a brand of gel food colours called Americolor which I order from an amazing US website called Bake It Pretty - click here for a link to the product on their website. You should browse www.bakeitpretty.com anyway, it's such a gorgeous site!

You can also buy the concentrated flavouring oils from there site - click here for a link. You can use them to flavour just about anything - cakes, frostings, chocolate, fudge, candy, drinks, cookies and much much more.

Eat Me Cupcake Toppers - Ok guys, click here or on the image below for a link to the downloadable cupcake topper templates.

I cut mine out using a 2" scalloped circle paper punch which you can get from several online craft shops and stuck them together with a cocktail stick between using double sided tape.

I bought my card suit sprinkles from eBay along with the gold edible glitter and my black cupcake cases.

If any of you give them a try do send me photos of your results!!!

Baking for Becca

I have another appointment with the lovely Tiny Miss Becca tomorrow to get more colour put into the back piece she is doing on me. She has a gorgeous Victorian-esque shop in Hornchurch, Essex called Jayne Doe Tattoo. It's quite a drive from here in little old Loughborough but oh so worth it for her work!!! Here's the line work so far...

This is an old photo, I actually already have some colour on the shoulder closest to the front. The roses are beautiful blues and purples and we'll be doing some more colouring tomorrow.

As we know, everyone loves presents, so I'm taking Becca and the crew a box of cupcakes and a vegan banana loaf to make the Saturday even sweeter. The cupcakes are vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and chocolate cake with ganache filling and chocolate buttercream frosting, all fancied up with printed icing discs of the shops logo and lots of glitter and sprinkles.

I really love these rice paper butterflies, I got them shipped over from Paris last year. They were expensive but very worth it - I got a box of 40 butterflies and there must be at least 20 different colour ways and butterfly shapes in there. I only use these for very special people and occasions!

I ordered the lovely printed icing discs from http://www.eatyourphoto.co.uk who are just wonderful. I ordered at 9am and received an email saying my discs had been dispatched just 2 hours later! I got twelve discs measuring 5.4cm across for £6.00, a few years ago I used them to order a larger icing photo for my Dad's birthday cake which turned out fab too - I'm definitely jonesing for a food colouring printer for Christmas!!! Hint hint Pete!!!

Lego Cupcakes

These were for my little sister's boyfriend Jack's 18th birthday.



Apparently he gave one to his teacher and it got him an extra weeks extension on a project deadline. Win!



I'm not very experienced with fondant - I am ALL about the buttercream - but I think the little Lego bricks came out great!

I think I'm gonna get some bricks of fondant this weekend and just have a play around and make some lil models. I'll post some pictures if they come out ok (don't hold your breath).

Baking Update and Wonderful Tea!

Just a quick update of some of the orders I've had recently...

Chocolate and vanilla mini cupcakes.



Chocolate mini cupcakes.



Vanilla mini cupcakes.



Double chocolate layer cake.



Pink vanilla macarons with milk chocolate ganache. My first attempt at macarons!



And this is just a photo of the coolest tea around! Mr Scruff tea!!! My friends Jon and Sarah bought it from a local health store, Mr Scruff is a musician you should check out if you don't know who he is.

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Cupcakes are my realm. I've been making them for the last 4 or 5 years, originally just as a hobby, then as a little business on the side of my full time job, but always for pleasure. I just find baking a lovely way to spend time, the alchemy of the mixing and the baking and the beautification process of tinting the buttercream, piping pretty swirls and sprinkling with glitters and sugar shapes or crafting little icing roses and deities. Making things pretty has always been my bag.

This said I have never thought my process of baking to be in any way professional. I have never had any training other than watching my Granny Joyce throwing together a sponge from a recipe ingrained into her psyche, or Nigella sexily spooning glossy globs of batter into shiny golden cases. This has all changed now. I have a new found caking confidence, I feel I can take on those more exotic recipes whose many many steps used to make me recoil in fear. This confidence is all due to the lovely glossy lady shown in the photo below... sorry for the awful quality.

Meet Dita, my newly acquired KitchenAid mixer. She's gorgeous yes? I feel I can write about her on a food blog much more easily than I can talk about her in person. There is only a small section of the world that can comprehend and understand spending £350 on a mixer, and that small section does not include a lot of my friends and colleagues. Pete only gets it because of the sheer amount of times I have ranted at him about how amazing they are and how I've wanted one since I was nine years old (yet again, Nigella's fault). But now his ears and my vocal chords may rest as she inhabits our kitchen, glinting away on the worktop and making my life a hell of a lot easier.

And so here is the first recipe I tried out with her, originally from Southern Living. I know salted caramel may sound a little scary to some, but just think of peanut butter cups - the slight salty edge offsets the sweetness of the chocolate perfectly.

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Adapted from Southern Living

Makes around 36 regular sized cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients
115g (half pat) butter, softened
100g full fat cream cheese, softened
285g caster sugar
165g packed dark brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
375g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
200ml sour cream

Ganache Ingredients

200g dark chocolate, chopped
60ml plus 2 tbsp whipping cream

Salted Caramel Buttercream Ingredients
115g (half pat) butter, softened
75g full fat cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt
400g icing sugar
3 tbsp plus 1 tbsp milk
20 caramel toffees

Garnishes
Sea salt flakes
Caramel toffees, chopped
A little extra dark chocolate, for drizzling

Cupcakes Method
Preheat oven to 180 C /350 F.

Mix butter and cream cheese until well combined and creamy, then beat in the sugars until light and fluffy (around 2-3 minutes). Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each and then add the vanilla extract.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl and gradually add to the butter and sugar mixture alternating with the sour cream, beating well after each addition and then for a further 3 minutes. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners filling each to around 2/3 full.

Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean with no liquid batter attached. Let cool completely.

Ganache Method
Put the chopped chocolate and 60ml of whipping cream into a microwavable bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Remove and stir, then cook for a further 30 seconds. Remove from the microwave, add the further 2 tbsp cream and whisk until it slightly thickens. Dip the tops of the cupcakes in the ganache and let stand for at least 30 minutes to set.

Salted Caramel Buttercream Method
Mix butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract and salt until creamy and well combined. Gradually add the icing sugar alternating with the 3tbsp of milk until smooth.

Place the caramel toffees and further 1tbsp milk in a microwavable bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds, remove and stir, heat for a further 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes before adding to the buttercream and mixing until silky smooth.

Pipe or spread onto the cupcakes and then top with a sprinkling of sea salt flakes and chopped toffees and a drizzle of dark chocolate.

Notes
I didn't think the actual cake recipe used here was all that good. They were quite dry despite the use of sour cream which usually moistens cakes up, and I felt they had a too pronounced eggy flavour that I wasn't keen on. Next time I think I'll use Ina Garten's chocolate cupcakes or my secret mudcake recipe to knock up the cocoa factor a notch.

I used Maldon salt which I crushed up a little in my pestle and mortar as it has a lovely rounded flavour that I thought would work perfectly with the sweet caramel toffees. Maldon salt is available in all major supermarkets and comes in a little green and white box, if you can't find it any good quality sea salt will do.

Irish butter toffees are my favourite and so were the ones I used. It is basically any chewy butter toffee that you need so that they melt, not a hard one like Werther's Original.

Try your hardest not to open the oven door until the minimum cooking time has passed, this will stop any heat escaping which could make the cupcakes sink.

As I had some caramel buttercream left over and needed to make a cake for an afternoon tea session with my lovely friend Polly, I added some crunchy peanut butter to it along with a little additional milk to loosen the mix and used it to sandwich together the layers of a chocolate cake which I then covered in chocolate fudge frosting. It went down a storm, so I suggest you do the same if you have any spare!!!