Eton Mess Cupcakes

Now it's getting (slightly) warmer, I'm wanting to try more summery flavours to get me in the summer mood. I know it's still Spring, but I absolutely love the summer time, and going to Spain next week means it feels like Summer earlier for me this year! I've wanted to try Eton Mess cupcakes for a while. Strawberries, cream and meringue - on a cupcake? What's not to love!? Give these a try - they are amazing!

 

Recipe (Makes 7)
2 eggs
113g (4 ounces) margarine/butter
113g caster sugar
113g self raising flour
200ml double cream
2 large meringue nests
7-8 strawberries

Preheat the oven to 160c. First, whisk the cream until it's nice and thick so you can pipe it on the cupcakes later. Then put it back in the fridge until you need it.
 

Whisk together the margarine and sugar, and then add the eggs and whisk again until it's mixed thoroughly. 
 

Add the flour and slowly fold it into the mixture. 
 

I chopped up about 3-4 large strawberries into small pieces and put them into the mixture. You don't have to do this if you don't want to (they do go a bit mushy but still nice). You could leave them out or you could go with adding jam to the cupcakes when they're cooked & cooled instead.

Add to cupcake cases and cook for about 20-25  minutes. 
 

Add the cream to a piping bag, with whatever nozzle you choose (or just spread it on!) I used a closed star tip. Pipe round in a swirl.
 

 

Chop up the rest of the strawberries and place them randomly over the cream, and then crush up some meringue nests and sprinkle over the cupcake. (I was lazy and used shop brought meringue seeing as I was only making a few cupcakes, but you can always make your own). Hope you enjoy these as much as I did! 

 

Blueberry & Lemon Cupcakes

After making my lovely blueberry crumble cupcakes, I had a few to spare and wanted to use them for some more baking. I also had some lemons in the fridge that desperately needed using, and so I came up with the idea of lemon & blueberry cupcakes. Not a flavour combination that I've ever really heard of, but I thought it sounded amazing and had to try them. A combination of my basic cake recipe, flavoured lemon with added lemon curd and blackberries, and finally topped with lemon buttercream. I have to say they are now in my top 5 favourite cupcake flavours - I absolutely loved them! 

Recipe (Makes 7 cupcakes)

•  2 eggs
• 113g (4 ounces) margarine/butter
• 113g caster sugar
• 113g self raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 7 teaspoons of lemon curd
• 100g blackberries (keep a few for decoration

Buttercream

• 300g icing sugar
• 125g margarine
• Juice of half a lemon.

Firstly, whisk together the margarine and butter until nice and fluffy.

Add the eggs, whisk until fluffy again. Then gently fold in the lemon zest, flour and baking powder. Finally, add the blackberries. Add to cupcake cases and bake for around 25 minutes, until they spring back when touched and a skewer comes out clean. 

To make the buttercream, mix together the butter and icing sugar. I find this is a lot easier with a stand mixer, however you can do it with a wooden spoon if you don't have one (it just takes a lot longer!). Add the lemon juice. Add it a few squeezes at a time and taste until it is as lemony as you like it. 

Before you add the buttercream, use a cupcake corer or a knife/spoon to cut out the middle of the cupcake. Add a teaspoon of lemon curd. Then add the buttercream to a piping bag with a star tip and pipe a nice big swirl onto the top (or just spread it on if you prefer). 

Liddie x

Blueberry Crumble Muffins

I've wanted to make muffins for ages, and finally buying those big tulip muffin cases you see in bakeries meant I had no excuse not to try out a new recipe. I've never made a blueberry muffin before, and one recipe that caught my eye was the lovely Ruth's off The Pink Whisk. She had the great idea of putting a crumble topping on the muffins, and they looked amazing, I had to try them! 

Recipe

• 180g self raising flour
• 55g soft light brown sugar
• 150ml milk
• 1 egg, large
• 25g melted butter
• 100g blueberries

 Crumble Topping (I've halved the original recipe here as I found it made far too much!)

• 1 tbsp flour
• 5g butter, softened
• 1 tbsp oats
• 1/2 tbsp soft light brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 170c. Stir the flour and sugar together.

In a jug, add the milk, egg and melted butter and whisk together.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the liquids, stirring with a wooden spoon.

 

Add the blueberries. I put half of them in whole and mashed the other half up. 

Pour the mixture into muffin cases. I found that I got 5 muffins out of this recipe, so you can always double it if you want more. 

To make the crumble topping, rub the butter into the flour, then add the oats and sugar and mix well.

Sprinkle onto the muffins and bake for about 45 mins. (If you don't have the large muffin cases, they will probably take half this time!)

 Take them out of the oven, let them cool and enjoy! They don't taste too unhealthy and are perfect with a cup of tea!

 Liddie x


 

Caramel Cupcakes

These cupcakes are caramel flavoured, filled with a caramel sauce and topped with caramel buttercream and drizzle. Perfect if you have a sweet tooth! I used my basic cake recipe and replaced caster sugar with muscovado sugar to give it that caramel taste. I had some tinned carnation caramel in my cupboard that needed using, however if I made these again I would definitely make my own sauce (using condensed milk - see my millionaires shortbread recipe!) as I wasn't a fan of the tinned stuff! However it was brilliant for flavouring the buttercream - probably the best buttercream I've had! 

Recipe (Makes 7 cupcakes)
2 eggs
4 ounces (113g) margarine/butter
4 ounces (113g) muscovado or light brown sugar
4 ounces (113g) self raising flour
About 50g caramel sauce for filling

Icing 
330g icing sugar
130g margarine
2 tablespoons milk
30g tinned caramel and caramel sauce


Firstly, heat the oven to 160 degrees. Whisk together the margarine and sugar until fluffy.

Then add eggs and whisk again.

 

 Fold in the flour

Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases and bake for 20-25 minutes (until they spring back when touched and a skewer inserted into the cupcake comes out clean)
 

They come out all golden and delicious :D

 

 

Dig out the middle of the cupcake using a cupcake corer or a spoon, and fill with a teaspoon of caramel.

 

 

To make the icing, whisk together the butter and icing sugar until smooth. Add the milk, and then the caramel. You can use more or less caramel depending on how much flavour you like. You can then use an piping bag and a star tip to pipe it on to the icing, or simply spread it on.

Drizzle with any leftover caramel, and enjoy!

Liddie xx

Chocolate Fondant

Chocolate fondant, chocolate lava cake, whatever you call them, they're amazing! A gooey chocolate dessert that you can prepare ahead of time and perfect for guests, or for a weekend treat. I used a recipe from BBC Good Food, although slightly adapted it. The cooking time is a bit difficult to get right - Mary Berry wouldn't approve of mine! They aren't gooey enough like typical chocolate fondants, but you might decide you prefer them a little less gooey like we did!

Recipe (makes 4 ramekins)

• 25g melted butter, for brushing
• cocoa powder, for dusting
• 100g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
• 100g butter, in small pieces
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 100g plain flour 

 Firstly, grease your ramekins with some butter and put in the fridge for 5 minutes to chill. Take them out and grease again (you don't want them to stick!). Put in a tablespoon of cocoa and swirl the ramekin around until the cocoa coats it entirely. I tip the leftover cocoa into the next ramekin, and so on. 

  
Melt the butter and chocolate together. I did this in the microwave, but you can do this in a saucepan too. Make sure you keep an eye on it in the microwave, and stir at regular intervals otherwise it will burn.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs together with the sugar until thick and pale. I used an electric whisk to make life easier! Then fold in the flour. 

When the flour is folded in completely, stir in the melted chocolate mixture. Pour into the ramekins. 

 Chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. You could even make them the night before and chill overnight until you need to bake them. To bake, preheat oven to 180 degrees and cook for 10-12 minutes. The tops should be baked and they will be coming away from the sides of the ramekins. You may need to give them a bit longer, just make sure to keep an eye on them. When they come out of the oven, put a knife around the outside to ease them out, and then tip out onto a plate. 

Liddie x