Salted caramel, chocolate and Christmas what more could you possibly want in December? Inspired by Pinterest and a wonderful post I saw on Liv's blog I've created this delicious salted caramel Christmas tree brownies recipe. At my work we're each bringing in Christmas snacks every other day, so this would be perfect if you're doing something like that or if you have your're having your very own friendmas. They're super naughty and definitely very bad for you but I do think that this is what Christmas is all about. I think we should embrace being a little more like Nigella Lawson having a midnight snack at Christmas, I really hope you get the reference (if not watch this)!
You Will Need:
- 100g Dark chocolate (around 70% cocoa solids)
- 125g Unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
- 150g Granulated sugar
- 100g of brown sugar
- 2 Large eggs
- 1 Tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Tsp sea salt
- 100g Plain flour
- 12 Squares of caramel chocolate
- Sprinkles
- 3 single twix bars
- 200g icing sugar
- Green food colouring
How to make your Christmas tree brownies:
Heat your oven to 170 degrees. Line a square baking tin, with grease proof paper.Place the dark chocolate and butter in a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water) and leave until just melted.
Take off the heat and use a whisk to add in the sugar, then the eggs, then the vanilla extract and half the salt. Slowly sift in the flour and then stir together using the whisk.
Pour the mixture into the tin, spreading it out so that it is even as it can be and then press a piece of caramel chocolate into the mix. Then sprinkle over the remaining salt.
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in an area with no caramel comes out clean. The brownies should also be starting to come away from the edges, and gently cracking on top and leave to cool.
Whilst they are cooling make your green icing. Add half a tea spoon of water to your sugar and add a little bit of food colouring (I use gels) and mix together. If the icing is too runny add more icing sugar until it has a consistency a bit like cream. As my green food colouring I used some black colouring to darken the colour.
Cut your brownies into triangles and place then on a baking tray. Add your green icing into a piping bag (or you could use a spoon) and drizzle the icing over your brownies. Whilst the icing is still wet sprinkle over some decorations, these will be the baubles on your Christmas trees.
Finally shop up your bars of twix and push these into the bottom of the brownies, these will the trunks of the tree.
I have to be honest, I had a total nightmare whilst putting this blog post together. To begin with I put the oven on the wrong setting, then I realised I had the wrong chocolate, once the brownies were ready it was too dark to take photos inside but then when I popped outside it started to rain. So please do not think blogging is effortless or quick, because it totally isn't! Anyway, they tasted absolutely amazing and I was thrilled about the end results, it's just a shamed the photography didn't turn out the way I wanted it to!
Brownie recipe adapted from What Olivia Did and Jackson & Levine's book Round To Ours
2 comments
Quite literally everyone loves unicorns and rainbows, and they're clearly not going anywhere any time soon so I've put together my very own unicorn rainbow dairy free cookie recipe (catchy name I know). This is my second recipe which I've created from scratch, usually I'll refer to a baking book when I fancy baking so I'm really pleased with the results of my very own creation! I think these would make such a fun addition to a food table at a kids party, gifts for your best friends or just something fun to bake one afternoon. Plus these are suitable if you know someone on a dairy free diet! Who said vegans were boring?!
To make the vegan delicious rainbow unicorn cookies you'll need:
100g vegan butter/spread
100g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
150g self -raising flour
Three Vegan food colourings/gels
Vegan sprinkles
How to bake these vegan delicious rainbow unicorn cookies:
- Pre-heat the oven to 190c or Gas mark 5 and line your baking tray with grease proof paper.
- Measure the butter and sugar into a medium sized mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Add the vanilla extract and the vegetable oil until mixed well.
- Gradually mix in the flour and if you're finding it hard to mix, use your hands to make the dough come together. Then pop the bowl into the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Then separate the mixture into three different bowls and add a small amount of food colouring to each. You want to make sure you do not mix your colours at this point.
- Then using either your hands or a spoon mix the colour into your dough, do this to each of your bowls.
- Once the colour is mixed in, take a little bit of dough from each bowl and roll them together so it makes a ball, take enough for it to make one cookie. You should notice a marbling effect as the colours come together. Do this to all of of your mixture until you have none left.
- After they are all on your baking tray, add your sprinkles. Gently tap them into the dough, this helps them stick.
- Then put them into the oven for around 15 minutes.
- Once out of the oven leave the cookies to cool on the tray for 10 minutes.
- These cookies should last for up to a week in an airtight tin. Delicious!
Everyone love cookies, especially when they're soft, chewy and full of chocolate. With so many people following a vegan and dairy free diet at the moment I had a go at testing my very own recipe and baking some of everyone's favourite cookie, the chocolate chip. This recipe is super simple and it takes no time at all to whip up a batch, so it's really handy to have if you have people coming over. I really hope you enjoy baking these and sharing with friends and family. P.S Don't forget to serve with the traditional glass of milk (almond or soy of course). I also have another exciting cookie recipe coming up which has been inspired by everyone's favourite mythical creature... any guesses what it could be?
To make the vegan chocolate chip cookies you'll need:
100g vegan butter/spread
100g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
150g self -raising flour
75g dark (vegan) chocolate cut up into small shards or you can use chocolate drops.
How to bake these delicious vegan chocolate chip cookies:
How to bake these delicious vegan chocolate chip cookies:
- Pre-heat the oven to 190c or Gas mark 5 and line your baking tray with grease proof paper.
- Measure the butter and sugar into a medium sized mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Add the vanilla extract and the vegetable oil until mixed well.
- Mix in the flour and add in the chocolate, if you're finding it hard to mix, use your hands to make the dough come together. Then pop the bowl into the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Spoon big teaspoons of the mixture onto your baking tray. This recipe should make around 8-9 big cookies or 20 smaller ones.
- Then put them into the oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Once out of the oven leave the cookies to cool on the tray for 10 minutes.
- These cookies should last for up to a week in an airtight tin but I doubt they'll last that long!
More than ever I feel like we need a little bit of love in the world, and what could be better than in the form of a cupcake? (Probably a lot more things but never mind). So, after feeling inspired by all of the amazing women and men who attended the Women's March on Saturday, I decided to bake some cupcakes that were just as sweet as them. These cakes would also be perfect for Valentine's day which is less than a month away. So whether you're having a galentine's party (thanks Lesie Knope), planning your next Women's March with your best girl bosses, having a romantic night in with your boyfriend or girlfriend or just feel like stuffing your face with yummy cupcakes, then this is may be the recipe for you.
Makes 12 Duo Colour Love Cupcakes
Cupcake ingredients:
200g butter or margarine, softened at room temperature
200g caster sugar
4 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
50g dark chocolate chips
200g self-raising flour
1-2 tbsp milk
Top tip – Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature; this will give you the best results!
Vanilla Buttercream ingredients:
200g softened unsalted butter
400g sifted icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Splash of milk
Food colouring
How to make the cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 170 C / Gas 3 and place your cupcake cases in your tray so they are ready to go.
Either by hand or using an electric mixer beat the butter for five minutes until soft. Slowly add the caster sugar into your mixer/bowl and mix up until light and fluffy. Pour in the vanilla extract and then add the eggs one by one - whizz again to make a yellow batter. Slowly add the flour and mix until it is smooth, you'll need to do this for about 5 minutes. Finally fold in your chocolate chips, for an extra sweet surprise. The longer mixing time enables air to get into the mixture which will make the sponge lighter and fluffier.
Spoon the mixture into the twelve cases until about 3/4 full. Now pop in the oven on the middle shelf for 20-25 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the oven after 15-20 minutes depending on your oven. You can check if they are ready by using a cocktail stick - it should come out clean. Leave on a cooling rack for 30 minutes or until cool, then it's time to decorate!
Beat the unsalted butter for around 5 minutes or until it's pale and fluffy. Add in the icing sugar using large spoonfuls. Add in a splash of milk if the mixture is too thick and dry, pop in the the vanilla extract then continue mixing until fluffy and well incorporated.
Separate the buttercream into two medium bowls, in one bowl add a small amount of pink food colouring and mix well. Place the pink icing sugar in one piping bag with a star nozzle. In another bowl add red food colouring to your buttercream. Then add into the same piping bag as your pink. Then carefully pipe a big swirl on top, I find it easier to start of with a small dollop and then work around that. Now it's time to decorate! I've found some cute heart sugar sprinkles from Hema, and then finished off with either a mini chocolate heart or sugar rainbow decoration.
Want more? Why not try my Winter Sundae cupcakes or Easy Apple Pie recipes.
It just wouldn't be Christmas without a festive baking post would it? This year, I've upped my game a created the ultimate chocolate Christmas cake, although last year red bow cupcakes were pretty good! The inspiration behind this post? Well a few weeks ago I attended a Christmas cake masterclass with Dr. Oetker and the amazing Juliet Sear as part of their new We Bake community, with is basically a social media/forum for those of us who love to bake, which is basically everyone. Plus they're running a competition with me to win a Dr. Oetker product hamper, which is FULL of amazing stuff so all you need to do is sign up and just post the link to your first We Bake post in the comments below! If you need some inspiration an example of a We Bake post is one like this. I really hope you enter, it's super easy and don't forget to share your post in the comments below, you have until the 3rd January 2017. Now time for the moment we've all been waiting for, the ultimate chocolate Christmas cake recipe...
To make the chocolate cake you'll need:
335g plain flour
525g soft brown sugar
125g cocoa poweder
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 eggs
185ml vegetable oil or coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
375ml whole milk
2tsp instant espresso coffee
375ml boiling water
For the chocolate ganache covering/filling you'll need:
600g cooks milk chocolate
300ml double cream
For the drip topping you'll need:
150g of any 'cooks' chocolate bar - I used white chocolate
The chocolate cake recipe:
- Put the cream in a saucepan and heat gently over a low heat until the cream is bubbling, keep stirring whilst the cream is heating.
- Once bubbly and hot remove the cream from the heat and break the milk chocolate into squares. Add the chocolate into the cream and story until melted.
- Chill in the fridge for two hours until set and thickened. (If you don't want to make a ganache you can always make a chocolate buttercream!)
- Preheat the oven to 175c or gas mark 4. Grease and line 4x7 inch round cake tins.
- Put all of the ingredients for the cake except the hot water into a bowl and fold carefully until all of the ingredients are mixed.
- Add the the boiling water and with a hand whisk, mix until you have a smooth consistency.
- The cake batter will have a very runny consistency. So pour the mixture into a jug and divide evenly between the cake tins.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out clean. Then leave to cool.
- Once the cake has cooled use a small amount of the ganache (or buttercream) to stick to the base tier of the cake to the cake board.
- Spread the ganache on each layer of the cake using a palette knife and the cake together. Then spread a think amount of ganache on the outside of your cake, starting from the base and working up the cake.
- Chill for around 30 mins in the fridge to let it set. Then add another layer around the whole cake.
- Melt your chocolate for the drip, you can either do this in a microwave or using a bain-marie. Then leave to cool slightly for around 5 minutes.
- Pour the melted chocolate on top of your cake and using a palette knife spread over the top of the cake and push to the edges so it started to drip down your cake.
- Now it's time to decorate. If you're using making chocolate shards like I did add these now! You can decorate with anything you like, chocolate hearts or stars, sweets, sprinkles, berries, edible glitter, macarons, or even biscuits! I used the Dr.Oetker gold shimmer spray on my berries and I thought it added such a festive effect.
- Finally, share with friends and family on Christmas day.
I woke up on Sunday morning after a very busy couple of days with a huge urge to make an apple pie. So I grabbed a copy of my Baking Bible by Mary Berry and got baking. I've slightly adapted the recipe to my own taste, as her recipe includes cloves and I'm not the biggest fan. Pies like these are just what you need on a cold Autumn day, they're filling, delicious and the perfect accompaniment to a special Sunday dinner. My family absolutely loved eating this so I know it's one I'm going to be making again, next time I might add blackberries or raisins to add some extra sweetness into it!
To make the apple pie filling you'll need:
675g cooking apples
62g caster sugar
½ tsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tablespoons of cold water
For the pastry:
175g plain flour
50g diced butter
50g diced white baking vegetable fat (like Stork)
2 tablespoons of cold water
Milk (to glaze)
Granulated sugar, for sprinkling
- Use a shallow pie dish. Peel, core and cut the apples into thick slices. Arrange half if the slices in the bottom of the dish, sprinkle with half of the sugar and spices. Then add the rest of the apple slices, the sugar and the spices. Then drizzle over the cold water.
- To make the pastry, measure the flour into a bowl. Add the diced butter and white vegetable fat and rub together with your fingers until the mixture becomes like breadcrumbs. Add the water and mix to a firm dough.
- Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface to a size that will cover the top of the pie dish. Lift the dough on the dish and trim the edges. If you like, you can use the trimmings make decorative shapes and light press on to the dough. I chose to add on stars but hearts, leaves or flowers could work too. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Brush the pie with a little milk, then sprinkle on the sugar. Make a small slit in the centre of the pie for the steam to escape. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes, until the apples are tender and the pastry is crisp and a light golden colour. Cover the pie loosely with foil towards the end of the cooking time if the pastry starts to brown.
- If your fancy really treating yourself serve with custard or good quality vanilla ice-cream. Enjoy!
As some of you may have seen earlier on this year I put together a list of my favourite Instagram accounts, one of them being Georgia Green from Georgia's cakes. I am absolutely obsessed with her cakes, they're so creative and colourful. I first discovered Georgia via a cake she had made for Don Broco last year and immediately started following her. Interviews like these have got to be one of my favourite posts to do as I'm quite nosy and I always want to know more about the people behind the cake creations. So I got in touch with a few questions to find out more about the super talented baker!
Hi Georgia, for those who aren't familiar with career and yourself so far could you tell us a little bit about your background?
After finishing school I didn't know what I wanted to go into. Fashion design? Animation? Graphics? I knew it would be something creative. It was when I discovered Le Cordon Bleu that it occurred to me that I can actually do this for a living. I trained in patisserie for 6 months and worked in a couple of places over 3 years in which I gained so much experience - not just creativity but the business aspect of things too. I decided to go solo as word of mouth started to get around and my cake orders were coming in thick and fast and here I am today! Working for myself, doing what I am passionate about and loving every minute!
Was it difficult for you to leave your job and create your own business and do you have any advice for those who would like to do the same?
It was a risky move to leave my job and go solo but at the same time I got this motivation that I didn't have before as my passion and drive was 100% for myself this time. If you are completely dedicated, sometimes a risk is exactly what you need to further yourself and your career.
Your cakes are absolutely stunning! Where do you get your inspiration from and have you ever felt inspired by any fashion designers or trends?
Thank you! Just like most people nowadays, Instagram is number 1 for my inspiration. The style of cakes I make probably originated from lots of Australian accounts that I came across, but I've created my own style, incorporating my skills I learnt during my training. My sister works as a fashion designer so I'm in the know of trends - sometimes is difficult incorporating some of them but they definitely inspire me!
Whenever I see your name on the internet, the cake you made for the DKNY & Cara Delevingne party always pops up! How did that all happen?
The PR agency who was organising the DKNY launch approached me and asked me for a cake. It was really exciting for me and gave my first 'insta-boost' (is that even a word?!)
Who would be your dream client to work for and why?
One of the most amazing pastry chefs in the word - Antonio Bachour. I had the pleasure of meeting him in Miami when I was there on holiday - I waltzed into the reception of the St. Regis hotel and asked if he was in just to say hi. We ended up having an hour long chat and gave me so much advice, it was amazing! He's so talented!
If you're to bake something for yourself what would you make?
A delicious loaf of bread!
What's the strangest cake request you've had to create?
Probably the Cara Delevingne cake...!
Your Instagram account is amazing, it's one of my absolute favourite ones to follow! Are there any bloggers or Instagrammers that you love?
Nectar and Stone are one of my favourites - their page is so beautiful its almost majestic. Another is Cakes by Cliff who is ridiculously talented and Katherine Sabbath who simply has no limits!
Where are your favourite places to eat in London? It can be a restaurant, cafe or bakery! Totally up to you!
Franco Manca - cheap, amazing and pizza, what more can you ask for?! Whole Foods - the buffet selection is so overwhelming and you can tell everything is so fresh. The Black Penny - my sister used to work there. One of the best coffees I've had in London and the food is delicious too.
This is a question I ask everyone but I find it so interesting! If you were only able to eat three things for the rest of your life what would you choose?
Avocado, bread and mango.
Finally, what's next for you?
Who knows what's around the corner! I'm working towards more filming and tutorials to become more of a food personality rather than just a business. Lots of exciting projects are always popping up so we'll see what's next!
Easter is nearly here! Not only does that mean that a four day weekend is coming up, but it also means that you're allowed to eat chocolate for the whole time! So, I decided to make possibly the most flamboyant cupcakes ever made, as a fun Easter treat. I recently bought a bunch of baking goodies as I thought my little baking cupboard was lacking some more exciting decorations. I searched online for some new pieces and came across some super bright food colouring, edible liquid copper paint (which I used to paint the mini eggs) and edible holographic glitter, a few weeks later, these cakes were created.
To make the Easter cupcakes you'll need:
175g butter, cut into large pieces
175g self-raising flour
175g caster sugar
½ tsp baking powder
3 large eggs
½ tsp vanilla extract
A drop or two of pink and purple food colouring, I use Wilton
Decorations; I used mini eggs, edible food paint and edible glitter
For the chocolate buttercream you'll need:
85g butter
175g icing sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon milk
- For this recipe I'm going to be using Mary Berry's Vanilla cupcake one, as it never goes wrong and sometimes I day dream and pretend I'm her... So, preheat the oven to 180 degrees or gas mark 4, and line a regular 12 hole tin with baking paper cases.
- Put all the cake ingredients into a large bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk or a wooden spoon until smooth and evenly mixed, add in your pink food colouring. Save an eighth of the mixture and add a dash of purple food colouring. Don't worry if you've already made the whole mixture pink, the purple will still blend in easily.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the paper cases. Once you've added in all of your pink cake batter add a teaspoon of the purple mixture and swirl in the cake case with a knife or skewer for a more professional effect.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and firm on top. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- Whilst the cakes are cooling it's time to make your chocolate buttercream. Mix butter and icing sugar until smooth. Add in cocoa powder, if you find that it's not coming together nicely, add in a drop of milk and mix again until smooth.
- Once your cakes have completely cooled add your buttercream to the top of your cake. You can use a piping bag, palette knife or a regular kitchen knife (which is what I used) to create your frosting design. My Cupcake Addiction has some amazing videos on her channel if you're looking for some frosting inspiration.
- It's time to decorate! I painted my mini eggs with copper food paint and popped them on top in groups of three, to finish I then sprinkled some edible holographic glitter to make them extra sparkly!
When I did my little Twitter survey a few weeks ago lots of you said you'd like to see some more lifestyle blog posts, and although this is technically baking I still thought it'd be a lovely post to put together! These aren't just any cupcakes, these are winter sun-dae cupcakes (see what I did there...?) For those of us in a desperate need for a sunny holiday! I can't promise everyone a beach holiday but I can give you this recipe to these cupcakes which look just like ice-cream sundaes! Now, I have a confession, just like my last baking blog post, I didn't make these as I cannot make a cupcake good as this. I collaborated with my friend and self taught baker Bryony who has the most gorgeous and mouth watering Instagram (which you can check out here!) Enjoy!
Makes 12 Vanilla Sundae Cupcakes
Cupcake ingredients:
175g (6 oz) softened unsalted butter
175g (6 oz) caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
175g (6 oz) self-raising flour
Top tip – Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature; this will give you the best results!
Vanilla Buttercream ingredients:
200g softened unsalted butter
400g sifted icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Splash of milk
Glazed cherries
Wafers
Sprinkles
How to make your sundae cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 170 C / Gas 3 and place your cupcake cases in your tray so they are ready to go.
By hand or by using an electric mixer beat the butter for five minutes until soft. Slowly add the caster sugar into your mixer/bowl and mix up until light and fluffy. Pour in the vanilla extract and then add the eggs one by one - whizz again to make a yellow batter. Slowly add the flour and mix until it is smooth, you'll need to do this for about 5 minutes. The longer mixing time enables air to get into the mixture which will make the sponge lighter and fluffier.
Spoon the mixture into the twelve cases until about 3/4 full. Now pop in the oven on the middle shelf for 20-25 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the oven after 15-20 minutes depending on your oven. You can check if they are ready by using a cocktail stick - it should come out clean. However keep an eye on them, you'll know when to take them out as they'll bounce back to the touch and the top will still look slightly sticky. Leave on a cooling rack for 30 minutes or until cool, then it's time to decorate!
Beat the unsalted butter for around 5 minutes or until it's pale and fluffy. Add in the icing sugar using large spoonfuls. Add in a splash of milk if the mixture is too thick and dry, pop in the the vanilla extract then continue mixing until fluffy and well incorporated.
Separate the buttercream into two medium bowls, in one bowl add a small amount of pink food colouring and mix well. Place the pink icing sugar in one piping bag with a star nozzle. Fill a separate piping bag with a star nozzle with your vanilla buttercream that you set to one side. Pipe the pink buttercream on top of the cupcakes. Then carefully ice on top of this with a smaller amount of buttercream, so you get the effect of two flavours of ice cream! Now it's time to decorate! I've popped a glace cherry on top, and finished with sprinkles and a triangle of wafer. However you could always add chocolate sauce, fresh berries, a paper straw or even a chocolate flake!
I'm rather excited about this weeks blog post as it contains Christmas cupcakes! I feel like in the last week the blogging world has gone a little gift guide crazy so hopefully this post breaks them up! Now these aren't just any cupcakes, these are chocolate flavour with bows on the top, so they look just like a little Christmas present. I think these would be the perfect thing to bring to a Christmas dinner as a special treat for afters, and I'm sure all of your friends and family would be pretty impressed if you brought these out. Now, I have a little confession, I didn't make these as I cannot make a cupcake as pretty as this, I collaborated with my friend and self taught baker Bryony who has the most wonderful baking Instagram (which you can check out here!) I wanted to have truly amazing Christmas recipe to share with you and I'm just so happy with how they turned out! It's only 25 sleeps until the big day so you have plenty of time to practice!
For the cakes:
200g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
280g caster sugar
3 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt 80g
unsalted butter (room temp)
240ml whole milk
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the icing:
130g unsalted butter
400g sifted icing sugar
50g sifted cocoa powder
50ml whole milk
Equipment:
12 cupcake cases
A Muffin tin
Red gel food colouring/paste (I use Wilton's)
White fondant icing
Piping bag
Round piping nozzle
Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius/ gas mark 3.
How to make your Christmas cupcakes:
Put flour, cocoa, sugar baking powder, salt, butter in a mixing bowl. Mix together with an electric mixer until sand-like in texture. In a jug, whisk the egg, vanilla and milk until combined. Pour half of the liquid mixture into the dry mix. Whisk on a high speed until combined. Put your mixer onto a slower speed and pour in the remaining liquid. Mix on a low speed until completely combined.
Put flour, cocoa, sugar baking powder, salt, butter in a mixing bowl. Mix together with an electric mixer until sand-like in texture. In a jug, whisk the egg, vanilla and milk until combined. Pour half of the liquid mixture into the dry mix. Whisk on a high speed until combined. Put your mixer onto a slower speed and pour in the remaining liquid. Mix on a low speed until completely combined.
Spoon the mixture into the twelve cases about 3/4 full. Now pop in the oven on the middle shelf for 20-25 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the oven. You can check they are perfect by using a cocktail stick - it should come out clean.
While the cupcakes are cooling, make the butter cream. To do this, first beat the butter with your mixer in a bowl for around 5 minutes. You want a light and super smooth texture! Then add the icing sugar and cocoa powder, roughly one third at a time, mixing well each time and ensuring the sides of the bowl are scraped as you go. Add a drop of the milk on each mix to get a light and fluffy consistency. Now add a generous teaspoon of red food colouring - you're looking for a deep red so keep on adding food colouring until you achieve the colour you're after.
When you're happy with your icing, spoon it into your piping bag that has your round nozzle in (top tip: use a pint glass to hold your piping bag while you fill it, folding the sides over the rim of the glass). Snip off the end of the piping bag. Pipe directly onto the cupcakes, starting on the outer edge of the cupcake working your way in, using a smooth, continuous circular motion.
Once all the cupcakes are iced, it's time to make your fondant bows. Roll your fondant out on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar, until around half a centimetre thick. Trim the edges of the fondant to make a rectangle, Then cut into 1cm width strips. Use these strips to create the cross on top of the cupcakes, trimming the edges once in position on top of the cupcake. Now repeat steps above to make another identical fondant rectangle. This time cut the fondant to 2cm by 8cm strips. Lay the fondant with the longer edge facing you. Take the left hand of the strip and fold into the middle. Repeat with the right hand side so the two edges meet in the centre. Now pinch the centre and use a small strip of fondant, to lay over the join and pinch behind the bow to seal. If the fondant isn't sealing together, use some water on your fingertip to seal. Place the bow in the centre of the cupcake.
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