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.
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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.
On Wednesday last week I was kindly invited down to have a go at cake decorating to help raise awareness for the annual Macmillan coffee morning, this year it's happening on Friday 25th September and it's coincidentally their 25th anniversary. Apparently last year over 5 million cups of coffee were drunk, 10 million slices of cake were eaten and we raised £25 million pounds as a nation, which is pretty impressive! Here's to hoping we raise even more this year!
The event took place in Marc Hix's kitchen library tucked away in the renowned Tramshed restaurant, we were so lucky to be here as this is his private kitchens and research space, (this is where all of his tasty creations are made)! We were treated to drinks and plates of food from his kitchens; including giant yorkshire puddings, squash with goats cheese curd and pork crackling with apple sauce (for the meat eaters). Charlotte White from Restoration Cakes taught us how to professionally decorate cupcakes. Perfect to bring along to your very own coffee morning! Charlotte taught us a few of her tips and tricks including how to ice your cupcakes with fondant icing and how to make decorative roses. I got thoroughly stuck in and gave it a good go, and when it went a bit wrong I covered it with edible glitter, the best way to cover up mistakes!
M&S are supporting the charity by giving 10% of the sale on some their most popular cakes including the 25th anniversary edition of Colin the Caterpillar and the classic Victoria sponge. M&S cafes are also donating money to the charity throughout September to Macmillan, which I think is a really great idea! If cake isn't your thing then there are plenty of other ways for you to get involved including tea towels, coffee morning pins, mugs and aprons again all available from M&S.
Unfortunately more than one in thee of us will get cancer in our lifetime which is just such a scary statistic. The amazing people at Macmillan provide practical, medical and financial support for people suffering with cancer. Sadly, most of us know someone who has suffered from the illness so it's just incredibly important that we raise money, so please donate what you can. Even better why not host a coffee morning of your very own!
If you are like me and trying to eat just that bit better this year, this recipe might just help you with some of those sweet cravings you have been having. At just 167 calories each they are even better for you than the Starbucks Lemon & Poppy seed "skinny" muffin which contain a suprising 338 calories. These cupcakes are so light and full of flavour you won't miss the butter or 100+ grams of sugar in your regular cakes. I found this recipe on the BBC Food website, this one is by The Hairy Bikers.
Cake Batter:
- 200g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 75g golden caster sugar
- 100g Blueberries
- 1 unwaxed Lemon, zested
- 2 eggs
- 150ml low-fat natural yoghurt
- 2 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
- 50ml sunflower oil
Lemon Icing:
- 100g icing sugar (Top tip: Use the Lemon juice from the Lemon you zested earlier)
- 4 tsp fresh lemon juice
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C and add your paper cases to your cake tray
- Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl
- Add the Blueberries, sugar and Lemon zest, then make a well in the mixture and add the eggs
- Beat in the milk, yoghurt and oil into the flour mixture until lightly but well mixed.
- Divide the mixture into the cases and bake in the oven for around 16 minutes
- Once baked let the cakes cool on a wire rack and begin to make the icing
- Simply combine the Lemon juice and icing sugar together, a bit at a time until smooth and top your cupcakes.
- Wait 15-30 minutes for the icing to set and try to resist eating them (...if you can!)
If you give these a go please let me know, I'd love to see how yours turn out!
P.S If you want to see what I've been up to recently check out and follow my Instagram: @iamdaisyalice
After seeing how many of you enjoyed my last interview with baker Ruth Clemens, I thought I'd bring you another one, this time with the fashion industry's favourite baker, Lily Vanilli (real name Lily Jones). Her previous clients include the very exciting; Jo Malone, Pop Magazine, Lulu Guiness and Lula magazine, just to name a few. I caught up quickly with the very busy baker to see what she's been up to...
Hi Lily, would you mind telling us a bit about yourself and what you do for those who aren't familiar with you?
I'm a baker based in East London
Your name Lily Vanilli, where did it come from?
I was on MSN chat with my friend in Australia & we were on a roll with a series of corny baking puns
making fun of me & my new enterprise. A few days later I was caught out on the spot to name my business.
What began your passion to start baking cakes?
I like the peace and focused solitude that comes with baking. It involves the concentration of all your senses and allows you to switch off everything else.
You're not a tradition baker, some of your cakes are pretty creative. How do you find inspiration for them?
There's a lot to inspire you where I live.
If you weren't a baker, what do you think you'd be doing?
I have no idea.
What recipe of yours would you give to someone who's just started baking?
It depends on the person. Some people are by nature well suited to pastry.
If you were only able to eat three things for the rest of your life what would they be?
Chips, salt, vinegar.
What have been some of your best moments of your career so far?
Opening my bakery on Columbia Road, and publishing my second book Sweet Tooth with Canongate were both happy moments.
What's next for you Lily?
India & New York!
Thanks for your time Lily you've been great!
Lily's book Sweet Tooth is available to buy here and visit her at her bakery on Columbia Road (for details, click here)!
(Photo's taken from Lily's blog & from her book Sweet Tooth)
Hi Lily, would you mind telling us a bit about yourself and what you do for those who aren't familiar with you?
I'm a baker based in East London
Your name Lily Vanilli, where did it come from?
I was on MSN chat with my friend in Australia & we were on a roll with a series of corny baking puns
making fun of me & my new enterprise. A few days later I was caught out on the spot to name my business.
What began your passion to start baking cakes?
I like the peace and focused solitude that comes with baking. It involves the concentration of all your senses and allows you to switch off everything else.
You're not a tradition baker, some of your cakes are pretty creative. How do you find inspiration for them?
There's a lot to inspire you where I live.
If you weren't a baker, what do you think you'd be doing?
I have no idea.
What recipe of yours would you give to someone who's just started baking?
It depends on the person. Some people are by nature well suited to pastry.
If you were only able to eat three things for the rest of your life what would they be?
Chips, salt, vinegar.
What have been some of your best moments of your career so far?
Opening my bakery on Columbia Road, and publishing my second book Sweet Tooth with Canongate were both happy moments.
What's next for you Lily?
India & New York!
Thanks for your time Lily you've been great!
Lily's book Sweet Tooth is available to buy here and visit her at her bakery on Columbia Road (for details, click here)!
(Photo's taken from Lily's blog & from her book Sweet Tooth)
Other than blogging one of my favourite hobbies is baking, it is very therapeutic and at the end you (usually) get a tasty result. I loved to bake cakes as a child. Every Saturday my sister and I would pick up a box of fairy cake mixture from Sainsbury's and bake for our family. This is something that we have continued to do. So, when I found Ruth Clemens's baking blog -The Pink Whisk, I was a very happy girl. Her name may be familiar to all you The Great British Bake Off fans as she was a runner-up on the very first series! So I caught up with the baking maverick to ask her a few questions...
Hi Ruth for those who don’t know who you are, would you mind
telling us a little bit about yourself?
Of course! I’m Ruth
Clemens – first and foremost Mum to 3 naughty boys and wife to 1! I took part in the first series of The Great
British Bake Off in 2010 and to my own surprise finished second! I run a baking blog www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk
and since the Bake Off have had some amazing opportunities including writing 2
books, The Busy Girls Guide to Cake Decorating, released last year and The Pink
Whisk Guide to Cake Making which is just about to hit the shelves.
What made you get into baking?
I've always baked, taught by my Mum and then I started doing
lots more when I had my own family. I
enjoy the creativity of messing about in the kitchen and playing around with
recipes and ingredients, it’s just
larking around in the kitchen!
How do you find inspiration to create exciting recipes? Do
you ever find it difficult?
Mostly my head is filled with a ton of ideas, most of which
never even get attempted! Sometimes, usually when I’m a bit stressed out, or
juggling a million and one things it can all disappear and my mind is a blank -
those aren’t enjoyable moments but I usually find a bit of break is enough to
start me off again!
I think we’re all curious to know, how was participating on
The (amazing) Great British Bake off?
It was a huge amount of fun!
I went into it determined to enjoy every minute and make the most of the
experience. I loved the challenges, all
of the baking and met lots of fantastic people.
We also had the bonus of travelling to different location in the UK so I
got to see (all be it briefly) some wonderful places. There can be a lot of hanging around and
waiting in the making of a TV programme, you just have to relax and go with it
– and keep the cups of tea flowing!
What were Paul Hollywood & Mary Berry really like?
Absolutely fantastic!
Mary is the loveliest lady you could ever wish to meet, so kind and warm
hearted. Paul is a hoot, he’s a real
trickster and loves nothing more than a sneaky practical joke. They are both lovely to be around, a real
fountain of knowledge and are more than willing to share it with you.
What’s your favourite recipe of yours to bake?
My favourite recipes are the quick and easy ones – flapjack,
chocolate frosted tray bake, swiss rolls the list goes on and on!
Do you have any favourite bakers or recipe blogs?
I love Bakerella for her creativity, Made with Pink for lots
of lovely Baking, English Mum, Cooking Cakes & Children by Amy Lane. I love following random links to blogs via
twitter, you just never know what you’re going to come across!
What’s been the highlight of your (pretty impressive) career
so far?
I think that has to be seeing my first book in print, it’s
such a surreal situation I still have to pinch myself!
What’s next for you Ruth?
I hope to carry on writing the blog, hopefully writing more
books and taking all sorts of opportunities that I come across. I have been unbelievably lucky so far, I
really do count my lucky stars. Who
knows what the future will hold? All I
know is you’ve got to go out and grab all the opportunities that come your way
and make the most of every one!
You can pre-order Ruth's new book here, (I know I'll definitely be putting in an order). I've been extremely
excited about this post and I hope you all enjoyed it!
P.S follow me on Bloglovin' here!
(All photos are taken from Ruth's website www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk)
P.S follow me on Bloglovin' here!
(All photos are taken from Ruth's website www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk)
Sorry I haven't blogged in a while I've been so busy with catching up on university work and haven't really found much time to write a post. However a few days ago I finally got to catch up with two of my closest friends and we took a trip to Primrose Hill an area of London which I haven't been to before. We ate lunch at the Toy Cafe, I had the vegetarian panini (which was really good) and had a good natter before deciding to venture out and see more of the area.
I know that Christmas is over but I thought I had to share this gingerbread house with you as it was so cute!
We found this amazing bakery called Sweet things and decided to settle there for our very late Christmas present exchange and I received some incredibly lovely gifts (thank you Liv & Gemma). I had one of the red velvet cupcakes and I can say after trying a lot cupcakes in my life this was the best red velvet cupcake I've ever had!
I'm going to keep this post short and sweet but I hope you enjoyed it, I'd love to know what you think and I hope you all had a great new year!
1. I squealed a bit when i saw one of my favourite YouTube'rs had retweeted one of my photos, 2. & 3. A night out with some of my flatmates, 4. Me and my boyfriend had a night in and treated ourselves to two for Tuesdays 5. Rekorderlig, 6. Baking on my day off, 7. Tickets to see Looper, 8. I had another Domino's with my flat mate (this is not going to become a weekly thing I promise!) and 9. An afterwork treat.
1. Trying to be healthy, 2. My friend brought these cupcakes back with her from her sister's baby shower, they're so cute! 3. Cat onesie from Primark, 4. The massive Tesco delivery, 5. Gossip Girl is back! 6. Halloween treat's I brought for my family, 7. OOTD, 8.Cocktails are Bar 55, and 9. Seeing my favourite band in London, Lower than Atlantis.
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