Girly Vanilla Cupcakes with Sparkles

More cupcakes! Really that is all I need to say, with my new food mixer and drawers full of baking treats I got for Christmas it was time to experiment. So this time I decided to make Girly Vanilla Cupcakes with Sparkles and here is how;

Ingredients

• 100g of Plain Flour
• 100g of Sugar
• 1tsp of Baking Powder
• 1/2tsp of Bicarbonate of Soda
• Pinch of Salt
• 175g of Butter
• 2 Eggs
• 4tsp of Vanilla Extract
• 1tsp of Pink Food Colouring
• 2tbsp of Edible Red Glitter
• 100g of Icing Sugar

 

Girly Vanilla Cupcakes with Sparkles

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Prepare your bun tin with your paper cake cases for later
3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt together
4. Then add 100g of the butter and mix until crumbly
5. Add the 2 eggs and whisk untill smooth
6. Finally add the vanilla extract and mix in thoroughly
7. Pour the mixture evenly into the cake cases
8. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes
9. Once cooked allow to cool thoroughly
10. Once cool cream the rest of the butter and icing sugar together then add the pink food colouring and stir in thoroughly
11. Then use to decorate the top of the cupcakes, either by hand with a palette knife or use an icing bag
12. Then for a final touch dust with edible glitter

Not only were these Girly Vanilla Cupcakes with Sparkles so so pretty but they were also delicious too. I usually do not mess around with my sponge recipe too much as it always comes out perfectly moist and fluffy too. The butter cream frosting was yummy too, just be careful when using food colouring as it can become salty, but if you use just the right amount you will be fine. The edible sparkles finished off the cupcakes just beautifully too, I will have to invest in some more colours! To top it off my fiance was on hand with his camera to take some great pictures too!

Banana Walnut Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

It was my boyfriends birthday in December and I made him a loaf of Banana Bread to take to work, the flat smelt so lovely for the next two days I was so jealous I had not made it for me. So in a moment of inspiration and with a birthday party being held at home I decided to expand my cupcake making to experiment with these ingredients.  I have been using lots of flavours such as cinnamon and ginger but this time it would be Banana Walnut Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting. This is my recipe and it could not be easier;

Ingredients

• 100g of Caster Sugar
• 150g of Butter
• 2 Large Eggs
• 100g of Flour
• 1/2 tsp of Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp of Bicarbonate Soda
• 3 Mashed Bananas
• 50g of Crushed Walnuts
• 12 Whole Walnuts
• 75g of Icing Sugar
• 25g of Cocoa Powder

Banana Walnut Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C
2. Mix the flour a sugar in a bowl
3. Mix in 75g of butter until crumbly
4. Add the 2 eggs and blend until mixture is smooth
5. Add the banana and crushed walnuts and stir to combine
6. Bake in cupcake cases for 15-20 minutes
7. Allow to cool on a wire rack before frosting
8. Once cool make the frosting by combining the icing sugar and cocoa powder
9. The add the final 75g of butter and mix together until smooth
10. Then put into an icing bag or use a palette knife to frost the cupcakes
11. Place one whole walnut on top of the frosting for decoration

I usually attempt to be modest with my food (well sort of) but with these Banana Walnut Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting I just can’t. They are truly delicious, I could easily eat 3 or 4 in one sitting and still probably want more. So far I have to say these are my favourite cupcakes that I have made especially with such an easy recipe to follow!

What are your favourite cupcakes?

Baileys Chocolate Mousse

After a crazy but amazing Christmas, my boyfriend and I decided that a nice romantic evening was just what was needed on New Years Eve, the German firework obsession put this to the test however, but he was cooking dinner so I decided to make something yummy for dessert!  A joint decision resulted in a chocolate mousse, but not any chocolate mousse, a Baileys Chocolate Mousse! Baileys is such a delicious and wintertime drink that it seemed the perfect accompaniment for New Years Eve. This recipe can have a tablespoon of your favourite liquor and this is how you make it;

 

Ingredients

• 2 Eggs – Separated
• 25g of Butter
• 2tbsp of Caster Sugar
• 1tbsp of Baileys
• 75g of Milk Chocolate

Baileys Chocolate Mousse

Method

1. Whisk the eggs whites until stiff then add the sugar and whisk making sure the mixture stays stiff
2. Set to one side and melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl
3. Once melted add the egg yolks and baileys and stir
4. Then fold the two mixtures together lightly keeping the air in the egg whites
5. Pour into 4 dishes and refrigerate for at least 5 hours

Serving Suggestions

Serve with a Shortbread Biscuit for dipping. This time I did not use home-made shortbread biscuits (click on the link for my recipe) as we had some Christmas biscuits that were just too yummy!

This recipe gave me a chance to use my new hand whisk and my new set of ramekins which I was lucky to get this Christmas to aid my baking ways! In honesty this Baileys Chocolate Mousse was not as ‘moussey’ as I had hoped but it really did taste that good that I cannot complain! In fact I have already made it again since!

Individual Fruit Pavlova’s with Peach and Raspberry

Firstly I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas, I know I did and if you did as much cooking as me I am sure your fridge is as full of leftovers too! I did so much cooking over Christmas I did not know when to start when putting my recipes here but in the end I decided to start with dessert! This recipe for meringue has actually been passed to me by my boyfriend’s mum and if I do it to half of her standards I would be proud of my attempts, before eating her pavlova I did not even supposedly like pavlova! I have done it a few times with varying results but after deciding that it would be dessert on Christmas day I wanted to practice and play with the toppings so I could put my own mark on it. So here is my recipe for Individual Fruit Pavlova’s with Peach and Raspberry’s:

Ingredients

• 60z of Sugar
• 3 Egg Whites
• 1tbsp of Lemon Juice
• 200ml of Whipping Cream
• 2tbsp of Icing Sugar
• 1tsp of Vanilla Extract
• 250g of Raspberry’s
• 3 Peaches (with the skin and stone removed and chopped into chunks)
• 3tbsp of Caster Sugar

Individual Meringues Ready for the Oven

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C
2. Separate the egg whites into a large bowl
3. Whisk until the egg whites are stiff (should be able to turn upside down without movement)
4. Add the sugar in stages through a sieve whilst continuing to whisk until all sugar has been added and the mixture is still stiff
5. Finally add the lemon juice and whisk again
6. Now carefully spoon out the mixture out (onto a baking tray lined with baking paper) into 4 individual circles then build up the edge of the circles with the mixture to create a well in the middle of your meringue
7. Put into the oven and turn the heat down to 130c
8. After 45 minutes turn the oven off but leave the meringue in the oven for at least 3 hours (overnight is better)
9. Once ready to serve whip your cream together with the icing sugar and vanilla extract and fill the middle of your meringues with the cream
10. Then finally for the fruit filling place the raspberry’s, peaches and sugar into a small saucepan and put on a low heat for 7/8 minutes until the sugar and raspberry’s form a sauce and the peach has softened
11. Then pour over the cream and enjoy

Individual Fruit Pavlova’s with Peach and Raspberry

These Individual Fruit Pavlova’s with Peach and Raspberry were made as a test run for Christmas day and on this attempt they were truly delicious and the recipe worked exactly as it should, however in truth the attempt for Christmas day did not go to plan. My meringue for a reason I am not quite sure of failed, big time, so I had to improvise and used the same ingredients as above but made individual Eton Mess’s for everyone.

Individual Eton Mess

Which luckily tasted just as great and avoided me having to come up with another dessert at short notice. I am lucky that this was the worst thing to happen whilst cooking this Christmas, I hope all of yours went just as well!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

I am determined to perfect my cupcake making, so to surprise my boyfriend when he got in from work on Friday I had decided to make Vanilla Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting. The main inspiration behind these flavours was my excitement at my recent purchases of a vanilla pod and cinnamon, it is also starting to get cold and these flavours remind me of the winter time. Here is my recipe:

Ingredients

• 100g of Plain Flour
• 100g of Sugar
• 1tsp of Baking Powder
• 1/2tsp of Bicarbonate of Soda
• Pinch of Salt
• 100g of Butter
• 2 Eggs
• 4tsp of Vanilla Extract
• 1 Vanilla Pod
• 2tsp of Cinnamon Powder
• 100g of Icing Sugar

Vanilla Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Prepare your bun tin with your paper cake cases for later
3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt together
4. Then add the butter and mix until crumbly
5. Add the 2 eggs and whisk untill smooth
6. Finally add the vanilla extract and seeds from the vanilla pod and mix in thoroughly
7. Pour the mixture evenly into the cake cases
8. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes
9. Once cooked allow to cool thoroughly
10. Once cool cream the rest of the butter and icing sugar together then add the cinnamon and stir in thoroughly
11. Then use to decorate the top of the cupcakes, either by hand with a palette knife or use an icing bag

The came out really great, although I am still waiting for my icing kit and my hand frosting leave much to be desired! I was surprised that the cupcakes did not have a strong vanilla flavour however I think that it may have been overpowered by the frosting, but I cannot complain as it was delicious! Now that I have made Vanilla Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting what is next on my cupcake flavour experiment…

Ginger Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

Last weekend 2 of our best friends in Berlin were moving apartment, we were of course roped in to helping so I thought it was the perfect occasion for baking! House-warming/moving motivation goodies of choice; Ginger Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting:

Ingredients

• 120g of Plain Flour
• 140g of Sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp of Baking Powder
• Pinch of Salt
• 165g of Butter
• 120ml of Milk
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 tsp of Vanilla Extract
• 4tsp of Ginger Powder
• 100g of Icing Sugar
• 2tsp of Finely Grated Lemon Rind
• 1tsp of Fresh Lemon Juice

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Prepare your bun tin with your paper cake cases for later
3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together then add 40g of the butter and mix until crumbly
4. In a jug thoroughly whisk the milk, egg and vanilla extract together
5. Pour the wet ingredients gradually into the dry ingredients whilst continually mixing until smooth
6. Then add the ginger and mix in thoroughly
7. Pour the mixture evenly into the cake cases
8. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes
9. Once cooked allow to cool thoroughly
10. Once cool cream the rest of the butter and icing sugar together then add the lemon rind and juice and mix
11. Then use to decorate the top of the cupcakes, either by hand with a palette knife or use an icing bag

This week unfortunately my icing was not the best, this is because I still haven’t been bought an icing bag (hint hint boyfriend) and I had a small accident when getting the cupcakes out of the oven, a badly burnt hand. However it did not stop the baking and at least there was a treat to make me feel better! These Ginger Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting were definitely needed at the end of that moving day so it was a good job that they tasted delicious too, the lemon did over power the taste of the ginger a little but they were really tasty regardless. This recipe will definitely be made again in the future and I think that cupcake flavour experiments could be my new hobby!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

This recipe is a little delayed as we have been having extreme computer issues in our household! However, I am back online and will be sharing my recipes from the past couple of weeks! Starting with my recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting. This recipe was made for a Saturday night dinner party where we were again sadly saying goodbye to another friend leaving Berlin. I have been meaning to bake more cupcakes as hopefully one day when I have a bakery they will be my best sellers. So here is my first attempt;

Ingredients

• 100g of Plain Flour
• 20g of Cocoa
• 140g of Sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp of Baking Powder
• Pinch of Salt
• 165g of Butter
• 120ml of Milk
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 tsp of Vanilla Extract
• 100g of Icing Sugar
• 2tsp of Finely Grated Lemon Rind
• 1tsp of Fresh Lemon Juice

Chocolate Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Prepare your bun tin with your paper cake cases for later
3. Sift the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt together then add 40g of the butter and mix until crumbly
4. In a jug thoroughly whisk the milk, egg and vanilla extract together
5. Pour the wet ingredients gradually into the dry ingredients whilst continually mixing until smooth
6. Pour the mixture evenly into the cake cases
7. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes
8. Once cooked allow to cool thoroughly
9. Once cool cream the rest of the butter and icing sugar together then add the lemon rind and juice and mix
10. Then use to decorate the top of the cupcakes, either by hand with a palette knife or use an icing bag

I thought that my first cupcake making session was successful although I was not a fan of the Lemon Frosting with the Chocolate Cupcakes it did not stop the entire batch being eaten after dinner! So the next steps for me are to experiment with cupcake and frosting flavours and to by an icing bag! Frosting by hand is a fun but messy task!

American Style White Chocolate Chunk Cookie Recipe

Ever since we returned from Canada I have been craving cookies, they are just so much better in North America, big and chewy as opposed to the small biscuit like ones you get here – my American friend had pointed out to me “How do they call these American Style?”. So I decided that the only way to satisfy my craving was to make them myself but then I had to decide what flavour to make. The decision making did not last long before I decide on white chocolate and here is my recipe for American Style White Chocolate Chunk Cookies:

Ingredients

• 250g of Plain Flour
• 1/2 tsp of Bicarbonate of Soda
• 1/2 tsp of Salt
• 170g of Butter
• 200g of Brown Sugar
• 100g of Caster Sugar
• 1 tbsp of Vanillan Extract
• 1 Egg
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 325g of White Chocolate Chunks

American Style White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Method 

1. Preheat the oven to 170C
2. Line a baking tray with baking paper
3. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt together and set aside
4. In a bowl cream together the butter, brown sugar and caster sugar
5. When smooth beat in the vanilla extract, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy
6. Mix if the flour mixture gradually and blend
7. Stir in the white chocolate chunks
8. Spoon dough onto the baking tray – around 2 large tablespoons for a large cookie – do not flatten
9. Make sure that each cookie is 8cm apart to allow for baking
10. Bake for around 13-15 minutes
11. Once cooked take out of the oven and leave on baking tray to cool
12. After 5 minutes cooling on the tray transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling before eating

Serving Suggestions

Can anything beat cookies and milk?

These were so so so good and completely satisfied my craving. This mix makes around 10 large cookies or up to 16 smaller ones I imagine so it is always a good recipe to have on hand if friends come over or if you want to make cookies to last all week (they might be too yummy for this though). Although I have to warn you when mixing by hand it is hard work and will certainly give your batwings an exercise session, although this could be seen as burning calories so you can have one more of these American Style White Chocolate Chunk Cookies!

Lemon Cream and Mixed Berry Compote

I once had this in a restaurant such a long time ago that I cannot even remember which restaurant it was, but I had not forgotten the dessert. It was so scrumptious and more-ish that when I was deciding what to make for our dinner party dessert this weekend there was no other choice.  I am always making things full of chocolate which in my opinion can only be beaten by a delicious lemon dessert. So on the menu this week; Lemon Cream and Mixed Berry Compote served with Home-Made Shortbread Biscuits and this is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 600ml of Double Cream
• 350g of Sugar
• 5 Lemons
• 250g of Mixed Berries (this time I used Blackberries and Blueberries)

My Lemon Cream Drizzled with Mixed Berry Compote and Shortbread for Dipping!

Method

1. Firstly, zest and juice the 5 lemons and set aside
2. Then bring the double cream to the boil in a saucepan
3. Once the cream is boiling turn down the heat to a simmer
4. Add 250g of sugar whilst continually stirring for 2-3 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved
5. Continue to stir as you add the lemon zest and juice
6. Simmer for a further minute before removing the mixture from the heat
7. After 10 minutes of cooling pour the mixture evenly into 4 serving glasses and leave to cool down for 50 minutes
8. After the 50 minutes ensure the mixture is cool before putting into the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours
9. When the creams have chilled for 2 hours you can prepare the compote
10. Put the berries and 100g of sugar in a pan and stir well as you heat them
11. As the sugar dissolves and the berries breakdown bring the mixture to a simmer
12. Simmer for 5-6 minutes / stirring well
13. Remove from the heat
14. Take a spoon and drizzle a small part of the compote over the top of the creams and put back in the fridge to chill for a few minutes
15. Let the compote cool before placing into a jug for serving

Serving Suggestions

Drizzle the Mixed Berry Compote over the top of the chilled Lemon Cream and serve with Home-Made Shortbread Biscuits

I served my Lemon Cream and Mixed Berry Compote in 4 individual mini desserts but this dessert would also be great as one cream that could then be served out into individual bowls if you wanted to split the dessert between more people or even save some for later. Either way this dessert was divine and it was great for me to try baking something a little bit different and I am really proud of myself that this came out so well! Having the shortbread biscuits to dip in were a really great idea and broke up the strong flavours of the lemon and berries, which were surprisingly more sickly than I had anticipated, I suppose fruit is not always healthy!

If you have any other delicious Lemon based desserts I would love to hear your recipes!

Fruit Tarts with White Chocolate Cream Filling

Yesterday was Canada Day and I was invited around to my Canadian friends apartment for a ‘Happy Canada Day‘ party.  There was a plentiful supply for food and drinks but I thought it would be rude to turn up empty handed so I made Fruit Tarts with White Chocolate Cream Filling. The idea for fruit tarts has been inspired by the hot summer we have been having here in Berlin this week and my craving for fruit as opposed to the usual need for chocolate. I have been seeing lots of these recipes about and wanted to try one for myself, I will admit this recipe has been adapted to make up for the slight kitchen disaster I had when the tarts collapsed in the oven, but I managed to save them and they still tasted great. So this is my recipe;

Ingredients

• 192g of Flour
• 113g of Butter
• 50g of Sugar
• 1/4 Tsp of Salt
• 1 Egg
• 200g of White Chocolate
• 4 Tsp of Icing Sugar
• 300g of Cream Cheese
• 1 Kiwi
• 50g of Strawberry’s

My Tart Shells Ready for the Oven

Method

1. Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a bowl
2. Cut the butter into thin slices and add to the mixture
3. Mix together until it is crumbly
4. Add the egg and mix together until all of the ingredients are moistened and beginning to form together
5. Lightly press the mixture into a ball and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes
6. After 30 minutes take out of the fridge and pull of a small chunk of the dough and press into a silicone mould with your fingers – be careful to keep the thickness consistent
7. Use a knife to trim any excess from around the top and repeat this process until all of the dough is used
8. Place into a preheated oven at 180C and cook for 20-25 minutes watching carefully as cooking times can vary
9. Remove from the oven and leave to cool
10. Whilst the tarts are cooling you can prepare the filling
11. Mix the cream cheese and icing sugar together in a bowl
12. In another glass bowl melt the white chocolate over a pan of simmering water
13. When all of the chocolate has melted add half of the cream chesses and stir thoroughly, then repeat with the rest of the cream cheese
14. Set side and slice up your kiwi and strawberry’s
15. One the tarts have cooled remove them from the mould carefully and fill with the white chocolate cream filling and place the desired fruit on top
16. Chill for 1 hour before serving

My Fruit Tarts with White Chocolate Cream Filling

These little tarts came out really well in the end, thankfully better than I had expected half way through. They were really delicious and not sickly so they were great to enjoy for Canada Day in a very hot and humid Berlin. If you are going to make these I would love to know how they come out for you, but be warned this recipe is time consuming and fiddly!