Cupcake Crazy!

Earlier this year, there was a post doing the rounds on Facebook called "Creative pay it forward" (if I remember rightly).  Basically, if you were one of the first five people commenting on the post, you would receive some kind of creative home made gift from the person posting, on the understanding that you would re-post the status, and give five other people something made by you, and so on.  The rules were that it must be something handmade by you, and all five people must receive their something by the end of 2013.  I received my something a few weeks ago, and the time has come to start the pay it forward part.  So, I decided to make some cupcakes for the first person on my list.

Cupcakes are pretty much enjoyed by everyone.  Even my husband, who claims not to like cake, has been known to change his mind with a cupcake when he has one.  Though small children often just lick off the icing and leave the rest!  So, having ascertained that my person likes all foods apart from coconut, I decided on lemon cupcakes, with lemon frosting, decorated with edible glitter, lemon sugar crunch and wafer daisies.

Cupcakes, of course, are different from fairy cakes.  Cupcakes originated in America, as early as 1796, according to Wikipedia, when a recipe notation of "a cake to be baked in small cups" was written in a book called American Cookery by Amelia Simmons.  The name "cupcake" is now given to any small cake that is about the size of a teacup. "Fairy cake" is an English term, describing a smaller cake which would be appropriate for a party of fairies to share.

Fairy cakes are what I used to make with my Mum when I was little, she just called them "little cakes".  In fact she still makes them now, in large batches, as they freeze well.They usually had chocolate chips and/or sultanas in, and weren't iced.  Sometimes for birthday parties the plain ones would be transformed into "butterfly cakes" by cutting a circle from the top, filling the hole with butter icing and cutting the little circle in half before replacing it to look like butterfly wings.  I didn't know about cupcakes until I read about them in childrens books written by American authors, and didn't experience one until I was a lot older.  But these days, I make them quite a lot.

Ususally I use paper or foil coated cases, though I do sometimes use silicone ones which can be washed up and reused.  Cupcake cases are smaller than muffin cases, but quite a lot bigger than fairy cake cases:

The size does cause debate.  A good sized cupcake is normally enough, you wouldn't want two in one sitting.  Or I wouldn't anyway. Some even think one is too much.  The larger ones are best eaten with a fork, especailly if theres a lot of icing, so you don't make too much of a mess!

One of the best things about cupcakes is the endless variety.  Firstly, there is the sponge flavour (and colour).  Then you can scoop out some of the middle and fill them with a little surprise, like custard, or jam, or melted marshmallows.  Then there is the icing (or frosting, to give it the American name - they mean the same thing), and finally my favourite bit, the decoration...

An optional procedure after baking, recommended by Peggy Porschen (great name!) in her excellent book "Boutique Baking" is to drizzle some kind of flavoured hot sugar syrup over the cakes when they've just come out of the oven. This keeps them moist, a good idea as I think there is nothing worse than a dry cake of any description.

I bought a book of cupcake recipes years ago, which was quite frankly, rubbish, and put me off for a while, I tried making peanut butter ones, and caramel ones, and they were rather disappointing.  Then I bought the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and my cupcake making was revolutionised.  Their recipes were much more successful and I got the bug.  Their famous red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and topped with red edible glitter were requested by my daughter for a birthday several years ago. I' ve made lots of their recipes, including chocolate, chocolate and hazelnut (filled with nutella and topped with a whole hazelnut), and strawberry cheesecake cupcakes (with chopped fresh strawberries in the sponge mixture and cream cheese frosting sprinkled with crushed digestive biscuits).  Another of their recipes was green tea cupcakes, using milk infused with green tea in the sponge, and icing containing matcha green tea powder sourced via ebay (see photo below):

Their marshmallow cupcakes were also a great success, with melted marshmallows in the middle and mini marshmallows mixed into vanilla frosting for on the top, all piled up like a glamourous hairdo!

Other flavours I've had a go at include cappucino, chai tea with cinnamon vanilla frosting and chopped pistachios, rosewater, raspberry and lemon (with a whole raspberry in the middle and one on top of lemon icing), rhubarb and custard (see the rhubarb blog post for a picture of that one), macadamia and white chocolate, Easter nests and chocolate devil's food.

 

Easter Nest Cupcakes

 

Jubilee cupcakes made for a street party, with tricolor icing swirls

 

Lemon and raspberry

 

 



 Rosewater

 

Icing can just be spread on with a small palette knife, or piped with a plain or star nozzle.  I've just got a duo colour piping set so I'm looking forward to having a go with it soon.  The jubilee cakes pictured above were iced by using three plastic sandwich bags with the different coloured icings in, inside the main piping bag.  I swear by my lakeland silicone piping bag as it's so easy to clean.

 

Probably the best part is decorating them.  There is such a wide choice available, you can get polka dots, sugar strands, fudge pieces, mini marshmallows, chocolate shapes, edible glitter, neon coloured sugar crystals and even silver and gold shimmer spray to give a metallic effect.  I've found that the silver is much better than the gold, which doesn't seem to show up very well, even on chocolate icing. And I love the wafer daisies.

 

Presentation is something to think about if the cakes are going to be a gift.  The main supermarkets sell lovely boxes quite cheaply which I use for macaroons too.  If you're going to be displaying them you can get cardboard stands in a range of designs, I've inherited a fabulous perspex one that used to belong to my sister (see below) and it can have anything from one to five tiers.  Normal ceramic cake stands loook very effective too.

 

Double choc - for a wedding.

 

So, that is the wonderful world of cupcakery!  Long may it continue.  And if you're one of the other four people on my creative pay it forward list, you'll get your something before the year is out.  It might not be cupcakes, but it is likely to be edible.

 

Thank you for reading,

 

Caroline :-) x

Gadgets galore!

If I die first, my husband says he is going to order a skip for all the kitchen gadgets.  I think this is a little harsh, but anyway, I'm not planning to die first, and when he goes, I'm getting a chandelier for the living room!  However, I do have to admit I am at pretty much full capacity when it comes to kitchen cupboard space.  Some gadgets I couldn't do without, some I have not used very much and given away, and joyfully, I can't think of anything I haven't got and would like, except a pasta machine attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer.

I got the KitchenAid for Christmas, and gave away the bread machine to make space for it.  The mixer will knead the dough for me (and save my wrists, especially the left one which has never been the same since my tendon surgery) and I'm happy to bake the bread in the oven.  The breadmaker was ok, but it was always a pain to dig the little paddle thing out of the bottom of the loaf, it always seemed to just get pushed further in - and I didn't seem to use it that much.

 

I LOVE my KitchenAid, and don't know how I managed with a little Kenwood hand mixer for sixteen whole years, including making two wedding cakes (mixed in a storage box). I still have it in case of emergencies though.  So far the KitchenAid has done sterling work with bread, cookie and pizza dough, meringue, buttercream, whipped cream, cake mixture, fondant icing, flan filling, cheesecake and brownie mixture.  It has given better and lighter results in so many recipes including cakes, macaroons, swiss roll, cheesecakes and more.

Another gadget I wouldn't be without, and didn't have for a long time is my food processor.  Having started the new recipe resolution in January 2008 I kept finding recipes which made me think "I could make that if I had a food processor" or "that would be so much easier with a processor" and for Christmas 2009 I got my wish.  I use it for breadcrumbs, biscuit bases for cheesecakes, stuffings, macaroons (the ground almonds need to be processed with the icing sugar to make the super light), it's brilliant for shortbread and I have never bought shortcrust pastry again as it makes such a great job of it in no time. Plus you can add flavourings to the pastry like lemon zest or walnuts. I've made my own pesto, dips, tahini and hummous.  The liquidiser is fab for soups and smoothies.  The mill is good for chopping nuts and grinding spices.  I have to admit I've never been bothered to use the centrifugal juicer though.

Sometimes with kitchen gadgets, as with other things in life, it's a case of want rather than need.  Such as my washing up rack, officially named a "dish garden" by the manufacturer.  I was sick of metal ones going rusty and this one just gets a scrub now and again to make it as good as new.  I think it looks fabulous and quirky too, and even though it was quite expensive for a mere dishrack it will last for years.  Also, all the water comes out of one hole at the bottom rather than dripping all over the draining board, meaning less cleaning. It looks from the picture like you wouldn't get much on it, but you'd be surprised, with a bit of creative stacking...

Sometimes too, it's the small things that make a difference.  Like this elevated palette knife with a weighted handle (another Christmas present - my Mum took me a cookware shop to choose some presents, I was in heaven) made by the brilliant Joseph Jospeh.  No more splats on the worktop!

 

 

Other small gadgets I use a lot are my metal folding steamer basket (when my son isn't using it for an alien spaceship); silicone baking "tins" with glass base - great for cheesecakes, and no need to worry about using a metal knife when cutting into slices; my Jamie Oliver rice pot, - cook and serve rice in the same pot, and it goes in the dishwasher; a mandoline (nicknamed the "fearsome slicer", it needs to be treated with respect if you value your fingertips), poultry shears and an ice cream scoop that conducts the heat from your hand to seve the scoop of ice cream.  I buy my baking trays from amazon, supermarket ones are rubbish and buckle at the lowest oven temperatures, also there is so much choice, you can get the perfect size.

 

The biggest and favourite of all, if you can call it a gadget, is the cooker, which was half price when I bought the kitchen units.  It has a ceramic hob, which looks nice and is easy to clean but doesn't cook a stir fry as well as a gas hob would.  I haven't got gas to the house though, and it would be too much hassle to connect it just for the sake of a few Chinese meals.  I got one without a glass panel in the door on purpose, so the dirt wouldn't show from the outside and it wouldn't need cleaning as often, the second oven/plate warmer is only used for large family gatherings, otherwise it doubles up as a handy storage cupboard for baking tins.

 

 

 

I sometimes look through the Lakeland catalogue and marvel at a multitude of things I don't need - waffle irons, cake pop makers, cupcake makers, ice cream makers... but I'm very strong minded, and I still squeeze lemons with a little plastic lemon squeezer that came free with a bag of oranges!

 

In other news, I've joined the Clandestine Cake Club, just finding out about a nearby meeting to go to, with a view to starting up my own local group. watch this space...

 

Thank you for reading, feel free to share.

 

Caroline x