Cupcake Craziness

This week has been a week of meetings, cupcakes, work, cupcakes, fete, AND cupcakes! I simply adore cupcakes but this has been a little much and I will be happy not to make another late-night or early-morning cupcake for a few weeks.  My little ladybug has also taken to skipping around the house singing the word "cake" so you can see how much cake has featured in our lives, this week!

Thursday afternoon marked our annual school fete.  As is now 'tradition' (or my personal tradition, at least),  my class was responsible for the cake stall.  Even though I knew this was going to be THE craziest week at work, I just couldn't help but get excited about planning my baking.  So I used A moment on the lips... as my recipe book and here's what happened...

Whole Orange Cupcakes with Zesty Cream Cheese Frosting

I used my Orange Cake recipe and baked the cupcakes for 20 minutes.  They turned out perfectly.  Take care not to overcook, however, as they'll get dry very quickly.  The sharpness of the frosting cuts through the sweet orange beautifully.

Sticky Date Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream and a Salted Caramel Drizzle

Sticky Date is my all time favourite dessert and these cupcakes completely did it justice.  Again, I used my Sticky Date Cake recipe and baked for 20 minutes.  They were light and spongy like a steamed pudding - beyond amazing! This is the buttercream recipe and I used the caramel sauce that I drizzle over the top of my Salted Caramel Cheesecake.

Chocolate Sponge with Chocolate Whipped Cream and Sprinkles

The only Chocolate Cake recipe I ever use is my Mum's because it's the best.  The batter is ridiculous and you have to make sure that you employ some self control so that you manage to get some cake into the oven!  These were topped with chocolate whipped cream and sprinkle because they make me smile.  

White Chocolate Mud Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

This is such a lovely recipe that works every time and is absolute heaven for white chocolate lovers....mmmm.  The cupcakes take a lot longer to bake than the others (45 minutes) but would still be worth it if they took 45 hours!  Cupcakes like this make people happy.

They looked amazing all packaged up and the rush was on to get in quickly enough to purchase a box of loveliness!

I urge you to try at least one of these wonderful recipes and let me know all about your beautiful baking adventures!

F. x

For the love of cake.

Last week marked yet another wonderful Wednesday at Blackwater North State School.  Apparently the intrigue began as early as 8am as to what was 'inside' the cake that lay on the table. 

Mud cake?
No.
Carrot cake?
No.
White chocolate cake?
No.

It was Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake: the smooth, moist centre in stunning contrast to the sweet cream cheese outer.  As soon as this beautiful cake was cut, it was a fight as to who could get a piece before it ran out and it was completely and utterly worth the fight.  This cake is impressive to say the least, and yet a one pot wonder (yes, I did say pot).  All of the ingredients are combined and whipped up in a large saucepan before entering the oven.  It's certainly minimum effort for maximum effect.  I recommend that this be the next wonder to come out of your oven.

Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake

250ml Guinness

250g unsalted butter

75g cocoa

400g caster sugar

1 x 142ml pot sour cream

2 eggs

1 tablespoon real vanilla extract

275g plain flour

2 1/2teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line the bottom of a 23cm springform tin with baking paper.

In a large saucepan, place your guinness and butter and stir over a low heat.  When the butter has melted into the guinness, add the sugar and cocoa.  Separately beat the eggs, sour cream and vanilla together before whisking into the dark guinness liquid.  Finally you can stir in the plain flour and bicarb until combined.  Pour the batter in the cake tin and bake for an hour. 

I literally baked this cake twice within a week.  It freezes beautifully if you want to slice it up, as I have, for my lovely husband to take in his lunch; it is simply sublime with custard or icecream as a dessert; or you can frost it, as I have here, with my divine Cream Cheese Frosting and adding some chocolate coated strawberries.

F. x



Who's a clever girl?



Isn't this a magnificent thing of beauty?  Look out, because this weekend I will be sharing the recipe for this amazing Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake.  Yum! Yum, indeed!

F. x