Chocolate Peanut Butter and Marshmallow Fluff Cupcakes (Chocolate Fluffernutters)

My little brother is currently going through a phase where he's eating a LOT of peanut butter. I wanted an excuse to use my blowtorch so decided to make these cupcakes as something a bit different. 

I started off with a chocolate cake, dolloped crunchy peanut butter into the batter before baking and topped it with some homemade marshmallow fluff.

For the chocolate batter, I used the vanilla recipe but substituted 20g of the flour for cocoa powder. It's really simple to do and gives a good result. 

In a bowl I mixed 40g margarine, 140g caster sugar, 100g self-raising flour, 20g cocoa powder and mixed until it resembled fine breadcrumbs. 

I then mixed an egg with 120ml of milk in a bowl and added half of the mixture to the 'breadcrumb' mixture. 

Once combined, add the rest of the eggs and milk and mix until smooth. 

Spoon the mixture into 12 cupcake cases and add a teaspoon of peanut butter to each cake case.

Bake for about 16-18 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius. 

Allow to cool completely. 

To make the marshmallow creme you need:

2/3rds cup water

1 1/2 cups sugar (plus 2tbsp caster sugar)

3 egg whites

Pinch salt

Method:

1. Put the water and the 1 1/2 cups sugar in a heavy based saucepan. Bring to the boil and boil to 240 degrees Farenheit while you get on with the egg whites.

2. Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form soft peaks then add in the 2 tbsp of caster sugar. 

3. When the sugar reaches 240 degrees, slowly add the sugar to the egg whites in a continuous stream while the mixer is still running. This is easiest in a freestanding mixer like a KitchenAid but works fine with a handheld one.

4. Continue to whisk the mixture on high speed for about 6-8 minutes until really thick and glossy and it resembles marshmallow fluff. It'll go really thick and 'gloopy'.

To put the cupcakes together, fill up a piping back with the marshmallow creme (or if you don't have one use a sandwich bag as I did as I don't have a piping bag at my parents' house) and pipe onto the cakes in a swirl. 

Next, toast your marshmallow lightly with a blowtorch. It's not imperative and it's perfectly fine un-toasted but I love the finish it gives and using the blowtorch.

I topped my cakes with half of a Reese's peanut butter cup and a chocolate covered peanut but you really could use whatever you wanted.

It's a simple recipe and a messy cake to eat. Prepare for a white face as the marshmallow goes everywhere!

This marshmallow creme is also good on top of s'mores cupcakes (or basically anything). I love it!!

The Best Lemon Drizzle Cake EVER!

Okay, so I'm not the biggest fan of lemon cakes. I can take or leave them unlike most other cakes. This one however, is a hit with everyone. It reminds me of my childhood and standing on a stool in the kitchen with a wooden spoon with my mother and making it the old fashioned way. I still make this on a regular basis and its definitely a hit with the whole family.

The recipe came originally from a lady called Margaret who my parents met in the SCBU facility in the hospital I was born in. I was in the neonatal unit for a short while and it was there that my mum befriended Margaret, grandmother to another baby there (who I think was called Joshua). She made this cake one day and then gave my mum the recipe after it was such a hit. Every time I make it I think of the emotional turmoil it must've helped my parents through, and have therefore dubbed it the all-healing, miracle lemon cake. If you make it you'll realise that it's not an exaggeration; it really is pretty special!!

 

I usually make this in a 2lb loaf tin but have also tried making cupcakes with it which also went down a treat!

 

 

 

It's a really simple method too:

1. In a bowl cream 110g butter (or Stork) and 110g sugar together until light and fluffy.
2. Beat 2 eggs in a bowl and weigh out 175g of self-raising flour.
3. Add the flour and beaten eggs alternately until you've incorporated both.
4. Add in the zest of a lemon and mix through.
5. Pour the mixture (it's quite thick so don't be alarmed) into a 2lb loaf tin and bake  at 180 degrees Celsius for 30-40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. If you're making cupcakes they obviously won't take that long, I'd try them for about 18 minutes then keep checking. I'd also recommend turning the oven temperature down to around 160.

 

While the cake is in the oven, combine the juice of the lemon with 4 tbsp. of  icing sugar and mix until smooth. It's a VERY runny icing so don't be tempted to add more icing sugar!

When the cake comes out of the oven, allow to cool for a few minutes then while it is still hot pierce several holes in the top of it using a skewer. Pour the icing over and allow it to soak into the cake.

Allow the cake to cool in the tin.

When cool, slice it up into generous slices and enjoy a moist lemon cake with a perfect balance of sharp and sweet.

 

I've also made this cake and added fresh lemon curd into the middle of the batter before baking which works a treat. If not everyone's a fan of lemon curd, you could always spread some on after it's been baked and sliced (any maybe add some clotted cream if you're feeling really naughty!).

 

It's definitely a favourite in our family so I hope you enjoy it just as much!

 

 

Cute Sheep Cupcakes

I first saw the idea for sheep cupcakes on a Facebook post from a bakery that I follow. I then decided to give it a go for myself. They're so SO simple but look really cute and seem to be really popular!

You don't need many ingredients at all. I just used the recipes that I've previously posted for vanilla cupcake batter and buttercream and used that as my starting point.

I piped a big swirl with an open nozzle (the one with the big hole in it) and kept it quite flat rather than building it up to a peak. I then just covered it in mini white marshmallows and that's your sheep mostly done! The face was made from black and white fondant icings and just secured in place with a blob of buttercream. It's really that simple!

This one is relaxing on a little patch of grass which is a big crunchy cookie covered in green buttercream. I used a 'grass' nozzle to get the grass effect but I'm sure it'd look great even if it was just spread on flat!

 

 

I hope you give these a go to see how easy they can be! They don't need to be vanilla flavoured either! Try making a chocolate base (substituting 20g of flour for 20g cocoa powder in the original recipe) or with white chocolate buttercream. The list of potential variations is endless so get creative! I want to make the base 'welsh cake' flavour as the sheep are associated with Wales. That's an experiment for another day.

 

I hope these bring a smile to your face!

 

 



My Favourite Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

Based on a recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery, I've found this vanilla cupcake recipe to be the best one I've tried so far (and trust me, I've tried a few). It's got a really light and fluffy crumb and isn't too fatty or sugary. Without frosting, each of these cupcakes has around 115 calories in it too, so it's not too horrific if you fall off the healthy eating bandwagon by munching one (or two)!

The Hummingbird suggests combining the butter with dry ingredients and mixing until a breadcrumb-like consistency is achieved, then adding the milk and eggs in two batches.

I don't really do this. If truth be told, I usually just mix the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add the eggs and vanilla and beat some more, then add the flour and baking powder at the end. Maybe an old fashioned way, but that's how I do it. I suppose you could just bung everything in together but you may get lumps of butter/ margarine which would result in little fatty bits in your sponge, something that nobody likes.

Anyway, I find this a really good recipe to use as a base for more adventurous cupcakes (by adding or substituting a few ingredients) but it is perfect all by itself. Enjoy!

 

Ingredients:

 

120g self-raising flour

140g caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

40g butter or margarine (I use Stork)

1 egg, beaten

120ml full fat milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (NOT essence, you want the good stuff!)

 

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius and line a 12 hole muffin pan with cases.
2. Combine the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg and beat for a couple of minutes until well combined and fluffy.
4. Add in the flour and salt and mix until smooth. Don't over mix it!
5. Divide between 12 muffin cases (about a tablespoon each) and bake for 18-22 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
6. Take out of the oven and place on a wire rack to cool before icing.

 

Tips

• Add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder to the flour if using an electric mixer if you want a little bit of extra lift
• Take the cakes out of the muffin tin as soon as possible to prevent cases from peeling off
• Use Stork (or another brand of margarine) instead of butter as it results in a lighter and less fatty sponge
• Use good quality ingredients (like the vanilla extract). They really do make all of the difference between a mediocre and a perfect cupcake!
• Be confident - this recipe is REALLY hard to screw up. Even when little mistakes are made the cupcakes are still pretty awesome!
• Be happy! Cakes baked with love taste soooo much better! :)

 

I'll upload some photos once I get back to Scotland and back to my beloved KitchenAid, although it's a pretty self-explanatory recipe.

 

I hope you love it as much as I do!

 

 

Bacon and Maple Cream Cheese Cupcakes!!

Okay, first blog post EVER. I'm SO out of my comfort zone with computers (unlike when I'm in the kitchen and covered in flour!) but I'm going to give it a go. I thought I'd start off with something that almost everyone loves... BACON! Until recently, I was a vegetarian and the thing that made me kick the 12 year habit was bacon... Thin, crispy, salty, GORGEOUS bacon. What better way to honour this newfound love than to combine it with my other all-time favourite thing to eat... cake! I did a bit of research into bacon and maple cupcakes but quickly gave up on research and just decided to wing it and experiment with my own. Perseverance isn't one of my strengths so all I wanted to do was get stuck right in.

Okay, here you have a picture of the finished product (along with another experiment for the day in the form of a strawberry cheesecake cupcake). Considering I had to make up a batch of cream cheese frosting anyway I thought I'd use up the strawberries that I had in the kitchen. 

I decided to make a vanilla base with a favourite recipe of mine (based on one from the Hummingbird Bakery) which results in gorgeously soft and fluffy cupcakes every time (honestly, that's not an exaggeration!) and load it up with some maple bacon. All I did was cook the bacon in a dry frying pan and then add a generous glug of some maple syrup (the real stuff, not pancake syrup!!) towards the end of the cooking time so it would caramelise. I'm a real fan of super crispy bacon and really, that's what you need for this recipe. Soggy bacon in a cupcake (or any other time for that matter) just won't do! It's worth noting that once you take the bacon from the pan, avoid putting it on kitchen towel as you will end up in paper-coated bacon, which to be honest, isn't all that great!

Once you've got your sticky, crispy, gorgeous-smelling bacon cooked, let it cool then chop it up into little glossy shards. Don't be tempted to munch away at it as you make your batter!!

 

I made my regular vanilla batter next, and then divided up the bacon into the cupcake pans before cooking, reserving some for the top of the cakes when they're iced. If you're planning on making these take your butter out of the fridge so it's nice and soft for when you make your icing.

 

(Ignore the crushed biscuit on the pan, it was from the strawberry cheesecake cakes going on in the adjacent holes!)

When they're cool (or while they're cooling if you're reeeeally impatient) it's time to make your gorgeous maple cream cheese frosting!

 

I start off with a simple buttercream. That buttercream in itself is pretty damn tasty but I use it as a base for my cream cheese frosting. If you wanted to make your cream cheese frosting with just cream cheese and icing sugar, be my guest! It's worth noting that you will NOT need twice the amount of sugar to cream cheese. I'd recommend doing it a spoonful at a time and adding sugar to taste.

If you're doing a buttercream-based cream cheese frosting, take your buttercream and add in a 200g packet of cream cheese.

Take your cream cheese and add it into your soft and whippy buttercream along with a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup to taste (don't overdo it as you'll be drizzling some over the top of the cakes and don't want a maple overload (if such a thing is possible)). I blast it in the electric mixer to get it nice and smooth but seriously, blast it for a few seconds, not for a long time. If you over-mix it then it'll go all runny... not the best consistency to ice a cupcake with! If you're worried that you'll overdo it, by all means mix the cream cheese in by hand and it'll reduce your potential for failure.

The cream cheese frosting should be nice and thick and a good piping consistency.

 

Now you've got your cooled cupcakes and your frosting made, it's time to ice those babies!! By all means just get a spatula and spread on that mapley cream cheese yumminess but I like to pipe it on. That proved difficult considering I didn't have a piping bag and nozzle to hand when I made these as I was at my parents' house, but I just improvised with a food bag and snipped off the corner.

 

Ice nice big swirls onto the tops of your golden cakes and top with the reserved candied bacon from earlier (if you've already eaten it despite my prior warning not to give into temptation then that's just silly.. they really make an awesome cupcake even better!). Drizzle over a bit more maple syrup (I don't think I need to give a reason to justify this step).

 

There you have it, sweet, salty, fluffy, crunchy and heavenly smelling cupcakes. Perfect for fellow bacon fans, cupcake fans or, as my friend quickly pointed out, an AWESOME hangover cure. Who wouldn't want one of these to wake up to after a heavy night out?!

 

I hope that making these cupcakes and tasting how awesome they are makes you forgive me for the excessively long first post!!