Animal Cupcakes September 13, 2012

 

Simple yet fun. A big thank you to my lovely 3 year old Granddaughter for lending me her Play Doh cutters to make these xx

If you do borrow you child’s/Grandchild’s cutters please do make sure you wash them before using 😉

 

Ingredients for the cupcakes

 

175g/6oz softened butter

175g/6oz sugar

3 beaten eggs

4Tbsp golden syrup

225g/8oz self raising flour

2tsp ground ginger

1 pinch of ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 Tbsp ground almonds

1 – 2 Tbsp milk

 

Method

 

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Place 12 paper cases in a muffin tin. Beat the butter and sugar together until soft and creamy. Gradually beat in the eggs and syrup.

Sift in the flour and spices and gently stir until combined. Stir in the ground almonds and milk until smooth.

Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake for 20 minutes until golden and springy to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before placing onto a wire rack to cool completely.

 

For the animal cupcakes I made up some icing, as follows:

Sift 6oz icing sugar into a bowl and add 1 1/2 Tbsp of lemon juice plus 1 Tbsp of water. Mix well until smooth, then pour over 6 of the cupcakes. I had an amount of Fondant, so just coloured small amounts with different colours before rolling out and using the cutters, then place them on the iced cupcakes before the icing goes too hard.

Lemon Cookies August 3, 2012

Makes about 20 quite large cookies. Nice and crispy on around the edges and soft in the middle. You could substitute orange for the lemon if you liked.

Ingredients

2 eggs

140ml sunflower oil or olive oil

150g caster sugar

175g self raising flour

grated zest of 1 lemon or 1Tbsp lemon juice plus 1 dessert spoonful

100g icing sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 200C/gas mark 6. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, then add the remaining ingredients, except the 1 dessert spoonful of lemon juice and the icing sugar, and mix together until smooth (a wooden spoon will do the job easily). The mixture will be quite runny.Line a couple of baking sheets with baking paper and place small spoonfuls of the mixture on the sheets (allowing space for the biscuits to spread) and bake for about 15 minutes until cookies are light golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack when ready. Once completely cooled, mix the dessert spoonful of lemon juice into the icing sugar and drizzle over the cookies. These will keep well for several days in an airtight container.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes June 17, 2012

Makes 12

Ingredients

For the Sponge

110g/4oz butter, at room temperature

110g/4oz caster sugar

2 eggs

110g/4oz self-raising flour, sifted

2tsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp milk, optional

For the Filling

Lemon curd

For the Meringue

2 large egg whites

110g/4oz icing sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Line a 12 hole tin with cupcake cases.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Gradually beat in the eggs.

Add the lemon juice and lightly fold in the flour.

Loosen the mixture with the milk if needed – the mixture should drop easily off the spoon. Divide the mixture evenly between the cupcake cases.

Bake for 20 minutes until risen and lightly golden.

Leave to cool in the tin.

Turn the oven down to 170C/gas mark 3.

Using a cake corer (I was recently given one so I’m showing off :-)) or a sharp knife cut a hole in the centre of each cupcake and fill the hole with lemon curd.

To make the meringue, place the egg whites and icing sugar into a clean, dry, heatproof bowl.

Bring a saucepan of water to a gentle simmer and place the bowl over the saucepan, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.

Whisk with an electric hand mixer on slow to combine, then on high speed until the mixture holds its shape and forms soft peaks. Take the bowl off the heat and continue whisking until cool.

Spread or pipe the meringue over the cupcakes, making sure you go right to the edge of the cases to cover the cupcake completely.

Return the cakes to the oven for 20 minutes until lightly golden and set.

Cherry Bakewell Cupcakes May 12, 2012

Tip: When using glace cherries, make sure they are washed and dried really well, otherwise the syrup they are kept in will leak into your icing, if being used to decorate the cake, or cause the cherries to sink to the bottom of the sponge cake during baking.

Makes 12 – 18

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes

150g butter, very soft

150g sugar

100g self raising flour

3 large eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp baking powder

60g ground almonds

1-2 Tbsp milk

4 Tbsp raspberry jam

For the Icing

250g icing sugar

about 3 Tbsp lemon juice

12 glace cherries

Method

Preheat oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5.

Beat the butter with a mixer until creamy. Add all the other ingredients for the cup cakes, except the jam, and beat until light and creamy.

Spoon the mixture into cup cases, dividing it evenly. Level the mixture in each case using the back of a teaspoon.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until golden brown and firm to touch.

Remove cupcakes from the tin and leave on a wire rack to cool.

To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and mix in the lemon juice to make a thick, but spoonable and runny icing. Set aside.

Using an apple sorer or small sharp knife, remove the centre from each cup cake, only cutting two-thirds of the way down. Stir the jam until it is a little runny, then carefully spoon into the holes in the cup cakes until the jam just reaches the top (don’t over fill).

Beat the icing. then spoon it over the top of each cup cake to flood the surface until the icing reaches the sides of the paper case. Be careful that the jam doesn’t become mixed into the icing. Add a cherry to the middle immediately and leave to set.

Whipped Shortbread Biscuits April 29, 2012

Although these biscuits have the flavour of classic shortbread, the texture is much lighter. They literally melt in the mouth which makes them ideal for children. Although, for a smarter looking biscuit which is more appealing to adults, spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle and pipe the biscuits onto the baking sheet.

 

Ingredients

 

225g/8oz butter, slightly softened

75g/3oz icing sugar

175g/6oz plain flour

50g/2oz icing sugar

2 – 3 tsp lemon juice

sugar strands, chocolate drops, hundreds and thousands or silver balls

 

Method

 

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.

Line baking sheets with baking parchment.

Cream the butter and icing sugar until fluffy

Gradually add the flour and continue beating for a further 2 – 3 minutes until its smooth and light.

Roll into balls and place on the baking sheet and bake for 8 – 10 minutes until just lightly browned.

Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Sift the icing sugar into a small bowl. Add the lemon juice and blend until a smooth icing forms.

Using a small spoon put a little icing on each of the biscuits and before it sets dip them into the  sugar strands, chocolate drops, hundreds and thousands or silver balls.