Pink Ombre Cake

I made this Pink Ombre cake around a month ago now, and for my first attempt at an ombre cake I was pretty impressed with the way it turned out. I like the way it’s white on the outside, and then when you cut it you can see the different shades of pink - everyone was so surprised to see a pink ombre cake hiding inside.

I used a simple rainbow cake tutorial as a guide, but used half the mixture to make 4 layers and obviously changed the colours to variations pink.  Search ‘Cupcake Jemma - rainbow cake’ on youtube. I found that to get different shades of pink, red food colouring worked better, just keep an eye on how much you put in. You only need the smallest amount. 

Hope you enjoyed this little post, let me know if you have made an ombre cake or if you are daring enough to attempt it. The possibilities are endless, I have seen so many amazing versions on youtube.

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Cupcake nests with Nutella and Mini eggs

With the long weekend ahead of us I'm certain most of us will be baking something... I'm a cupcake fiend so went with the easy option and decided to make some cute cupcake nests with Nutella and a few Mini eggs popped on the top for decoration.
For my long time readers I'm certain you are aware by now I don't really use any fancy recipes so this is really easy to make I used a standard vanilla recipe for cupcakes which can be found here.
For the 'nests' I melted Nutella in the microwave for around 10 seconds and mixed it in with some Shreddies. (You can use crushed Wheetabix, Shredded wheat or even bran flakes. I don't really think it makes much of a difference once you have added in your Nutella.) 
I then spreaded some Whole Earth lightly whipped chocolate hazelnut spread over the top of the cupcake (you could use nutella) and this helped the 'nest' stick to the cupcake better. Finally, I added 3 mini eggs to the top of each cupcake.
I think I need to try some more fancier baking recipes but do let me know what you think of these? 
Hope you enjoyed this post and happy long weekend! 
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Baking: white chocolate and pecan mug cake

 

I have been wanting to bake a ‘mug cake’ for quite some time now and recently they have been dotted all over the internet. Mug cakes are single serving cakes made in the microwave in around 1-2 minutes. 
There are quite a few variations on the internet and as somebody who doesn’t eat regular milk chocolate finding a recipe with only white chocolate was a little tricky... I managed to make a White Chocolate and Pecan mug cake through adapting some other recipes online, this cake I suppose may also be known as a ‘blondie’ (the opposite of a brownie)
So let me tell you the recipe:
Ingredients  3 table spoons self raising flour 2 table spoons sugar 1/2 table spoon vegetable oil 3 table spoons milk 3 squares of white chocolate 1 tablespoon of chopped pecans
Method In a microwavable mug mix together all the try ingredients, then add the oil and milk and finally add in the white chocolate and pecans. Microwave for around 50 seconds (950 watt). For the top I melted a little more white chocolate and decorated it with some sprinkles!
This cake is so simple to make, I was apprehensive about how it was going to turn out but it actually tastes pretty good! Imagine making lots of different ones at the one time, I would probably end up eating them all. 
Let me know if you give this a try or if you have heard of this before?
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Coconut heart cupcakes with Creative Tops

    

 

I made some yummy coconut cupcakes this sunny afternoon. They taste great and are a nice change from the normal vanilla cupcakes I think. I used a recipe online but adapted it (as per). You know me by now I hardly ever follow cooking instructions, I normally just adapt it as I go along.

                                                                                                  RECIPE

2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup desiccated coconut

METHOD

Mix it all together really well, pop into cases and then pop it into a preheated oven. 220C for around 10-15 minutes. (Mine overcooked a little as you can see, haha - I became preoccupied with other things. Fail. Just keep an eye on them. 

For the frosting I mixed together icing sugar, milk and butter. I spread the buttercream over the cupcakes and then sprinkled over a little more desiccated coconut over the top and sprinkles on some.

This is a very picture heavy post but I just had to show you all the new kitchenware I got recently courtesy of CreativeTops / The English Table. The style is so me, and honestly I have never been so excited about a collaboration than with this one! The items are from two different ranges; Katie Alice and Retro Treats. They are super high quality and make baking fun. All the ranges are absolutely beautiful and I have my eye on a few more things - need to complete the collection.

The heart silicone cases are adorable and the little heart pots are so cute for storing sprinkles. 

Retro Treats

Mint Ice Cream dish

Retro Ice cream topping heart jars

Retro stripy Cupcake cases - sold out

Katie Alice (Cottage Flower collection)

Silicone heart cupcake cases

Ceramic embossed flower Mixing Bowl

Floral rolling pin

Measuring Spoons

I hope you enjoyed this post, what have you been up to this week? Hope you are making most of the sun being out. Do let me know in the comments what you think of the cupcakes!

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Cute Easter Cupcakes

Happy holidays everyone! I made some Easter themed cupcakes today and so many of you wanted the recipe so here it is -

The original recipe for the batter was taken from the BBC website - Vanilla Cupcakes. I then went on to decorate it in order to make it more suitable for Easter.

Ingredients

110g/4oz butter or margarine, softened at room temperature

110g/4oz caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

110g/4oz self-raising flour or plain flour and 2 tsp baking soda added

1-2 tbsp milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale. Beat in the eggs a little at a time and stir in the vanilla extract.
   Watch technique0:50 mins
3. Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon, adding a little milk until the mixture is of a dropping consistency. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until they are half full.
   Watch technique0:35 mins
4. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden-brown on top. Once done, set aside to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack.

Decorate

Icing Sugar

Unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

Cadbury’s Mini Eggs

Sprinkles

Buttercream icing uses up a reasonable amount of butter and icing sugar so just be wary; I usually end up with too little. I don’t follow specific measurements with this and usually just go by the consistancy. With the softened butter in a bowl add in the icing sugar and keep mixing until it turns into a creamy texture. If you find it’s not mixing well you most likely need more butter.

Pop the buttercream icing into an icing bag with a star nozzle and starting from the edge of the cake work your way inwards. This part doesn’t have to be the neatest as you will next be applying sprinkles over the top. And then last but not least pop a few mini eggs in the center.

Hope you enjoyed this post, let me know if you try the recipe out!

Happy holidays! 

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