Frostings!!

Vanilla Frosting (makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes)

250g icing sugar, sifted

80g unsalted butter, room temperature

25ml whole milk

a couple of drops of vanilla extract

Beat the icing sugar and butter together on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.

Turn the mixer down to slow speed. Combine the milk and vanilla extract in a separate bowl, then add to the butter mixture a couple of spoonfuls at a time.

Once all the milk has been incorporated, turn the mixer up to high speed.

Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter it becomes.

For Coconut Frosting I exchanged the milk for coconut milk or evaporated coconut milk and then sprinkled with shredded coconut. (oh and didn't add the vanilla)

I also tried passionfruit icing by exchanging the milk for passionfruit juice. Delicious!!!

Flower Power

I had a bit of a flower day today. I bought a flower cutter from Cakes Around Town and had a play around with it. I made the pumpkin cupcakes again and they seemed to work better. I didn't put in all of the puree that the recipe said and I reduced the amount of milk by about 20ml. They still sunk a little bit but it wasn't as bad as last time. I think it might be because I used homemade puree rather than tinned puree. Reading the recipe they don't seem to take into account the extra liquid. I froze the extra puree so I can try it again. I decorated them with little sugar flowers. I wanted them to look like bouquets of flowers.

Then I tried a choclate cupcake. I like it but don't love it. I thought it wasn't as moist as the vanilla or red velvet (not that it was dry or anything). And I made them into sunflowers. Mum bought me a cupcake book and it had these cupcakes that were sunfloers only they used oreos as the centre of the flower. I don't like the idea of using bought decorations (especially biscuits and chocolate). So I used brown sprinkles instead. I am still working on my piping but it is getting better. I bought a leaf pipe head but I forgot to put it into the piping bag before putting in the icing (I know very stupide). So I cut the bag and it worked perfectly. Let me know what you think.

Oh and then I tried some modeling. I made a cow. I have an idea of a farm yard range for when we go to market for the kiddies. I didn't have any black dye so I used blue instead. I did buy some black powder to try (haven't had a chance to use it yet). I think it will work better in the sugarpaste and hopefully produce better colours. The cow was relatively easy as was the pig I made a few weeks ago. I need to find a sheep to make and then I think that would make a good group for the farm yard.

Next I think I want to try banana cupcakes. But next weekend I have to make red velvet cupcakes for Carol.

Can you let me know if you have a good chocolate cupcake recipe for me to try? I want to make some comparisons.
xxxx

Ideas

I know two blogs in one day, crazy but just have ideas running around in my head that I need to get down somewhere.
Cupcakes I want to try:
Lemon Meringue cupcakes - lemon cake with curd filling and meringue piped on top. I tried this a few weeks back and it worked ok. I think I need work on the meringue part and how long it needs to cook for.
Spider cupcakes - Black case, black icing with licorice legs and piped eyes or lolly eyes and maybe fangs (marshmallow??)
Banana cupcakes - with butterscotch or caramel icing
Flower bouquet - lots sugarpaste flowers on top of the cupcake so that it looks like a bunch of flowers
Lemon cupcake with coconut icing - I think this would be a great combo

Sugar Pumpkins and a Rose

Mel's Vanilla Cupcake Experiments

Sooooooo Planet Cake Vanilla cupcake recipe was a complete disaster.  They looked fine when I first pulled them out but then they quickly deflated.  When I split one open they were uncooked on the inside and it didn't matter how long I cooked them for they were still raw and soggy.  Yuck!

These ones in the pics were from a good old Women's Weekly recipe and of course it worked!  I want to add lemon zest though next time cos that was tasty from the Planet Cake recipe.  I will post the buttercream icing recipe because it held up really well and was great to pipe.  The pink stuff was just like pink sugar crystals and they actually came in a pkt of cheapo sprinkles.  I have seen them in Cakes Around Town though and all sorts of colours.  Look cool hey!  Next time I will do big cupcakes though.  Love ya!!!

Carrot Cupcakes - about 24 cupcakes

300g soft light brown sugar
3 eggs
300ml sunflower oil
300g plain flour
1 tsp bicarb
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon, plus extra to decorate
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
300g carrots, grated
100g shelled walnuts, chopped
Make with Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat oven to 170c

Put the sugar, eggs and oil in a bowl and beat until all the ingredients are well incorporated (don't worry if the mixture looks slightly split). Slowly add the flour, bicarb, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt and vanilla extract and continue to beat until well mixed.

Stir in the grated carrots and walnuts by hand until they are all evenly dispersed.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cupcake tins and smooth over with a pallette knife. Bake in a oven for 15-20 mins or until golden brown and the sponge bounces back when touched.

Leave cakes to cool slightly in the tins before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.