Halloween Cupcakes

Cupcake idea for the spooky season! 

THE RECIPE

Large Vanilla Cupcakes

(16 large cupcakes - muffin cases)
225g unsalted butter, softened
225g caster sugar
225g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 180. Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix together with an electric whisk.

2. Spoon mixture into cases and put in oven for 25mins (check at 20mins to make sure they aren't too brown).

3. Leave to cool and decorate!

BUTTERCREAM ICING

150g butter (leave out of fridge before using to soften) 

350g icing sugar

1tbsp vanilla extract

A few drops of green food colouring

1. Sift icing sugar into a bowl and add butter, mix together with a wooden spoon until soft.

2. Mix in colouring and vanilla extract

3. Pipe or spoon buttercream icing onto cakes.

The bats...

Get some black regal using and a bat shaped cutter! (Bit of a cheat but makes it super easy!)

Enjoy!

Toffee Squares

These are so yummy!
Toffee sponge topped with a sticky caramel sauce. 

 

THE RECIPE

Toffee Squares
(makes approx 20 squares - depending on how big you cut them!)

150g pitted dates (chopped roughly)
125ml cold water
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
150g butter (left out of fridge for a while so soft)
150g light muscovado sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
175g self-raising flour
Caramel toffee sauce (I used half a jar)

This is a tray bake so you'll need a shallow wide tin to bake in - or 2x small square cake tins!

1. Preheat oven to 180, lightly grease tin and line bottom with greaseproof paper.

2. Place chopped dates in a pan and add the cold water.  Heat on the hob and bring to the boil.  Then remove from the heat and add the bicarbonate of soda, the mixture will fizz! Stir slightly and leave to cool.

3. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat together (I used an electric hand whisk for this), continue until mixed together creating a light mixture.  Whisk the eggs and add to mixture, followed by the vanilla extract. Whisk all of this together until you get an even mixture. 

4. Using a metal spoon, mix in the flour and then the date mixture.  You will have quite a wet mix.  Pour the mixture into the tin and even out the top slightly.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, until cake has risen and has a slightly dark top. 

5. Allow cakes to cool in the tin for 10 minute then remove the cake and place onto a cooling rack, be careful to avoid breaking the sponge! Once cake is cool, cut into squares and then use a dinner knife to add caramel topping to each one. 

Happy baking! x

Lavender Cupcakes

Bit of a floral one for summer.  These cupcakes have a hint of lavender but it's not overpowering, just something a little different! 

THE RECIPE

Lavender Cupcakes
(makes 12 cupcakes)

For the Cakes:
125g self raising flour
125g caster sugar
2 heaped teaspoons of dried crushed lavender buds
125g butter
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons of milk

For the Icing:
100g icing sugar
3 tablespoons of boiling water
12 small spring of lavender

1. Preheat over to 190C.  Prepare a cupcake tray with 12 cases.

2. Add the flour and sugar to the bowl.  Pull buds from lavender sprigs and place in a sandwich bag, crush them with a rolling pin.  (Be careful of the stems near the buds, they are quite spiky!) Place 2 heaped teaspoons of the buds into a sieve and mix them through with a spoon.  After this I also added some of the purple buds - the sieve is mostly to eliminate any unwanted spiky bits.  Mix the ingredients in the bowl together. 

3. Whisk the 2 eggs then add them to the bowl along with the butter and milk.  Mix all ingredients - I did this with a wooden spoon but a mixer would be easier and give a more even result.

4. Place mixture into cases and bake for 15 minutes.

5.  Allow cupcakes to cool on a wire rack.  Then mix up the icing sugar and icing.  You may need to add more sugar or water to achieve a movable but thick consistency. Smooth the icing onto the top of the cakes and add a small sprig of lavender to the top for decoration.  If you're not keen on stems you could also crush some more buds and add this to the top, which can be eaten and will enhance the flavour.

Enjoy!

Sorry for the silence!

New recipes to try on the way soon!