So Much More Than Cupcakes!

So much  more than just another recipe book, The Perfect Afternoon Tea features over 160 classic and contemporary recipes for appealing sandwiches, cakes and bakes (the shallot, thyme and garlic cheese muffins sound yummy!), biscuits, bars, pastries, celebration cakes, gateaux, and of course... cupcakes!

This lovely hardback book also features some 650 step-by-step photographs, as well as wonderful pictures of the finished treats, so you really can't go wrong!  There's even a brief history of afternoon tea traditions and etiquette, a guide to classic and speciality teas from around the world, and information on how to choose, blend and make the perfect pot of tea.

Available from The Book People for £4.99 + £1.95 p&p.  That's an amazing £12.00 off the RRP!

Marshmallow Fondant

After discovering this exciting, easy-to-follow tutorial from Clockwork Lemon another thing to add to by ever-growing list of things to do is to make marshmallow fondant.  One of the comments on Clockwork Lemon says, 'I love how marshmallow fondant is so smooth and yummy, it really makes baking of all kinds look sophisticated!'.  Hmmm, enough said... sold to the girl who loves cupcakes!

Delicious Cupcake Recipes... 150 of them!

If you're always on the lookout for new recipe ideas you'll be delighted to find that those very helpful people at goodtoknowrecipes have come up trumps once again!   Not only have they shared 150 delicious cupcake recipes but for each one there is also guide to skill level, total time needed and cost.  The instructions are so easy to follow and there is a picture of how each one 'should' look!  Any ones that don't make the grade should simply be eaten... for research purposes obviously!

Vanilla & White Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes

This is one of my very favourite cupcake recipes - Vanilla and White Chocolate Cheesecake!  You can find this recipe, as well as recipes for many more yummy cupcakes  (including Peanut Butter & Raspbery Jelly  and Gooey Chocolate & Hazelnut !), in 'Cupcake Heaven' by the amazing Susannah Blake.  Available from Amazon for £8.00 including delivery. 

Although the recipe says that the cupcakes are best chilled so that the creamy topping sets but if (like me!) you really can’t wait, they’re amazingly good while still soft. So, here goes...

Gather together:
115g unsalted butter, at room temperature
115g caster sugar
2 eggs
115g self-raising flour
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk

To decorate:
175g white chocolate, chopped
175g cream cheese
6 tablespoons crème fraîche
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
6 tablespoons icing sugar, sifted
Fresh strawberries

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Sift the flour into the mixture and fold in, then stir in the vanilla extract and milk.

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To decorate, check that none of the cupcakes have risen above the rim of the paper cases; if they have, carefully slice off the top using a serrated knife to create a flat surface.

 Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water. Do not let the bowl touch the water. Leave until almost melted, then set aside to cool slightly. Beat the cream cheese, crème fraîche, vanilla extract, and sugar together in a separate bowl, then beat in the melted chocolate.

Smooth the cream cheese mixture over the cupcakes, up to the rim of the paper cases, then refrigerate for at least 1 1/2 hours until set. 

Decorate with fresh strawberries and tuck in!

'Cupcake Heaven' by the amazing Susannah Blake.  Available from Amazon for £8.00 including delivery

Valentine's Delight Recipe

In her quest for interesting taste combinations and fabulous flavour sensations, the lovely Sharon Elizabeth of Essensual Baking accidently fell headfirst into the wondrous world of aphrodisiacs, and began to develop her 'essensual' range of cupcakes.  Of the Valentine's Delight cupcake Sharon Elizabeth says, 'I am so in love with this cupcake. It seduces me before I even place it in my mouth as it is just so darn sexy to make!'   With a write up like that, how are we supposed to resist having a go ourself??   Thanks to Sharon Elizabeth sharing her vampy Valentine's Delight cupcake recipe we don't have to resist!

Dress your cupcake!

Do you remember Joanna Farrow's Kinky Cupcakes book in an earlier post?  Well, Joanna doesn't just do 'kinky', she also does cute, funky, cool, pretty... and all in one cupcakey book! Whether you want to whip up a batch of fairytale faces, or pile a plate high with adorable animals, with this book by your side it's easy to give your cupcakes a makeover!  There are even four foolproof cupcake recipes and a comprehensive introduction to ingredients, icing techniques and equipment! Available from Amazon, for £5.50 including p&p.

Anyone for chocolate and bacon?

If you're in the mood for making cupcakes but you'd like to try something a little bit different, I've found the very thing for you!  Dark chocolate bacon cupcakes!  With almost 44,000 results returned by Google for "chocolate and bacon cupcakes" perhaps it's not such a mad idea after all.  Get yourself across to the BBC Food website to find out more!

Valentine cupcakes

If you're thinking of making Valentine cupcakes there's a lovely recipe on the BBC Food website.  Not only are the cupcakes pretty as a picture (as well as being quick and easy too!) but the raspberries and passion fruit serve as a little reminder that Spring is just around the corner!

Oooh, Kinky!

It's really not long now until Valentine's Day and although many men claim not to love cupcakes I'm sure that they would quickly change their mind if you presented them with a Kinky Cupcake.  You can indulge his (and your!) fantasies from a mouth-watering selection of flirtatious and alluringly decorated cupcakes, including stylish stockings and sexy knickers!  Written by Joanna Farrow, a food stylist and cookery writer who has a passion for creating tempting treats, Kinky Cupcakes is available from Amazon for only £5.19 including delivery throughout the UK.

*** GIRLS LOVE CUPCAKES CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE IN ANY  WAY FOR ACTIONS ARISING FROM BAKING OR EATING KINKY CUPCAKES!

Death by Chocolate Cupcake

Can you think of anything better in the whole worlds than a chocca mocca sponge filled with chocolate chips, frosted with a swirl of the most decadent  chocolatey buttercream and sprinkled with a yummy topping made from all your very favourite chocolate bars.  No?  In that case you might want to head over to the Good Food Channel and give Lisa Harris’s Death by Chocolate Cupcake recipe a try.

Red velvet cupcakes anyone?

Who could resist these delicious Hummingbird Bakery red velvet cupcakes with their delectable deep red sponge and delicious white cream cheese frosting.   And although we don't all have a Hummingbird Bakery nearby we didn't see why we should miss out... and so we tracked down the recipe!  All you need to do to make these yummy treats for yourself (you might want to share, but then again perhaps not?) is to check out Good to Know Recipes and get baking!

An Absolute Bargain!

The Hummingbird Bakery is the destination bakery for Londoners with a passion for great cakes. Hummingbird recipes not only taste great but also look spectacular - and all without having to spend hours in the kitchen. This pretty, hardback gift book is a perfect pick-up-able gift and light enough to post making it great to send to friends as a sweet surprise, or to pop in a gift bag with a card for an instant birthday gift.  Or to keep for yourself of course!  Available from Amazon at the unbelievable bargain price of only £4.00... and that even includes delivery!