Red Velvet Cupcakes

I was reminded last week, by a friend, in not too subtle a manner, (you know who you are!) that I hadn't made red velvet cupcakes in ages, so, red food colouring in hand, I got baking.  Please don't be put off by the vinegar in the sponge, you can't taste it and you need it for the acid/alkali reaction between it and the bicarb for the rise and texture, and there's just not enough acid in the buttermilk.  I decided against the usual cream cheese frosting and went with old fashioned American buttercream, which I usually use in my red velvet whoopie pies.  If you think icing made with flour and vegetable shortening sounds horrible, put those thoughts to one side and give it a try, it's actually rather good.

 The all important taste test!  Robbie tucks in and gives the thumbs up.

 Equipment -
12 hole muffin tin, lined with paper cases
Electric whisk

Ingredients -
Sponges -
60 g unsalted butter, softened
1 large, free range egg, beaten
10 g cocoa powder
1 tbsp good quality red food colouring paste or gel
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
120 ml buttermilk
150 g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

Old Fashioned American Buttercream-
130 ml whole milk
4 tbsp plain flour
200 g caster sugar
110 g vegetable shortening eg. Cookeen
110 g butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla bean paste

Method -

Sponges -
1. Preheat oven to 170C
2. Beat butter and sugar together with electric whisk until light and fluffy.
3. Slowly add the egg and beat well.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the cocoa, food colouring and vanilla paste together, then add the sugar and butter mixture and beat well.
5. Beat in half the buttermilk.
6. Gradually beat in half the flour.
7. Beat in the reat of the buttermilk.
8. Gradually beat in the rest of the flour, until everything is well mixed.
9. Add the vinegar and bicarb and beat again.
10. Divide between the 12 paper cases and bake for around 20 mins or until the cakes are risen and springy to the touch.  Leave to cool before icing.

Icing -
1. Whisk together the flour and milk in a small saucepan. Place over a medium heat until the mixture thickens.  Set aside to cool.
2. In a bowl, beat together the sugar, butter and shortening until light and fluffy, using an electric whisk.  Add the vanilla and beat well.
3. Add the flour mixture and beat for a few more mins.

To Assemble -
Pipe or spread icing on top of the cooled cakes, I used a #4 star nozzle.  Decorate as desired, I used red sugar crystals.

Milk Chocolate and Pistachio Squares

This is one of my husband's favourite cakes, it's moist, nutty and not too sweet (a bit like him!), and a recipe I keep coming back too.  It's from the BBC Good Food website, I originally found it in the Good Food magazine, which I buy every month.  You'll find the recipe here.
Before I tried the recipe, I was skeptical that the milk chocolate would be too bland, but my concerns were unfounded, dark chocolate would totally overpower the delicate flavour of the nuts and the soured cream in the frosting offsets some of the sweetness.

My New Blog!

For the last few weeks I've been sharing the bakes I've made for my Monday night craft session with friends, on my papercraft blog and Facebook, and have often been asked for the recipes, so I decided to start this blog to do just that.
The first recipe I'm going to share is this one for Sticky Toffee Cake, which tastes as good as it sounds and is really easy to make.

Equipment -
A 25.5cmx20.5cm cake tin, base lined with baking paper

Oven temp -
180C / 350F / gas 4

Ingredients -
For the sponge -
200g stoned dates, chopped
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
300ml boiling water
80g unsalted butter
160g light brown muscovado sugar
2 large free range eggs, at room temp, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
175g SR flour
pinch of salt
75g walnut pieces

For the frosting -
100g light brown muscovado sugar
75g unsalted butter
100ml double cream
4 tbs mascarpone
pinch of sea salt
walnuts to decorate (optional)

Method -
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
To make the sponge, put dates in a saucepan, add bicarbonate of soda, pour over boiling water and simmer over a low heat for a minute.  Remove from heat and set aside for 15 mins.

2. Put butter in a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until creamy.  Add sugar and beat until fluffy, then gradually add eggs, beating well after each addition.  Beat in vanilla.  Sift flour and salt into the bowl and fold in.  Add the date mixture and walnuts and fold in.

3. Transfer mixture to prepared tin and spread evenly.  Bake for 25-30 mins until sponge feels springy when gently pressed in the middle.  Cool in the tin for 15 mins then turn out and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

4. For the frosting, put the sugar, butter and cream in a saucepan and heat gently until melted, then increase heat and simmer for 3-4 mins until sticky.  Remove from the heat and let cool completely.  Beat mascarpone until smooth, then mix in caramel and salt.  Swirl over the top of the cake and decorate with walnuts if you like.