Strawberry cupcakes with gingerbread buttercream

Strawberry cupcake with gingerbread buttercream

Okay, so today, I have a play date with one of my friends from Mums' Group. I should say "Parents' Group", but only the mums have gone thus far...except for my hubby, who braved the estrogen onslaught one week...but that doesn't count.

But I digress. So, I don't like going empty handed when I visit friends. Partly cos I feel bad rocking up and eating other people's food (the Italian mindset I had instilled by my mother) and partly because it's nice to bring something pretty.

Now, first thing you need to know about my baking style - I rarely do things from scratch. Scratch is for those who have too much time and for those who are anal. Oh, and for the odd think you just can't buy. Damn.

So, I look in my magical baking cupboard and lo and behold, there's a packet mix. Hooray! And it's cute and girly...even better! I haven't used Coles brand before, so I'm keen to give them a go.

I have a look at the back, and sure enough, I have all the ingredients required - an egg, butter and milk.

Now, here's an important bit of info: always have eggs, butter and milk on hand. You can make just about any packed mix with these ingredients. The milk can be powdered or long life as well, as long as it's milk. Margarine/olive spread/spreadable butter can be used if you don't have a stick of butter. You're just about screwed if you don't have eggs. It's at that point that you pull out the random box of chocs you keep in the cupboard 'just in case' and sadly realise that you have to take them instead of cake.

I also have a look in the fridge for any buttercream I have got stashed away. Sure enough, I have the choice of gingerbread, vanilla or chocolate buttercream. Gingerbread it is! So, I get it out and pop it on the bench, giving it a chance to soften up (multi-tasking!)

Yum yum yum! This stuff keeps for AGES! Love it. 

While I'm using buttercream, I should mention that this packet mix does come with its own icing mixture. However, if you want it to look like the box, you'll have a hard time! I stashed the icing away for another day when I run out of icing mixure and need just a little more.

Okay, so I mix everything together with a whisk (I only use a mix master or a hand mixer if I'm doing a double batch or something really intense) and I notice that it's a cream colour. My problem is that it's strawberry flavoured, and so should therefore be pink. So in goes the food colouring!

To hell with natural food colouring! Bring on the dead bug bits! 

I pop the patty pans in my mega muffin tins (I don't have the storage for a bajillion different cupcake tins!) and in goes the cupcake mix. I'll be honest, I wasn't comfortable with the amount of mix I was popping in the patty pans. Normally, I only fill them up two thirds of the way, but the amount of mix I had, I was really packing it in. Having not made this packet mix before, I shut up my little OCD voice and go with it. No tweaking the first time (food colouring doesn't count)! 

Please ignore my grotty tins. If I had time to scrub the damned things after each time I baked, I wouldn't be using packet mix!

So, into the oven they go. 13 minutes at 160 C. In the meantime, I grab all the dirty dishes and shove them in the sink for a wash. I also grab all my decorating stuff!

I have lovely little butterflies that came with the packet mix. You can also buy them at the shops. They're very sweet (figuratively...literally, they taste a bit like chalk).

Nawwrrr...

I'm also using coloured sugar (which I don't have a photo of), but you can get it at the supermarket in lots of colours. 

I then grab my piping tip (today I'm using a Wilton 2D, but I also like to use the plain 'ol round ones) and, my secret weapon...disposable piping bags from Daiso!!

Oooh baby! So good!

I do have a proper piping bag...honest, I do! But I hate washing the damned thing. And no matter how well I wash it, it still smells like rancid butter. And the worst part is that apparently you can't get rid of that smell, no matter how you try (I talked to a couple of pros). So, I saw these babies one day in Daiso (the Japanese $2.80 shop) and thought I'd give them a go. Talk about a life saver! You chop off the tip, stick in your piping tip, fill with whatever you're using (buttercream etc.) and off you go. Then, when you're done, retrieve your tip and CHUCK THE BAG AWAY. All you have to do is wash your tip. Mega time saver. Not so great for the environment, but if you make other efforts in other places, you can assuage your guilt.

Also, these are sooo much cheaper than the ones in the supermarket...a mere $2.80 for 12!! In the supermarket, they want almost $5 for 5. Up yours, Coles and Woolworths!

Meantime, the oven timer has gone off and the cupcakes are done. They look good; puffy and pink. I need them to cool quick smart, so into my freezing cold laundry on a cooling rack they go. I even open the external door to make it quicker. 

5-10 minutes later they're cool enough to ice. Meanwhile, they've gone all wrinkly on the top. But who cares? I'm going to cover that with buttercream!

I fill my piping back with buttercream and do a quick practice squeeze but alas, the buttercream is too hard, and there's a breach :( So, buttercream goes into a bowl, and into the microwave. But, 10 seconds is too much (arrgghh!) and it's too soft. So, that goes into the fridge. 

While I'm waiting for it to cool, I grab my cupcake carrier. $15 at Spotlight and a great investment. Even better when they're on sale at half price!!

Love these babies!

Okay, so I go to the fridge and the buttercream is ready to go. Piping bag number two is ready and waiting (no washing, see?) and off we go. One swirl, a bit of coloured sugar and a healthy smattering of butterflies. Totally gorgeous.

You so pretty!

Meanwhile, my darling little boy was still asleep and it had only been about an hour. Yay me!

The verdict:

A great packet mix, although my only criticism was that the cake started to come away from the patty pans almost straight after they came out of the oven. Not sure if it was the cake or the patty pans, but will find out in future trials.

Flavour and texture was great, as was the pairing with the gingerbread buttercream. I think I'll make them regular size next time, as the mini ones were a little too small. I'll just use my own patty pans.