Cupcakes for Dad

Dad with a 2 month old Destructor...they're having tummy time!

Today, I baked an impromptu batch of cupcakes for my Dad. Without going into too much detail, he's been in hospital since Monday after an operation and came home today.

Dad is awesome. He's great at a lot of things and is sweet and kind to boot. He tells lame jokes (sometimes over and over), pretends to be cool and likes to wear long ankle socks with shorts (much to mum's chagrin). But most of all, Dad is loving and caring, passionate and protective, and is never short of a kind word of a piece of advice. He'll even forgo his dignity to dance along with Destructor to one of mum's singing and dancing soft toys.

But I digress!

When I was doing my initial planning, I took into account what flavours Dad loves best. Firstly, banana...one of his all-time favourites. Secondly, peanut butter. And finally, chocolate (because we all love chocolate). However, Dad only likes chocolate in block form...he doesn't like chocolate ice-cream or other chocolate flavoured stuff...so, chocolate cake was out of the question.

So, I decided on banana cake with fluffy peanut butter frosting, drizzled with dark chocolate.

Given that these cupcakes were for Dad, I splurged a little and bought a Green's packet mix. They're also REALLY good. They are my second favourite cake mix. Never fail and always delicious. I bought a banana flavoured one.

YUMMMM!!!

 The box says 2/3 cup of milk and 60g of butter, however, I wanted something richer. And, like Julie says in Julie and Julia, butter makes everything better. So, I added a little less milk and 30g more butter. The batter was amazing, so I figured it was an improvement!

While the cakes baked, I started my buttercream. I whipped the living daylights out of about 300g of butter (a good 5-10 minutes of high speed electric mixer) and then added a cup (or thereabouts) of crunchy peanut butter (softened a tad in the microwave). I then added some icing mixture and whipped it all again. After tasting, it needed a little more PB and icing mix, so I adjusted and whipped again. The result - deliciously light and fluffy PB frosting. I could have eaten the whole bowl (had I not known how much butter was in it!)

Not pretty, but soooooo good!

So, on went the PB frosting, and then it was time to drizzle the chocolate. Now, drizzling is NOT my forte. In fact, I suck at it. I melted some chocolate in the microwave and then got a spoon. I tried some practice drizzling over the bowl of melted chocolate and results were not good. They were blobby. I tried on two of the cupcakes and same result. Blobby and very untidy.

Whenever I run into a problem like this, I turn to the internet. There's always a couple of answers, so I usually figure out what I'm doing wrong and then correct it. So, a short google revealed that I was doing it all wrong. I needed to put the chocolate in a plastic bag (I chose a mini zip lock bag) and then pierce one end. Next, squeeze the chocolate out and voilà - the perfect drizzle! So, off I went, however, I accidentally made two holes in the bag (my own fault for using an olive fork...don't ask). Lucky me, this was one of those screw ups that worked in my favour - the two lines of chocolate looked awesome!

Here's the finished product:

Cute AND delicious!

The feedback that I got from Dad was that the peanut butter was too overpowering. However, my cousin said that they were the best peanut butter cupcakes ever...so, the balance wasn't the way that I wanted, BUT, they still tasted great. Success!

More Bachelorette Cupcakes

This fun little job was care of one of my newest friends - a fellow bridesmaid at a wedding that I was part of about a month ago. I did the cupcakes for the bachelorette party that we organised together, and then she asked me to do them for her sister's bachelorette party.

We sat down and talked about flavours and cakes, and decided that there needed to be a gluten free option. So, we decided on one batch of gluten free chocolate (of which half were mint, the other half with marshmallow) and one batch of vanilla lemon meringue. 30 cupcakes in total.

What made this job particularly challenging was the fact that I also had a wedding cake to for the same date. So, needless to say, I did the baking of the cakes in advance!

Now, when I make the lemon meringue cupcakes, I always fill the middle with lemon curd. Usually, I'd use the bought stuff (because, let's face it, it's easier!), however, this time, I had forgotten to buy some (but had remembered to buy 30 odd eggs and about 5 kgs of butter!!). The up-side to having a lot of extra eggs and butter means that I could make lemon curd!

The recipe that I have for lemon curd is super easy and doesn't require a lot of time. In fact, you can have a look at it here.

Lemon curd - delicious AND easy!

Basically, you chuck eggs and sugar in a saucepan and mix them til they're combined. Then add butter and lemon juice. Heat over low heat and stir til thick (which, I've recently learned, means that it'll coat the back of a spoon...don't wait for it to get super thick in the saucepan or you'll wreck it!)

Anyway, moving along, so I baked a couple of days in advance. And to go back to the lemon curd, I put it in when the cupcakes were freshly baked. If you wait til the next day, the tops go all sticky and it's a MESS of epic proportions. And if you're like me, you'll get frustrated and swear...and probably have to start again!

So, the day after I baked the cupcakes (Friday), I frosted and decorated them. Here they are!

Lemon curd, with glitter and heart

Gluten free choc with marshmallow and heart

Choc mint rose with gold sprinkles

All in all, while this took a few days, it wasn't much time in total. The marshmallow I had to make the day that I decorated them (because it pipes best the day that it's made) and the mint I had already made a little while ago, but was still good to go (buttercream lasts almost forever in the fridge - it's butter and sugar after all!!)

A wedding cake

Friends of mine are getting married this weekend, and I asked them if I could give them a wedding present - their cake.

I did some preliminary planning with the bride and then spend a couple of weeks shopping for everything I needed.

Cue a heap of butter, eggs, cake mix (mud cake), chocolate transfers, a quilting tool and ready to roll icing. It was epic.

I also ended up buying tins, not only because I got 40% off (thank you, Spotlight), but also because I wanted to make sure the ratio between the two cakes was just right.

Now, I'm not going to go through this step by step, but what I will tell you is that what I learned.

1. You need babysitting for a job like this. Decorating with ready to roll icing is NOT something you can do is stages or with interruptions. I was lucky - my mum and husband helped keep Destructor occupied.

2. If you're going to make chocolate shards (like on the top of my cake), you MUST temper the chocolate. Otherwise, it tears!

3. You also need to wait til the chocolate is cool before you pour it on a transfer sheet.  Otherwise, the plastic puckers.

4. The fridge is great for keeping cakes nice and cold.

To make the corners nice and round, I mixed some left over cake (just the soft bits - I had them from when I evened the cakes to stack them) with some buttercream. It gives you something to fill and sculpt with - kinda like spakfiller. I then covered the cakes with choc mint ganache. Yes, this cake is delicious central!

Anyway, enough talk...here's the cake!

Grand Final cupcakes

So, I got invited to a friend's AFL Grand Final bbq. For those of you not from Australia, it's a huge sporting event. Not one I'm interested in, but an excuse to bake, nevertheless!

The two teams playing were Hawthorn and Freemantle, so I figured that it would be kinda fun to make the cakes in their colours.

I used a vanilla cake mix and used food dye to colour appropriately. The brown was done with cocoa (so it became chocolate) and for a bit of a mind melt, I flavoured the purple strawberry.

Getting ready for the big game!

In terms of decorating, I thought I'd disguise the colours in the cupcake. You bite into the cake, and that's the team that's going to win...or the team that you'll back...whatever. Either way, I needed something that was going to cover the entire cake.

I've got a nifty little tip that I've used to make Cookie Monster cupcakes...it makes the frosting look like hair or grass. So, we have grass on the top of the cupcake, but what else? How about a little footy? I wasn't sure what to use for a footy...I certainly wasn't going to buy a special lolly!

Luckily, being a chocaholic, it occurred to me that peanut m'n'ms look just like footballs. Hooray! So I separated all the red ones out of the pack (eating a few of the others at the same time) and I was ready to go.

Genius!

I made some vanilla frosting (with a hell of a lot of green food dye) and I was off! I have to admit, I really hate using the six-holed tip. It's bloody hard work to squeeze buttercream through it. In fact, I had a rather funny disaster, when after frosting the cupcakes, I squeezed a little too hard and the piping bag exploded, leaving me with a massive blob of frosting on my clothes. And one on the floor. Whoops!

Anyway, after frosting, I popped on a footy and they looked really sweet. Perfect for a bbq!

Go team!

Funnily enough, when all the cupcakes came out, everybody picked a Hawthorn one (purely by chance!) The Hawks ended up winning...which made the hosts very happy :)

Go Hawks!

Gluten Free cupcakes

Helping mummy set the timer

I've got a Hen's lunch today, so last week, I thought I'd bake cupcakes. Modern life being what it is, I knew that it would be inevitable that at least one person would be gluten-intolerant or have coeliac disease.

Having flirted with gluten-intolerance myself for a couple of years, I know firsthand how crappy it can be, especially when it comes to cake. We all love a bit of cake, even if you don't have a particularly sweet tooth, so I decided that this batch of cupcakes would not only be gluten free, but delicious!

Impossible, I hear you say. those ideas are not compatible. Gluten free stuff tastes horrible. And yes, sometimes it does. But with modern baking science improving all the time, there are a lot of great packet mixes around. Basco does quite a nice butter cake*, so I decided to use that. And, as a sweetener, they were on sale at Woolworths this week. Hooray! Now, I have a bit of a stash of GF cake mix.

*note, it's not dairy free or egg free as well (although you can find them at the supermarket too.

Whoops! Turn your head to the side for instant rotating!

Anyway, I also had to make the icing gluten free, so decided to go with marshmallow. After my last attempt(s), I was determined to tame the beast! Plus, it's delicious.

In addition to the GF cakes, I thought I'd try out a packet mix that I got from the Reject Shop for $2. They were too cute to resist!

I wanted to get going on these babies ASAP, so I started after breakfast. Destructor was awake and playing around my legs. As soon as he saw me start to get stuff out of the cupboards, the arms went up. He wanted to see what was happening. So, being the modern woman that I am, I proceeded to hold him in one arm while adding an egg to the mix with the other. And to my surprise, the cake mix went pink! Yay!

Finally, a strawberry cake mix that is already pink!

Now, while I'm good at doing things one handed, mixing cake mix properly is still a skill I'm yet to master. So, to keep Destructor occupied, I gave him a little bowl full of rice bubbles and a spoon. That way, he could 'mix' his own cake, and stay occupied for a little while.

Yum! I can play AND eat!

I stirred the mixture and popped it in the patty pans provided. Into the oven they went. Meanwhile, I got started on the GF mix.

Like my last baking adventure, I did half vanilla, then added cocoa to make the other half chocolate. However, this time, I had a secret weapon - chocolate spice! A friend of mine bought it for me for my birthday and it is AMAZING. It actually makes chocolate taste better. So, in it went.

Meanwhile, the pink cakes were ready, so they went on the rack to cool and in went the GF cakes. Destructor (now bored of the rice bubbles) was raiding the cupboards. He seems to love this particular bottle of tomato sauce.

Nom, nom. Great teether!

The two of us went off to play with some trucks, and then, before we knew it, the GF ones were done. And they looked awesome!

No weird shapes!

A snack and a little TV later, Destructor was ready for bed, so in he went. Now, I had time to do the marshmallow frosting. Well, not so much time as focus. It requires constant stirring and a double boiler, so it's NOT something to do while Destructor is hanging off my legs.

You'll be pleased to know that I didn't have a meltdown. In fact, it came out perfectly! Woo!

I cut the tops out of the vanilla cupcakes and popped in some homemade lemon curd (yes, I found time for that last week!). Then, I topped them with marshmallow (and glitter) to make a lemon meringue cupcake.

GF Vanilla cake, lemon curd, marshmallow frosting

Next, the chocolate ones got topped with marshmallow and sprinkled with drinking chocolate to make a 'hot chocolate' cupcake. I changed the piping tip to give a different effect.

GF Chocolate cake, marshmallow frosting

And finally, the strawberry babycakes. They got just a squirt of marshmallow (kinda my take on strawberries and cream), but lots of gold glitter and a love heart. So cute!

Strawberry cake, marshmallow frosting

And that was it! 24 cupcakes in total (I left a few behind for hubby to enjoy!) and a bit over an hour in time.

Gluten free doesn't have to be boring or tasteless - you just have to think outside the box!

Coles Smart Buy cake mix is not as smart as it seems...

So, this is just a little batch of cupcakes. A mummy friend of mine and I haven't seen each other in ages, so we're catching up for afternoon tea today. I said I'd bring cake...so cake it is!

Last week at the shops, I didn't quite make it to Aldi (read: couldn't be bothered as I had Destructor with me), however, I still needed vanilla cake mix. So, I thought I'd give the "Coles Smart Buy" brand a go. It's the same price as Aldi (.79c a pack), so really, I had nothing to lose.

This looks okay...

One look at the back of the pack and I have to admit, I'm a bit surprised. All I need to add are two eggs and 3/4 cup of milk. No butter! So, I mix it up and it looks (and tastes) fine. I pop half the mix into patty pans, then add a little cocoa to the remaining mixture to make it chocolate flavoured. No point in taking just one flavour of cupcake! The rest of the mix goes into patty pans and then into the oven.

My chocolate batter

15 minutes later, I pull them out and I'm greeted by some very, very odd shapes and sizes:

They're inconsistent (despite the fact that I filled them all 2/3rds full) and some of the chocolate ones are still a bit raw on the inside. So, the vanilla ones hit the cooling racks, and the chocky ones go back in for another 5 minutes.

There's one rogue cupcake that was so badly mutated that I had to eat it....for scientific purposes of course! It looked lovely on the inside, but to be honest, the flavour was very meh and the texture was doughy and sticky. I can't say that I was impressed.

How the HELL did it end up like that?

Looks nice...

I kinda hoped that the texture was down to the fact that I'd added cocoa, but I'd have to wait til afternoon tea to find out.

Anyway, I found some spare buttercream in the fridge, so the vanilla ones were topped with purple strawberry (left over from the engagement cupcakes) and the choc ones got mint buttercream (cos there was a small bag that was just the right amount).

The result:

Choc mint

Vanilla strawberry

Verdict: All easily completed while Destructor had his daily nap. Baking only took about 20 minutes all up, and then the cooling was about another 20. Frosting took 10 minutes at best.

Post Script: I had one of the vanilla strawberry ones at afternoon tea, and I can't say that I was terribly impressed. The same doughy, sticky texture and lacklustre flavour. I won't buy this packed mix again (unless I'm really, really desperate). On the up side, my mummy friend and her mummy thought they were fabulous, as did Destructor (who got the cake...no frosting!). Clearly, I'm becoming a cake snob!

A wedding cake with dulche de leche

So, I went wedding dress shopping with my sister over the weekend. It was lots of fun…so much so, that I’m thinking I may just blow our house deposit on a divorce and second wedding!

Anyway, wedding dress shopping inevitable leads to other wedding-related discussions like bridesmaid dresses (thankfully my sister has fabulous taste, so no fuchsia nightmares!!!) and yes, cake. Her fiancé wants something super simple (a plain vanilla cake), whereas she wants something a little more gourmet. Our discussion led us to thinking how she could incorporate her fiance’s Argentinian heritage into the cake. She wanted a fancy topper, however, it was going to be a little on the $$$ side. What could she do? Then the answer came: dulche de leche.

For those poor souls who are yet to experience the heaven that is dulche de leche, it is essentially condensed milk, heated until the sugar caramelises. Traditionally, it’s done on the stovetop in the can. Those lucky enough to be living in the US can simply buy it off the shelf. Us poor Aussies have one of three options: make it ourselves (and that’s NOT in the spirit of my baking ethic!!), going to an Argentinian specialty shop and buying a can (expensive and inconvenient) or using Nestle Caramel Top ‘n’ Fill. I’m going to warn you now, it’s so delicious that you’d quite happily descend into a diabetic coma eating the entire tin. And I’m also going to go out on a limb and say that it’s even BETTER (yes, better!) than condensed milk. It’s like if caramel and condensed milk had a baby.

Canned heaven

Canned just-as-good heaven

Anyway, enough about dulche de leche (I’m drooling now). Well, not enough…I have to explain how it comes into the cake. The idea was a rich vanilla cake with dulche de leche in between the layers. Not only simple, but Argentinian. I took it one step further…what if the cake looked like a giant alfajore? Alfajores (pronounced aff-a-HORE-eh) are magical butter biscuits with dulche de leche in the middle, the sides rolled in coconut (or coated in chocolate or icing…depends where in South America you come from). So, you can see how this cake could be an alfajore wannabe. Simple vanilla icing on the top (cos it’s a cake after all!)

Mmmmm....alfajores...

How could I not accept this challenge? So, Saturday afternoon I decided I’d have the cake ready for Sunday night dinner. But you have a child, I hear you exclaim. How will you get it done? Well, here’s how I did it.

Sunday morning, Destructor and I went to the shops at 8.30am. I grabbed two packs of vanilla butter cake, top ‘n’ fill and all the other bits and pieces I needed for the week. By the time I got home, Destructor was pretty tired and grumpy. He was walking like a drunk, but still wanted to play, can you believe it? So, I put him to bed (much to his disgust) and into the kitchen I went.

I used a Green’s Butter Cake mix for this adventure. I know I rave about Aldi, but I really didn’t have the energy to battle Aldi with a toddler! So, I got the best Woollies had to offer. To be honest, I was pretty disappointed with their range, but that’s another story for another day. I decided to bake two separate cakes, so I mixed the batches separately.

Double the price, but it'll have to do!

Both cakes came out nice and golden brown, so I went about levelling out one of them (to be the bottom cake). I then popped a whole can of Top ‘n’ Fill in the microwave (in a bowl…not in the tin!!) for a little bit just to smooth out the consistency. Then, I used the vast majority to fill the cake. I may have eaten a little bit as well (I told you it was good!!). I used the extra to go around the sides of the two cakes.

One thing that I found amazing was that my two cakes didn’t match up exactly when I put them together. Baked in the same tin, they weren’t the same size! I think it had something to do with cutting the top off the bottom cake. Not sure. Will figure it out.

I then rolled the cakes in some shredded coconut, pressing some on afterwards for good measure. To decorate the top, I thought I’d try a technique I’ve seen all over Pinterest – covering it in piped roses. I already know how to do roses, so how hard could it be?

For the icing, I used the packets that came with the cakes. I had to add a bit more icing mixture and milk to get enough icing, but no dramas there. And off I went. The roses looked super sweet! I had to pipe some stars to cover the bits of naked cake peeking through, but that was fine. I sprinkled some love hearts left over from the engagement cupcakes, plus some glitter (cos who doesn’t like glitter) and voila – a cute cake full of magic!

The verdict: needed more Top ’n’ Fill. Pretty much everybody said so. Mum (my baking hero) suggested cutting the top cake in half and filling that as well. And maybe the bottom cake too. Love it! The butter cake itself was a hit – beautifully light and fluffy, delicate flavour.

Come the end of the night, nobody wanted to take any home! I had to laugh. None of us really need any calories, to be honest. Plus, we all lack any kind of self-control when it comes to cake. Mum tried to convince me that my husband could eat the remainder over three days…the look on his face was priceless! So, it came home with me and I divided it up into four pieces – one for hubby and one each for the IT guys at my work. IT guys always deserve cake – they work hard!