University Life

Last autumn was the beginning of the next stage in my life. University. Along with all the fun and games of freshers there we're many things that have been a challenge. Living with six new people, learning the ropes of university teaching and of course feeding myself without the help of mum. I consider myself lucky because the friends I have made are wonderful and it feels like I've known them for years. This means we spend most of our time with each other and only go to our respective houses to sleep and shower. It's great because we all know how to cook and are good at cooking different dishes, so we take it in turns to cook for each other and everyone pitches in to help out and provide ingredients. It's lovely :') I might even post a few recipes that we are making together...

Due to this new experience, I'm afraid the baking will have to be put on hold for a while - our uni oven is a bit temperamental. But don't worry I've got recipes on the way from before I moved out. Keep your eyes peeled for some tasty treats :)

If you do have any requests for any bakes that you would like to see then please comment below and let me know. I will be baking when I go home for the holidays so there is plenty of opportunities for me to try out some new recipes.

X

Caramel Sweetness

Exam season is stressful, so as you can imagine, baking and cupcake experimenting came to a near hault. But thankfully that's finally over and now looms the ever nearing results day. 

Nevertheless, making scrumptious new creations made revision and the dreaded wait that little more bearable. These adorable caramel cupcakes were made quite a while back but with all the revision and exams I just didn't have the chance to blog about them. They were well received by my family and all my work friends and I was complimented that they looked like Starbucks frappacinos, which was not intentional but I do agree. 

As usual it was a simple vanilla sponge but the twist came with a new caramel frosting. I prefer to change the flavour of the frosting and keep the sponge nice and simple. I kinda cheated a little this time as well because I didn't make my own caramel... When you've got delicious tinned caramel readily available, there's no need. At least that's what I tell myself ;) 

For the frosting:

500g icing sugar, sifted

160g unsalted butter, softened

50ml whole milk

100g tinned caramel or dulce de leche

1. Using a freestanding electric mixer with the paddle attachment or the hand-held electric whisk, gradually mix the icing sugar and butter together on a low speed until combined and there are no large lumps of butter. 
2. Gradually add the milk while mixing on a slow speed. Add the dulce de leche and mix thoroughly. 
3. Turn up the speed and beat until light and fluffy.

I found that the frosting on its own simply wasn't enough so I used the leftover caramel for decoration. I think these are one of the most attractive bakes I've ever done. The additional caramel decoration just made them a little bit more interesting seeing as I used a simple round nozzle for the piping. They turned out great. New recipe to add to the ever growing collection ready for my dream bakery!

This recipe was inspired by one of the recipes in the Hummingbird Bakery cookbooks. I love some of the cakes they make and they always look delicious. However, I do like to use their creations as a guide and see what I can do to change them and make them something a little bit different. 

If you do try out this recipe, please let me know in the comments and if you can, send me a picture of how yours turn out. Please leave any other tips and tricks you have for baking, I would love to hear from any readers. 

Enjoy 

X

It's Cheesecake Time!

My summer holiday baking began with a trip to France as part of an exchange visit. The little town of Auxerre where I am staying has some amazing little patisseries and boulangeries. While I'm here there has been a party at the family's house. Afrer hearing about my passion for baking they asked me if I could make some sort of dessert for the party - how could I say no! Knowing that they love cheesecake I thought I would put my skills to the test and bake my very first cheesecake. If I'm honest, I'm pretty damn proud of how it turned out :D 

I made a caramel apple cheesecake called 'Made in Normandy'. It's a French recipe so I had to translate it into English. So here it is:

300g digestive biscuits

80g melted butter

80g flour

80g brown sugar

400g ricotta 

500g cream cheese

1 tbsp crème fraîche

150g caster sugar

1tbsp vanilla extract 

5 eggs

6 apples (golden delicious or gala) 

10 salted caramel sweets 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. 
2. Crush the biscuits into a fine crumb, and then add the melted butter, brown sugar and flour. Mix the ingredients together and spread evenly into the tin. Bake for 10 minutes then cool in the fridge.
3. Whisk together the ricotta and cream cheese until fully incorporated. Add the crème fraîche, sugar and vanilla extract. Then add the eggs one by one.
4. Peel and grate 2 apples and add to the cream mixture. Cut up the caramels and add them as well.
5. Mix well and pour into biscuit base tin. Cook for 50 to 55 minutes or until golden and the middle ‘wobbles’.
6. Let the cheesecake cool and then place in fridge for 12 hours.
7. Before serving remove the cheesecake from the tin – a loose bottom cake tin helps wonders for this. Peel and prepare the apples to decorate the cheesecake. Drizzle over with melted caramels and serve. 

I'll be honest, it probably wasn't the best cheesecake I've ever had. But then again, it was the first time I've made one. The one criticism I have was that the amount of caramel drizzled on top was not nearly enough, as I would have liked it to trickle down the side a bit. So I will be trying this recipe out again and see if I can improve it. 

I hope you will try out this recipe as well and send some photos of your creations. Also, if you have any tips about baking that you would like to share please comment them below. I would love to hear from any readers.

X

Best Cupcakes EVER!

For me, the best cupcakes I've ever made have had to be red velvet. Not only are they bright red, so adding vibrant colour to the table but they're also chocolate. And honestly, what's better than chocolate. Answer: not much. 

The amazing thing about these cupcakes - they are incredible moist and really really light. Its the buttermilk that makes the cake really nice and moist, along with the vinegar and beating the mixture fully that helps make them really light and delicious!

Here's the recipe:

60g unsalted butter - room temp.

150g caster sugar

1 egg

20g cocoa powder

40ml red food colouring

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

120ml buttermilk

150g plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 1/2 tsp white vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 170C. Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
2. Slowly beat in eggs until well incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together cocoa powder, food colouring and vanilla extract to make a thick dark paste. Add into the butter mixture and mix thoroughly until evenly combined and coloured. 
3. Add in half the buttermilk and beat well, then add half the flour and mix through. Repeat this again until all the buttermilk and flour is combined. Beat batter on high speed until smooth. 
4. Add in bicarbonate of soda and vinegar and continue to beat for a couple more minutes. 
5. Spoon cake batter into lined cupcake trays, using an ice cream scoop. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until sponge springs back when lightly pressed or a skewer comes outs clean. 
6. Leave cupcakes to cool slightly before transferring to wire rack. Allow to cool completely before icing.

Now for the BEST BIT... The frosting. 

Usually these red velvet is top with cream cheese frosting. That's not good enough for me. Trust me, once you try it with white chocolate cream cheese frosting you won't regret it. It is so tasty and it makes these amazing cakes even more delicious!

Take a look and try out this recipe, you will love it once you've tried it. 

500g cream cheese - room temp.

250g white chocolate

2 cups icing sugar - sifted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Melt half the white chocolate in a double boiler, making sure the bottom of the bowl does NOT touch the water. Take it off the heat and slowly stir in the remaining chocolate until it is incorporated smoothly and it's shiny.
2. Beat the cream cheese until it is light and fluffy.
3. Slowly beat in the chocolate, then the icing sugar and vanilla.
4. Fill a piping bag and you're away. 

Have fun making and decorating these cakes. 

Enjoy

X

New Year. More Cakes!

So this last couple have months have been jam packed with things to do. Due to my focuses being on studying and working, sadly baking has been at the bottom of my list. Truely sad :(

However, the new year brings in plenty more opportunities to create many many more wonderful cake filled delights. Starting with my birthday. 

So 2014 brings early on a very important birthday for me and as a party gift for my guests I have decided to create a cupcake tower. It will have each individual cupcake in pink and blue window boxes which will then be given out as treats. 

Cute :') You will have to stayed tuned to see how it turns out. 

This time of year has been full of celebrations for people around the world. There was Thanks Giving for all you Americans, along with Hanukkah and of course Christmas. Now we are bringing in the New Year with a bang and what's better than creating a wonderful cake as part of the 'let's get fat' season! 

I thought I would share with you this amazing birthday cake I made as an 18th birthday present for a friend. There is no better way to celebrate than with a chocolate cake! It was a complete surprise for her when she saw the cake and it was a delight to see the happiness it brought to her. It just shows, cake DOES make everyone happy! :D

This cake is simple chocolate Victoria Sponge with a malteser butter cream centre and then topped off with a chocolate fudge ganache. For the decorations I made a chocolate bowl by tempering dark chocolate (basically melting half the chocolate and then adding the rest when its taken off the heat - there is more to it but that's the method in a nutshell) and then using a blown up balloon - only a very small one - dipping it in the melted chocolate and then leaving it to dry and harder. Then once set just pop the balloon and you're good to go! 

I would recommend you dip the balloon in the chocolate at least 2-3 times in order to get a chocolate bowl that won't break too easily. Also, make a few so there's no issue if one breaks. 

Finally, I added malteser to the bowl and more on the edge of the cake as finishing touches. 

Happy New Year!

x