Baking

A collection of baking recipes

Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes

- Michael Leave a comment

The nights are drawing in. The last two days have been wall to wall dank and rain. It means it’s the perfect time of year to start making comfort food. Don’t get me wrong, I bloody love Autumn, when it’s crisp & clear. The leaves changing are great and you can’t beat wrapping up warm (speaking of which, I really need to try and get a new winter coat).  But it’s days like today when you just have to batten down the hatches, make yourself a brew and eat something hearty.

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Which leads me on to brownies. I love brownies. They’re gooey, they’re sticky and rich. But (unless you’re lucky enough to have a brownie pan like I do) they tend to come in a block. How about brownie cupcakes? Small portions of heaven with a gooey center, crisp edge and cracked top? Perfect to go with your coffee.

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Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 100g dark chocolate (I used Bournville)
  • 100g (slightly salted) butter
  • 2 medium free range eggs
  • 75g caster sugar
  • 50g light brown muscovado sugar
  • 120g plain flour
  • 20g cocoa
  • 1 teasp baking powder
  • A few drops of vanilla essence
  • Handful of chopped nuts
  • 75 grams milk chocolate, chopped.
  • For the frosting:
  • 110g butter
  • 90g baking chocolate
  • 425g icing sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 175ml milk
Instructions
  1. Melt the butter and the chocolate together. Either use a microwave or place a bowl over boiling water. When melted allow it to cool.
  2. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan).
  3. While it is cooling, combine the eggs and both the sugars. Whisk until the mixture is considerably lighter in colour. I used my electric mixer for this and it took several minutes.
  4. Measure out the dry ingredients.
  5. Combine the egg/sugar mix with the melted chocolate mixture.
  6. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ones. Do this gradually, through a sieve.
  7. Fold in the nuts and the chocolate.
  8. Divide up the mixture evenly in the cupcake cases in the tray.
  9. Bake for 20 minutes, the top should be glazed and shiny.
  10. Remove, allow to cool for a few minutes in the tray before transferring to a wire rack.
  11. Once they have cooled, prepare the icing. Melt the chocolate and allow to cool.
  12. Beat the butter until soft. Add in the sugar and vanilla essence.
  13. Continue to beat. Scraping down the sides when needed.
  14. Pour in the melted chocolate.
  15. Add in the milk a little at a time. Beat until it’s thicker.

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Lemon Curd Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

- Michael 2 Comments

What’s this? No updates for weeks and then two in the space of a few days? I’m flat out spoiling you all. Especially as these are my addition to last week’s National Cupcake Week celebrations. They were also a chance for me to test out the new slate cake stand that I got a couple of weeks ago. I obviously needed one for all those times I present my bakes in public (oh… wait). Having said that however I’m thinking about getting involved in next month’s Iron Cupcake Leeds event (the theme is death by chocolate and I’ve got a few ideas nestled in the back of my mind).

Anyway, enough of that waffle. I was trying to decide what to make last week and had a couple of thoughts when Kirsty piped up and asked for something lemony. It wasn’t long since I’d made my Mini Lime Drizzle Loaves so I decided to opt for something away from the standard drizzle. A simple lemon cupcake just felt a bit too plain so why not put some Lemon Curd in the middle? It adds that extra dimension to something already refreshing and full of flavour. Plus, for those not expecting it it’s a wonderful surprise to find a gooey filling.

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This was also a chance for me to practise my frosting, which, if I’m being honest is not one of my stronger points (presentation-wise that is, it always tastes pretty damn good). The cakes use a simple recipe similar to that you’d use for a lemon drizzle loaf.

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Lemon Curd Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting
 
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Serves: 24 Cakes
Ingredients
  • For the cupcakes:
  • 320g caster sugar
  • 2 Large Free Range eggs
  • 250ml semi skimmed milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 200g butter, melted
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • 350g plain flour
  • zest of 2 lemons
  • For the filling:
  • 1 Jar Lemon Curd
  • For the Frosting:
  • 500g icing sugar
  • 120g unsalted butter
  • 30ml fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons milk (if you want thicker icing, use cream)
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C(150°C fan)
  2. Cream the sugar, eggs and lemon zest together, beating well to get the sugar properly combined.
  3. Mix together the flour and baking powder. Slowly add the mixture to the wet ingredients with the mixer on a low speed. Slowly increasing the speed.
  4. Pour in the milk and Vanilla. While this is mixing over a low-mid speed melt the butter.
  5. Add the butter and mix until well combined. Scrape around the sides if you need.
  6. Line a cupcake tray and fill each case about ¾ full.
  7. Put a good dollop of lemon curd in the center of each filled case. Judge this by eye and on your own preference of filling.
  8. Bake for between 15-20 minutes.
  9. Remove from the oven, leaving in the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
  10. Once the cakes have cooled, start preparing the icing. Beat the butter until it’s soft.
  11. Add in the icing sugar and beat until it’s well combined.
  12. Add in the juice and zest beating well again. Lastly add in the milk (or cream). Beat until well combined and it forms stiff peaks.
  13. Pipe the frosting onto the cakes in any pattern you choose.

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Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

- Michael 1 Comment

What can I say? Life has well and truly gotten on top of me. It’s been several weeks since my last update, but that does not mean I haven’t been baking. I’ve just not had the time to spend to sit down and put everything together. My time has been otherwise engaged with a young lady, and I couldn’t be happier to have her taking up my time. She gets first dibs on trying everything that I bake these days though, and everything is coming up with the Kirsty seal of approval.

But enough of that, time to move on to the reason you people are here <s>my beard</s> food! First up of a run of updates will be Nutella stuffed chocolate cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese frosting. These were a bit of an experiment to see if I could combine a couple of recipes that I’ve used in the past. They ended up being a gooey mess. One is most certainly enough but I wouldn’t let that put you off. The cupcake recipe is one I’ve used before and is here. They make very moist cupcakes which make the gooey center fairly stodgy. I’d save these for a dessert.

The key with the frosting would be to get a more expensive peanut butter, this means it’ll be less oily and will make a much better frosting. Alas, I hadn’t thought this through so ended up with a shiny and hard to use (if still tasty) frosting.

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Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
 
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Ingredients
  • For the cupcakes:
  • 130g all-purpose flour
  • 200g granulated sugar
  • 65g cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 120 ml milk
  • 60 ml vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • 120 boiling water
  • For the filling:
  • 170g Cream Cheese
  • 170g Nutella
  • For the frosting:
  • 200g Cream Cheese
  • 120g Peanut Butter (better quality the better)
  • 700g Icing Sugar
  • 2 Tbsp Milk or Cream
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 150°C and line your cake tray with cases.
  2. Mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Whisk until it’s well mixed.
  3. Combine the Nutella and Cream Cheese separately.
  4. Add the “wet” ingredients, apart from the boiling water, and mix on a medium speed until well combined.
  5. Reduce the speed and very carefully add the boiling water. Slowly up the speed until it’s on high and allow to mix for around 1 minute. This will get a good amount of air into the mix.
  6. Distribute the batter evenly into the cases. Fill to around ¾ of the case. Depending on the size of the case you’ll get between 12 and 18 cakes, but always fill to about ¾. Drop a dollop of the nutella mix into the middle of each one.
  7. Bake for 12-25 minutes. The cakes will be done when a tooth pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly in the tray before transferring to a rack.
  9. While they are cooling, prepare the frosting.
  10. Beat the cream cheese until soft. Mix in the Peanut butter. Beat until well combined.
  11. Mix in the Icing sugar and finally the milk or cream. Beat until it makes a stiff frosting.
  12. Pipe onto the cakes.

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Hope Cove – Pistachio and Lime Cake

- Michael Leave a comment

Here comes another not entirely baking related post, I’m sorry! Well, at least part of it is baking related. On the weekend I went to Hope Cove in Devon. It’s the 4th time I’ve made the trip with several friends and each time it has been incredible. It’s probably one of my favourite places on Earth (and I’ve seen quite a bit of this planet), at least in part due to the company. The seaside village is incredibly beautiful and the flat that we stay in is delightful.

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This weekend was a bit more special as it was my friend Tom’s Birthday. And here is where the baking comes in. I recently got my hands on the Clandestine Cake book and decided to make one for his Birthday. Unfortunately, I finished the cake fairly late the night before I had to leave and then it got a bit… squashed… on the way there (I had to get a train and then a lift early in the morning. It took us hours longer than it should have because of traffic jams). This all combined to mean that I didn’t have a chance to photograph it properly, so you’ll just have to make do with what I got. The good news is that it tasted pretty awesome.

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On the Saturday we BBQ’d and proceeded to play drinking games. We waited until he was feeling jolly before surprising him with the cake. I deliberately picked this cake as I knew that he enjoyed pistachios.

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Just make sure you have 3 20cm round cake tins for this, and a tall enough tin!

 

Hope Cove - Pistachio and Lime Cake
 
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Serves: 10-12
Ingredients
  • 300g butter, softened
  • 300g caster sugar
  • 5 eggs
  • 300g self-raising flour
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • Grated zest of 3 limes, plus the juice of 2
  • 50g pistachio nuts, finely chopped
  • For the lime syrup:
  • Juice of 2 limes
  • 2tbsp caster sugar
  • For the lime curd:
  • 60g butter, diced
  • 2 eggs
  • 170g caster sugar
  • Grated zest and juice of 3 limes
  • For the frosting & decoration:
  • 250g butter, softened
  • 200g full-fat cream cheese,from the fridge
  • Grated zest of 1 lime
  • 250g icing sugar
  • 75g good-quality dark chocolate (min. 70% cocoa solids)
  • 125g pistachio nuts
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 190ºC (fan 170ºC). Grease and line the three sandwich tins.
  2. Beat the butter and sugar using a wooden spoon or electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, and adding a tablespoon of the flour with the final egg to help prevent curdling.
  3. Fold in the remaining flour and the baking powder until thoroughly combined. Add the lime zest and juice and the finely chopped pistachio nuts and mix until well combined.
  4. Divide the mixture between the tins, spreading it evenly. Bake for 25–30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave in the tins to cool slightly.
  5. Meanwhile, make the syrup. Put the lime juice and sugar into a pan over a low heat and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved, then bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
  6. While the sponges are still warm turn them out of their tins on to a wire rack, then carefully spoon the lime syrup over the top of each one– you may not need all the syrup. Leave the cakes to cool completely.
  7. Put all the ingredients for the lime curd in a small, heavy-based pan and heat gently, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon – don’t let the mixture boil or the eggs will scramble. When it has thickened enough to coat the back of the spoon quite thickly, strain through a sieve into a bowl. Cover and leave to cool
  8. To make the frosting, beat the butter until smooth. Add the cream cheese and mix until combined. Add the lime zest, then sift in the icing sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
  9. For the decoration, melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water does not touch the base of the bowl, then pour it on to a piece of baking parchment and spread it out with a palette knife so it is about 3mm thick. Scatter over some of the chopped pistachios and leave to cool and set.
  10. To assemble the cake, place one of the cooled cakes on a plate, spread with a third of the frosting, then cover with a generous layer of the lime curd. Add a sprinkling of the remaining chopped pistachio nuts. Place a second cake on top of this and repeat the layers (saving some pistachios for the top). Place the final cake on top and cover with the remaining frosting.
  11. Break the pistachio-studded chocolate into rough shards and arrange round the edge of the top of the cake, then scatter the remaining pistachios among them.

I’ll be bringing part 2 to you later in the week, with Maple and Mustard Pulled Pork as the feature.

 

Peanut Butter and Oreo Cookies

- Michael 4 Comments

What do you get when you take two great things and add them together? Well, mainly stuff like Kingdom Hearts (Final Fantasy combined with Disney? I’m sold!), or Machete (Danny Trejo plus graphic violence, plus bad acting, plus tits, plus f*cking with the wrong Mexican). But in this case, it’s to take two of my favourite baking ingredients, peanut butter and Oreos to make something that’s just that little bit excessive. One of these will leave you feeling like you don’t need your dinner but it’s 100% worth it.

 Oreo Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookie

I’d been meaning to put an Oreo inside a cookie for a long while now, ever since my friend Dan did it at the Wonder Years house show my friend Reece put on a few years back. But I just had to take it one step further and found a recipe here which obliged. Peanut butter. However if I were to do these again, I’d personally add that little bit more peanut butter so you get more of a kick.

Peanut Butter and Oreo Cookie

 

Peanut Butter and Oreo Cookies
 
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Ingredients
  • 225g butter, softened
  • 110g packed brown sugar
  • 150g granulate white sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 65g peanut butter (I’d personally use a little more next time).
  • 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
  • 450g all-purpose white flour
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 100g ounces milk chocolate chips
  • 1-2 packs Oreo cookies
Instructions
  1. Cream together the butter and the sugars. Beating until light and fluffy.
  2. Add in the eggs, one at a time. Beating well after each addition.
  3. Beat in the vanilla extract and the peanut butter.
  4. In a separate bowl mix together the baking soda and the flour.
  5. Mix in the flour in several additions. The dough will be fairly dry but should form into a block. Mix in the chocolate chips.
  6. Set aside in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
  7. Pre-heat the oven to 170°C and line a baking tray with grease proof paper.
  8. Divide out the dough into balls. They should be large enough that when flattened they are slightly larger than an Oreo.
  9. Place an Oreo on top of one of these disks, place another disk on top and merge the sides together around the Oreo so it’s completely encased.
  10. Bake for 9-13 minutes, taking out while the cookie is still ever so slightly undercooked on the cop.
  11. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

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