Surprise Cupcakes for Jeff

When Kim and I decided we would through a small surprise party for our mate Jeff, I wanted to make him a few special cupcaskes for his birthday. After getting information aobut some of his favourite foods, I scoured the internet for some recipes on sticky date and mocha flavours.

I found a really nice recipe for Sticky Date Cupcakes with a Butterscotch Icing which I tried and loved! I also found a great recipe for some pretty awesome Mocha Cupcakes. I made these two recipes and they went down a treat.

Sticky Date Cupcakes

(makes about 18 cupcakes)

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup dates
1 1/2 cup self-raising flour
2/3 cup caster sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
60g butter
2 eggs

Method

1. Place dates and water in a small saucepan. Simmer until mixture thickens (the dates will break down to a mush). 
2. Take off the heat and add bicarb. Quickly mix well (the mixture will froth up and have a lot of air in it). Add butter in and mix well. 
3. Add eggs and sugar. 
4. Fold in flour.
5. Place mixtute in prepared cupcake cases in a muffin tin. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 15-18 minutes.
6. Add icing and decorate.

Original recipe found on www.honeyandsoy.com

Butterscotch Icing

Ingredients
100g butter
2/3 cup soft brown sugar
1/4 cup golden syrup
1/2 cup cream
5 cups pure icing sugar

Method

1. Combine the butter, sugar, golden syrup and cream in a saucepan over medium hear. Stir occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Turn heat up to high and boil for at least 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
2. Add sifted icing sugar and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
3. Use to decorate.

Original recipe found on www.honeyandsoy.com

Mocha Cupcakes

Ingredients
2 tbsp instant coffee granules
1/4 cup hot water
125g softened butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup self raising flour
2/3 cup almond meal
150g melted dark chocolate
3/4 cup buttermilk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 degrees fan-forced oven) and line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper cases.
2. Combine coffee granules and hot water in a cup. Stir until dissolved.
3. Beat butter and sugar in a medium  bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined between additions.
5. Fold in half of the flour, all the almond meal and then the chocolate.
6. Fold in the buttermilk, remaining flour mixture and the coffee mixture.
7. Divide mixture among the paper cases. Bake for about 20 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool cakes on a wire rack.
8. Decorate with a coffee icing and chocolate.

Original recipe found on The Australian Women's Weekly

Cupcakes for Kim

On the weekend my friend Kim had her 30th birthday party and I thought it would be an excellent opportunity for me to get back into baking. Turns out that I really enjoyed the process of making the cupcakes so I definitely want to do it again!!  :-)

I knew that one flavour that I wanted to do was Jaffa Cupcakes. Both Kim and I adore Jaffa's - they are a chocolate orange candy covered lolly here in Australia... mmmmm, delicious! So I started searching the internet for recipes and came across a blog by apparentlyjessy who has an awesome amount of information and recipes about cupcakes. Yay!

There was also a cool looking recipe for Strawberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes on the blog too that I really want to make. So I had my two recipes... when Kim's mum made a request for Chocolate and Raspberry Cupcakes. After thinking about it, I decided to tweak the Strawberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes recipe to make the Chocolate and Raspberry Cupcakes. Okay, well I really tweaked each recipe slightly but they still turned out good!  :-)

Marble Jaffa Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 cup caster sugar
175g butter, unsalted and softened
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 large eggs, beaten
2 tbsp fresh orange juice plus 1 tsp of orange essence
1 tbsp fresh orange juice
3 tsp finely grated orange rind
2 tbsp cocoa
100g dark chocolate pieces, cut into small pieces

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar together until pale, then add beaten eggs, then add sifted flour and baking powder. 
2. Mix the 2 tbsp orange juice with orange essence together with the rind. 
3. Transfer half the mixture into a second bowl. 
4. Mix the cocoa and 1 tbsp orange juice together. 
5. Into this mixture, fold in the mixed orange juice, rind and cocoa. 
6. Fold into the first bowl together with the chocolate pieces. 
7. Spoon the two mixtures randomly into cupcake liners. 
8. Draw a knife or skewer through the mixture to create a marbling effect. 
9. Bake at 150°C/300°F for 20-30 minutes until firm. 
10. Remove from oven and leave to cool in tray for about 5 mins, then turn out onto wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Original recipe found on apparentlyjessy

Strawberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

60g butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (115g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup (250ml) milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups (375g) self-raising flour, sifted
250g (1 punnet) strawberries, washed, hulled, roughly chopped
1/2 cup (95g) white choc bits

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 16 x 1/3 muffin pans with paper cases. 
2. Beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. 
3. Beat in the eggs, milk and vanilla. 
4. Use a large metal spoon to fold in the flour until just combined. 
5. Gently stir in the strawberries and white choc bits. 
6. Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until golden.

Original recipe found on apparentlyjessy

NOTE:  The Raspberry and Chocolate Cupcakes were made from this recipe, just exchanging the strawberries with frozen raspberries and the white chocolate was dark chocolate

FIRST CUPCAKES

Hi there and welcome to my blog about baking and crafty stuff. I thought I'd do this blog as blogs can be really handy when you are looking for things over the internet, as I have found out.