SPCA Cupcake Day 2010

So today was SPCA Cupcake Day and i did my bit and made 42 Cupcakes for family and friends and sold them for $2 each, a total of $84 not a huge amount but every little bit helps.

The SPCA only gets 2% of its funding from the government so they rely alot on donations, fundraising and bequests , i read somewhere that they need something like 2.5 million to keep them going each year wow!

This is the second year Ive done cupcake day and i intend to do it again i really hope they made a great amount this year and many animals will be helped and cared for with the fundraising from cupcake day

Red Velvet Cupcakes

So Ive been making red velvet cupcakes for a while now, these cakes were among the first of my cupcake baking addiction, i just love the colour and they are so bright and exciting looking i love the cream cheese frosting too mmmm cheese.

this is a recipe from Paula Deen from the food network i have slightly changed it though as the recipe had originally one and a half cups of oil which was waaaay to much and changed all the measurements so us kiwis can understand as we don't have "sticks of butter" here in NZ

this is quite a large recipe too it make 24x cupcakes and you will still have a little batter left over.

FYI - Tararua have a Buttermilk that you can find in the dairy deli area of your supermarket next to the fresh custards etc

Red Velvet Cupcakes :

2 1/2 cups of plain flour

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of cocoa powder

1 cup of vegetable oil

1 cup of buttermilk at room temperature

2 eggs

2 tablespoons of red food colouring

1 teaspoon of white distilled vinegar

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

preheat oven to 180 degrees and line muffin tins with cupcake papers

in a medium bowl sift flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder

in a large mixing bowl beat oil, buttermilk, eggs, food colouring, vinegar,and vanilla then add the sifted ingredients, beat well until smooth and thoroughly combined

divide batter among the 24 cupcake cases and bake for about 15 minutes

let cool

Cream Cheese Frosting :

250g of cream cheese softened

125g of butter softened

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

500g of icing sugar

beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth

and the icing sugar slowly then increase the speed until icing is thick and at a great consistency to pipe on top of your cupcakes

Pineapple Lump Cupcakes

Ahh the humble pineapple lump an NZ icon, this recipe is very similar to my Perky Narna cupcakes they are real sweet n sticky gooey and chewy so yeah they are pretty good.
This was my first attempt at making these cuppys everything went well but i think i may have needed to not be so crazy on adding in the amount of pineapple lumps as i did as i had pineapple lump goo all over the bottom of my oven so yeah I'm not looking forward to cleaning the darn thing now, Ive cut down the measurement to 120g but just see how you go if you think you need more just chuck em in!

Pineapple Lump Cupcakes:

makes 12-13 Texas cupcakes

125g butter at room temp
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 free range eggs
1 & 1/3 cups standard flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons of cocoa
1/2 cup milk
120g (give or take) Pineapple Lumps

Preheat oven to 180 degrees

line muffin tins with cupcake papers

beat the butter, vanilla and sugar till light and fluffy
add the eggs one at a time beat well after each addition
sift in the flour and baking powder and gradually add the milk beating along the way
once you have a nice smooth mixture add in chopped up Pineapple lumps
spoon into cupcakes cases and bake for 15 Min's
let cool

Frosting:

200g room temp butter
3 cups of icing sugar
a few drops of vanilla essence
a few drops of yellow food colouring
2-4 tablespoons of milk

beat the butter till pale and fluffy
sift the icing sugar into the creamed butter add the food colouring and essence
add the milk a tablespoon at a time until you get the right consistency

Oreo Cookie Cupcakes

Oreo Cookies, not my most favourite biscuits out there but everyone seems to love them! i must admit though i do love cookies n cream ice cream and the frosting on these cupcakes is pretty good too!

my Husband loves them and was quick to pick this flavour when i said i would bake some cupcakes for his staff meeting, hope the boys like em!

Oreo Cookie Cupcakes:

makes 12 Texas cupcakes

125g Butter softened

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

3/4 of caster sugar

2 free range eggs

1& 1/2 cups of standard flour

1& 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 a cup of milk

1/2 a packet of Oreo cookies crushed

preheat oven to 180 degrees and line a 12 hole muffin tin with cupcake papers

Beat the butter, vanilla essence and sugar until light and fluffy, add the eggs one at a time beat well , sift flour and baking powder into the creamed mixture and then slowly add the milk, once combined add your crushed Oreo Cookies and give it another mix

spoon the mixture evenly into the cupcake papers

then pop into the oven for about 12 - 15 minutes

let cool

Oreo Cookie Frosting:

200g of room temp butter

3 cups of icing sugar

about 2 - 4 tablespoons of milk

1/2 a packet of Oreo Cookies blitzed to death - i used my magic bullet to reduce the cookies down to a very fine dust - you will need the cookies as fine as possible so it will fit through your piping bag

beat the butter till pale and fluffy

sift in the icing sugar then add Oreo cookie dust, start to beat slowly add milk a tablespoon at a time until you get the right consistency

pipe on to your cupcake then decorate i used a whole Oreo cookie pressed into the icing to decorate

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Saturday afternoon and nothing to do hmmm....... i know ill bake some cupcakes! tonight we have some friends coming over for pizza night and they are both mad keen on my cupcakes. I know that coconut is a bit of a fave with them and i also have a heap of lemons that my mother in law had given to me fresh from the tree the other day, so Lemon Meringue it is. I must admit Lemon Meringue pie is one of my most favourite deserts my mother in law Myra can make a mean lemon meringue pie she always seems to get the meringue so high and fluffy i myself haven't made a heck of alot of meringue in my time and the thought of making it is kinda scary however i managed to conker my fear and these cupcakes managed to come out problem free and tasted great.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes:

First start by making your lemon curd - or you could cheat and just buy some from the store

4 egg yolks
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 teaspoons of grated lemon rind
1/4 cup of lemon juice
40g of butter

combine all ingredients into a small heatproof bowl
then place bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water and constantly stir until butter has melted and you have a smooth consistency kinda like a gravy
remove from heat then cover tightly, refrigerate curd until cold

preheat oven to 180 degrees

Coconut Lemon Curd Cake

125 g butter softened
2 teaspoons of grated lemon rind
2/3 cup of caster sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
1 1/4 cups self raising flour

Beat butter, rind, sugar and eggs in electric mixer till light and fluffy
beat in milk and coconut then sift in the flour
divide into cupcake cases ( i got 11 out of this mixture )
bake for 15 minutes
let cool on wire rack
turn up the oven to 200 degrees ready for the meringue
cut a 2cm deep hole into the centre of each cupcake then fill with the lemon curd
discard the cake tops - or eat them
make the coconut meringue

Coconut meringue

4 egg whites
1 cup of caster sugar
1 1/3 cups of shredded coconut chopped finely ( i just used desiccated coconut and it came out alright )

beat egg whites with electric mixer until soft peaks form
gradually add sugar, beating until sugar dissolves
fold in coconut

spoon into a piping bag with 1cm plain tube
pipe meringue on the top of each cupcake
place cupcakes on oven tray and place in oven for 5 minutes or so just until meringue has browned slightly

Caramel Mud Cupcakes

So its been a while since I've blogged. I've been baking but just not as much lately, as I'm 23 weeks pregnant and my energy and motivation levels aren't that high hopefully this is just a passing phase and ill be back into the swing of things once baby is baked ;)

Caramel Mud Cupcakes

Makes 24+

185g butter chopped
150g white chocolate chopped ( i use nestle white choc melts)
220g dark brown sugar
80ml golden syrup
1 cup milk
150g standard flour
2 eggs - free range

preheat oven to 180 degrees line muffin tins with large cupcake papers

Combine butter, chocolate,sugar,golden syrup and milk in a saucepan and stir over a low heat without boiling, until smooth . transfer mixture to a large bowl and let cool for 15 minutes

Mix in the sifted flours, then eggs. do not over mix once the eggs are added

divide mixture evenly between cupcake cases bake for about 20 minutes - make sure you keep an eye on your cuppys while cooking its real easy to over cook these lil fellas

cool cupcakes then frost


Caramel Mud Frosting:

100g butter
125g brown sugar
75g golden syrup
1/2 a cup cream
1kg icing sugar

Combine butter, sugar, golden syrup and cream into a saucepan stir over a medium heat with a wooden spoon until sugar has dissolved then turn up the heat and boil for five minutes at least then cool to room temperature

when it comes to adding the icing sugar measure out you kg of icing sugar and just keep gradually adding it to the caramel until its light and fluffy ( you may not need the whole kg) add a little cream if it becomes too thick