Nomskull Moulds

My buddy Chris found these wee treasures online, he understands my weird obsession with skulls n stuff so naturally he had sent me a link to check em out ,  i thought they were pretty cool but i just left it at that ... but just the other day voila! Chris had bought them for me as a house warming gift how awesome is that!

i just used a standard choccy cupcake recipe that usually makes twelve cakes , however the silicone moulds are quite massive so i fitted the whole mixture into the four silicone cases, crikey! id say they are more like muffins than cupcakes ... however my husband ( resident cupcake tester ) thought the bigger size was awesome!

for the brains i used a Wilton #12 tip, they suggested this size on the box, however i think ill use a smaller size tip to get more definition next time

White Choc & Vanilla Cupcakes

The other day my mother in law who is a great cook herself, gave me this recipe book to have a look through ( Cupcake Heaven ) and boy is it a good book! there is loads of quirky recipes in it so its right up my alley.
So today I had a bit of time up my sleeve so i asked my hubby what kind of cupcakes he would like and he decided on this beauty I was quite impressed with this recipe as it was  very easy just to throw it all in and they cooked beautifully in the oven, great for someone who doesn't have alot of time ... like me hehehe

White Choc & Vanilla Cupcakes

170g butter softened
200g caster sugar
200g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
4 large free range eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
90g white choc chips - i used Nestle choc bits, i felt 90g wasn't enough so i added more ( 1 cup total )

Preheat the oven to 175c and place 18x paper cases into muffin pans
Combine all the cupcake ingredients except the chocolate chips in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and pale.
spoon in choc chips, then spoon batter into cupcake cases.
bake for 20 minutes
remove pans from oven and cool for five minutes, remove the cupcakes and cool on a wire rack

makes :18

Source: Cupcake Heaven - edited by Jennie Milsom

Frosting :

200g butter softened
3 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2-4 tablespoons milk

Beat butter till light and creamy add vanilla essence then gradually add the icing sugar and milk as you go till you are happy with the consistency for piping

Lemon Diva Cupcakes

I came across this gem the other day when i was on a quest  for cupcake recipes it caught my eye as I'm quite a big fan of lemon and all things tart ( lemon meringue pie is my favourite desert) and mother inlaw  has an amazing lemon tree in her garden.

This recipe is by Julie Goodwin and she made this recipe in the Master Chef Australia mystery box challenge, she went on to win the challenge so i figured if its that good id better give it a whirl!

I was very happy with the result the recipe was easy to follow and the lemon flavour was very intense, my husband and my darling friend Sera (cupcake monster) seemed to enjoy them too!
The only thing i had a bit of a gripe about was the cupcake papers i used, they seemed to let of a plasticy smell while in the baking procedure .. my hubby actually asked what was melting ... so yeah i wont be using them again


Lemon Diva cupcakes - makes 12

Ingredients:

100 g unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup (165 g) caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

finely grated zest of 3 lemons

2 eggs

1. cups (200 g) self-raising flour

1/2 cup (125 ml) milk



Icing

125 g unsalted butter, softened

2 cups (300 g) icing sugar mixture

11/2 tbs lemon juice

yellow food colouring (optional) i didn't use any in mine

1 Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan-forced). Line a 12-hole medium Muffin  pan (1/3 cup capacity) with paper cases. Using electric beaters, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light and creamy. Mix through the lemon zest.



2 Add the eggs one at a time, beating well a er each egg. Gently fold through the flour and milk in two alternate batches. Divide the mixture evenly among the paper cases.



3 Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown and springy when touched. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.



4 To make the icing, use electric beaters to beat the butter until light and creamy. Add the icing sugar a little at a time, beating constantly. Add half the lemon juice and beat until well combined. Add the remaining lemon juice a little at a time, and tint with food colouring if you like. I then decorated with some long strings of lemon rind, if i had had some more time i thought some little flowers would be cute oh well maybe next time!

Baby Shower Cupcakes

My Gorgeous friend Eryn is expecting her first baby and its going to be a girl yay pink!
So when the invites to her baby shower came i naturally offered to make cupcakes ... pink ones of course.

So i used my basic chocolate cupcake recipe and placed the mixture into white cupcake papers then frosted with my tried and true butter cream frosting recipe that i tinted pink, then  i used my good ol Wilton no 1M icing nozzle to pipe on top of the cakes.

To give them a bit of bling i sprinkled some rainbow dust ( very fine edible glitter ) and placed some little milk bottles that i had made a few days earlier.

To make the bottles i rolled out some fondant and cut the bottles out with a small cookie cutter then used a little Luster dust mixed with white alcohol to paint the end pink for the black lines i used a food pen ... the food pen was pretty cool to use im real glad i bought it!

Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Cake, every good baker really needs a good decent chocolate cake recipe and what do you know i think Ive just found mine. These cakes were moist and tasty and easy to make, the frosting i wasn't completely sold on as it seemed a bit wet but it did happen to be extremely muggy the night i iced the cakes and the next day the icing had "firmed up" a bit so maybe ill have to give it another go in the future.

Anyway I was asked by a friend if i could make some cupcakes  for her work mates birthday and she had asked if i could put some writing on the cakes this was the first time i had used tappets ( cut outs) and i think i did pretty well considering how hot it was that day and how much time i didn't have!


Chocolate Cupcakes:

Makes 24
Source : Tamara Jane - Good Morning ( TV 1 )

185g Butter
2 teaspoons of vanilla
380g Castor sugar
3 eggs - free range
300g self raising flour
100g cocoa powder
1 cup water

preheat oven to 175 degrees C
line two muffin trays with standard cupcake papers
place all dry ingredients into a bowl and slowly add wet ingredients until just combined, then beat on a medium speed until smooth and lighter in colour
devide mixture evenly between cupcake papers - i found i had a little extra left over
bake for 20 minutes or until skewer comes out clear
allow to cool

Chocolate Frosting :

250g butter - at room temp
500g icing sugar
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons of vanilla

beat butter until well softened
sift in half the icing sugar, cocoa powder and half the milk
beat until light and fluffy
then add the remaining ingredients including vanilla
beat again until mixture is light and smooth if the frosting seems a bit stiff just add a bit more milk

M&M Cupcakes

So I'm not making cupcakes as much as id like to at the moment mainly because i have two kids under the age of five so i don't have much time anymore and the other reason is I'm trying to loose a few kgs of baby weight so that means a NO cupcake diet!
But yesterday i did have a wee bit of time so i asked my hubby what kind of cupcakes he would like and he came up with M&M cupcakes . so i searched good ol Google and discovered this recipe, i got 10x texas sized cupcakes out of this mix but i would recommend using standard cupcake papers as these cakes were very sweet and hubby said it was a wee bit too much in the larger texas size

M&M Cupcakes: - Source Jennifer from the Yahoo contributor network

2 cups of flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 brown sugar
a pinch of salt
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 cup melted butter - its about 90g
2/3 cup milk
2 free range eggs slightly beaten
1 teaspoon of vanilla
3/4 bag of baking M&Ms - you can buy them from Countdown

Sift all dry ingredients into a bowl ( flour, sugar, salt, baking powder) stir to combine then create a well in the middle of the dry mixture
in a separate bowl combine melted butter, milk, eggs and vanilla pour into the well of dry mix and stir till combined then add your m&ms
spoon mix into cupcake cases and bake at 180 degrees for 17 minutes or until skewer is clean

- note if you use standard cupcake papers you may need to adjust the cooking time to a bit less

Butter Cream Frosting :

200 grams of butter at room temp
3 cups of icing sugar
2-3 tablespoons of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

beat the butter until its pale and fluffy, sift in the icing sugar then give it a good mix then add in your essence then just enough milk to get the right consistency

top with regular M&M candies

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

So Ive had a bit of a break from baking mainly because i now have a new baby girl, Alyssa was born on the 3rd of December and ever since then Ive been just a tad bit busy!
Ive had many requests to make cakes and cupcakes lately but Ive sadly had to turn people down as i just don't have the time! hopefully as Alyssa gets older and more settled ill be able to get back into the swing of things as I'm gonna need the practice if I'm going to make cupcakes for my friends wedding next year!

So today I'm blogging about my Chocolate Rasberry Cupcake's i made in the weekend for a BBQ ,
I was real worried that they wernt going to be any good as i used standard flour rather than self raising but
they must have been ok cuz half of them were gobbled up in the first 5 minutes i was there! Few! i was worried that i had lost my cupcake mojo, turns out Ive still got it but maybe i should read the recipe better.
 
This recipe is from "Devine Cupcakes" by Tamara Jane
 
Chocolate Rasberry Cupcakes:
 
Makes 24
 
120g dark chocolate - i used milk as i don't like dark choc
250mls water
180g butter
220g caster sugar
4 free range eggs
200g self raising flour
4 tablespoons cocoa
80g ground almonds
200g fresh or frozen raspberries
 
Preheat oven to 170 degrees and line muffin pans with cupcake papers
combine the chocolate and water in a bowl and on a low heat melt in the microwave
cream the butter and sugar with an electric beater until just combined then add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
beat in flour, cocoa and ground almonds then the melted chocolate mixture - the recipe says to fold it in but ahh i love my mixer too much!
gently stir in raspberries
divide up mixture evenly into the cupcake papers then pop into the oven for 30 minutes
let cool before frosting
 
Chocolate Ganache:
 
400g dark chocolate - again i used milk choc instead
375mls cream
 
Melt the chocolate and cream together over a saucepan of gently simmering water or microwave on low power. stir to combine and set aside to cool. to get a thicker piping consistency i put my ganache in the fridge then beat with my electric mixer you may have to repeat this several times before you get the consistency you want