Chocolate Orange Buttercream Topped Cupcakes

 

Chocolate orange buttercream is something I made for the first time for my birthday cake last year by adding a melted Terry's Chocolate Orange to standard buttercream.  It was unbelievably delicious.  I then made it for the cupcakes I brought in for my colleagues at work when we were working the Boxing Day shift.  They went down extremely well and I was asked for the recipe and to make them again a few weeks later.  I've not really made it since, mainly because getting hold of a chocolate orange that is not ridiculously expensive at this time of year is a bit hard.

However, tomorrow I am working the Bank Holiday shift and figured I would make cakes to take with me.  I really wanted to make the chocolate orange buttercream but really didn't want to fork out the money for a chocolate orange (our food bill is already high enough).  After uhming and ahhing, I decided that, since I had milk chocolate left over from a previous bake and orange extract sitting in my cupboard, I would try and create a mock version of it.

What can I say?  It was a complete success!  You can't taste the difference at all.  It's deliciously chocolatey and orangey.  The boyfriend even said it could be better than the original.  So yay!  Hopefully they'll pass the test tomorrow.  My work colleagues also agreed they couldn't taste the difference and my supervisor, who also bakes, wanted the recipe.

 

Recipe - makes 12:

For the cupcakes, I used my standard recipe.

For the buttercream:

• 140g/5oz butter
• 280g/10oz icing sugar
• 100g/3.5oz milk chocolate
• 1 tsp orange extract
• Edible golden pearls or other decoration of your choosing (optional) 

1. Melt the milk chocolate in a bowl placed over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally.
2. Set aside to cool.
3. Mix the butter, icing sugar and orange extract together until very smooth and creamy.
4. Add the cooled chocolate and stir into the buttercream until well combined.
5. Put into an icing bag fitted with a large star nozzle and pipe swirls on top of the cooled cupcakes.
6. Add decorations if using.

 

Raspberry Topped Cupcakes

I like making things for my boyfriend to take with him when he visits his friends but now I'm working again, I don't have quite as much time to spend making things as I used to.  So today's bake was something quick and an excuse to use up some of the leftover raspberries: vanilla sponge cupcakes and raspberry buttercream with a raspberry and white and pink edible pearls on top.  I really would have preferred swirls of buttercream, but I overdid the raspberries so everything was too runny and I didn't want to keep adding more icing sugar because it was already using a lot.  I ended up with at least half my buttercream left over, so I'll halve the recipe in the write-up.  I still thought they looked quite pretty though, especially with the bright raspberry poking out the top, so it wasn't too bad.

Recipe:

The cupcakes were made following my standard cupcake recipe and made 12

For the decoration:

• 55g/2oz raspberries
• 55g/2oz butter
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 225g/8oz icing sugar 
• 12 raspberries for decorating
• Edible pearls (optional)

1. Wash and dry the raspberries thoroughly.
2. Put the raspberries, butter, salt and vanilla extract in a bowl and beat together, ideally with an electric hand mixer to blend up the raspberries.
3. Add the icing sugar and mix to combine.
4. Spread over the top of the cooled cupcakes.
5. Place a raspberry in the centre of each cupcake and add edible pearls.

Triple Chocolate Mousse Birthday Cake

Here is the second cake I made this weekend.  This is the birthday cake for the boyfriend's sister.  Their birthdays are only 3 days apart so they had a joint party today.  She was a big fan of the triple chocolate mousse cakes I made a couple of months back, having eaten the one meant for her mother, and requested a birthday cake version.

I had to estimate how much I had to increase the amounts by.  I ended up quadrupling the recipe for the cake and that worked fine.  But I only doubled the amount of mousse and it was far too much.  I think I only needed the original amount.  Of course, part of me thinks I should have covered the entire top with the mousse and written the inscription in dark chocolate but never mind.  It still looked pretty.  I also didn't think I could pull off the chocolate shell, since I failed last time, so substituted it with a ring of chocolate fingers. 

The inscription on top is a reference to the game Portal and was specifically requested.

Recipe - adapted from Baking Heaven magazine

Cake:

• 240g/8oz unsalted butter
• 240g/8oz caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 180g/7oz self-raising flour
• 60g/2oz cocoa

White Chocolate Mousse:

• 150g/5.5oz white chocolate
• 225ml/7.5fl.oz double cream

Chocolate Buttercream:

• 30g/1oz unsalted butter 
• 60g/2oz icing sugar
• 60g/2oz dark chocolate 
• 2 x 125g boxes of Cadbury chocolate fingers

Other: 

• About 20g/0.7oz white chocolate for piping a message/decoration (optional)
• 50cm/20inch length of ribbon 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and grease two 20cm/8inch cake pans.
2. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat with a whisk until pale and creamy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition.
4. Sift the flour and cocoa together into a separate bowl and then add to the sugar mixture.  Fold in.
5. Spoon into the cake pans, trying to get an equal amount in each and level out the tops.
6. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
7. Once cooked, leave to cool on a rack.
8. Make the mousse by melting the white chocolate and leaving to cool.
9. Whip the cream and then fold into the cooled white chocolate.
10. Spread 2/3 of the mousse over the top of one of the cake layers then place the other layer on top.  Wipe away any mousse that spills over the edges.
11. Make up the chocolate buttercream by melting the chocolate in a bowl placed over a pan of hot water then leaving to cool.
12. Mix together the butter and icing sugar, then stir in most of the melted chocolate, reserving some for drizzling.
13. To make the chocolate finger ring, spread buttercream over the back of a chocolate finger and then press against the cake.  Repeat, placing the chocolate fingers right up against one another until you have surrounded the entire cake.  Tie with the ribbon to help keep secure until it sets.
14. Melt the white chocolate for piping in a bowl placed over a pan of hot water.
15. Put into a piping bag fitted with a small round tipped nozzle and pipe your message or decoration on top of the cake.
16. Put the remaining mousse into a piping bag an cut off the end.  Pipe the mousse around the outer edge of the cake.  The chocolate fingers should stop it spilling over the edge.
17. Drizzle the remaining dark chocolate over the mousse.
18. Put in the fridge to set for about 3 hours.

Lemon Bundt Cake with Lemon Buttercream and Raspberries

Here it is.  Sunday's birthday cake for the boyfriend.  You can sort of see why Wednesday's cake was the preliminary version, what with the buttercream and the raspberries.  However, rather than a regular sponge cake, it's a lemon bundt cake with a lemon glaze.  There are also raspberries sandwiched in between the two halves rather than a layer of raspberry jam.

I made this along with a chocolate cake (which is for the boyfriend's sister) Saturday afternoon. I actually had to make this cake twice because the first one broke when I was trying to get it out of the mould.  I was so frustrated but luckily had just enough ingredients to do it over.  I've pretty much used up all my lemon extract though.  I'll have to buy some more at some point.  I changed my method of greasing for the second attempt and it slid out like a charm.  Thankfully!  I'll be keeping the first one for cake pops.

Everyone that had the cake thought it was delicious and really lemony.  The boyfriend says it is even better than Wednesday's cake, so yay!

Recipe - adapted from King Arthur Flour's website
Greasing method from Cake Decorating Magazine 

For greasing:

• 1 tbsp melted butter
• 1 tbsp sunflower or rapeseed oil
• 1 tbsp flour

For the cake:

• 225g/8oz unsalted butter
• 400g/14oz caster sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 360g/12.75oz plain flour
• 225ml/7.6fl.oz milk
• 1 tbsp lemon extract 

For the glaze:

• 40ml/1.4fl.oz fresh lemon juice
• 75g/2.6oz caster sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
2. Mix the melted butter, oil and flour together and use a pastry brush to apply to every nook and cranny of a 23cm/9inch bundt tin.
3. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, butter and salt until pale and creamy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in well after each addition.
5. Add the baking powder and mix.
6. Put the flour into a bowl and the milk into a jug.  
7. Add some of the flour to the cake batter and mix to combine.
8. Now add some of the milk to the batter and mix in.
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 until all the flour and milk is used but making sure the last thing you add is flour.
10. Stir in the lemon extract.
11. Spoon the mixture into the bundt tin, trying to keep it evenly distributed.  Smooth down the top with a spatula.
12. Bake in the oven for 55-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
13. Once baked, remove from the oven and let sit on a rack in its tin for 5 minutes.
14. Meanwhile, make the glaze by combining the lemon juice with the sugar in a bowl.
15. Turn the cake out of its tin onto the cooling rack.  If you greased the tin well, it should just slide out.  If necessary, run a knife around the edge of the tin to help.
16. Use a skewer or a toothpick to poke holes all around the top of the cake.
17. Use a pastry brush to coat the cake in the glaze, allowing it to sink in and then applying another coat until all the glaze is gone.
18. Leave to cool completely.

Decoration:

• 140g/5oz unsalted butter
• 285g/10oz icing sugar
• 1 tsp lemon extract 
• Yellow food colouring (optional)
• 225g/8oz raspberries 
• Icing sugar for dusting

1. Mix together the butter, icing sugar, lemon extract and food colouring, if using, until you get a nice, creamy buttercream.  You want to be able to pipe it and have the shape stay so you don't want it too runny.
2. Cut the cooled bundt cake through the middle with a serrated knife and carefully remove the top half, flipping it over and putting it to one side.  Put a thin layer of buttercream on the inside of each half.  You don't want to use it all because you need just over half of it for piping.
3. Cut the raspberries in half, one after the other, placing the two halves on top of the buttercream on the bottom layer of cake.  Keep going until the buttercream is completely covered.
4. Carefully put the top layer back on top of the bottom layer.
5. Put the remaining buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a large, round tipped nozzle.
6. Pipe a zigzagged pattern around the top of the cake and then pipe a ring of blobs on top of the zigzag.
7. Place the raspberries in a ring around the top of the cake.
8. Use a sieve to dust the top of the cake with icing sugar.

Malteser Cupcakes

So I made these for the boyfriend to have on his birthday, since both cakes were not for the actual day.  The idea came from my supervisor at work.  She likes making cakes too so we've been chatting about them quite a bit.  This was one she mentioned and I thought it would be a perfect little treat, especially as the boyfriend likes Maltesers.  I made a couple of alterations to the original idea, but for the most part they stayed the same.  And for the base cake recipe I used one that's written on my glass baking board.

They went down very well with the boyfriend.  He thought they were scrummy.  The buttercream is too sweet for me but I liked the cakes themselves.

Recipe - Makes about 8 

•  120g box of Maltesers 

Cakes:

• 125g/4.5oz butter
• 125g/4.5oz light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 65g/2.3oz self-raising flour
• 30g/1oz plain flour 
• 65ml/2.2fl.oz milk 

Buttercream:

• 100g/3.5oz butter
• 200g/7oz icing sugar
• 2 tsp milk 
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and line eight holes in a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2. Set 16 Maltesers aside.
3. Put 50g/2oz Maltesers in a bag and crush into rough pieces with a rolling pin.
4. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy.
5. Add the vanilla extract and beat in.
6. Add the eggs one at a time, beating into the mix after each addition.
7. Add the milk and mix.
8. Sift the flours together into the bowl and fold in.
9. Fold in the crushed Maltesers.
10. Put 1 tbsp of mixture into each cake case, place a Malteser in each and then cover with the remaining mixture.
11. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
12. Leave to cool on a rack.
13. To make the buttercream put the butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract and milk into a bowl and mix together.
14. Crush the remaining Maltesers (not the 8 still in reserve) into a fine dust and mix into the buttercream.  If you think it is too runny, add more icing sugar.
15. Pipe or spread the buttercream over the top of the cooled cakes.
16. Place a Malteser on top of each cake.

Vanilla Sponge with Lemon Buttercream and Raspberries

August 17th is the boyfriend's birthday.  He is getting two cakes this year, but neither is for the actual day.  He has one for Sunday when there is a family party, and then there is one for today to enjoy with his friends.  I've had Sunday's cake planned for a while and when I ran the idea past him, he loved the sound of it.  But Wednesday's cake was a problem.  I did not know what I should do and he didn't know either.  In the end, I've made almost a preliminary to Sunday's cake, since this one has some of the same flavours.  However, it only has a vanilla sponge whereas Sunday's will be lemon.

So this is a vanilla cake with a lemon buttercream running through the middle and on top.  Then there's raspberry jam in the middle also, and it's all finished off with raspberries for decoration.  Simple yet surprisingly effective.

For the most part I followed this recipe for the sponge, but got distracted part way through and didn't separate my eggs.  I didn't realise until after I'd beaten them and started adding them to the batter.  I really did not have much time today so I could not start over.  Thus it ended up being more like the fairy cake mixture I use, though everything was based on the weight of the eggs.  Thankfully it still rose quite well so I was happy.

The lemon buttercream is DIVINE!  At the weekend I spent a good while in the baking section of the supermarket contemplating whether getting lemon extract was worth it when lemon juice usually works fine for me.  But I did, since I thought I could use it to flavour Sunday's cake because I really wasn't convinced the zest would be enough.  I thought I'd try it in today's buttercream though and WOW!  It is just so good since obviously you've got none of the acidity of the lemon but all the flavour.  Seriously amazing.  I couldn't stop myself from licking the bowl once the cake was iced.

Since pretty much everything worked off previous recipes, there's not going to be one today.  The buttercream will be used in Sunday's cake so it's recipe will go there.  

Clotted Cream Ice Cream

I have loved ice cream made with clotted cream, ever since I was a kid.  The ice cream that usually sat in our freezer when I was growing up was Wall's Cream of Cornish, which will probably always be my favourite vanilla ice cream ever.  I remember being horribly disappointed the first time we got regular vanilla ice cream from Tesco, rather than Cornish.  It just wasn't the same!  When I got my ice cream maker I was determined to make myself Cornish ice cream again, and that meant finding a good clotted cream recipe.  I have tried one previously and it was rather bland.  It pretty much tasted of cream, which I could do by freezing cream on it's own.  That would not do.  Since then I have found another and it was definitely an improvement.  The recipe was for making without an ice cream maker though, which I hate doing because it's time consuming.  So I adapted it and changed some of the method to suit what I wanted to do.

So I actually made this on Friday but never got around to eating any, and thus photographing it, until tonight.  I did intend to have it yesterday but then was feeling far to nauseous in the evening and had to go to bed without.  But tonight, all was well and I was able to serve myself a bowlful.  It is lovely!  Very creamy but the vanilla is there and it goes well with Cadbury Chocolate Fingers.  Just saying.  Raspberries too, according to the boyfriend.

Recipe - adapted from Wannabe TV Chef - original recipe does not use an ice cream maker, so if that method suits better, I recommend following their site instructions.  I modified it to work with my ice cream maker, which is a CuisineArt Ice Cream Deluxe.

• 8 egg yolks
• 200ml/6.8 fl.oz milk
• 300ml/10 fl.oz double cream
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g/4oz caster sugar 
• 220g/8oz clotted cream

1. Prepare an ice bath, or a bowl of cold water with some ice cubes in.
2. Put the milk, double cream and vanilla extract into a medium saucepan.
3. Bring to a simmer and then remove from the heat to let the vanilla infuse.
4. Put the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk together for a couple of minutes.
5. Pour the vanilla milk into the bowl with the sugared yolks and whisk together.
6. Pour the mixture into a clean, large saucepan and set over a medium heat.
7. Stir the mix continuously until it thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon.  The high ratio of egg yolks will make it thicken very quickly.  DO NOT LET IT BOIL.
8. Strain the mixture back into the mixing bowl, and place the mixing bowl in your ice bath.
9. Whisk the mixture until it has cooled and thickened slightly.  This will take about 10 minutes.
10. Chill the mixture in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
11. Pour mixture into your ice cream maker and churn for about 40 minutes.
12. Remove from the machine and add the clotted cream.  If the cream has a crusty layer on top, skim this off before putting the cream in with the ice cream.  Otherwise you'll get weird lumpy pieces in the final result.
13. Fold the clotted cream into the ice cream.
14. Put the ice cream back into the ice cream maker and churn for another 30 minutes.
15. Transfer to a freezer safe container and put in the freezer for an hour to firm up the ice cream.

You will need to let the ice cream defrost for about 20 minutes before serving.

Ham, Spinach and Cheese Pinwheels

This was something I've had my eye on in my bread book for a while but actually needed to get my hands on the ingredients because ham, spinach and mustard are not something I usually have in my flat.  I do always have cheese though.  Can't go without that.  So when I did my big grocery shop over the weekend I made sure to pick some up and then made these for my lunch today.

As I usually do with the bread recipes, I halved the amount I made because these were only for me.  I still ended up with 8 though, and they're about 7cm in diameter.  So smallish but quite filling and delicious.  I only managed to eat 3 so I've got some left for a couple more lunches, which suits me fine.

The original recipe also uses Gruyère cheese, or suggests Parmesan as a variation.  I had neither.  I'm a cheddar girl so I put that in instead.  Still terribly scrummy though I wouldn't mind trying the Parmesan version.  Don't know about Gruyère.  I don't think I've ever had that...

Recipe - adapted from The Big Book of Bread

Makes 8, 7cm pinwheels

• 115g/4oz self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 55g/2oz butter
• About 75ml/2.5fl.oz milk
• 1/2 tbsp mustard
• 45g/1.5oz ham
• 15g/0.5oz fresh spinach
• 45g/1.5oz grated cheese (Gruyère, Parmesan or Cheddar)

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7 and grease a baking tray.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.  Mix.
3. Dice up the butter and add to the flour mix.  Rub the butter in until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. 
4. Make a well in the centre and add the milk a bit at a time, mixing until you get a soft dough.  Add more milk if necessary.
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a rectangle.
6. Spread the mustard evenly over the surface of the dough.
7. In a bowl, shred the spinach and ham, add the cheese and mix together.
8. Sprinkle the mixture over the dough, making sure it is evenly spread.
9. Starting from a long side of the rectangle, roll up the dough like a Swiss roll.  Try and make a tight roll.
10. Trim off the ends and discard, then cut the roll into 8 slices.
11. Put the slices on the baking tray and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until risen and golden brown.
12. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, though I recommend serving slightly warm.

Strawberry and Cream Muffins

I love sunny days.  Not really hot ones but blue skies and bright sunshine usually put me in a good mood.  Today's bake was decided at the weekend when I was thinking what to make for the boyfriend's weekly trek to Dundee and this one sounded nice.  And I don't make muffins very often so it made a change from cake.  It just seems very appropriate that today is a sunny day because strawberries and cream have a very summer feel to them.  Sunshine also makes for great looking photographs.  I shall miss such good light when the winter months start to roll around.  My pictures will look much duller I'm sure.

Quite an easy bake this one, which is nice.  Pretty quick too.  There's just some waiting between cooking and putting the cream on otherwise it'll melt and go everywhere.  I also only put half a strawberry on top of each, rather than a whole one because I didn't have 13 small ones in my box (the recipe is for 12 but I made an extra one for tearing apart for photos).  I think the halves look nice though.  And the red and white cases offset everything really nicely.  A very attractive result.

Recipe - adapted from Cupcakes and Muffins

Makes 12

• 85g/3oz butter
• 150g/5.5oz strawberries
• 280g/10oz plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 115g/4oz caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 250ml/9 fl.oz single cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 125ml/4 fl.oz double cream
• 6 small strawberries to decorate

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and then set aside to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and put cases in a 12 hole muffin tray.
3. Wash and cut the tops off of the strawberries.  Chop into small pieces.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.
5. Add the sugar and chopped strawberries and mix together.
6. In a jug, lightly beat the eggs.
7. Add the single cream, vanilla extract and cooled melted butter to the eggs and beat together.
8. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients in the bowl and pour in the wet ingredients.
9. Mix together until just combined.  Do not overmix.
10. Spoon the mixture out evenly into the cases a tablespoon at a time.  It is quite runny so be careful because it will go everywhere.
11. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
12. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
13. When muffins have cooled, whip the double in a bowl until it is stiff and then either pipe on top of each muffin or spread on top with a spoon.
14. Wash the 6 small strawberries, remove the tops and cut in half.  Place half a strawberry on top of the cream on each muffin. 

 

Apfelkuchen - Spicy Apple Cake

I made this for my boyfriend's dad because he's been doing a lot of stuff down at our flat lately, like tidying up the back garden, putting up curtain poles and mirrors and such.  As a result, the place is coming together quite nicely.  I do like having proper curtains up at last, especially since we are a ground floor flat.  So as a bit of gratitude, I made this cake.  He's not a big fan of really sweet cakes or icing of any sort, but he usually likes the fruity cakes I make and this is one of the nicest.  It also looks pretty.  I will note, that even though it's called a 'spicy' apple cake, I don't think it is particularly spicy.

This is the second time I've made ever this cake.  The first time was one of the few times I'd deviated from making a vanilla sponge and it did not turn out as well as I wanted.  Everyone else thought it looked lovely and apparently it tasted really good because it was gone within a few hours. But I wished it had risen more.  This time around it rose well!  I was so pleased.  I did singe the bottom ever so slightly but other than that it was good!

And I finally have my oven thermometer!  So now my oven will definitely be the right temperature.  Yay!

Recipe - adapted from 175 Hot and Spicy Vegetarian 

• 115g/4oz plain flour
• 115g/4oz wholemeal flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• 225g/8oz cooking apples
• 75g/3oz butter
• 175g/6oz light brown sugar
• Grated rind of one small orange
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp milk

For the topping:

• 2 red eating apples
• Juice of 1/2 an orange
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 3 tbsp apricot jam

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line a 23cm/9inch cake tin.  Ideally a loose-bottomed one but if you don't have one that's fine (I didn't).  If it's a shallow tin then have the top of greaseproof paper finish above the rim of the tin.
2. Sift the flours, baking powder and spices into a bowl.  Scoop 2 tbsp of the mixture into a separate bowl.
3. Peel, core and chop up the cooking apples, then toss them in the second bowl of flour mixture to coat them.
4. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and orange rind until light and fluffy.
5. Beat the eggs in a jug and then add them to the butter/sugar mixture gradually.
6. Fold in the flour mixture, the chopped apple and the milk.
7. Spoon the batter into the cake tin and level the surface.
8. Core and thinly slice the eating apples.  I actually quartered my apples, sliced off the part of the core on each quarter and then sliced them.  Game me nice even slices.
9. Toss the apples in orange juice and then set them in overlapping circles on top of the cake mixture, starting from the outside and working your way towards the centre, pressing down lightly as you go.
10. Sprinkle the caster sugar over the surface and then bake for 1 - 1 and 1/4 hours, or until risen and cooked through.  If the apples start to brown too much, put foil over the top.
11. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
12. Warm the apricot jam and then run it through a sieve.  Glaze the apples with the jam.

 

Oranges and Lemons Butterfly Cakes

My sister used to make butterfly cakes a lot when we were younger.  I stuck to regular fairy cakes because I was not keen on buttercream.  Plus she tended to make chocolate cakes and as I've said, not a big fan of that.  So this is my first time making them.  Not that they are really that much different from regular cupcakes.  Terribly cute though.  I always used to think they looked so fancy yet so simple.  I like simple on a lazy day like today.  But I decided to go one step further from plain old vanilla cakes and do a combination of citrus flavours: orange cakes with lemon buttercream.  Yum yum yum.

I mainly followed the recipe from Cupcakes and Muffins but I decided to add some orange juice to the cake batter rather than just the zest for an extra orangey kick.  I also used slightly more lemon juice than it said for the buttercream.  

The boyfriend gave them his approval.  Apparently they are very creamy and he could taste both the orange and the lemon so huzzah.  Hopefully his friends like them too.

Recipe - adapted from Cupcakes and Muffins

Makes 12 

For the cupcakes:

• 115g/4oz self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 115g/4oz caster sugar
• 115g/4oz butter
• 2 eggs
• Finely grated rind of one orange
• 2 tbsp milk
• Juice of 1/2 an orange
• Icing sugar, for dusting

For the buttercream:

• 85g/3oz butter
• 175g/6oz icing sugar
• 1.5 tbsp lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5 and line a 12 hole muffin tin with 12 cases.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl.
3. Beat the eggs separately and then add to the flour along with the sugar, butter, rind, juice and milk.
4. Beat everything together until smooth.
5. Spoon mixture into the cases a tablespoon at a time and then bake for 15-20 minutes.
6. Leave to cool on a cooling rack.
7. Make the buttercream by mixing the butter, sugar and lemon juice together in a bowl until smooth and creamy.
8. If your cakes have a domed top, cut the dome off to use for the wings.  If your cakes are flat topped (like mine were) use a sharp knife to cut circular holes out of them to use instead.  Place each circle next to the cake it comes from.
9. When the cakes are cool, spoon or pipe the buttercream onto the cakes.  I filled in my holes with the buttercream.
10. Cut each accompanying circle in half and gently press them into the buttercream at an angle so that the two halves stick up like wings.
11. Dust with sifted icing sugar.