Strawberry and Vanilla Cupcakes with Not-too-Sweet Cooked Buttercream

I was bored this evening and wanted to bake.  But what?  Nothing too complicated but still more interesting than just my usual cupcakes with a bit of glacé icing, even though that's probably my favourite cake to eat.  That's boring!  So I decided to make a slightly fancier version, with a stripe of strawberry flavoured, pink sponge running through the middle.  I also thought it was time to try that not-too-sweet buttercream recipe I stumbled across a few weeks ago.  You may know that I'm not the biggest fan of buttercream.  It's usually far too sweet (and yet I like glacé icing...).  So discovering a recipe for a less sweet version intrigued me.

It is quite a fascinating buttercream.  It's cooked for a start and reminded me a fair bit of something I've made before from last year's Great British Bake Off Book.  It's very like the 'cream' in the Melting Moments Mary-Anne made.  It also remains lovely and soft.  It doesn't seem to harden slightly like other buttercream.  Personally I don't know if I like this.  I think it's too soft.  But that's just me and I'm ridiculously picky.

The stripe idea worked quite well although it's not really visible from the outside, which is a shame.  You can see patches of pink but otherwise the stripe won't be seen until the cake is bitten into.

I ended up making up the decoration as I went based on what I had in my cupboard.  Since it was pink buttercream, I thought white would set it off nicely so dug out the white chocolate stars.  Then I remembered I had Milky Bar buttons, so got them out too.  After dilly-dallying a bit, I thought I would make chocolate button butterfly wings.  Suddenly it occurs to me that I have strawberry chocolate buttons in my cupboard which are a bit smaller and would do for the lower wings! Hence two tone butterflies.  I got the strawberry buttons from the baking section of the supermarket.  They're made by Silver Spoon.

It was a fairly successful little experiment and quite a nice tasting cake.  Not my best but still yummy.

Recipe - makes 6

Cakes:

• 55g/2oz caster sugar
• 55g/2oz butter
• 1 egg
• 55g/2oz self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp strawberry flavouring
• Pink food colouring

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and line a 6 hole muffin tray with paper or silicone cases (I used silicone).
2. Put the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat until pale and fluffy.
3. Beat the egg in a jug and then add to the sugar butter a bit at a time, mixing in well after each addition.
4. Sift in the flour and fold into the mixture.
5. Transfer 1/3 of the mixture to another bowl.  To this 1/3, add the strawberry flavouring and a couple of drops of pink food colouring.  Mix in.
6. Add the vanilla extract to the remaining 2/3 and mix in.
7. Distribute half the vanilla mix between the six cases, trying to cover the bottom of each completely.
8. Put equal amounts of the strawberry mixture into each case and again, try to smooth it over so it reaches the edges.  Do this gently otherwise you'll start to marble the mixture.
9. Put the remaining vanilla mix on top and smooth slightly.  It will melt and spread out when baking so this isn't so important.
10. Bake for 18-20 minutes so that a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
11. Leave to cool on a wire rack. 

Buttercream - adapted from YoyoMax12 

• 120ml/4.2fl.oz milk
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 115g/4oz butter
• 115g/4oz caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Pink food colouring
• White chocolate buttons
• Strawberry chocolate buttons
• Any other decorations you want

1. Put the flour and the milk into a medium saucepan over a medium heat. 
2. Whisk the mixture constantly over the heat until you get a thick-ish paste.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
3. When mixture has completely cooled, add the vanilla extract and then beat with a hand mixer until really soft and fluffy (about 4 minutes).
4. In a separate bowl, beat the sugar and butter together until really pale and fluffy (again, about 4 minutes with an electric mixer).
5. Add the sugar butter to the flour mix and beat with the mixer for another 3 minutes until really creamy.
6. Add the food colouring and mix in. 
7. Attach a large star nozzle (eg. Wilton 1M) to a piping bag, spoon in the buttercream and pipe swirls onto each cake.
8. Break a white chocolate button in half and stick onto the buttercream so two of the points stick up and the rounded sides face outwards to look like wings.
9. Do the same with a strawberry button, placing it below the white button.
10. Add any other decoration you like.

Honeycomb Layer Cake

Today is my birthday!  So now I'm 24.  And engaged, since the boyfriend proposed to me this morning over presents (and should probably be promoted to 'the fiancé' now).  I may just be terribly chuffed.

Anyway, I've usually made my own birthday cake since I was about...9...10, after my first brother was born at the very least (on my eighth birthday, I was not happy).  I was never a fan of store bought cakes, especially as I didn't really like buttercream at the time.  So I figured I would start making my own so I could have it any way I wanted!  Usually it was a pretty simple sponge made of fairy cake batter with jam in and rolled out fondant on top, decorated with something to do with whatever I was into at the time.  Admittedly my first cake was a domed ladybird covered in chocolate.  Very nice although the middle didn't cook properly...But I was 9/10.  I thought I did quite well in spite of everything.

My point is, I do this every year.  It's just this year I divulged from the norm slightly by not doing my usual cake.  Last year was an experiment with a new sponge recipe but was still a vanilla sponge.  It was the origin of the chocolate orange buttercream though.  This year I stumbled across this cake on Preheat the Oven, the blog of 2011 Great British Bake Off contestant Jason, back at the end of July and knew it was what I wanted for my birthday cake.

It was a bit more of a challenge than I thought.  The honeycomb gave me the most trouble and took me three attempts before I could melt all the sugar without some of it burning and ruining the whole thing.  My poor fiancé is now trying to clean up the mess I made of the saucepans as he clears up my kitchen (being the birthday girl has some perks).  I've also never covered a whole cake in buttercream before, so that was interesting.  I've by no means done a perfect job.  Far from it in fact.  But I'm still rather pleased.

The only other thing I can say about the cake that disappointed me was that it was a bit flatter than expected.  But that's my own fault.  I was very silly when reading through the recipe to see if I had all the ingredients and forgot to check the size of tin.  It was supposed to be a 6 inch tin, which I did not have and could not find when I was in Kirkcaldy.  I was kicking myself for not buying the ones I saw in Sainsbury's last week.  That's what I get for behaving myself.  So mine is made in 7 inch tins instead, because that's the smallest I could find.

Taste wise it is quite lovely.  You can taste the honey in the cake but it's not too strong, which is great if you're not much of a honey lover, like myself.  The buttercream is quite sweet but not ridiculously so and the honeycomb is lovely, crunchy and sweet.

Recipe - adapted from Preheat the Oven 


For the cakes:

• 150g/5.3oz unsalted butter
• 180g/6.3oz light brown sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 150g/5.3oz self-raising flour
• 75g/2.6oz plain flour
• 75ml/2.6fl.oz milk
• 6 tbsp honey

For the honeycomb:

• 100g/3.5oz caster sugar
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the buttercream:

• 480g/17oz icing sugar
• 120g/4.2oz unsalted butter
• 60ml/2fl.oz milk at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.  Grease and line a 15cm/6inch cake tin (you can use a 17.5cm/7inch pan like I did but you get a shorter, wider cake obviously).
2. Start by making the cakes.  You make the batter for each cake individually, using 1/3 of the ingredients for each.
3. Beat together 60g/2.1oz of sugar and 50g/1.8oz butter until pale and creamy.
4. Add one egg and beat in.
5. Combine 50g/1.8oz self-raising flour and 25g/0.6oz plain flour together in a bowl.  Add half to the cake batter and mix in.
6. Add 25ml/0.6fl.oz milk and 2 tbsp of honey to the batter and mix in.
7. Add the rest of the flour and beat in until smooth.
8. Transfer batter to the cake tin, smoothing with a rubber spatula.
9. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
10. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
11. Repeat steps 3-10 until you have a total of three cakes.
12. To make the honeycomb, first prepare a baking sheet with greaseproof paper. 
13. Put the sugar and golden syrup into a saucepan and place over a medium heat.  I recommend using a fairly large saucepan that distributes heat evenly and place it on the biggest ring on your hob.  That way most of the sugar should dissolve at the same rate.
14. You want the sugar to melt and the mixture to be the colour of honey.  Do not stir.  Just be patient.
15. When the mixture is the right colour, quickly add the bicarbonate of soda and whisk it in, then pour immediately onto the prepared baking sheet.
16. Leave to one side to set.
17. To make the buttercream, mix half the icing sugar together with the butter, vanilla extract and milk until smooth and creamy.
18. Add the rest of the icing sugar a tablespoon at a time, mixing after each addition.  The result should be thick and creamy.
19. Transfer 1/3 of the buttercream to a different bowl.
20. Crush 30g/1oz of the honeycomb and mix it in to the smaller amount of buttercream.
21. Place the first layer of cake on a cake board or serving plate and cover the top with half the honeycombed buttercream.
22. Place the second layer on top, cover with the second half of the honeycombed buttercream, then top with the final layer.  Press down gently to squish them together a bit more.
23. Cover the top and sides of the cake in a fairly thin layer of buttercream to create a crumb coat.  This is basically to prevent crumbs showing through.
24. Coat the top and sides with a thicker layer of buttercream, smoothing over as you go.
25. Break off about 6 large-ish shards of honeycomb and place on top.  Break the remaining honeycomb into small piece and place around the base of the cake.  If there's still a bit left over after that, crush it and sprinkle it on top.

Flowered Birthday Cake - Vanilla Sponge

Today was the birthday of my boyfriend's Gran and I was asked to make the cake for the occasion.  Now, it has to be said that big cakes are not something I consider myself to be very good at.  My layers always come out ridiculously thin and it frustrates me to no end.  However, for my birthday last year I found a somewhat different way of making one which turned out rather successful.  It has since become my go-to method for baking large cakes.  Admittedly I've only made it twice before but have always been happy with the result.

Unfortunately, I ended up making this particular cake twice and still was not entirely happy with the final result.  It just did not seem to rise as well as the previous times.  The first attempt at this cake was a complete disaster.  The layers were too thin and they stuck to my pan!  I now know that despite investing in a lovely silicone baking set, I'm sill going to have to grease it for cakes.  Luckily, despite falling apart, the sponge still tasted good (according to my boyfriend who kept stealing pieces of it) so I've put it in a bag in the freezer to use for a later project.

I put the thinness of the first attempt, in part, down to the size of tin.  The ones I used were slightly bigger than the ones I used to use.  I went back to the old tins on my second try.  I also put the lack of thickness down to having slightly less batter due to the amount of ingredients used being dependent on the weight of the eggs.  For the first attempt I used shop bought eggs, which were about 20g less in weight than the eggs provided by our hens.  I know that does not sound like much but trust me, it made a difference.  Anyway, after my first attempt failed I had a bit of a sulk and a cuddle (I really don't like it when things go wrong) and then tried again.  The second attempt certainly came out better but I still think it came out shorter than my other cakes made with this recipe. Reviewing the recipe I realised my mistake.  I was meant to use 3 eggs.  I only used 2.  Oops.  Obviously I should not do things from memory unless I actually know it properly, like my vanilla cupcake recipe.  I've made sure to correct that in the recipe below.

The cake is a very simple sponge cake with a vanilla buttercream and jam filling and then ready to roll fondant icing for the decoration.  Originally I envisioned something more elaborate for the design involving piped flowers but that did not work out too well so modelling everything out of fondant was the way I had to go.

Recipe:

Cake - adapted from a post on The Good Food Channel

• 3 eggs
• Caster sugar - weight equal to that of the 3 eggs in their shells
• Unsalted butter - weight equal to that of the 3 eggs in their shells
• Self raising flour - weight equal to that of the 3 eggs in their shells
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
2. Prepare two 7inch/20cm cake tins.
3. Weigh the 3 eggs together so you know how much of the other ingredients you require. 
4. Separate the eggs and use a whisk to beat the egg whites until the soft peak stage (this means when you pull the whisk out on the mixture it will form a peak but the tip will fall over).  DO NOT OVERWHISK!
5. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until fluffy and pale in colour.  Usually this is about 5-10 minutes of beating by hand.  The paler the mix the better incorporated the sugar is with the butter.
6. Whisk the egg yolks and vanilla together and add to the butter mix a little at a time, folding it in to add air to the mixture.
7. Sift in the flour and fold that in also.
8. Add the egg whites and fold those in too (lots of folding in this recipe) until you cannot see any white in the mixture.
9. Pour half the mixture into each tin and then put in the over for about 30 minutes.  Do not open the oven before 20 minutes have past.
10. Once baked. removed and let stand in the tins for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Filling:

• 2oz/60g icing sugar
• 1oz/30g unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 heaped tbsp raspberry jam (or other fruit jam of your choice)

1. In a bowl mix the butter and icing sugar until it makes a nice, creamy looking paste.
2. Add the vanilla and mix in.
3. On one of the cooled cake halves, spread the buttercream out in an even layer.
4. On the other one, spread out the jam.
5. Sandwich the two halves together.

 

Decoration:

• 415g packet of ready to roll fondant icing
• Green food colouring
• Pink pearl cake decorations (or something similar)
• 1 heaped tbsp apricot jam
• Lots of icing sugar
• Some water

1. I recommend making the flowers first.  My cake has 30 flowers on it.  They are made by taking small pieces of the fondant icing and shaping into diamonds by pinching the ends into points with my fingers.  Make five of these and then gently push them together to make a flower shape.  Then place one of the pearl decorations into the centre, pushing it down gently so it stays in place.  Set the flower aside to set.
2. Repeat until you have as many flowers as you want.  With this amount of fondant icing though, 35 is probably the maximum amount.  If the icing gets too dry due to constant handling, just add a tiny amount of water to your fingers.
3. In a small saucepan, boil the jam for a couple of minutes (without burning) and then set aside to cool.
4. With the rest of the icing, add the green food colouring and knead to spread the colour evenly throughout.  Keep adding colouring until you are satisfied with the colour.  Be warned, it will stain your hands so you may want to wear gloves and protective clothing.  The food colouring will make the icing very sticky if using a water based one so you'll have to roll and knead it in icing sugar to combat this, especially when rolling it out.
5. Roll out the icing into as even a circle as possible, making sure it is big enough to cover the top and sides of the cake.
6. Plate up the cake and cover the top with the cooled jam.
7. Carefully lift the rolled out icing.  You'll probably need to use your rolling pin to support some of the weight.  Drape over the cake and then gently smooth it down, starting at the centre and then working down the sides.  Trim off the excess icing.  It doesn't matter if you trim a bit too much off.  That's what the bow is for!
8. To make the bow, add more food colouring to the remaining icing to dye it a slightly darker green than the 'grass'.  Again, add icing sugar to stop it become too sticky. 
9. Break off a smallish piece to use for the bow and roll out the remaining icing into a sausage long enough to wrap around the base of the cake.  Transferring it to the cake is quite tricky.  It took me several attempts before I got it around without it breaking in transit.
10. Fashion the bow out of what is left.  I made a bow pretzel and a separate 'knot' to hide where the bow joined the cake.  I used a bit of leftover jam to stick the bow edges to the top of the cake.
11. In a small bowl mix up some icing sugar with a teeny bit of water to make a thin paste.  You don't need very much.  Using something with a thin tip (I used a knife) put a small blob on the bottom of each flower and place on top of the cake wherever you like.  Repeat until all the flowers are stuck down.