Plant Pot Cupcakes :-)

I would like to say a big hello to summer........

But it's Britain and apart from a week of sun last month, that's as close as England has had to summer this year. I don't think it's set to get any better, but there is a silver lining to every situation....... for example....

You get a vastly overpriced phonebill, sure, it's a shock but you've enjoyed the conversations. You break your ankle in ridiculously high heels, sure, it hurts but you looked hot doing it. See! Silver linings are all around!!

So, English 'summer' may be a no show, but I have a nice cool kitchen, perfect conditions for buttercream and I have a good excuse to stay inside and no-one can drag me out to burn to bacon in the 'English sun'.

This weekend has been another prime example of 'summer' (I use that word loosely).  The rain has meant outdoor activities are a no and the kitchen is most inviting!

The smiles were firmly plastered on whilst making these summery cupcakes and what better way to make summer inside than to make plant pot cupcakes?

These have been on my mind since seeing some creative posts online, but have I been able to find the silicone cups? Have I heck!

Imagine my delight when, due to the weather, I go to town (can't stay in all weekend!!) and come across exactly what i've been looking for! I'm delighted, that is until I get to the till.

60% off sale! Im no longer delighted, i'm euphoric!!

Few things make me as happy as a sale in a bake shop!

Having said that, hot chocolate in winter, snow gently falling outside, fire on and a good soppy romantic film will set that smile too! (apparently this lack of summer has got me thinking about winter!)

Back to where I should be thinking ....... summery plant pot cupcakes!

Chocolate sponge, and two varieties of buttercream - chocolate orange and mint chocolate. Im salivating and it takes all my restraint to stop me hiding away with the spatula and left over buttercream!!

The buttercream is the same standard recipe I always use except with cocoa and different flavourings

Buttercream:-

4oz Butter
8oz Icing Sugar
1tsp Milk
2-3 Drops Flavouring (in this case 1 was mint, 1 was orange)

Chocolate Sponge:-

4oz Self Raising Flour
4oz Caster Sugar
4oz Butter
2 Large Eggs
1 tbsp Pure Cocoa
1tsp Vanilla Extract

The flowers and butterflies were made using standard fondant icing, coloured using gel colours and cutters. Simple, beautiful and eye-catching.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Avid or Obsessive? :-)

I'm in a pondering kind of mood, is there a fine line between avid baker and obsessed with cakiness? If there is....... im definately the latter.

I want to up sticks and move to the spectacularly cakey America, open my own corner cakey shop and be told how awesome the shop is and how quirky that im British. This is of course, until I wake up and realise, this is Britain, it is raining and the only shop i'll get is Asda to buy my ingredients.

Is there a better place than America for cake? Debatable. It doesn't seem to have taken on so much here as it appears to on the better side of the Atlantic.

To live the American dream and knock around with the likes of Ina Garten, Cookbook Queen and Bakerella, obviously they all live near my house and they all come to dinner.

I have decided that the two people to have to dinner have to be Kristan (confessionsofacookbookqueen) and Bakerella. It's my dinner party, no-one else is invited and there is no savoury food allowed. This is my party and i'll have cake if I want to!

So .... back to the baking,

Bakerella has so many ideas and i'd also like to add the patience of a saint and a damn good photographer!!  I agree that there is definately an occasion for cakepops, but there is always an occasion for cake and I always get sidetracked from cakepops to make cake.

But I find my thoughts drifting into the cakepop side of things recently and feel that I should definately concentrate more effort into the lovely cakey popiness.

I've done my basic cakepops and im in love with Bakerella's cake  pop book so keep checking in for more soon :-)

The Return of the Mojo :-)

After sitting for a long while and debating the redecoration of my bedroom, I decided it must be done. However, what I hadnt thought about was the fact that this takes time .... and lots of it.

I work full time, don't get me wrong, I love it. But mid deceoration? Thats a no. I had paint coming from every angle, my bed was an island in the midst of an ocean of mess and there was no possible way I could cope with this, work and baking.

My baking has suffered, I can admit that. It has shaken me to the very core and my waivering faith in my awesome baked home goods has become a distant memory.

I needed sweets in my life, I needed to contain my sweet monster and I needed to do it now!!

Luckily for me, I was taught by the best and with my birthday on the way my beautiful mother sent me packing and made me a birthday cake, complete with cake truffles and white chocolate fingers. Luckily for everyone else, I cant eat a 20 portion cake on my own (even if I wanted to!!) so everyone else got to share the delights of my birthday cake!

Now the deceorating is a distant memory, my mojo has returned, the ideas for making cakes and baked goods is back and I want to get in the kitchen!

Oven watch out, here I come, I have ideas coming from all angles and cant think where to start! My sweet monster needs feeding..............more piccies coming soon!

Chocolate Cupcakes :-)

Chocolate, the way to my heart, the way to every womans heart!!

Along with shoes, handbags and diamonds! Although chocolate has a much nicer price tag!!

I adore chocolate, be it milk, dark or white! It can be hot, cold, freezing, piped, as a topping, a filling or on toast. In all its many shapes and forms, I love them all.

A dense sticky sponge with a super sweet swirl of chocolate buttercream ......... who could wish for more?!

Ingredients:-

Chocolate Sponge

* 4 medium eggs
* 7oz self raising flour
* 7oz caster sugar
* 1tsp vanilla essence
* 1tbsp cocoa powder

Chocolate Buttercream

* 2tbsp cocoa powder
* 4oz softened unsalted butter
* 4oz icing sugar

I'm a lazy baker, i'll admit that. I like the good old fashioned, stick it all in the mixer and let that do the hard work whilst I sit back and have a cup of tea method! I wont deny that, but I also wont deny that i'm a complete perfectionist when it comes to the food I am willing to put in front of someone to try!

I was petrified of making mint chocolate cupcakes after being told they'd be like toothpaste on top of chocolate cake!

The end result of making these? Im not happy with the photographic equipment! Thankfully for me, I have parental input in the form of my dad to supply the necessary goods which came in the form of a mini photo booth for my spectacular little cakies! Finally justice for the baked goods!! Thankyou Dad!! :-)

Much better photo's from this point forth!!

 

Christening Delights :-)

So being asked to do a christening cake and the only thing i'm asked is that its pink! Three tiers, vanilla and has to feed a lot of people!!

Thought process begins straight away and decisions that not only does pink have to feature, this has to be spectacular, this has to be huge and this has to be the biggest thing ive ever attempted!!

Back to the beginning .......

Two months before ..................... "i need a christening cake, we want you to make it, do you have ideas and can you do it"

After a secret jig to myself and a massive smile spreading across my face ....... "come round and we can discuss ideas"

I sat with the mummy of the beautiful christening baby and listened intently to ......... " i want it to be pink, i want three tiers and I want vanilla"

So, i designed a three tier, vanilla sponge and vanilla buttercream christening cake. This cake was to have a bubblegum pink base, a powder pink centre and an ivory upper tier. I wanted roses and plenty of them, the main feature to be roses and I had to find the time to do it!!

Cutting to cake day ....................... I finish work at half five and hit the worse traffic i can ever imagine and decide that this is a very bad start!! I have catching up to do and I have to start straight away, no tea break, no time to change ..... I HAVE A CAKE TO MAKE!!!!

Thank heavens for cold weather, i have a frosty chilly out-house and a lovely chilled environment for my cakes to cool down!! Lets get baking!!!

Several hours later, cakes are cooling, buttercream is mixing, i finally have time for a cuppa and im starting to go past tired and into the hyperactive stage!!

Buttercream in, layers assembled and time to cool and start mixing icing colours. All three icing colours were great straight away, im sure my arms will end up looking like Arnold Schwarezenegger if i carry on doing this!! Time to roll, time to ice and time to make roses!!

Its 1 a.m, ive decided that whatever i cant do now, isnt going on the cake!! Im preparing to fall into a coma, normal sleep will not suffice at this point!!

I think the final product speaks for itself......

This turned out so much better than I could have hoped for! The end result was the centre of attention and the day was absolutely gorgeous! :-)

Sugar Cookies :-)

My first attempt at sugar cookies wasnt too bad! I was expecting worse, although the recipe I used produced a very very sticky dough which I had to add more flour to.
The cookies only take ten minutes to bake and I did a batch of eight to start with. The cookies come out a lovely pale golden colour and dont rise which gave a perfect base to ice :-)

I used royal icing to a piping consistency to pipe the outline onto the cookies and then flooded the cookies with a thinner pourable icing.

I finally finished the eight cookies and decided that with a ton of cookie dough left over to make the final batches of cookies, thirty eight in total!!

I used the same method with outlining the cookie and flooding with icing and adding final details when the icing had set

 

PP = Pinkys Patisserie,  check me out at www.facebook.co.uk/pinkyspatisserie

Parisian Macarons :-)

Parisian Macarons ........ Well where do I start? Notoriously difficult to make, beautiful to look at and a true delight on the palate.

I have tried them before, much to my mouths delight but not a delight to the eye I can assure you, however, this time, I used a different recipe and kept the oven door open a jar and it worked a treat.

I chose pastel pink for the body of the macaron and a lovely hot pink for the peanut buttercream filling. Each and every macaron looks like perfection and the pictures do them every justice!

I truly believe I have mastered the art of the Parisian Macaron and couldn't be happier! They have turned out beautifully and melt in the mouth!

En Francais :-)

I intend to spend some time working on perfecting the French Macaron and also to work on the whoopie pies! I seem to have more time on my hands recently and seem to be looking more and more at the recipe books I was so delighted with at Christmas. I have tried French Macarons previously and although successful, they were not something Mary Berry would have been proud to look at!

I love the look of the French Macaron and the possibilities are endless. Light, delicate flavours paired with flawless pastel colours.

I will keep you updated with plenty of pictures - especially now they look so professional! Please note that the amazing photo above is not mine! However, it wont be long until mine are perfection like those beauties!

Check Me Out :-)

I decided it would be a grand idea to use facebook as a tool to show people what I can do, you can check me out on www.facebook.com/pinkyspatisserie

This has been a success so far and I've had a couple of orders so far including a wedding cake in September! 

Meanwhile, I have been practicing the old photography skills to get the best photos I can, this included an amazing gift of a mini portrait photo booth! The photographs are looking brilliant and I couldn't be happier!

Cupcakes of all Shapes and Sizes :-)

The day came where cupcakes needed to be made. Lots of cupcakes. Lots of different cupcakes. Lots of yummy, sparkly cupcakes. Mmmmmm cupcakes!!! They make my world go around ....... well partly anyway, gigantic beautiful cakes do the other part!!!

So, ginger cupcakes and lemon buttercream, lightly spiced, lightly flavoured and wonderful for these chilly winter nights for a bit of heat :-)

Yummy!!! I love cupcakes and today was no exception! A couple of hours of complete cakiness heaven!!

Waybuloo :-)

So I was asked to do a Waybuloo cake for my friends little girls 1st birthday! Ive never done anything like this before so I decided a simple vanilla cake and vanilla buttercream, four layers and plenty of stickiness!!!

I started off with using a cake pop stick as the support for the Waybuloo decoration and half a cake pop stick as the support for the arms. I coloured the icing using gel colours and set on to making Waybuloo.

I then sat and painstakingly made sugarpaste flowers, leaves and decorations for the final touches.

The finished result, how yummy does that look! I might have to make one for myself (and keep it to myself!)

Christmas pt 2 :-)

So, December 25th, the most exciting time of the year! The one day of the year that I am proudly tired through lack of sleep due to excitement the night before! I am a huge child when it comes to Christmas and I live throughout the year for the excitement of Christmas, from putting up the tree, to Christmas shopping and the big day and seeing the look on peoples faces when they open their gifts!!

I love it, nothing can put me off excitement and this year was no different! I awoke early on and woke up the entire household to open prezzies! Slippers and dressing gown, kettle on the go and excitedly rustling under the tree!!

I was a very lucky girl this year and Santa let me know I had behaved by gifting me with a beautiful Kitchenaid Mixer!!!

I was also gifted with a collection of cakey books, whoopie pie books, cupcake books and an adorable mini-cupcake maker. I spent Boxing Day making cake and using my new toys!!

Christmas :-)

Not updated for a loooooong time so decided I better start with Christmas and move on into the New Year.  Christmas being a busy period, being the one time of the year when people drop in unannounced and being the one time of the year where we let out the belt buckle!

I made a list of everything I wanted to make from the Christmas cake and decorations to pork pies, lemon curd and sweet tarts.

I'll start with the Christmas cake and decorations, a good boiled fruit cake is the starting point of an amazing Christmas cake and this year was no different, two round boiled fruit cakes made in October and lovingly soaked with Brandy until December........

The decorations were made using white fondant icing, I use a silicone flower cutter and mould and add silver balls and lustre dust. I used white polar lustre dust and a peach glitter.

I made fifteen flowers to go around the cake and for the top of the cake - I left these to set prior to using royal icing to attach them to the cake

Finished result!! Beautiful polar white Christmas cake, soaked with Brandy and contemporary finish :-)

Christmas Savouries :-)

After watching the Great British Bake Off and seeing Paul Hollywood's take on Pork Pies I decided I had to have a go! I altered the recipe slightly from using plain pork loin joint to using an Applewood Smoked Pork Loin which most definitely gave the pork pies a taste second to none.

This was the first time I had tried making hot water pastry and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is!

Not quite as pleasing to they eye as shop bought but the taste is definitely worth the hard work! I have made these a couple of times now and have recently opted for a silicone baking tin which has made getting the pies out a million times easier!!!

Sweet Treats :-)

 I decided to have a go at making lemon curd and for a twist made a jar of orange curd too! The lemon curd was a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe and although tart, is a beautiful accompaniment to a lovely bit of burnt toast!

The orange curd was used for the filling for an orange tart which was wonderfully smooth, gorgeous to look at and totally scrummy to eat :-)

Gingerbread House :-)

Typing this now I realise how busy I was over the festive period! The gingerbread house is a typical thought when I think of Christmas so I decided it was time to have a go! I designed a template, made up a huge batch of gingerbread and chained myself to the oven for the afternoon! I used the gingerbread recipe from the BBC good food website and was pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy it was, not to mention delicious. I used royal icing to bond the walls and roof together. I then used a thick layer of royal icing on the roof as snow and a thick layer for snow on the ground.

Yes, they are lights you can see within! I hid a string of l.e.d lights inside for a sweat treat with a twist