Rose and almond cupcakes

Today was a very busy day, baking-wise, for me. I spent yesterday evening sketching cake designs for a competition run by stylist magazine, to bake their front cover. "Paris" was a theme that I thought I could be creative with, so I based my cake around this. The initial plan was very different to the end result, turning into a cupcake instead of the mini cake I wanted. To match the Parisienne idea and the rose, I made an almond cake with rose water buttercream (apparently this flavour combo works, according to the flavour dictionary). 

I spent all afternoon making the cakes. I piped out about 8 eiffel towers, but to my despair the chocolate was piped to thin and the chocolate crumbled when I tried to take them off the baking parchment. The one pictured above was the only surviver, and unfortunately no way near my best. The rose went fairly well. Not of a professional standard, but good for me, seeing as I never have the opportunity to try cake decorating (I would love to do it more often, but living under the rules of my parents means I can't, because they won't get eaten). I used a different buttercream nozzle this time to the usual, which was risky but I liked the effect. As for the cakes themselves, the flavours were definitely present. I wanted to create some vines and leaves for the roses, but the fondant I used for them didn't look very good- the vines needed to be thinner. I am still quite pleased with the final cakes. They are probably one of my better cakes when it comes to looks, but I am only a beginner when compared to most, so I don't except star quality from myself. I doubt they will make the cover, but even so, I had fun making them!


Rose and almond cake recipe

Cake
4 1/2 oz self raising flour
4 1/2 oz sugar
4 1/2 oz butter/margarine
2 eggs
Few drops almond extract

Buttercream
6 oz butter
12 1/2 oz icing sugar
Few drops rose water
3 tbsp boiling water

Decoration

1 small ball ready to roll icing
Pink food colouring


1. Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5

2. Put all cake ingredients into a bowl and mix until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth with no lumps.

3. Spoon the cake batter into cupcake cases and divide the mixture equally between them. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden and spring back when touched.

4. Put the remaining butter, icing sugar and rose water into a bowl and beat together. Add the boiling water bit by bit until you get a good consistency that is thick enough to pipe. Continue to beat the buttercream for as long as possible, because the more you beat it the lighter it is.

5. When the cakes are ready, pipe the buttercream onto the cakes in a neat swirl

6. Take the ready to roll icing and use the food colouring to colour the icing bright pink. Take several small pinches of icing and roll them into the balls. Place them in a plastic bag and flatten them, making one end of the shape slightly thinner, like a petal. Take the first petal and roll i into a tube shape. Wrap the other petals around the tube to create a rose shape. Once you are finished, cut the end of the rose off to seal the icing together. Place on top of the cupcake.

Samoas cupcake: the girl scout cookie reinvented

Girl-guiding in England is very different to the Girl Scouts in the USA. After watching an episode of "DC Cupcakes", in which Sophie and Katherine baked with a group of brownies, I realised that I knew very little about the American version of "guides". I researched the Girl Scouts and was intrigued by the "Girl Scout Cookies" that I have heard about so many times before. The range of cookies was very interesting and I was determined to bake my own batch. I set my eyes on the Samoas/Caramel DeLites, but decided to turn them into cupcakes. I began baking, with the image of the perfect cake in mind: coconut sponge with vanilla buttercream, marbled with a caramel sauce, topped with toasted coconut and a caramel drizzle. I avoided the chocolate part of the cookie, because I am not a huge fan of the stuff. However, when it came round to the final product, things were a little different to how I had hoped.

The cakes themselves were fabulous. Just the right size, a delicate gold, the perfect shape to pipe buttercream onto. I had a little trouble with the frosting. I added 3 tbsp water, as the recipe stated, but to my despair, it was too runny. I convinced myself it would hold it's shape, and combined it with some of the toffee sauce. I poured it into the piping bag, but it was too loose and it dropped straight out the end. I tried to fill the piping bag sideways so it wouldn't fall out, getting the icing all up my arm. I piped it onto the cupcakes, where it collapsed. I was so frustrated because I wanted them to be perfect. When I began to pipe the 3rd cake, the icing spilled over the edge of the cake. It was so upsetting that I smashed the poor little cupcake in my hands (and ate it, otherwise it was a waste). It was so annoying and I immediately regretted it, but what could I do? The cakes looked nice, but not how I pictured them, which had me upset at first, but now I am quite proud of them. They tasted good, which was a relief, one of my best sponges to date, so the result wasn't all bad.



Ingredients (Makes 6 large cakes or 12 smaller cakes)

Cake
4 oz butter/margarine
4oz sugar
3oz self-raising flour
2 eggs
2oz desiccated coconut
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Toffee sauce
35g soft dark brown sugar
25g unsalted butter
62g double cream

Frosting
6oz butter, softened
350g icing sugar
3 Tbsp boiling water
Few drops of vanilla extract
5 tbsp desiccated coconut

1. Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5/ 375ºF /190ºC
2. Put all the cake ingredients into a bowl and mix together until smooth. Spoon into cupcake cases and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes (the average time to bake, but it usually takes me about 25 minutes) until golden brown and springs back when touched.

2. Put the ingredients for toffee sauce in a saucepan over a medium heat until everything is melted and well combined. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Put to the side to cool.

3. Put the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract and mix well. Add the water bit by bit until it is of the right consistency. It shouldn't be too loose if piping.

4. Pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes (or spoon it on if you don't own a piping set) and drizzle over the toffee sauce. Sprinkle on the remaining coconut (if you prefer, you can toast it first).