themorethanoccasionalbaker-ValueWalk

Shoe Cupcakes

Posted by Unknown at 3:15 PM on Thursday, May 3, 2012

Last weekend my friend and co-host of AlphaBakes Caroline from Caroline Makes celebrated her birthday. She decided to have a shoe themed birthday party asking guests to wear their favourite pair of shoes. Of course the best part of a birthday party is the cake! She made a lovely 2 tiered pink polka dot shoe cake which was delicious. She also baked cupcakes, brownies and macarons.

I offered to make some cakes (naturally) and suggested a shoe cupcake but had no idea how to go about making one. Caroline emailed me "Are these the sort of shoe cupcakes you meant? ... http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/fashionista-cupcake-alert-cupcake-high.html

It would be great if you wanted to make these :-) "

I took one look at them and thought no way! But I really wanted to make them so I spent ages looking at the picture and thinking about how I can go about re-creating them. I think they turned out pretty good in the end - could be a lot tidier but I was in a hurry and it was my first time! The guests were suitably impressed which was good. These took a lot longer to make than I expected so I only ended up making 4 pairs of shoes. They are not difficult, just fiddly and time consuming! I've prepared a step by step photo post below if you want to give them a go yourself.

I want to show you my new tea towel - I love it! :)

what you need to make the soles - rich tea fingers, white chocolate and chocolate fingers. You may of course use suitable alternatives.

First, trim the end of the rich tea fingers to create the shape of the sole as shown. You will also need to trim the chocolate finger depending on the height of your cupcake. Cut it at an angle as shown.

Dip the biscuit in melted white chocolate and place in the fridge/freezer to set. Do one side at a time.

Get out all your coloured sugars!

Once you've dipped both sides of the biscuit, dip each edge and then roll in coloured sugar and allow to set. Dip the other edge and repeat. Finally cover the rounded end (front end)

Stick the chocolate finger onto the back of your "sole" at an angle using more of the white chocolate. You may need something to support it whilst it's drying such as an empty cupcake case!

I baked plain vanilla cupcakes but you can make any flavour you like. I also made vanilla buttercream frosting.

Spread lots of frosting on top ...

.. try to form a slight dome in the middle

Roll in coloured sugar so the entire surface is covered. I found that the easiest way to do this was to hold the cupcake at an angle and roll it in the sugar

Push the sole rounded end first into the edge of your prepared cupcake

They really look like shoes!!

Time for some decorations! I bought sets of tappits from Cake International and used ready rolled fondant to cut out shapes.

how cute is this?

I added a tiny bow at the back of the shoe as well.

The finished cupcakes which I'm pleased to say arrived in 1 piece! Which is your favourite?

I'm linking this up to Lets Bake Cupcakes and Muffins hosted by simply.food

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with a hidden surprise

Posted by Unknown at 2:20 PM on Wednesday, May 2, 2012

As you know I love entering baking challenges but I was doubly excited to see this new one as it involved 2 of my favourite things - baking and reading. Kelly from An American Cupcake in London has started a new Cupcake Book Club based on her love for cupcakes and reading. Each month, she will chose a novel with a cupcake or baking theme and bake something inspired by the book.

This month she chose Love in the Making by Roisin Meaney. Initially I though I wouldn't have time to read but it's such an easy read, it really didn't take long at all. Don't worry, no spoilers here so it's safe to read on :)

It's a story about Hannah who achieves her life long dream of opening her own cupcake shop. However, her boyfriend leaves her for another woman and she's not sure if she can run her own business alone. Her best friend Adam (my second favourite character after Hannah) sets her a deadline of seven months till his birthday to make her business a success before giving it up. He also ends up moving in with her to help her financially and to make room for his sister Nora who provides a little sub-plot of her own. There are a few other sub-plots to the story: Hannah's parents and their friends, Leah the girl that Patrick left Hannah for, Adam's love interest and Hannah's love interests. As the title says "Love in the Making"!

Back to the cupcakes. peanut butter cupcakes were mentioned at least 5 times in the book including a giant peanut butter cupcake. If you read my blog regularly, you will know that I LOVE peanut butter and chocolate so the choice for me was obvious. However, I thought I'd make it a little more fun and add a little surprise inside - can you guess what it is?

These cupcakes were amazing!! If you love peanut butter you must try these cupcakes. The cake was light, moist and flavourful. The chocolate buttercream frosting was too die for. The surprise inside? It made the cake even better. A word of warning: you will be in a sugar coma if you eat too many of these... ok maybe even with one but it's well worth it :)

Recipe from Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery in the background, Reese's peanut butter cups - a giant party bag I bought from America and delicious smooth peanut butter all the way from New York - !THANK YOU DAISY!

Special mention to Daisy who blogs at nevertoosweet - a lovely twitter friend who sent me this jar of well travelled peanut butter as she knows I LOVE this stuff!

Take the cupcakes out when they are almost done, after approximately 10 minutes. Peel the cases from the peanut butter cups

Press into the middle gently

Continue baking for another 5 minutes until cupcakes are cooked

Don't worry about the holes as it will be filled with frosting. Lots of buttery, chocolate frosting!

Look a little plain?

Add some gold pearls

Ready to see the surprise?

ta-da! I'm so glad it worked!

Recipes from Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery by Martha Swift & Lisa Thomas published by www.kylebooks.com - with kind permission.

Peanut butter cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

75g butter
130g smooth peanut butter
190g dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
120g plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
60ml semi-skimmed milk
12 Reese's peanut butter cups

Chocolate Buttercream frosting
175g dark chocolate
225 butter
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g icing sugar, sifted

Preheat the oven to 160C.
Line a 12-hole muffin tray with cupcake cases.
Cream the butter, peanut butter and sugar until well blended.
Add the eggs, one at a time and then stir in the vanilla extract.
Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl.
Add 1/3 of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat well.
Pour 1/3 of the milk and beat again.
Repeat until all the flour and milk have been added.
Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases - I used a large ice cream scoop.
Bake for approximately 10 minutes and remove from the oven.
Prepare your Reese's cups by removing the wrappers and case.
After 10 minutes, the tops of the cake will be cooked but the middle is still soft.
Insert a peanut butter cup into each cupcake, pressing gently.
Return to the oven and bake for a further 10-12 minutes until cooked.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
To make the frosting, melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
Beat the butter, milk, vanilla extract and icing sugar until smooth.
Add the melted chocolate and continue beating until thick and creamy.
Pipe the chocolate frosting on top of the cupcakes and decorate as desired.

Linking up to Lets Bake cupcakes and muffins hosted by simply.food

Cake International 2012

Posted by Unknown at 2:27 PM on Tuesday, May 1, 2012

I had a very, very exciting day last week. I took a day off work and went to my first Cake International show at Excel, London. I remember reading about it on a few blogs last year and looking at pictures of gorgeous cake so now it's my turn to show you the cakes :)

It really is a baker's/cake decorator's/sugarcrafter's dream. Even if you are not, you will be amazed, awed and astounded by the magnificient cakes on display. There are workshops, demonstrations, competitions including a live competition, meet and greet cake authors and the most amazing array of everything you need to bake and decorate all in one place!

I consider myself a baker but not much of a cake decorator so I was really excited to learn new techniques and ooh and aah over all the cake decorating equipment available. It was really nice to have everything in 1 place - usually I see these things online but have no idea how to use most of them. I really had to restrain myself from buying everything but I did get a few goodies which I'm sure will make an appearance on this blog at some point :)

Enough of my ramblings, a picture speaks a thousand words so let me give you a preview of what was on offer at the Cake show. If any of these cakes are yours, feel free to leave a comment or email me and I'll add a link.

look at the detail