Millionaire’s Shortbread Cupcakes

When I can’t sleep at night, it’s often because I am thinking about cake.  Not a bad thing to be causing insomnia I suppose!  Mostly it’s about cake recipes and trying to invent new ones.  Now, I am not saying this is a new one. In fact, if I googled Millionaire’s shortbread cupcakes, there would probably be reams of them but I shall remain in blissful ignorance and pretend I invented it!

Firstly, I whizzed a handful of digestive biscuits in my food processor (you could just as easily put them in a food friendly bag and bash with the end of a rolling pin, I would heartily recommend this option if you have had a bad day and need to let some frustration out!)  I think it was about 200g of biscuits in all.

I then melted some butter  (about 75g), just good old plain unsalted variety and mixed the biscuit crumb in. How easy is that! If only all baking was as simple.

I put a layer of this biscuity buttery crumb in the base of the cupcake cases and then added a blob of dulce de leche (or posh caramel sauce or translated correctly candy of milk). You can make this yourself by boiling a can of condensed milk for about three to four hours but that’s a bit of a hassle so I would recommend purchasing! (sorry for the pics, I was having a bad camera day).

On some I added some rounds of banana (thereby turning it into a Millionaires Shortbread/Banoffie hybrid), whilst others I left as was and then topped with my usual chocolate cake batter.

Into the oven the decadent little beauties went whilst I made my buttercream (wondering whether to incorporate a bit of dulce de leche in that but deciding against though I may try that next time).

20 minutes later, the cakes had risen nicely and before they even cooled, I had to take a little taste just to make sure they were edible you understand

I hadn’t quite packed the crumb down firmly enough so it was a bit too.. ahem crumbly at the base but a mouthful of that and then the caramel sauce and the chocolate cake was divine.  It actually didn’t need anything else but I topped with  buttercream anyway,  a drizzle of the caramel sauce and some chocolate shavings and a chocolate heart .  I would have liked to put a bit of shortcake crumble on top to finish but I didn’t have any. Next time though…

Planes, trains and automobiles….

One of my favourite films of all time… have you seen it? Steve Martin and John Candy classic that makes me laugh no matter how many times it has graced my TV screen (a dozen or so at the last count!) Can’t pick a best bit as they are all the best

Anyway, I digress..

So, I was asked to make a transport themed cake order from a regular client of mine for her young son’s birthday – a birthday cake, some mini cupcakes for the little ones and some cookies for the not so little ones, suitably festooned with little cars, train and plane.

Now, in my fantasy cake land I would make one of those spectacular creations as seen on Ace of Cakes  where the car has an actual engine and drives off the table given half a chance BUT ahem I don’t have welding equipment and also the budget wouldn’t allow!

Instead, I settled for a two tier cake covered with fondant and then sugar paste cut outs and fluffy icing clouds.  It was a vanilla sponge filled with strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream, topped with a pale blue fondant and then sugar paste shapes.

I used mini meringues for the smoke puffing from the steam train and the plane. As a little extra, I cut out some fondant flowers and added them for a bit of extra colour.

The mini cupcakes were of the healthy carrot variety but instead of the usual orange scented cream cheese frosting I would normally use, there was a vanilla buttercream topped with little  fondant planes, trains and cars.

Last but not least, I made some vanilla spice cookies, and rather than using royal icing, I cut out fondant and then added a couple of details such as the steering wheel and door join using edible pen and then wrapped them individually and finished with ribbon.

Overall, I was pleased with the finished result… and more importantly so was the client!

The one that got away….

In which I make a cake for a Michelin starred chef :-0

So there I was baking some  malteser cupcakes (thanks to Sam Loves Cake for the yummy  idea)  when I got an email from Love PR who I made the boobalicious cupcakes for, saying “how would you like to make a birthday cake for one of our clients?”

Well, of course I said yes… and then they said, it’s for a chef… a Michelin starred chef.. a French celebrity Michelin starred chef..Jean Christophe Novelli!  and the goosebumps came.

Now, I am quite confident in my ability as a baker (a prerequisite when you have a cake business!) but making a cake for a Michelin starred chef who actually started his career in a bakery has to be a little daunting doesn’t it?

As I only had two days to make it in an already busy schedule, I decided to go with the decadent double chocolate bundt cake with which I had reached the final of the “Great Chocolate Cake Off” last year in London. I did, however, add a new ingredient, Kirsch soaked black cherries… yum!

I decorated with a dark chocolate ganache, hand made white chocolate roses, a dusting of  edible gold glitter and twisty candles and put in a white box with big red roses atop (well, men can receive flowers too can’t they?) and then duly delivered it to his Academy about 40 miles away.

Sorry to say he wasn’t there when I arrived but I heard back from the agency that he loved it which was music to my ears!

Wonder who I will be baking for next…

Making a boob of myself…

Well, what can I say? it’s been a busy old time of it and I resigned my poor blog to a lonely existence. That’s not to say I haven’t been thinking about it of course.  I have been thinking, just not DOING!

It has been a really hectic few months since Christmas with, I’m happy to say, lots of cake and cupcake (and cake pop) orders.  One of my most challenging (and enjoyable) was being asked to create some boobalicious cupcakes for the launch of a new cosmetic surgery book – The Good Boob Bible  - by fantastic PR company Love PR http://www.loveprlondon.com/

At first, I attempted to make them in cake pop form but they looked vaguely sinister so I went back to the good old petite cupcake (more than a mouthful being a waste apparently!) It took a bit of practice but this is  how I got the final result.

I find that the normal sugarpaste doesn’t taste that great but I found a fantastic product in my local sugarcraft shop which was a marshmallow sugarpaste (by Karen Davies).

I decided that as my cupcakes were going to be quite well endowed on the whole, it would make for a much nicer tasting experience! Also, I had been reliably informed that it was far less likely to crack which is a problem I sometimes have with other sugarpastes when they dry out.

Firstly, I tinted the sugarpaste to a realistic flesh coloured tone using SugarFlair paprika/flesh.  You have to add slowly and carefully as it becomes a bit ‘tangoed!’ :-0

Then, I took small chunks of the sugarpaste and rolled them into fairly similar sized balls.

Then I dotted a small amount of edible glue on each and stuck a silver dragee on top to form the nipples. Ok they didn’t look that realistic at this point but wait and see.

After rolling and ‘nippling’ 38 pairs of sugarpaste breasts, I smeared a small amount of buttercream over each cupcake (I made lemon and vanilla) and then placed a pair of the breasts on each.

The next part was the most fiddly, rolling out the sugarpaste to make the covering for the breasts and the torso part. It had to be rolled thin enough to mould properly over the curves but not so thin so the dragee nipple broke through! (out of context that’s just weird!)

Once I got into the swing of it, all went well and soon I had 38 pairs of bare breasts staring at me (refer to above comment in brackets). I hope you agree, they look pretty realistic and a pair that any one of us might be proud of

Now, this was a cosmetic surgery book launch so I could have left them bare but somehow they looked a little brazen so I decided to cover them with fondant bras in two different colours, stuck little miniature flowers on as decoration and they were complete.

I was pleased with them and the client loved them so you can’t say fairer than that!  To see more, visit my FB page at http://www.facebook.com/jenscupcakery

New Year, old dreams!

Enjoying pre-xmas mulled wine at Edinburgh Christmas Market

A belated happy new year to you all! 

I don’t know about you but January, for me, (once I get over the disappointment that Xmas is over and I have pulled myself out of the January blues) is about new beginnings, new hopes and the desire to put into action all the things I wanted for myself and those around me last year… and probably the year before that too!

So, here’s my list of – I won’t call them resolutions – but, well,  my list of ‘good intentions’.

 

Write my blog more regularly! (hmmm first blog of the year mid-way through the month…)

Make time to try out new recipes in my quest to make healthier cakes but with the same great taste and share on blog

Take better images for blog

Refresh/build on  website www.jenscupcakery.com so that it more truly shows all that we do at Jen’s Cupcakery

Research possibility of finding premises, either a commercial kitchen or drum roll (and biggest dream of all), cafe space so I can open my long long long long dreamed about Jen’s Cupcakery cafe (though I actually have a different name in mind which I shan’t share just yet ssshhhhh) :-

Launch new product line (top secret) and all the work that goes with it – testing market, finding suppliers, working out prices, press and marketing strategy etc etc etc

Now this may seem a bit laughable considering the above but…make more time for my family.

Oh and all the usual of course… eat healthily, exercise more etc etc

Now, what are your good intentions?

Jingle bells, Christmas smells….

Ooh I LOVE Christmas. The smells, that gleeful feeling of anticipation, buying (and receiving) presents, the food, the promise of a white Christmas, the carols,  the general sense that all is well with the world.  How can anyone not love Christmas?!

Ok, maybe it’s because I was a Christmas baby, being born on the 22nd December (won’t mention the year!) What a nightmare that must have been for my poor mum, who already had two children - feverish with pre Santa excitement no doubt -  to look after.

And ok,  I admit, I don’t actually make the Christmas dinner so perhaps that’s why it’s more relaxing than for those slaving over a hot kitchen stove but that doesn’t mean I don’t do my fair share of work in the festive season!

The last three weeks and weekends, I have been busy baking up a Xmas storm for markets and christmas fetes as well as private orders but I have loved every minute

Every grate of orange rind, every pinch of cinnamon and every pureeing of cranberry leading me further into the wonders of the festive season.

For my seasonal selection this year, I have been making fresh orange, vanilla and cranberry cupcakes with home made cranberry puree inside; sticky toffee apple, filled to bursting with grated apple, scented with cinnamon and then filled with toffee sauce, topped with a cream cheese and cinnamon frosting and crowned with a home made marzipan apple. Carrot with a touch of warming ginger and – new to the Jen’s Cupcakery repertoire - maple syrup and walnut cupcakes topped with a maple frosting added a sweet finishing touch.

My next post will include my recipe for my orange and cranberry cupcakes as well as the simplest shove in a pan and stir Xmas cake… though this really should have been made by now according to Xmas cake schedules….whoops!

 

Spy themed cake for birthday boy

So, a week or so ago, I was asked to make a spy themed cake for a client’s son’s birthday.

Initially, this was to be a bomb (haven’t made one before but how difficult can that be I thought to myself, picturing a dome shaped cake with some kind of fuse coming out of the top – probably made of liquorice, the fuse that is. I have found liquorice a fantastic edible ingredient to use for all kinds of things lately!)  Just as I had figured this all out, the order changed… to a gun!

Now, morally, I’m not quite sure how good it is making a gun for a little boy (but a bomb’s ok I hear you say?!) but an order is an order and a challenge is a challenge.. and I quite enjoy those at times

I’m no gun expert, I don’t know my revolvers from my rifles, but on investigation, a Glock seemed like a good bet so I found an image, printed it and took it to my local printer to increase to a cake like size (hmmm….sizes are deceptive I later found).

I then took the chocolate sheet cake I had made earlier, sliced it in half and filled with chocolate buttercream  and then traced the pattern over, cutting it to shape. Eh voila, a gun shape emerged.. kind of!

I then covered with black sugarpaste and  added the little touches to make it more… well, gun-like (I don’t know the technical terms but let’s say grooves on the handle, a trigger etc). to get the silvery effect on the hand grip, I used a silver edible spray.

I used one of my many modelling tools to make the grooves and indents and sprayed some of the bits in silver.

The finishing touch was a few bullets made out of sugarpaste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As an extra flourish, I made an extra round chocolate cake and made it into a target!