With Valentines Day only a couple of days away, it was a necessity that I came up with a romantic themed cupcake! I love all things romantic and I love cupcakes, and I wanted to create a cupcake that was different from what I'd done before. So this recipe uses ingredients I haven't really used before and a method that I've still not quote perfected yet, due to not have a candy thermometer. So please welcome my:

Valentine's Champagne and Raspberry Cupcakes
- Champagne cupcakes with Raspberry liqueur buttercream and tempered chocolate hearts -

Recipe:

Cake Mix:
115g Butter
112g Caster sugar
2 Eggs- beaten
225g Self-raising Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
120ml Champagne (I used Cava)

Buttercream Frosting:
150g Unsalted butter (room temperature)
300g Icing sugar
45ml Raspberry Liqueur
Purple Food Colouring Gel

Decoration:
100g Dark Chocolate

Makes 12



Method:

Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 7/200C/400F
Place cupcake cases in a cupcake baking tray.

1.Break up about 75g of your chocolate and add to a ceramic or metal bowl. Boil a kettle, add the water to a saucepan and place the bowl on top. Slowly stirring the chocolate with a plastic spatula until it is all melted and reaches 41C. Take off the saucepan and add in your remaining chocolate, stirring in until it melts and the chocolate cools to 38C.
2. Lay out a sheet of grease proof paper or asitate. Put the chocolate in a piping bag and pipe out as many little hearts as you can, or whatever romantic design you want. Originally I wanted to do little arrows to do through the frosting, but I didn't cut my hole small enough in the piping bag.
3. Once you've done your design, put your chocolate shapes in the fridge while you make the rest of your cupcakes.



4. Add your butter to a bowl and cream a little so that it softens. Add in your caster sugar and cream together.
5. Beat together your eggs in a jug, then add into the butter and sugar slowly and mix.
6. Sift in your flour and mix in a bit at a time.
7. Once your flour is mixed in, add in a teaspoon of baking powder and combine.
8. Add in your champagne, there will be a little bubbly reaction, but don't worry it won't erupt. Mix in well.
9. Evenly divide your batter between your cupcake cases.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes, depending on how good your oven is. Take out and allow to cool.






15. Put your frosting in a piping bag and decorate your cupcakes.


16. Take your chocolate hearts out of the fridge and gently peel off the grease proof paper and place on your cupcakes.



I really really really loved these cupcakes. Dan's Mum even thinks I have surpassed my lemon surprise cupcakes, which is saying something! And I love how pretty these cupcakes photos turned out!

So if you want to make a romantic gesture why not make these for a loved one!

Also, Happy Anniversary to my wonderful boyfriend, Dan! 

So, remember, each day, live a little, laugh a little and love a little. ♥

Now that the countdown for Christmas has begun it's time to start some Christmas baking! So I thought I would start us off with a nice chocolatey but festive cupcake!

Terry's Chocolate Orange Cupcakes
-Chocolate and orange vest cupcakes with Orange flavoured buttercream and a Terry Chocolate Orange Slice-

Recipe:

Cake Mix:
115g butter
112g caster sugar
2 eggs
225g self-raising flour
35g coco powder
100ml milk
vest of 1/4 orange

Buttercream Frosting:
300g icing sugar
150g unsalted butter (room temperature)
Orange Gel Food Colouring
Juice of Quarter Orange

Decoration:
12 Slices of Terry's Chocolate Orange







13. Now add your Terry's Chocolate Orange Slices to the top. And enjoy eating the remaining slices, yay!



I was a little bit concerned about these cupcakes, because when I was making them I took some batter to my boyfriend to try and he said they didn't taste good and that the consistency wasn't the same as it usually was. But I held on to my hope and they turned out really really yummy. I took some in on the first day of my newest placement and everyone loved them!

I hope everyone is looking forward to my other Christmas Baking Recipes!

Coming Soon!

So remember, each day, live a little, laugh a little and love a little. ♥

With it now being November, it means there is only one more holiday before we can start getting excited for Christmas. So what a great excuse for a new bonfire night inspired cupcake recipe, yay!
I personally love the sticky goodness of a nice toffee apple, although I have consumed somewhat less of them since entering my adult years, so I'm hoping I have created a recipe that will suffice my hunger for toffee apples with less of the mess.

Bonfire Night Toffee Apple Cupcakes
-Cupcakes with cinnamon, ginger and vanilla, and salted caramel frosting, with drizzled toffee sauce and a slice of apple on top-

Recipe:

Cake Mix:
115g Butter
112g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
225g Self-raising flour
2 Teaspoons cinnamon
1 Teaspoon ginger
1.5 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
50ml Milk

Frosting:
150g unsalted butter (room temperature)
300g icing sugar
2 Teaspoon Salted Caramel Essence
5 tablespoons Milk

Decoration:
Toffee Sauce
1 Apple

Make 12

Method:

Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 7/200C/400F
Place cupcake cases in a cupcake baking tray.

1. Add your butter to a bowl and cream a little so that it softens. Add in your caster sugar and cream together.
2. Add in your eggs and mix- it'll look a little disgusting at this point.
3. Sift in your flour and mix in a bit at a time.
4. Once your flour is mixed in, add in your cinnamon, ginger and vanilla. Do a little taste test and add more spice depending on your preference (My little sister said all she could taste was cinnamon and I thought it was vanilla heavy, and since she was probably already high on sugar we went with my taste buds).
5. Add in your milk a bit at a time and combine.
6. Even divide your batter between your cupcake cases.
7. Bake for 25-35 minutes (depending on how good your oven is, it took mine closer to 35 minutes, because our oven is never as hot as it is meant to be). Take out and allow to cool.






I made these cakes with my little sister while babysitting on Wednesday, and seriously, by the time my Dad came to pick her and my brother up, she was on a proper sugar high! Although I'm not sure if I should feel proud or troubled for introducing her to salted caramel, it's something new for her to eat, but it is of course packed full of sugar.

I am totally in love with these cupcakes, they are delicious! And are definitely a slightly more sophisticated adult version of a toffee apple.

So remember, each day, live a little, laugh a little and love a little. ♥

With Halloween just a week away I'd say it definitely time to start thinking about what spooky Halloween themed treats you will be making. I deliberating long and hard over what kind of cupcakes to make, I spent hours on pinterest trying to find ideas that would inspire me, alas I was coming up short, especially as I wanted something original.

So I present to you my recipe for:
Marshmallow Cobweb Cupcakes
-Chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate chunks, chocolate  butter cream frosting and marshmallow decoration.

Recipe:

Cake Mix:
115g Butter
112g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
225g Self-raising flour
45g coco powder
100ml Milk

Frosting:
150g unsalted butter (room temperature)
250g icing sugar
50g coco powder
5 tablespoons Milk

Decoration:
180g Marshmallows (melted)

Make 12

Method:

Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 7/200C/400F
Place Halloween themed cupcake cases in a cupcake baking tray.

1. Add your butter to a bowl and cream a little so that it softens. Add in your caster sugar and cream together.
2. Add in your eggs and mix- it'll look a little disgusting at this point.
3. Sift in your flour and mix in (I added mine in at about 50g at the time and mix, only because I have a little pink sieve, but I have found it distributes the flour better.
4. Once your flour is mixed in, add your coco about 10-15g at a time, adding about a quarter of your milk for the batter and combine. Keep doing this until you've used all the coco and milk.
5. Mix in your white chocolate chunks.
6. Even divide your batter between your cupcake cases.
7. Bake for 25-35 minutes (depending on how good your oven is, it took mine closer to 35 minutes, because our oven is never as hot as it is meant to be).



8. In another bowl, add your unsalted butter and cream a little (I had to stick mine in the microwave for a few seconds as it just wasn't getting any softer).
9. In a separate bowl sift together your icing sugar and coco powder.
10. Add about a fifth of the icing sugar/coco powder mix to your unsalted butter and combine, then add one of your 5 tablespoons of milk and combine. Keep alternating until you have used all the powder mix.



11. Once your cupcakes have cooled you can add your chocolate butter cream frosting to the top, don't worry about it being neat as it will mostly be hidden by the "cobwebs".
12. You have to allow your cupcakes to completely cool, otherwise the marshmallow will melt the butter cream (I left mine in the fridge for about 6 hours while I went to work).



13. When your cupcakes are cool and you are ready to add your decoration, place your marshmallows in a microwavable bowl and microwave on the minimum heat for about a minute, take out and stir and put back in the microwave for another 30 seconds if it hasn't melted enough, you don't want them to burn so keep an eye on them.
14. To decorate with melted marshmallow you want to scoop up about half a tablespoon of marshmallow and place it on top of the frosting, slightly off centre. Then with a cocktail sausage stick or another similar utensil, you can start pulling at the marshmallow, bringing it down to stick to the cupcake cases.

Tip: You may need to re-microwave your marshmallows after every couple of cupcakes as it's easier to work with while it's warmer. Also if you have any marshmallow left over you can pull up a stringy bit with your cocktail sausage stick to add some more intricate cobwebs to your cupcakes.



This can be quite a messy baking experience, but it's lot of fun and they taste yummy!
Just get ready to have every single finger covered in marshmallows!

If you have a go at these spooky marshmallow cobweb cupcakes, please let me know how you get on,

So remember, each day, live a little, laugh a little and love a little. ♥

Images taken from my Instagram account.

OCD at work here, I had to arrange the cake cases by colour in diagonal lines!

Got to love MACRO! Although my camera calls it close up (a camera obviously not made for art students).