Tag: birthday cakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Published on by Elise BLeave a comment

I’ve always been fascinated by red velvet cake, probably since seeing the memorable bleeding armadillo groom’s cake in Steel Magnolias! Red velvet isn’t a very common flavour in Australia (although this is changing), and so finding a strong enough red food dye can be challenging. I used Wilton red no-taste colouring paste, but have heard Dr. Oetker works well too. These cakes are light and fluffy, and due to the buttermilk are not overly sweet. I served mine with cream cheese frosting, but a vanilla buttercream would also work well.

oEVw09pAQW+t51%tbpl5kA_thumb_e08

Ingredients (Makes 24)
Cupcakes
150g softened butter
⅔ cup caster sugar
2 tspns vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 ⅓ cups self raising flour, sifted
4 tblspns cocoa, sifted
½ cup buttermilk
1 ½ tblspns of good quality red food colouring (I use Wilton’s, you may need to adjust the amount depending on the brand you use)

Cream Cheese Frosting
500g cream cheese, chopped
100g butter, softened
1 tspn vanilla extract
1 ½ cups icing sugar
2 tblspns milk

dgaf6Bt6QwyCBAfZ66gBCw_thumb_de6

Method
Preheat oven to 160°C. Place butter, caster sugar and vanilla into a large bowl and beat with electric mixer until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, beating until well combined. Add the flour, cocoa, buttermilk and food colouring and beat on a low speed until just combined.

Divide mixture into cupcake tins lined with patty pans. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Once the cupcakes are almost completely cool, start making the cream cheese frosting. Place the cream cheese and butter into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 8-10 minutes. Add the icing sugar and vanilla and beat for a further 5 minutes or until completely smooth. Add the milk and beat until just combined.

Top each cupcake with a thick layer of frosting and, if desired, break up one of the cupcakes and sprinkle its crumbs over the remaining cakes. Enjoy!

dbw2B4K+RySQh027I%XaBA_thumb_df2

Recipe adapted from Donna Hay’s recipe ‘red velvet cupcakes with sugared cranberries’.

igcIKYHeSe2XgzJgGwN%Og_thumb_e18

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

Advertisement

Funfetti Cupcakes

Published on by Elise B2 Comments

These delicious vanilla cupcakes are made even better by the addition of sprinkles! Perfect for birthdays, baby showers or any time you feel like celebrating.

thumb_img_2909_1024

Ingredients (makes 24+ cupcakes)
2 ¾ cups plain flour
2 tspns baking powder
200g unsalted butter, softened
1 ¾ cups caster sugar
4 eggs
1 tblspn vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 cup rainbow sprinkles

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting 
200g butter, softened
½ cup milk
1 tblspn vanilla extract
8 cups icing sugar
A few drops of food colouring as desired
Sprinkles, to decorate

thumb_img_2913_1024

Method
Preheat the oven to 170°C (approximately 150°C fan-forced). Line two 12 hole muffin trays with patty pans.

Sift together the flour and baking powder. In a different bowl, cream the butter for 1-2 mins. Add the caster sugar about a third at a time, beating for 2mins after each addition. After the last of the sugar has been beaten, beat until the mixture is light and fluffy and the sugar dissolved. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 min after each addition or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat until just combined.

Add approximately a third of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat on a low speed until combined. Add half of the milk and beat until combined. Repeat this process until all of the flour and milk is thoroughly combined but be careful not to overbeat (this will toughen the mixture). Add in the sprinkles and gently stir through until evenly dispersed.

Spoon mixture into the patty pans (filling each about 3/4 full) and bake for about 18-20mins or until the top springs back when touched. Remove the cupcakes from the trays immediately and cool on a wire rack for at least half an hour before icing.

To make the frosting, cream the butter for 1-2 mins in a large bowl using an electric mixer. Add the milk, vanilla and half of the icing sugar and beat for at least 3 mins (until the mixture is light and fluffy). Add the remaining icing sugar and beat for a further 3 mins or until of a spreadable consistency. Add extra milk if too dry or extra icing sugar if too wet. Add colouring and beat in until combined and the desired colour has been achieved.

Using a piping bag with a Wilton 2D tip, pipe buttercream in a swirl on the cupcakes and decorate with extra sprinkles.

Enjoy!

thumb_img_2902_1024

thumb_img_2908_1024

Recipes adapted from The Crabapple Cupcake Bakery Cookbook.

#birthdaycakegoals & My Baking Inspiration

Published on by Elise BLeave a comment

I intended to do this as a Mother’s Day tribute… then to post it around my Birthday… but this year has got away from me, and it has only been this weekend while sorting through old photos that this post has been able to become a reality.

A lot of people ask me where I get my motivation to bake from and how I can be bothered to take the time necessary to make my creations look good. Well, the answer is simple: my Mum is my biggest baking inspiration, and I attribute much of my motivation to her exquisite birthday cake creations over the years which are a feast for the eyes as much as for the tastebuds.

While I agree that it’s the taste of the food that counts the most, I think we “eat with our eyes” (to borrow an old MasterChef cliché) and how food is presented really does matter, as it can enhance or detract from the whole experience. I also really enjoy the challenge and creativity involved in making my food look as good as I can and find it as, if not more, fulfilling than eating the end product!

Without further ado, I present to you a small selection of Mum’s finest cakes from my childhood, the very creations that inspired my love of baking (please excuse the 90s-00s photo quality):

Hand made figurines for my Peter Rabbit themed 4th Birthday party.

thumb_img_4064_1024Bananas in Pyjamas cakes for my sister Laura’s 2nd Birthday

thumb_img_4059_1024
My gorgeous 1st Birthday cake 

thumb_img_4073_1024A beautiful fairytale castle cake for Laura’s 4th Birthday 

thumb_img_4062_1024An Ariel cake for my mermaid-themed 5th Birthday party

thumb_img_4068_1024A sleeping dragon cake for my magical 7th Birthday party 

thumb_img_4038_1024A Johnson cake (from Johnson and Friends) for my 3rd birthday 

thumb_img_4075_1024A ‘Forever Friends’ cake for Laura’s 5th Birthday

thumb_img_4106_1024The cake for my 10th Birthday ten-pin bowling party

thumb_img_4104_1024A Shirley Barber inspired fairy cake for my 6th Birthday party

thumb_img_4096_1024A ‘Spot the Dog’ cake for Laura’s 1st Birthday 

thumb_img_4101_1024My 2nd Birthday cake 

thumb_img_4082_1024Laura’s 7th Birthday ballerina cake 

Mum, you’re a superstar! Thank you for the all the incredible memories from my childhood and for putting so much effort in to make each and every birthday feel so special. You’re the very definition of #Mumgoals – I love you so so much xx

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Published on by Elise BLeave a comment

This is probably my most requested frosting/icing/addictive substance that goes on cakes. It works beautifully on cupcakes and large cakes and is a favourite with both children and adults!

thumb_img_2908_1024

Ingredients
Note: This makes HEAPS and I often halve or only use 3/4 of the recipe, however if you want really thick icing or will make a second batch soon after, the full recipe is the way to go (it lasts for about a week)
200g butter, softened
½ cup milk
1 tblspn vanilla extract
8 cups icing sugar
A few drops of food colouring/flavouring as desired

Yaxh0kg6T2+SJzFIs38sfA_thumb_d31

Method
Cream the butter for 1-2 mins in a large bowl using an electric mixer. Add the milk, vanilla and half of the icing sugar and beat for at least 3 mins (until the mixture is light and fluffy). Add the remaining icing sugar and beat for a further 3 mins or until of a spreadable consistency. Add extra milk if too dry or extra icing sugar if too wet. Add  colouring/flavouring and beat in until combined and the desired colour/flavour has been achieved.

Using a knife or piping bag, apply buttercream to cupcakes or cake and decorate as desired.

Cds2oTvKTQChj+iFM86QIw_thumb_d2e

Adapted from the Crabapple Cupcake Bakery Cookbook

image1-16July-Aug 2011 094