Tag Archives: Cupcakes

Wispa Cupcakes!

It was a friend’s 40th birthday not too long ago and his favourite chocolate bar is Wispa. Turns out, this is one of the Mr’s fave chocolate bars too. I couldn’t resist seizing the opportunity to create Wispa cupcakes!

This is what you will need to make approx 12-16 Cupcakes.

For the Sponge Batter

  • 115g Dark Chocolate
  • 85g Unsalted Butter Room Temp!
  • 175g Soft Light Brown Sugar
  • 2 Eggs, separated Room Temp!
  • 185g Plain Flour
  • 3/4 tsp Baking Powder
  • 3/4 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
  • Salt, pinch
  • 250ml Milk Room Temp!
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

For the Chocolate Frosting

  • 175g Cadbury’s Milk Chocolate
  • 225g Butter
  • 300g Icing Sugar
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Decoration & Chocolate Chips for Sponge Mix

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C and line a cupcake tin with foil cases.

Break the dark chocolate into a glass bowl and set over a pan of barely simmering water. Melt slowly and leave to one side.

Cream the butter & the sugar in a large bowl with an electric hand whisk until light & fluffy. Mix in the egg yolks one at a time then add in the melted chocolate.

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl. Measure the milk into a jug and stir in the vanilla extract.

Gradually add alternate thirds of the flour mix & milk mix into the batter. Be careful not to over mix.

Chop half the bag of Wispa bites into smaller chunks to make “chocolate chips” and carefully fold into the sponge batter.

In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form then carefully fold them into the sponge batter.

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases (about two thirds full) and place in the oven for about 20  minutes. Use a skewer to check when they’re done.

Leave in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the Chocolate Frosting

Melt the Cadbury’s milk chocolate in a glass bowl over simmering water or in a microwave and set to one side.

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl then cream the butter in another large bowl using an electric hand whisk. Gradually add the icing sugar into the butter and mix well after each addition. Add the melted chocolate and vanilla extract then whisk a little with the electric hand whisk until light and fluffy.

To Decorate

Pipe the milk chocolate frosting on the top of the cooled cakes and top with 1 or 2 Bitsa Wispa.

This was a new sponge recipe for me. Even though it was really nice and light I’m not sure that it’s the perfect batter to hold chocolate chips. I don’t think that it’s quite stable enough. If I make these again I would either remove the chocolate chips or try a new chocolate sponge recipe.

I must say though, I loved the chocolate frosting! It really tasted like Cadbury’s milk chocolate. Delicious! It’s unusual to make a frosting with milk chocolate as it tends not to hold it’s shape as well as when you use dark chocolate. But with the addition of a little more icing sugar – it worked really well with this recipe!

And when I asked for the all important verdict from the Mr, all I got was, “F***ing Incredible.” Hahahaha! I think he liked them.

However, I am still on a quest to find the perfect chocolate fudge cupcake recipe. If any of you guys have a recipe that you’ve tried and think I would like I would love it if you could share with me! I love trying new recipes to find what works best.

Hope you enjoyed the post.

Live long and eat chocolate!

Miss KitchenMason

Rainbow Cupcakes!

Yep, super funky rainbow cupcakes! I have seen numerous blog posts across the internet for these and have always wanted to try them. So this weekend I thought, sod it, I’m making me some rainbow cupcakes! Here is what you will need to make about 12-15 cupcakes.

  • 110g Unsalted Butter Room Temp!
  • 225g Golden Caster Sugar
  • 2 Eggs Room Temp!
  • 120ml Milk
  • 1tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 150g Self Raising Flour
  • 125g Plain Flour
  • Red, Yellow, Blue & Green Food Colouring Gels

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 175g Cream Cheese Room Temp!
  • 450g Icing Sugar
  • 125g Butter Room Temp!
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Top Tip!

Use good quality vanilla extract, (Such as Neilson Massey’s)  it will make a huge difference to the flavour of your cakes. Trust me!

Preheat your oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C and line a cupcake tin with cases.

To make the sponge batter, cream the butter and the sugar in a large bowl using an electric hand whisk. Do this for a few minutes until light and fluffy.

Beat both the eggs in a bowl/jug and add to the mixture a quarter at a time. Beat really well after each addition.

Sieve both the plain & self raising flour into a bowl and set to one side. Pour the milk into a jug and stir in the vanilla extract.

Add a quarter of the flour into the batter and mix, then add a quarter of the milk and mix. Mix only until just incorporated. Then repeat the process until all ingredients are used up.

Divide the batter evenly between four bowls. Using cocktail sticks, add small amounts of the food colouring gels and mix through until the desired colours are achieved. Try and be patient when mixing in the colours, if you stir too much you will get the glutens in the flour working which will make your cakes quite dense as opposed to light and fluffy.

Spoon blobs of each colour into each case, then using cocktail sticks, carefully swirl the colours to make funky random patterns within your cakes.

Be aware to still only fill the cases 2 thirds full. It’s easy to get carried away when you’re getting all arty farty with the funky coloured batters!!

Place in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Turn halfway to ensure an even bake.

Remove from the oven, allow to sit in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the cream cheese frosting.

Sift the icing sugar into a large bowl. In another large bowl, beat together the butter & cream cheese. Gradually, about 2-3 tbsp at a time, mix the icing sugar into the butter/cheese mix using a rubber spatula. Keep going until all the icing sugar has been used.

Add in the vanilla extract then “fluff up”  slightly by mixing for a few minutes with an electric hand whisk. Cream cheese frosting can be slightly wet and difficult to pipe. By whisking with an electric hand whisk, it should make it easier to pipe onto your cakes.

Naturally, you can decorate however you want to. In fact – I encourage it!! The beauty of cupcake decorating is that you can do whatever the hell you like, go nuts! Use your imagination to create your own personalised funky cakes.

On this batch, I used a 2D drop flower nozzle. Working from the middle – with the bag in a vertical position, swirl your way to the outside of the cake. It will create a rose effect. I then topped with some edible glitter.

I love these cakes, even though mine did end up being slightly more dense than I would have liked. (It just required more patience on my part when mixing in the colours.)

They are just so damn funky! Especially with it looking fairly plain from the outside being covered in simple white frosting. Then you take a bite and it’s just an explosion of colour and happiness! Haha, these would be the perfect party cupcakes I think, they just make you smile no matter what mood you’re in.

Hope you enjoyed the post as always! And if you have any cupcake ideas you’d like to share/me to try –  I’m all ears!

Until next time my sugar plum fairies.

Miss KitchenMason

Creme Egg Cupcakes!

Yes, you heard me. Frickin super sexylicious creme egg cupcakes! Sounds like food heaven right?? Well you’d be correct in that assumption my friends. Heaven. Pure astronomical, out of this galaxy, gooey, chocolatey heaven!

It was my brothers’ Birthday on Monday and it’s fast becoming a tradition that I make a batch of cupcakes for the Birthday boy/girl. The only question that needs asking is, “What is your favourite chocolate bar?”

Now my brother was somewhat… indecisive. First it was Double Decker, then it was Toblerone, then it was Toblerone Fruit & Nut then he said Creme Egg. In all fairness, as soon as he said those two magical words I was sold on the idea of creating it. He had no choice. It had to be Creme Egg cupcakes!

Here is what you will need to recreate this unbelievably amazing treat.

Makes 12

  • 100g Dark Chocolate
  • 100g Butter (Room Temp!)
  • 1/2 tbsp Coffee Granules
  • 45g Self Raising Flour
  • 45g Plain Flour
  • Pinch Bicarbonated Soda
  • 100g Light Muscovado Sugar
  • 100g Golden Caster Sugar
  • 15g Cocoa Powder
  • 2 Eggs (Room Temp!)
  • 40ml Buttermilk (Room Temp!)

Buttercream Frosting

  • 200g Butter (Room Temp!)
  • 400g Icing Sugar
  • 2tbsp Milk
  • 1tsp Vanilla Extract
  • Yellow Food Colouring Gel

Decoration

  • 24 Mini Cadbury’s Creme Eggs (x12 to fill/x12 to decorate)

Advance Preperation!

Put 12 of the Creme Eggs in the freezer the night before you plan on making them. These will be the ones to go in the sponge mix, freezing them stops them from melting into nothing.

While you are at it, remove all ingredients that say “(Room Temp!)” out of the fridge and leave to come to room temperature overnight.

Preheat your oven to 150°C & line a cupcake tin with 12 cases.

Make the sponge mixture the same way as the Ultimate Chocolate Cake but using the ingredient measures as stated above.

Spoon 1 tbsp of the mixture into each case then put a mini Creme Egg in each one. Top each Creme Egg with another 1/2 tbsp of sponge mix to cover.

Put the cupcakes onto the middle shelf of the oven for about 25 minutes turning half way to ensure an even bake. Test with a skewer towards the end of the cooking time, if it comes out clean they’re ready, if not – they need a little longer.

Remove from the oven, allow to sit in the tin for about 5 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the buttercream frosting.

Cream the butter in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer then, 2tbsp at a time, mix in the icing sugar. Beat well in-between each addition.

Once you have used all the icing sugar, add the milk & vanilla extract. Mix for a few minutes with the electric hand mixer until smooth, light & fluffy.

Put 3 heaped tablespoons of the frosting into another bowl. Add small amounts of the yellow food colouring until you get the “egg yolk” colour that you desire.

Spoon both coloured frostings into separate piping bags. You can either use large round tip nozzles or simply snip the ends off.

When the cakes are completely cooled, pipe a thick ring around the edge of the cupcakes with the white frosting. Then pipe the “yolk” in to the middle using the yellow frosting. Repeat for all 12 cupcakes and then put a mini Creme Egg on top to cover the seem created by the white frosting ring.

And there you have it. Possibly the best cupcake ever created.

These are super delicious. The “Ultimate Chocolate Cake” sponge mixture is moist and really chocolatey. The buttercream frosting is beautifully light and fluffy. Then when you bite into the middle and get to the goo of the Creme Egg, it’s just amazing!

I’m pleased to say that the Birthday boy enjoyed them. Despite the completely bizarre facial expression that he’s pulling in this photo haha! I’m not sure whether it’s joy, confusion, unexpectedness or just him being him to be honest! *giggles* I also heard on the grapevine that Phebe (his girlfriend) was bribing him for one with his Birthday presents! Definitely a big hit so I’m really chuffed.

This week I would also like to give a huge shout out & a MASSIVE thank you to Ady over at Proximity Solutions for providing the KitchenMason website with a beautiful new look! Creating  not only a corker of a header for the site but also, KitchenMason’s very own logo! What do you all think?

You guys should go check out his amazing work at www.proximity-solutions.co.uk.

So, Creme Egg cupcakes. How do you eat yours?

Until next time. GOO!

Miss KitchenMason

Nat’s Birthday Bake!

I was really excited for this weekend. It’s my friend Natalie’s birthday soon and we wanted to do something a bit different. So I invited a few friends over to the KitchenMason kitchen to bake lots of yummy cake! YES!

First on the menu was the Ultimate Chocolate Cake from a post I did back in February. But this wasn’t enough for the likes of us ladies, oh no. On top of this, we also made a batch of lemon cupcakes… and a batch of  cherry chocolate chip cupcakes too!

Here is what you need to make both types of cupcake.

Lemon Cupcakes

Makes approx 12

  • 175g Unsalted Butter (Room temp!)
  • 175g Golden Caster Sugar
  • 3 Eggs (Room temp!)
  • 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
  • Finely Grated Zest of 1 Lemon
  • 175g Self Raising Flour, sieved

For the Lemon Buttercream Frosting

  • 200g Unsalted Butter (Room temp!)
  • 400g Icing Sugar
  • 1 tbsp Milk
  • 2 tbsp Lemon Juice
  • Yellow Food Colouring Gel

Preheat your oven to 200°C/fan 180°C and line a cupcake tin with cases.

Cream the butter and the sugar in a bowl with an electric hand mixer until light & fluffy.

Gradually beat in the eggs one by one then add the lemon zest & lemon juice.

Fold in the flour and divide the mix between the cases. Bake for 15-20 minutes turning half way. Test if ready with a skewer.

Leave in the tin for 5 minutes then place on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting:

Cream the butter in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer. Blend the icing sugar in a quarter at a time, beat well after each addition.

Add the milk, the lemon juice and the food colouring then mix well until light and fluffy.

Pipe onto the cupcakes and decorate until your hearts content!

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Makes approx 12

  • 150g Unsalted Butter (Room Temp!)
  • 150g Golden Caster Sugar
  • 3 Eggs (Room Temp!)
  • 1 tbsp Cherry Soda Stream Syrup
  • 140g Self Raising Flour, sieved
  • 40g Cocoa Powder, sieved
  • 100g Chocolate, chopped

For the Frosting:

Preheat your oven to 200°C/fan 180°C and line a cupcake tin with cases.

Cream together the butter and the sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time then sift in the flour and the cocoa powder.

Add the chocolate chunks and the cherry syrup. Mix until just incorporated and divide the mixtre between the cases.

Bake for 15 minutes, turning half way. Test with a skewer to make sure they’re cooked.

Leave in the tin for 5 minutes then place on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the Frosting:

Cream the butter in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer then add the icing sugar. Mix well.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water then mix into the butter and sugar.

Add the milk and the cherry syrup, mix until light and fluffy.

Pipe onto the cupcakes and commence decorating!

∞

It really was such a fun day. Great cakes, great wine and great company! Here are a selection of pics from the day to feast your eyes on. Enjoy!

Nat’s ultimate chocolate birthday cake

The girlees hard at work!

One of the many beautiful cupcakes that were made

Look at the concentration!

The fruits of our labour. Look how pretty!

The birthday girl and the cutting of the cake. Look at the joy on that face haha!

This is Jim. Chocolate covered Jim. I think he liked the cake haha!

Hope you enjoyed this weeks post my lovelies!

Enjoy the rest of your lazy Sunday and I’ll catch you all next time.

Miss KitchenMason

Carrot Cake Cupcakes!

After the success of last weeks Birthday bash, Mum dropped a hint that she didn’t get enough of her birthday cake and thought I should make her some more! Always wanting to improve & try new things, I thought why not try and convert the recipe to make cupcakes instead? So here is what you will need to make 12 carrot cake cupcakes:

Cake Mix

  • 150g Plain Flour
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp Baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp Bicarbonated Soda
  • 100g Soft Brown Sugar
  • 2 Eggs
  • 125ml Oil (I used Olive)
  • 1 Orange (zest of 1/2)
  • 1 Lemon (zest of 1/2)
  • 100g Carrots, peeled & grated

Frosting

  • 250g Cream Cheese (Full fat)
  • 125g Butter (Room Temperature!)
  • 50g Icing Sugar

Flower Decorations

  • Food colouring (of your choosing)
  • Pre Packed pack of White Icing
  • Pearl Sugar balls for centres

Special Equipment

  • Flower shaped plunger cutter
  • Piping Bag/Nozzles of your choosing
  • Cupcake Tray/Muffin Tray

For the Cakes

Preheat your oven to 150°C

In a bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder & bicarbonated soda then add the brown sugar & mix well.

Zest both the orange & the lemon into another large bowl and add the eggs. Gradually beat in the oil then mix in the carrots.

In quarters, add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well until fully incorporated.

Spoon the mixture into 12 cupcake cases set out in a cupcake tray/muffin tray. (Approx 2 tbsp per case.)

Put in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Turn halfway to achieve even cooking.

Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes in the tray, then put on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the Frosting

Sift the icing sugar into a large bowl and add the butter. Carefully blend together then add the cream cheese and mix until lump free & smooth.

Chill in the fridge until ready to use. (If you have an hour or more, it helps.)

It is worth noting here that on this occasion I tried to save some calories and used extra light Philadelphia. I have now learnt this is a bad idea. It makes the frosting too wet and as a result, melts the decorations that you spend all that time and effort on! So make sure you use full fat cream cheese to avoid making a wet frosting. I believe my philosophy of “If you are going to do something wrong, do it right!” is very apt right now haha!

For the Flower Decorations

The amount of icing required is dependent on how many flowers you need to make. Use your judgement.

Put the pre made icing in a stand mixer and turn on. Add food colouring a little at a time until desired colour is achieved.

Take out the bowl and, if necessary, knead until the colouring is even. Wrap in cling film, flatten into a disc and pop in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to chill.

Remove from freezer.  On a work surface dusted with icing sugar, roll out to about 2mm thick. Using a plunger cutter, cut out as many flowers as you need. Wrap in cling film and store in an air tight container in the fridge until required. If you want to have balls in the centre of your flowers, pipe a tiny dot of the frosting in the middle and place a ball on top. Leave to set. (I use little pearl sugar balls you can buy from any supermarket.)

Assembly

Fill  a piping bag with the frosting & pipe onto the carrot cakes. Then decorate as you please with the flowers!

I Thoroughly enjoyed giving these a go. Due to all this recent piping & decorating I think I’m falling in love with baking all over again. (Not that I ever fell out of love with it in the first place!)

I seem to have caught the baking bug. I literally can’t stop thinking about piping and frosting and cutters and all things cake! So much so, I’ve treated myself and ordered lots of plunger cutters. Can’t wait for my new toys to arrive so I can have a play!!

Hope you enjoyed the post, until next week chums.

Miss KitchenMason

Chocolate Cupcakes!

I had decided that for one weekend, I would try and go without making any sweet treats. As you can imagine, in my household it’s somewhat of a regular occurrence! It got to about 2 o’clock in the afternoon and the other half turns round to me and says, “Awww, aren’t you making any treats this weekend?” … ended up making these cupcakes from the Chocolate Box! Haha. Here is what you need to make about 12.

  • 200ml Water
  • 85g Butter
  • 85g Caster Sugar
  • 1 tbsp Golden Syrup
  • 3 tbsp Milk
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
  • 1 tsp Bicarbonated Soda
  • 225g Plain Flour
  • 2 tbsp Cocoa Powder

Icing

  • 50g Plain Chocolate
  • 50g White Chocolate
  • 4 tbsp Water
  • 50g Butter
  • 350g Icing Sugar

Preheat your oven to 180°C & put 12 cases in a muffin tray.

Put the water, sugar, butter & syrup in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and cook gently for 5 minutes. Take off the heat and leave to cool.

Mix the milk with the vanilla essence and add the bicarbonated soda, stir to dissolve.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl and add the syrup mixture. Stir in the milk mixture and beat until smooth and blended well. Spoon into the prepared cases, about 2 thirds full.

Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes. Check with a skewer at 15 minutes, if the skewer comes out clean they are cooked, if it has cake mixture on it cook for another few minutes and check again.

Take out the oven and leave to cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare the icing.

Break the plain chocolate into a bowl and add half the butter & half the water.

Put over a pan of simmering water and heat until melted. Whilst the bowl is still over the heat, sift in half the icing sugar and stir until smooth & thick. Repeat with the white chocolate.

Decorate half the cupcakes with chocolate icing & the other half with the white chocolate and leave to set.

I must admit, I can’t totally blame the other half for urging me to bake something sweet. I didn’t exactly take a lot of convincing!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Miss KitchenMason

Lemon Cream!

Yet again, I had another dinner party this weekend. But this time was a little different. We had fillet steak with blue cheese & onion sauce as posted a few weeks back. http://kitchenmason.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/fillet-steak-with-hasselbacks-and-blue-cheese-onion-sauce/ This time with home made chips though.

But instead of doing a starter, we had 2 puddings!! My lovely friend made some mint chocolate chip cupcakes that were to die for and I made this lemon cream from Circle B Kitchen.

Yum… ee!! I wish I knew the recipe for these bad boys, I think I might live off them lol.

Anyway! Back to business. Lemon Cream pudding. This is what you will need:

  • 3 x Unwaxed Lemons
  • 275g Caster Sugar
  • 6 Eggs
  • 250g Mascarpone Cheese

I actually only made half this recipe. The full recipe yields 8 ramekins but I was only cooking for 4 people.

First, zest the lemons & squeeze the juice out of them then put it all in a large bowl. If like me, you’re making half the recipe, only use 1 to 1.5 lemons. I risked it with 2 and it turned it far too lemony. I know that sounds silly considering it’s a lemon pudding but trust me, it’s possible!

Next, crack the eggs into the bowl along with the sugar and mix well.

Carefully mix in the mascarpone. I say carefully. It doesn’t really matter but I was a little too vigorous and ended up with pudding all over my kitchen sides. Doh! So yeah, be a little careful.

Then cover with cling film & leave in your fridge. Apparently this is best being left for about 2 days. I did it one day in advance and it seemed fine though.

Once you are ready to bake them, preheat your oven to 150°C and share the mixture between the ramekins. Place them into a roasting tray and fill it with not boiling, but hot water up to about half way up the ramekins & bake for about 25 minutes.

Top Tips!

- Don’t pour in boiling water as you will end up with a scrambled egg pudding… not very appetising.

- Put the roasting tray in the oven before filling with water as it will be much easier and less risky!

When they are done, they should wobble slightly, note that they will firm up more as they cool.

When you are done, keep in the fridge up until about half an hour before you are going to eat them. Then enjoy!

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Until next time folks!

Miss Kitchen Mason