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Buttercream
Easy Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes
For today’s recipe, I’m taking a classic and making it vegan – the humble vanilla cupcake. A fluffy vanilla cupcake topped with a delightful vanilla buttercream – what more could you want?
I though, seeing as its veganuary, why not make a simple yet staple recipe? Vanilla cupcakes are easily one of the most popular cupcakes flavours out there, so it should be available for vegans!
I’ve been testing different recipes and them all ending up with different results but none of them were perfect. Some required oil, others a vegan spread and after a few attempts, I had enough of weird textures and flavours, so I took my own vanilla cupcake recipe and made some minor changes and finally found a recipe that was going to work for me and I’m sharing it with you today!
As with some recipes, they require you to buy bits and pieces you wouldn’t usually use but not with this one, the only thing you’ll need to buy different is some oat milk (that’s my favourite alternative to milk, but feel free to test other types of milk). We use the milk in place of the eggs and it works perfectly in this recipe – trust me.
As always, you should take extra precautions with ingredients and making sure they are fully vegan before you use them!
Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?
Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
175g Vegan spread (I used PURE, its vegan and gluten free – available at Heron frozen foods stores).
175g Granulated sugar.
175ml Oat milk (you can try other alternatives, I haven’t so can’t recommend any).
1 tsp Vanilla extract.
175g Plain flour.
1 tsp Baking powder.
Pinch of salt.
Buttercream
125g Vegan spread (I used PURE).
125g White Vegetable fat (I used Trex).
500g Icing sugar.
1 tsp Vanilla extract.
Methods:
Before you get into making the cupcakes, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weighing up all your ingredients, line a cupcake pan with cupcake cases and getting any equipment you may need ready to use.
Start by getting yourself a mixing bowl and placing the spread and sugar into it. Beat the two together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.
Give the bowl a scraping down and start to add your oat milk in a little at a time, no matter how slowly you add the milk, the mixture with split and this is okay on this occasion. This will happen as you’re adding a lot of liquid into a mix which can’t handle it, it will be corrected once the flour is added.
Once all of the oat milk has been added, you can go ahead and sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix on a low-medium speed until all the dry ingredients have been worked in. You’ll know once the batter is smooth and doesn’t show a trace of a single ingredient.
Don’t forget to line your cupcake pan with cupcake cases and transfer the cake batter into a piping bag (for convenience). Fill the cupcake cases just over half the way full, this is the ideal amount.
Place into your preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes or until well risen and a tester comes out clean (all ovens are different, so times may vary between each oven).
While your cupcakes are in the oven baking, now would be the ideal time to make your ‘butter’ cream!
Get yourself a large mixing bowl and place in the vegan spread and trex and beat them together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency – this doesn’t take too long usually.
Add in your first half of icing sugar, beating on a low speed to start then working your way up to a medium high. Repeat with the second batch of icing sugar.
Once all the icing sugar has been added, add in your vanilla and beat until its fully incorporated. Transfer the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle (I went with an open star nozzle).
Once your cupcakes are fully baked (test by inserting a tester into the centre, if it comes out clean, they’re fully baked) remove from the oven and allow to cool fully before you finish them off.
Now you have your fully baked and cooled cupcakes and buttercream ready, you’re good to finish the cupcakes off by decorating them.
Pipe as much or as little buttercream you’d like on the cupcakes, repeat until you’re finished. Finish the cupcakes with some vegan friendly sprinkles (these are available online).
That’s it, you’re done! A really quick and easy recipe showing you how to make vegan vanilla cupcakes and to be honest with you, you can’t even tell they are vegan!
That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.
Birthday Cake (Rainbow & Vanilla)
It’s not my birthday today but I’m showing you how to make this two-tiered birthday/celebration cake.
This cake is two tiers, the bottom one consisting of a rainbow cake and the other a vanilla cake (originally it was going to be a sprinkle cake but the sprinkles wasn’t that colourful and baked into the cake), filled and finished with a vanilla buttercream.
The rainbow cake is colourful on the inside but the outside, has a plain sprinkle buttercream and the top tier
This cake was made for my cousins 18th birthday. I would have experimented with flavours if this was for myself but unfortunately, my cousin is a picky eater and is a lover of all things plain. I’m not exaggerating when I say the most exciting thing she’ll eat is plain pasta with mayonnaise…
Taking into consideration my cousins preference in food, there was not going to be any jam or fillings in the cake, thanks Emelia!
Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?
8” Rainbow Cake:
Rainbow colour pastes (red, orange, yellow, green, blue & purple or your choice of colours).
750g Butter
750g Granulated sugar.
9 Eggs.
750g Plain flour.
22g Baking powder.
2g Salt.
135-150ml Milk (I used whole milk but feel free to use your milk of choice).
2 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.
6” Vanilla Sprinkle Cake:
225gg Butter.
225g Granulated sugar.
4 Eggs.
225g Plain flour.
7g Baking powder.
Pinch of salt.
45-60ml Milk (Whole or your preference).
60-80g Rainbow sprinkles.
Simple Syrup:
250g Granulated sugar.
250ml Water.
1 tsp Vanilla extract.
Buttercream:
700g Butter (at room temperature).
1,600g Icing sugar.
Vanilla extract (as much or as little as you like).
Finishing:
White chocolate spread (for the white chocolate drip).
Methods:
Before you go ahead and start on the recipe, it’s best to do some prep. I’ll list it for you.
- Start by weighing up all your ingredients.
- Butter and flouring the 8-inch and 6-inch cake tins, line them piece of parchment/greaseproof as well.
- Preheat the oven to 180˚c/350˚f.
- Add the food colour to the milk, this helps you not to overmix the cake batter and loosen the consistency to be more spreadable.
Rainbow Cake:
Before you get started on making the cakes, you’ll want to add your milk into each bowl, add the food colouring pastes and give a good mix until the colour and milk are very well combined. Set aside until needed later.
To start on the cake, place the butter and granulated sugar into your mixing bowl and beat them together over medium-high speed until they have become lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.
Once that has been achieved, add your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. The mixture will become looser in consistency, this is normal.
Give the bowl a good scraping down, this is just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from early on.
Now you can add all the dry ingredients, passing them through a sieve to remove any lumps that may be in the dry mix. Incorporate them in on a low speed to start, working your way up to a medium-high.
Once the dry ingredients are fully incorporated, you can then give it a final mix, just to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully worked in and then transfer it into a large bowl and weigh it, then divide that amount by 6 and weigh that amount into each bowl of coloured milk. Give it all a good mix until the colour has been fully mixed in.
You can then transfer the cake batter into the prepared and lined 8-inch cake tins and bake in the oven for around 25 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).
Now that the cakes are baked, allow to cool in the tin for a short while before transferring onto a cooling rack.
Once the cakes are fully cooled down, you can then level the top off with a cake leveller for the best accuracy and trip the sides to make the sponges as level as possible. Set aside until needed later.
Vanilla/Funfetti Cake:
Into your mixing bowl of choice, place the butter and sugar, beat together over a medium-high speed. Beat them together until lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.
Now you can add your eggs, one at a time beating well in-between each addition. As you add the eggs, the consistency will chance, this is normal.
Give the bowl a good scraping down, this is just to incorporate any bits that hadn’t been fully incorporated.
Add the dry ingredients, passing them through a sieve to remove any lumps that may be in the dry mix. Mix on a low-medium speed to start, working your way up to a medium-high until the flour is fully incorporated.
If the consistency is a little stiff, add a tablespoon of milk at a time to get it to the right consistency, normally around 3-4 is about right.
You can then add your sprinkles, and fold them in until they are equally dispersed in the batter.
Take the weight of the cake batter and divide it by 3 and separate the cake batter between the 3 cake tins. Level them as best you possibly can, using a cranked/offset spatula.
Place into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or so (or until a tester comes out clean).
Once the cakes are out of oven, allow to cool in the tins for a bit before removing from the tin and allowing to cool fully on a cooling rack.
Take the cooled cakes and level the tops off with a cake leveller and trim the sides to make them all as equal as possible.
Simple Syrup:
To make the simple syrup, into a medium saucepan, place the sugar, water and vanilla extract and give a brief mix.
Place on the hob over a medium-high heat until it reaches a boil, then take it off the heat and allow it to cool down fully before you use it.
If you don’t intend on using it once its cooled down, store it in the fridge in a container with a lid.
Buttercream:
Place the butter into your mixing bowl and beat on its own for 7-10 minutes until its lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.
Once it’s become lighter and fluffier, you can give the bowl a good scraping down and then you can add half of your icing sugar and give it a good mix for around 4-6 minutes. The icing sugar should be fully incorporated before you add the other half – repeat with the remaining half of icing sugar.
Now all the icing sugar has been incorporated, you can add the vanilla extract and beat it in until its fully incorporated.
Store in an air tight container in the fridge if you don’t intend on using that day.
Assembly:
To start on the assembly of the cake, you’ll want to make sure that you’ve got all the elements of the cake made before you start.
Simple syrup all your layers of cake now, it will save you faffing about in a little while when you’re assembling.
Get yourself a 10-inch cake board and place it onto your turntable. Take a small amount of the vanilla buttercream and spread it out in the centre of the cake board and place the purple layer of cake
Continue to sandwich the cakes together with a good layer of buttercream.
You can then give the cake a thin coat of buttercream, this is known as a crumb coat. It simply locks in the crumbs, so when you apply your second coat of buttercream, there are no pesky crumbs in the final coat.
Chill the cake in the fridge for around 45 – 60 minutes, or until the buttercream is firm to the touch.
At this point you’ll want to dowel the cake – I recommend checking out the amount of them you’ll need using an online chart. The chart I used was from college and got thrown away in the clear up of this cake.
Take some of the buttercream and add 50-60g of rainbow sprinkles to it and fold them in using a spatula.
Then apply the final layer of icing to your rainbow cake, be as liberal with the buttercream as you can scrape away any excess and use it to pipe the rosettes. Once you’ve applied the final coat and smoothed it out using a cake smoother, you can then place back in the fridge to firm up again for 45-60 minutes.
Repeat for the vanilla cake that’s going on top, but don’t add sprinkles to the buttercream, instead add a small amount of food colouring and dye the buttercream pink (or whatever colour you’d like). Make sure the 6-inch vanilla cake is on a 6-inch cake board, it’ll make it easier to move the cake around.
To secure the 2 cakes together, you’ll want to use a small amount of either buttercream or royal icing. Spread a small amount on top of the larger cake, right in the centre, then place the smaller cake on top and press it down a little just to secure it in place.
You can place this back in the fridge if you’d like or you can melt the white chocolate spread down and use it for the chocolate drip.
Pipe rosettes on top of the 6-inch cake and you can make any other changes from here, to personalise it to suit the person you’re making it for.
You can decorate this cake however you like, I just went with my typical look on the cake.
That’s all for this week guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back next week with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below!
Coffee and Walnut Cake
Today I’m showing you how to make a simple but classic coffee and walnut cake, this is always a winner when made. What are you waiting for?
I know it’s not officially the start of Autumn (unless you follow meteorological season) until later in the month but as soon as August end and September starts, it’s basically autumn… Don’t even come for me.
A coffee and walnut cake may not be the most seasonal cake, especially seeing as its made all year round by most but the colours that make up the cake are for me seasonal… I’ll be honest, this cake isn’t my favourite but I know others who enjoy it.
If you haven’t tried this cake before, I’ll tell you a little about it. It’s a sponge cake that is flavoured with coffee and has walnuts in it, filled and topped with coffee flavoured buttercream and an optional finish is to pipe rosettes on top and top them with some more walnuts.
Almost 3 years ago, I made this cake in cupcake form. I’ll link the coffee and walnut cupcake recipe, if you’re interest in it.
Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?
Ingredients:
Coffee:
15g Instant coffee.
45ml Boiling water.
Cake:
175g Butter.
175g Plain flour.
3 Eggs.
2-3 tbsp coffee mixture.
75g Walnuts, chopped.
Buttercream:
200g Butter.
450g Icing sugar.
2-3 tbsp coffee mixture.
Methods:
Coffee:
To make the coffee mixture, you’ll want to add the instant coffee into a bowl and boil the kettle of water until its boiled.
Into the bowl with the instant coffee, add in the boiling water and give it a good mix until the coffee is fully dissolved in the water. Set aside until cool enough to use.
Cake:
To start on the cake batter, you’ll want to get yourself a mixing bowl and into it place the butter and sugar. Beat the two together on a medium-high speed until they are very well combined.
Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl, this is to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in earlier on.
Now you can start adding your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Don’t add the eggs too quickly, otherwise you may scramble the mixture.
Next, you can add in the coffee mixture and mix it in just until its incorporated. If the mixture scrambles here, don’t worry too much, the dry ingredients will fix it.
Give the bowl a good scrape down, again this is just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in.
Add the dry ingredients into the bowl, passing them through a sieve first. Doing this removes any lumps in the dry mix and helps to create a lighter cake texture. Mix on a low-medium speed until the dry ingredients have been fully worked in.
Once the dry ingredients are fully incorporated, add in the chopped walnuts and mix until they are fully incorporated.
Split the cake batter between your 2 x 6-inch cake tins and level it out using a cranked/offset palette knife. You can then place the cake tins into the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes (or until a tester when inserted comes out clean).
Buttercream:
To make the buttercream it’s easy. Place your butter into a mixing bowl and beat it until its lighter and fluffier in both colour and consistency.
Then add half of your icing sugar and beat it well until its fully incorporated, repeat with the other half of the icing sugar. Add in the vanilla and give it a good mix until it’s fully incorporated.
At this point you can add your coffee mixture, roughly a tablespoon at a time, you will want to add the right amount so not only the flavour is there but the consistency doesn’t change too much. That’s why I recommend using 2-3 tablespoons, you can vary the amount.
Once you’ve made the buttercream, you can use it or store it in the fridge for a few days.
Assembly:
Take your cooled cakes out of the tins and set aside while you transfer the buttercream from the bowl into a piping bag. Using a piping bag is my personal preference, feel free to spread it out on the cake using a cranked/offset palette knife, whichever method works for you.
Take your first layer of cake and pipe or spread over a generous amount of the coffee buttercream, then layer the second layer of cake on top, pressing down slightly to secure it in place. Then on top of that, you can pipe or spread out the buttercream and add walnuts (oh and I added chocolate sprinkles purely for decoration but this is completely optional).
You can decorate this cake however you like, I just went with my typical look on the cake.
That’s all for this week guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back next week with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below!
Vanilla Cakesicles (Cake Popsicles/Cake Pops)
Today I have the simplest recipe for these pretty trendy cakesicles or cake-pops, let’s get started, shall we?
Today’s recipe is for a large cake-pop, which is made in a popsicle mould rather than a cake-pop mould. Who doesn’t mind a bit more cake? Seriously.
The recipe I’ll be sharing is for a simple vanilla sponge cake and vanilla buttercream, which when combined make the perfect ‘dough’ for the cake-pops. I opted for white chocolate to finish them, but feel free to use either milk or dark chocolate if you’d prefer. As an optional finish, I drizzled a small amount of melted dark chocolate over, but again, this was optional. Use whatever you’d like to finish them off.
There is nothing difficult about this recipe as you cake make the cake with either a stand mixer, hand mixer or with a wooden spoon. The only thing I didn’t have before I made these cake-pops was the popsicle mould, I ordered one on eBay for £3.99. If you need one, I recommend you check out eBay beforehand.
As with all my recipes, before you get started, you’ll want to do some prep work. Get your ingredients measured/weighed up, prepare your tin (if you want to, I didn’t but you know your tin) and get any equipment you may need ready. Taking these few extra steps can lower the chance of making a mistake.
Ingredients:
Cake:
250g Butter.
250g Granulated sugar.
250g Plain flour.
1 ½ tsp Baking powder.
½ tsp Salt.
4 Eggs.
1 tsp Vanilla extract.
Buttercream:
125g Butter.
250g Icing sugar.
1 tsp Vanilla extract.
Finishing:
200g White chocolate, melted.
50g Dark chocolate, melted and in a piping bag.
Method:
Before you get into making the cake or buttercream, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all your ingredients, line your tin (if you need to), preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and get any equipment you intend on using ready.
To start on the recipe, you’ll want to make the cake. Get yourself a mixing bowl and place the butter, granulated sugar, plain flour, baking powder, salt (passing the dry ingredients through a sieve, to remove any lumps that may be in the dry ingredients), eggs and vanilla.
You can then go ahead and beat this on a low speed to start with, building your way up to a medium-high speed for around 60-90 seconds, by this point the mixture will be very well incorporated and you shouldn’t be able to see a single trace of any ingredient. If the mixture is looking a little stiff add a around 1-2 tablespoons of milk (or more if needed) to help loosen the mixture.
Give the bowl a good scrape down, this is just to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully incorporated into the mixture. Then add the cake batter into your 8 inch square cake tin and spread it out as evenly as possible, bake in your preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.
While the cake is in the oven baking, it’s best to do the buttercream. To start on the buttercream, get your mixing bowl and add in your butter and beat on a medium-high speed for around 5-7 minutes or until lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.
Once this has been achieved, you can give the bowl a good scraping down, then add in your first half of icing sugar and beat until its fully incorporated and repeat that stage with the second half of icing sugar. Once that’s all added and mixed in, you can add in your vanilla and mix until incorporated. Place the buttercream into a bowl and place in the fridge until its needed later.
Allow your cake to cool down fully before you intend on using it, otherwise when you add in the buttercream it will melt it and make a horrible sloppy mess… Which nobody wants. I allow my cake to cool down in the tin for around 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and allow to cool fully on a cooling rack before I intend on using it.
After about an hour, I take my cake and break it in half, crumbling it between my fingers until I have got it to the perfect consistency. You will know once you’ve achieved this as it will look like breadcrumbs or have a sandy texture to them – you can also use a food processor which will do the job equally as well.
Now you can add in your buttercream and work the two together either by hand or using your food processor/stand mixer, start with a smaller amount of buttercream and work in more if you need to (it’s easier to add buttercream than to take it away). The perfect consistency is pliable and holds its shape well, you’ll know when you’ve got the perfect consistency – trust me on that.
Take your silicon popsicle mould and place a good amount of your cake ‘dough’ and place it into the mould and press it into place, flattening using your fingers/palm and repeat this step for the remaining cake-pops. Place the mould into the fridge (or freezer if you’re in a rush). Repeat until you have used all your cake ‘dough’ up.
Once all your cake-pops are chilling/firming up, place your white chocolate on a double boiler and melt the chocolate. Once your chocolate is fully melted, you can start to dip each of your cake-pops, one at a time then once dipped, place onto a cake board or cooling rack (whichever you have or works best for you). Allow them to solidify fully before you finish them off.
To finish them off I add a drizzle of dark chocolate but feel free to use whichever chocolate suits you best.
That’s all for this week guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back next week with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below!
Salted Caramel Cheesecake
If you like salted caramel and cheesecake, this recipe is the one for you. Today I’ll be showing you how to make salted caramel cheesecake, let’s get started shall we?
I’ll be honest, I love salted caramel but if you don’t, feel free to make the caramel without the salt and you’ll have the basic caramel sauce recipe covered. This cheesecake has the perfect amount of sweet and salty, it balances pretty well (again, you may want to alter the amounts, I don’t consume huge amounts of salt normally so a little goes a long way for me personally).
Anyway, this cheesecake is as easy as any other I’ve made on my YouTube channel or blog before. If you don’t own a food processer or stand mixer, don’t worry, it can all be done with other tools. Example, when you’re crushing the biscuits for the base, feel free to put them in a Ziploc bag (or similar) and crush them by using a rolling pin, it takes a little longer than using a food processor but yields as good as result and the same goes for the filling. If you don’t have a stand mixer, no worries, you can use a hand whisk – this works just as well, it just requires a little more time and mixing. I used a hand whisk this time around, so feel free to do it whichever way suits you best.
As with all my recipes, before you get started, you’ll want to do some prep work. Get your ingredients measured/weighed up, prepare your tin (if you want to, I didn’t but you know your tin) and get any equipment you may need ready. Taking these few extra steps can lower the chance of making a mistake
I don’t make the salted caramel sauce in this video but already have a video up on it, check it out here.
Cheesecake:
250g Digestive biscuits.
100g Butter.
600g Soft cheese.
100g Icing sugar.
2 tsp Vanilla extract.
150ml Salted caramel sauce.
300ml Double cream.
Finishing:
200ml Double cream.
1tsp Vanilla extract.
25g Icing sugar.
Salted caramel sauce, in a piping bag.
Sea salt flakes, optional.
Method:
Before you get started, do your prep work, weighing up the ingredients, lining your tin and getting any equipment you need ready.
Take your digestive biscuits and crush them up, I used a food processor but feel free to use Ziploc bag and rolling pin (whichever works best for you).
Once you’ve got them looking like crumbs or to a sandy consistency, you can add the butter which has been melted and mix until the two ingredients are fully incorporated.
Scoop the mixture into your glasses (or the base of an 8-inch round cake tin and compress using a cup measurement or something similar and set in the fridge until needed later) and feel free to compress the mixture a little using the back of a spoon, set in the fridge while you make your cheesecake filling.
To start on the filling, place the soft cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract and salted caramel into a bowl and beat until they are fully incorporated, this doesn’t take very long.
You can then add in the double cream and whisk until the mixture is thicker in consistency, it should be able to hold its shape well and be a beige-brown colour once it’s done and ready to be used.
I placed the cheesecake filling into a piping bag and piped it into my glasses, this is the most convenient way to do it but you can just scoop up the mixture and place it into the glass if that works for you (if you’re using a 8-inch cake tin, feel free to scoop or pour the mixture into the tin and level it out using a cranked/off-set palette knife and smooth it off the best you can), you can set these in the fridge to set/firm up for a couple of hours (overnight works really well).
When you intend to serve the cheesecake, you’ll want to finish them off. To make the whipped cream that goes on top of the cheesecake, get yourself a medium sized bowl and add the double cream, vanilla extract and double cream and whisk them together until the ingredients are fully incorporated and the cream holds its shape well (don’t over whisk the cream, otherwise it will have an unpleasant mouthfeel, it may turn grainy). Place the cream into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle (or whichever you like) and place in the fridge until you intend to use it, you can also place some of the salted caramel into a piping bag, ready to drizzle over the top.
Pipe your whipped cream on top of each cheesecake, I went right in the centre of the cheesecake but you can be abstract about it if you’d like.
Drizzle/pipe over the slated caramel sauce, use as much or as little as you’d like and as an optional finish you can sprinkle over a small amount of salt, just to enhance the ‘salted’ element of the cheesecake.
That’s all for this week guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back next week with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below!
Lemon Velvet Cake
Whether you call her mom or mum, make sure you make her a special cake this mother’s day.
I now that Mother’s day is on a different date depending on where you are in the world, but in the UK its this coming Sunday. Make sure you’ve got all the ingredients in and show your mom how much you love her in cake form.
The cake isn’t just any cake, its a lemon velvet cake. It’s perfect for this recipe (and for spring in general). It’s packed with a lemon-y punch and finished with vanilla buttercream, it might not sound like it but these work really well.
You have 3 layers of lemon velvet cake, brushed with a lemon simple syrup and then finished with a ombre vanilla buttercream coloured in 3 shades of purple – the colours are customisable to suit you better!
To start, you’ll want to make the macarons. These are normally something that can be difficult to make but if you use the method I have provided, you will find them easier. Into a large bowl add in the egg whites and the colouring paste of choice, then give it all a good mix until well incorporated. Into a separate bowl sift together the ground almonds and icing sugar a few times, this is to remove any big lumps that may be in the ground almonds. Once you’ve sifted them together, you can then add the dry mix to the coloured egg whites and give it all a good mix until everything is combined, set aside until needed later on.
Into a small saucepan, place the water and sugar and place a medium-high heat, until it achieves 118c/. Into a clean mixing bowl (I opted to use my stand mixer bowl), place the egg whites and whisk them up until they are frothy, then add the sugar and whisk until its incorporated and has reached soft peaks. After that pour in the sugar/water mixture (make sure you turn your mixer speed down to the lowest setting, getting this mixture on your skin would result in a burn, so be extra careful. Pour the hot mixture down the side of your bowl, avoiding contact with the whisk). On wall of the hot mixture is in the egg whites, crank the speed up to high and whisk until the mixture is smooth and glossy and the bottom of the bowl will be cool enough to touch.
Now that you’ve got your meringue mixture and coloured almond mixture, you can combine the two. Simply spoon about 1/3 of the meringue mixture in and fold it in until it’s fully incorporated, then repeat with the remaining 2/3 of meringue. The mixture will change in colour and consistency, this is normal, it’s a sign that the ingredients are combined. Give the bowl a good scrape down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on. The place the macaron batter into a piping bag.
Make sure all of your baking trays are lined with greaseproof/parchment, the. You can snip the end off of the piping bag and start to pipe out the macarons, i recommend you download a free template offline and print it off, unless you’re confident. Pipe out however many you can get on your tray, then tap the tray on the countertop, this will bring any air bubbles to the surface, then leave these for 30-60!minutes, or until a skin has formed on top of the, macarons (simply touch the top and if mixture sticks to your finger, it’s not ready). While you wait for them to dry, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.
Once the macarons are ready, you can place them in the oven and bake them off for around 12 minutes (give or take a few minutes, they shouldn’t colour very much). Once out of oven, you can take the parchment/greaseproof off the baking tray an allow them to cool fully before removing from the greaseproof/parchment.
Now that the macarons are made, it’s time to start on the cake. This isn’t your typical lemon cake, it’s a lemon velvet cake – if you like a strong lemon flavour, this is the cake for you.
Do some prep work before you start baking. Weigh up your ingredients, preheat your oven and prepare your cake tins if they need it.
To start on the cake, you’ll want to get yourself a large mixing bowl and place in the butter and sugar, then beat them together until they are well combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, this is just to help incorporate any bits that may no have been fully worked in earlier on. The next stage is to add the eggs in, one at a time beating well in-between each addition, try not to add more than one at a time, otherwise you may scramble the mixture and this isn’t ideal (if you do happen to scramble the mixture, it’s not the end of the world. Simply add a tablespoon of the flour you’ve already weighed out).
Next you’ll want to add the colouring and flavourings, for me this is lemon yellow by Wilton and I’m flavouring my cakes with lemon zest, add these into the mixture and beat them until they are fully incorporated. Give your bowl another good scraping down.
Now you can start adding your dry and wet ingredients, don’t forget to start and finish with the dry ingredients, once they are all fully incorporated, give your bowl a final good scrape down. Then you can add in the bicarbonate of soda and then pour over the vinegar and allow to fizzle, then give it one last mix, just to work in the raising agent.
Take your cake batter and weigh it, the take this amount and divide by 3 and then weigh that exact amount into each cake tin. This is my preferred method of dividing the cake batter but feel free to eyeball it and guess how much is in each tin. Bake in your preheated oven for 25-27 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).
While your cakes are in the oven baking, this is the ideal time to make your buttercream and simple syrup. To make the buttercream, place your butter into a mixing bowl and beat for a couple minutes until its softer and more spreadable, then scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, add in your first half of icing sugar then give it a good mix for a few minutes, then scrape down the bowl again and repeat with the remaining icing sugar. Once the second half of icing sugar is added and fully incorporated, add in the vanilla extract and mix until fully mixed in, set aside until needed later on.
For the simple syrup place the water, lemon juice and sugar into a small-medium saucepan and place on a medium-high heat and allow to come to a boil, then leave to cool down fully before use.
Once the cakes are fully baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool down fully.
Once the cakes are fully cooled down, you can then level the top off each cake and give them all a generous brushing of the lemon simple syrup (using lemon will only enhance the lemon flavour, great if you like a strong lemon flavour). You can then layer the cakes together with a good amount of the vanilla buttercream, once layered/stacked you can then give the cake a crumb coat, this is just a thin layer of buttercream that will lock in the crumbs and not ruin your final layer of buttercream. Chill in the fridge for 30-45 minutes or until firm to the touch.
To finish the cake, colour your buttercream into 3 colours. I opted to go with 3 different shades of purple, I start with the lightest at the bottom and finish with the darkest on top, pipe equals amounts of each onto the cake, then smooth it all out as best I can with my cake scraper, you may need to scrape the excess buttercream onto some greaseproof paper and if there are any gaps/spaces, fill them in and smooth them off until you’re happy.
You can finish the cake however you like but i piped rosettes on top (and topped them with macarons) and a white chocolate drip, the drip is optional. For the chocolate drip, I place my double cream into a saucepan and place a low-medium heat just until it’s almost boiled. Pour the hot cream over your white chcolate, allow it to sit for 1 minute, then stir until its smooth, transfer into a piping bag and use from there.
Macarons:
150g Ground almonds.
150g Icing sugar.
55g Egg whites.
38g Water.
150g Granulated sugar.
55g Egg whites.
10g Granulated sugar.
Lemon Velvet Cake:
90g Butter.
225g Granulated sugar.
2 Eggs.
Zest of 3-4 lemons.
Yellow food paste.
180ml Buttermilk.
220g Plain flour.
1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda.
2 tbsp White vinegar.
Simple Syrup:
200ml Lemon juice.
100ml Water.
300ml granulated sugar.
Buttercream:
500g Butter.
1kg Icing sugar.
Whiter Chocolate Drip:
25ml Double cream.
25g White chocolate.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes
Do you like chocolate chip cookies? Do you like cupcakes? Why not combine the two to make these super simple and delicious cupcakes?
These cupcakes are the perfect treat at any time of year but even better around Christmas, they are the perfect treat to leave out for Father Christmas on Christmas Eve (or scoffed down on Christmas day, I’m not judging!).
Anyway, you can make either the cookies or cupcakes first but I went with the cookies. These are the same cookies I have made in the past, they have a great flavour and are the perfect size to top the cupcakes with. By combining the two simple elements, you get a very tasty treat that isn’t too complex to make or in flavour.
Before you do any baking, you’ll want to do some prep work – this will save you time in the long run and stop you faffing about later on. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, line your baking tray with some greaseproof/parchment paper, place the cupcake cases into your muffin pan and weigh up all your ingredients into suitable size bowls. Don’t forget to wipe down the counters and get your mixer ready.
I started by making the chocolate chip cookies but you can start with either, it doesn’t matter.
To start on the cookies, get yourself a large bowl and place the butter, granulated white sugar and light brown sugar into it. Mix the three together over a medium-high speed until they are well combined and you can’t see a trace of a single ingredient. Once they’ve become fully combined, give your bowl a good scraping down – this is to work in any bits that haven’t been fully worked in, then add in your eggs one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Add in your vanilla and give a quick mix to combine it – the scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl again to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully worked in.
Sieve your dry ingredients into the same bowl, then add in your chocolate chips and mix on a low-medium speed until everything has combined, once its all come together it will be a dough that will hold it’s shape well. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl again, then start to scoop up the dough (granted this recipe will result in more cookies than you’ll need but you can scoop each ball of dough up, then wrap them up and freeze them, or bake them all off and have a few left over to enjoy). I only used one ball of dough for each cookie and flattened it slightly then baked in your preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown around the edge.
Once out the oven, place a few additional chocolate chips on top of each cookie then allow to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring onto a cooling rack, to cool completely.
Now it’s time to make the cupcakes and buttercream…
Making the cupcakes is super simple, start by placing the butter and granted white sugar into a mixing bowl and beat the two together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency, this only takes a couple of minutes. Once you’ve achieved that, scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in earlier on. Add in your eggs, one at a time, beating well to incorporate each one. Try not to scramble the mixture, but if this happens, don’t worry, you’ll be able to fix this by adding dry ingredients very soon. Once the eggs have been fully incorporated, add in the vanilla and just mix to combine – scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl again.
Add in the dry ingredients by passing them through a sieve first, this is to remove any lumps that may appear in the mix. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the buttery mixture over a low-medium speed to start with, working your way up to a medium speed and allow the mixture to come together until there isn’t a trace of a single ingredient to be seen, also at this point you’ll want to add in the chocolate chips- try not to over-mix the batter at this stage, otherwise your cupcakes will be tougher textured than they should be. Divide the batter between your lined cupcake cases (I used a piping bag but feel free to use two spoons). Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 20-22 minutes.
While the cupcakes are in the oven baking, feel free to make the buttercream. This is so simple and it requires only 3 ingredients – what’s not to love? Place your butter into a bowl and beat it until its lighter and fluffier in consistency – this takes a couple of minutes but is totally worth the time invested. Once lighter, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and add in half the icing sugar, then beat on a low speed to start, working your way up to a medium-high speed for a couple of minutes, then stopping the mixer, scraping it down and adding in the other half of the icing sugar and repeat the process. Once all of the icing sugar has been worked in, add in the vanilla and give a good mix to fully incorporate. That’s how simple buttercream is. Set aside while you’re not using or place into a piping bag fitted with your nozzle of choice.
So once you’ve got the cookies, cupcakes and buttercream made, you can assemble them all together. Start by getting your cupcake and piping on the buttercream, using your nozzle of choice. Then add a few chocolate chips around the edge of the buttercream, then top each cupcake with a cookie and enjoy!
Here are all the ingredients you’ll need and a shorter, more summarised method along with the video!
Cookies:
75g Butter.
75g Granulated sugar.
75g Light brown sugar.
1 Egg.
1 tsp Vanilla extract.
175g Plain flour.
1/2 tsp Baking powder.
1/8 tsp Salt.
150g Chocolate chips.
Cupcakes:
88g Butter.
88g Granulated white sugar.
1 Egg.
1 tsp Vanilla extract.
88g Plain flour.
1/2 tsp Baking powder.
1/4 tsp Salt.
50g Chocolate chips
Buttercream:
200g Butter.
400g Icing sugar.
1 tsp Vanilla extract
Chocolate chips (optional).
Methods –
Cookies:
- Prepare by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, lining your tray with greaseproof or parchment paper or generously buttering the tray and weighing up your ingredients.
- Place the butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar into your mixing bowl of choice. Beat them all together over a low-medium speed until well combined. Feel free to use a wooden spoon, electric hand mixer or stand mixer.
- Once well combined, add in your egg and vanilla extract and mix on a low-medium speed until well combined.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, this is to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully incorporated from earlier on.
- Add in your plain flour, baking powder and salt. Pass them through a sieve to remove any lumps and then once all of the dry ingredients are in the bowl, fold/stir them in using a spatula just until the flour is almost fully incorporated. Add in your chocolate chips and stir/fold these in until the dough is clear.
- Once you’ve got your dough, you can then use a cookie or (small) ice cream scoop to scoop up small amounts of the dough then round them up using your hands, then flatten them (they will spread a little but not a lot while baking, you can freeze at this stage if you like).
- Bake them off in your preheated oven for 10-12 minutes (I found 11-12 minutes was perfect for me).
- Remove the tray from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the tray for 4-5 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. This recipe makes 24 cookies.
Cupcakes:
- Do some prep work before you start by weighing up all the ingredients needed, check your oven has been preheated to 180˚c/350˚f and line your muffin tray with some muffin/cupcake cases.
- Place the butter and granulated white sugar into your mixing bowl of choice and beat them together for a couple of minutes until they are well combined.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, then add in your egg and beat it over a medium speed until its fully incorporated. Add in the vanilla and mix to incorporate.
- Give your bowl another scrape down then add in dry ingredients but passing them through a sieve first to remove any lumps that may be in the mix and in the chocolate chips . Incorporate the dry ingredients in over a slow-medium speed to start, then a medium-high speed until fully incorporated – try not to over-mix, this causes the cakes to be tougher textured.
- Split the cake batter between your pre-lined muffin pan, I find using a piping bag works the best but using two spoons works equally as well. Use whichever method works best for you.
- Bake in your preheat oven for around 18-20 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).
- Once fully baked, remove from the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool for a short while in the muffin pan, then transfer onto a cooling tray and allow to cool completely.
- Make you buttercream.
- Finish the cupcakes however you like but I piped on a good amount of buttercream, added a few chocolate chips onto the sides of the piped out buttercream, then placed a cookie onto each cupcake. Serve and enjoy!
Buttercream:
- The buttercream is really quick and easy to make, to start, place the butter into a bowl and beat it for around 4-6 minutes or until it’s lighter in colour and consistency.
- Once you’ve achieved that, add in roughly around half your icing sugar and mix that on a low speed to start, working your way up to a medium-high once the icing sugar is incorporated and beat or a short while until fully incorporated. Repeat this stage with he remaining half of icing sugar.
- Give the bowl a good scraping down and add in the vanilla then mix on a medium speed and mix to incorporate.
- Place the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle of choice or place in a airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 3 days. This buttercream can also be frozen if you don’t intend on using it straight away.
Thank you all so much for checking out the blog post (and video if you watched it)!
Viennese Whirls
I have the easiest and most straightforward recipe for these classic treats. Today I’m showing you how to make a batch of homemade Viennese whirls.
If you’re from the UK then you probably recognise these from a well known cake brand, which is available in in most supermarkets. Forget about those, once you make a batch of these up for yourself, you will not look back!
The biscuits themselves only require 4 ingredients, so they are cheap, quick and easy to make. They can be enjoyed on their own or with the vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam fillings, which compliment the biscuits pretty nicely and the other thing to know about theses that they are fairly bigger than the ones you’d get in the box from the supermarket (I’m a greedy git), so feel free to lower the amount of filling compared to what I used.
The mixing process is easy, it doesn’t matter if you’re using a wooden spoon, electric hand mixer or a stand mixer. It’s the piping that can be a bit difficult and this is because of the amount of flour which is used in these biscuits, it’s a lot. The dough can easily be handled with your hands but to get the signature piped look on top you need to use a piping bag and star tip nozzle, I recommend using a open/wide star tip as to a closed star. If you find your dough hard to pipe out, use the warmth from your hands to warm the dough through the bag (if you try and pipe the dough while it’s too stiff then you will be pushing too much pressure towards the bottom of the bag and it will more than likely split open plop a good amount of the dough out of the bag).
So to get started, you’ll always want to prepare your baking tray, I drew around a circle cutter so my biscuits would be roughly accurate in size to one another, this is ideal if you’re not sure on sizing them. Also, don’t forget to weigh up your ingredients and preheat the oven to 190˚c/375˚f. Now you can start by placing the butter and icing sugar into your mixing bowl of choice and beat the two together until well combined. Then add in your first weight of flour and mix that until well combined, scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, then add in the second weight of flour and mix it in until well combined and thats the dough done. Place a open star nozzle into a piping bag and add around about a handful or so of the biscuit dough. If the dough isn’t piping well, use the heat of your hands to warm it up just enough to pipe out your rosettes. These don’t really spread in the open so feel free to pip quite a few onto one tray and place them in your preheated oven and bake for around 18-20 minutes (or until they start to colour around the edge.
As for the filling, I have recommended using vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam but feel free to replace those if you don’t like my choice. Make your buttercream while your biscuits are baking, start by placing the butter into a bowl and beating until lighter in colour and consistency. Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl and place roughly half the amount of icing sugar and beat until fully incorporated, repeat this stage with the remaining icing sugar. Once all the icing sugar is fully incorporated, add in the vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste an mix until well combined, if your buttercream is a little too thick, add a splash of milk just to get it to a more spreadable consistency. As for the jam, feel free to use whatever you’ve got, homemade or shop bought will work well here.
For the assembly of these biscuits, pair your biscuits up and onto one half of them, pipe on a good amount (or a generous amount if you have a sweet tooth) and then pipe on a small amount of jam in the centre of the buttercream and gently place the other biscuit on top of the filling, sandwiching them together. Just before you tuck into one, you’ll want to give them a justing of icing sugar to finish them off, now sit back and enjoy one of these.
Ingredients:
Biscuits:
225g Butter.
45g Icing sugar.
115g Plain flour (1).
145g Plain flour (2).
Bake them in your preheated 190˚c/375˚f for 18-20 minutes.
Filling:
Buttercream:
150g Butter.
300g Icing sugar.
1 tsp Vanilla extract/bean paste.
(optional – milk).
Strawberry jam (but feel free to switch this to a jam or spread you might prefer).
Method:
Biscuits:
Weigh up all of your ingredients, preheat your oven to 190˚c/375˚f and line your baking trays with greaseproof/parchment paper.
Start the biscuits by placing the butter and icing sugar into your mixing bowl of choice and beat them together until well combined and lighter in colour.
Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, to incorporate any bits from earlier on. Then add in your first weight of flour in and mix that in until just combined.
Scrape down the bowl again to incorporate any bits that have worked up the bowl. Add in the second weight of flour and just mix that in until its just combined.
Prepare a piping bag by placing a 12mm open star nozzle at the end and place a good amount of the dough into the piping bag.
Pipe out the dough onto your lined tray (draw some templates if you want to get your biscuits more uniform), these don’t spread very much while in the oven so leave a small space in-between each biscuit. Place the tray in your preheated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes (or until they start to colour around the edges).
Once fully baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking tray, then transfer them over to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Buttercream:
Weigh up your ingredients in advance.
Place the butter into a mixing bowl an beat it over a medium-high speed until lighter in colour and consistency.
Once lighter, you’ll want to add in around half of your icing sugar (make sure you’ve sifted it first, to remove any big lumps) and beat that on a low speed working it up to a high speed, scrape down the bowl and repeat this stage for the other half of the icing sugar.
Add in the vanilla (and milk if the buttercream is too stiff, this will help loosen the buttercream down) and mix until well incorporated.
Place the buttercream into a piping bag with a 12mm star nozzle and set aside until its needed.
Assembly:Pair your biscuits up with