Cupcake

Strawberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

If lockdown has go you climbing the walls, why not give these strawberry and white chocolate cupcakes a go – I promise they’ll go down a treat.

These cupcakes are similar to the strawberry cupcakes I made earlier in the year, apart from this recipe was supposed to be muffins but they didn’t dome enough, so I turned them into cupcakes. The cupcake itself has fresh strawberries and white chocolate in it, which is then filled with homemade strawberry jam and topped with a strawberry and vanilla buttercream and finished with a drizzle of white chocolate spread. As you can tell, this is perfectly seasonal for the month of May!

If you cant get hold of strawberries to make your own jam, don’t worry – simply use store bought.

These were originally going to be muffins but they didn’t dome as much as they usually would, so I made the best of a bad situation and turned them into cupcakes – smart eh? haha.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cupcake:

150g Butter.

100g Granulated sugar.

150g Plain flour.

2 tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

3 Eggs.

100g Fresh strawberries, chopped.

80g White chocolate, chopped (or chips).

Filling:

Strawberry jam (the amount will vary, dependant on how much you use).

Buttercream:

250g Butter.

500g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Strawberry jam.

Finishing:

White chocolate spread.

Methods:

Cupcake:

Before you get into the recipe, you’re best to do some prep work. I recommend weighing up all your ingredients, lining your muffin tin with liners and preheating your oven to 200˚c/400˚f.

Start by grabbing a large mixing bowl and lacking the butter and sugar into it. Beat them together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Next you can give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully incorporated.

Now you can work your eggs in, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition, ensuring they are fully incorporated before adding anymore egg. The mixture may curdle a little, this is normal for this recipe.

Give the bowl another good scraping down, again just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully incorporated earlier on.

Go ahead and add in plain flour, baking powder and salt, passing through a sieve first. This is just to ensure the mixture is as lump free as possible.

Before you continue to mix the dry ingredients in, add the strawberries and white chocolate and then go ahead and fold everything together using a spatula or wooden spoon – either will work well.

Take your lined muffin tin and spoon the mixture into the liners, filling them around 3/4 or 2/3 of the way full and place into your preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes.

Check the cupcakes are baked by inserting a tester into the centre and it should come out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool down fully, before you finish them off.

Buttercream:

Take a mixing bowl and place the butter into it and beat for 5-7 minutes on its own, it should be lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

give the bowl a good scraping down, then add half of the icing sugar and mix on a low speed to start with, working your way up to high speed. Repeat with the remaining icing sugar.

give the bowl another good scraping down, just to incorporate the last bits of icing sugar. Then you can add in the vanilla extract and just beat that in until its fully incorporated.

Assembly:

To finish the cupcakes, start by coring the centre out of the cupcakes and filling them generously with strawberry jam, you can eat the little bit you’ve cored out – set them aside for a few moments while you finish the buttercream.

To finish the buttercream, add a good amount t of strawberry jam into the mixture and work it in until fully incorporated. Place into a piping bag fitted with a piping nozzle (I like an open star tip, but use what you have).

Pipe the buttercream on top of the cupcakes and then finish with a drizzle of white chocolate spread.

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 other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.

Strawberry Cupcakes

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, so why not make these strawberry cupcakes? They’ll go down a real treat – I promise!

Just because it’s Valentine’s Day, doesn’t mean everything has to be pink or red and have hearts on it. These strawberry cupcakes are easy and full of strawberry flavour without the use of artificial flavourings!

I use freeze dried strawberries in this recipe as they add a strong strawberry flavour without adding too much moisture, therefore meaning you can add a filling to the baked cupcake, either a strawberry jam or conserve.

There is actually strawberry in every element, freeze dried strawberries are in both the cake and buttercream and strawberry conserve in the centre as a filling.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cupcake:

90g Butter.

90g Granulated sugar.

1 Egg.

90g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

5-7g Freeze dried strawberries, ground finely.

Buttercream:

125g Butter.

250g Icing sugar.

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.

(up to) 10g Freeze dried strawberries

Methods:

Before you get into making these cupcakes, you’re best to do some prep. Start by preheating you oven to 180˚c/350˚f, measure up the ingredients and get any equipment you intend on using, like a stand mixer or mixing bowl ready.

Firstly, place the butter, granulated sugar, egg, plain flour, baking powder and salt into your mixing bowl. You can then start the mixer on a low speed, working your way up to a medium high – mix until smooth, try not to over-mix.

Next, add in the vanilla.

Now you can go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, this is just to incorporate any bit’s that haven’t been fully incorporated.

You can then go ahead and add in the freeze dried strawberries. Fold them in by hand, using a spatula juts until they are incorporated.

Don’t forget to transfer the cupcake batter into a piping bag, which is simply for convenience.

Fill your cake cases about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way full, this is the perfect amount as the cake rise.

Place into the preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean, when inserted into the centre of the cupcake).

While the cupcakes are in oven baking, it’s the perfect time to make the buttercream.

To start on the buttercream, get yourself a large mixing bowl and place in the butter. Beat the butter on its own for 5-7 minutes or until the butter is both lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Give the bowl a good scraping down and add in around half of the icing sugar and mix on a low speed to start with, working your way up to a medium-high speed. Repeat with the remaining icing sugar and don’t forget to add in the vanilla extract.

Go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down again, then add in the freeze dried strawberries and food colouring and give it all a good mix until it’s fully incorporated.

Transfer the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with your choice of nozzle (I went with a star nozzle), set aside until it’s needed later on.

Once you’ve got the cakes baked and cooled along with the buttercream made, you can then start to assemble the cupcakes. Now is the perfect time to get your cupcake corer ready and get the jam ready.

Take the cupcake and core the centre out, you can discard the cored part (or eat, for recipe purpose’s of course), then fill the cavity of the cupcake with the jam, try not to over fill.

Then go ahead and pipe as much or as little buttercream as you’d like. The use of freeze dried strawberries really helps to elevate the flavour!

Anddddd that’s it. A super simple recipe for strawberry cupcakes with only natural flavourings, no artificial strawberry at all!

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.

Easy Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

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.

Maple Bacon Cupcakes

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This is singlehandedly one of the most bizarre flavour combinations i’ve done on my blog or YouTube channel… However it works really well. If you haven’t tried these before and like something a little different, this is the recipe for you.

To make the bacon candied, you’ll want to take your rashers of bacon and give each side a coating with light brown sugar, then place on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes at 160˚c/320˚f. Once done, transfer to a plate and allow to cool fully. Keep enough bacon back to place a small piece on top of each cupcake (1 piece for 6 cupcakes or 2 pieces for 12 cupcakes).

The bacon isn’t just your standard type you’d have on your fry up – it been candied, which adds a different flavour and makes it sweet, savour and bacon-y. The first bite is a little confusing as you’re not expecting it to be sweet but it hits you with the sweet, the savoury and maple flavour. I used quite a lot of maple syrup in the recipe but it balances well with the bacon and adds a distinct flavour of its own (which isn’t a bad thing, it all ties together and turns out well).

The cupcake isn’t too different to my usual recipe, it uses light brown sugar over granulated white sugar (to add a certain caramel-y flavour to it, this works wickedly well with the flavours) and the buttercream isn’t a basic buttercream (butter, icing sugar and favouring), it’s my favourite Italian buttercream, which is richer and smoother and not overly sweet compared to a basic buttercream.

Making the cupcakes isn’t overly hard, you’ll want to use the creaming method to mix the cake. This is where you start by adding the butter and sugar into your mixing bowl and beating the two together until they are very well incorporated, you can tell when this stage is done as the mixture will be lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency – this can take up to 5 minutes using an electric mixer (stand or hand). Once the butter and sugar are light and fluffy, you can then add your eggs and maple syrup, beating well in-between each addition. Once the eggs and maple syrup have been fully incorporated, you can give the bowl a quick scrape down (this is just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in).

Next comes adding the plain flour, baking powder and salt but make sure you pass it through a sieve first to remove any lumps that may be in the dry ingredients. Once in the bowl, mix them in to incorporate on a medium speed. Be careful not to over mix the cake batter at this stage, otherwise the cakes will turn out tougher in texture. Once your dry ingredients are just about incorporated, add in your chopped bacon and mix again just enough to fairly distribute the bacon in the cake batter.

Now that you’ve got your batter done, you can divide it between your cupcake cases. You can fill a piping bag with the cake batter and pipe an equal amount into each case or using two spoons, spooning equal amounts into each case, then place into your preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes (or until well risen and a tester comes out clean). Allow to cool fully before finishing them.

The buttercream takes a little longer to make but is totally worth it. Start by placing the water and sugar into a small saucepan over a medium-high heat until it reaches 121˚c/250˚f – this takes about 5-7 minutes. While you wait for the water and sugar to come to temperature, you can place your egg and egg yolks into a mixing bowl and beat them together until lighter in colour and consistency – this doesn’t take very long. Once the sugar water mixture has come to temperature and your egg mixture is ready, you can slowly and steadily start to pour the hot sugar water mixture into the egg mixture – do this on the lowest speed your mixer can go. Once all the liquid has been added, switch the mixer onto high speed and mix until you can touch the bottom of your bowl. Once the bowl is cooled down enough, start to add your butter a little at a time, allowing it to beat in well – once all the butter has been added it will look sort of like butter but this is normal, once it’s flavoured and placed into a piping bag it doesn’t look so much like butter. Once all the butter has been added, feel free to flavour it with some maple syrup, you can add more or less to suit your preference.

To finish the cupcakes, you’ll want to place your buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle (I opted for my favourite open star tip but use whatever you prefer). Then go ahead and pipe the buttercream onto each cupcake, then top with a piece of bacon and optionally, drizzle over some more maple syrup.

So that’s my recipe for maple bacon cupcakes, I hope you enjoy. Don’t forget to let me know if you make one of my recipes. Don’t forget to check out my social medias and YouTube channel.

Ingredients:

Candied Bacon:

10 Rashers of bacon.

100g Light brown sugar.

Cupcake:

175g Butter.

175g Light brown sugar.

2 eggs.

45-60ml Maple syrup.

175g Plain flour.

1 tsp Baking powder.

1/2 tsp Salt.

8 Rashers of bacon, chopped.

Buttercream:

35g Water.

125g Granulated white sugar.

1 Egg.

2 Egg yolks.

250g Butter.

Maple syrup (flavour to suit you).

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

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)!

Sticky Toffee Cupcakes

by bakingwithelliott 2 Comments

If you’re looking for an autumnal cupcake recipe, look no further. This week’s recipe is for sticky toffee cupcakes, let’s get started shall we?

I know that normally around this time of year everybody goes crazy for pumpkin and pumpkin spice, not from me (well this week anyway, perhaps next week? 🤔).

Anyway, these cupcakes are made up of a traditional sticky toffee cake base, which is filled with a caramel pecan filling and topped with slightly salted caramel buttercream (which works very well) and finished with a drizzle of caramel sauce. Who wouldn’t want one of these?

These cupcakes aren’t exactly hard, there is step that you don’t have to do with other cakes and this is to soak the chopped dates, sultanas and bicarbonate of soda in boiling water. You may ask why you do this. Well, it’s to soften the skin on the dates as they can be quite tough in texture and it helps to make them taste less like dried fruit and have a more ‘toffee’ flavour, somewhat. Apart from this stage, the rest is the usual method.

As always, just before you intend on baking you’ll want to do some prep work. Line your muffin/cupcake tin with cases and set aside until its needed later, you’ll also want to weigh up all your ingredients (this saves you making mistakes later and stops you faffing about) and preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

The final bit of prep you’ll need to do is preparing your dried fruit. Place your sultanas, chopped dates and bicarbonate of soda into a small/medium heatproof bowl and pour enough boiling water on top to cover and leave to soak while you carry on and make your cupcake batter. Once you need them, simply pass them through a sieve and add the fruit mixture into the cake batter.

Now you’ve got your prep work done, you can start making your cupcakes. Start by getting yourself a large bowl and placing your butter and light brown sugar into it, then mix the two until they are combined. Then add in your eggs, 1 at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Try your best to not scramble the mixture at this stage, you will also notice that the consistency will change at this point, don’t worry. Give your bowl a quick scrape down before continuing.

Next, you’ll want to sieve your dry ingredients into your mixing bowl and mix on a low-medium speed until the flour is just about incorporated, once you’ve achieved this, you can add in the drained date mixture and then incorporate that by hand using a silicon spatula or whatever you have. Just mix until it’s fairly distributed, try not to over-mix at this stage, otherwise your cupcakes will be tough textured.

Divide the cake batter between your 12 cupcake cases, I used 2 spoons but feel free to use whatever you have or find easiest to work with. Then place the tray into the oven and bake for 20-22 minutes (or until golden brown and well risen, a tester works well too!). While your cupcakes are in the oven, you can make your caramel pecan filling.

To make the caramel pecan filling, you’ll want to get yourself a small-medium saucepan and place the butter, light brown sugar, double cream and chopped pecans into it and place on the hob until it’s melted and come together. Ensuring that you’re stirring constantly once it starts to melt, once everything has come together and the mixture is smooth, transfer the mixture from the saucepan into a small heatproof bowl and allow to cool completely before using it.

Depending on how much time you have left, you can start making your buttercream, this is really quick and easy. Into your mixing bowl of choice place your butter and half of your icing sugar and mix on a low speed to start with, just to get them combined, then work your way up to a medium-high speed and mix for a couple of minutes, until roughly light and fluffy. Give your bowl a quick scrape down and add the other half of icing sugar. I used half normal icing sugar and half salted caramel flavoured icing sugar (available at most supermarkets, craft shops and online). I then repeat the mixing process until I have no icing sugar left and the mixture is looking light and fluffy, set aside until needed a little while later.

Now that every element behind the cupcakes has been made, you just need to allow everything to cool completely before using anything.

When you’re ready, you’ll want to do some prep work. Get yourself 3 piping bags, 1 for the caramel pecan filling, 1 for the salted caramel buttercream (fit the piping bag with a piping nozzle of choice, I opted for the 1cm open star nozzle but choose what you like) and 1 for the caramel you’re going to drizzle over the cupcakes (for this you can make your own caramel or use some from a can, which is what I went with on this occasion). Doing this now saves you time in a little while and allows you to crack on when you’re finishing the cupcakes off.

So, to finish the cupcakes, you’ll want to start by getting your cupcakes in-front of you and using a shaping tool (or something similar), make a cavity in the middle of the cupcake. Snip the end off your caramel pecan piping bag and pipe a generous amount of the filling into the centre of the cupcakes (a small blob may appear on top, don’t worry to much about this, it’ll be alright). Now be aware and make sure that you’ve used a good piping bag and have snipped a big enough hole in the piping bag an aren’t applying too much pressure, otherwise you’ll make your bag explode and it’ll make a mess, like a serious amount. GRR!

Onwards and upwards, eh?

Fill each of your cupcakes with a generous amount of the filling and then get your buttercream piping bag ready and pipe a good amount of it on top of each cupcake, this is where you have control and can pipe onto each cupcake the amount you want, so it’s fully customisable. To finish the cupcakes, use the final piping bag containing the caramel and snip a small hole in the end of the bag and drizzle over as much or as little as you’d like onto each cupcake.

That’s how you make the cupcake, which sounds like a lot of work but when you consider that you’ve made almost all the elements to the cupcake it’s all worthwhile!

Ingredients:

Cupcake:

75g Sultanas.

150g Stoned dates, chopped.

1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda.

25g Butter.

200g Light brown sugar.

2 Eggs.

200g Plain flour.

1 tsp Baking powder.

Caramel Pecan Filling:

25g Butter.

175ml Double cream.

200g Light brown sugar.

50g Pecans, chopped.

Buttercream:

250g Butter.

250g Icing sugar.

250g Salted caramel icing sugar.

Canned caramel (for the drizzle).

Methods:

Do some prep work before you get started, prepare your cupcake tin with some cupcakes cases, use whichever you like or have. Weigh up all your ingredients and preheat your oven.

The other bit of prep you’ll want to do is placing the sultanas and chopped dates into a bowl and sprinkle over the bicarbonate of soda then cover it all with enough water so its submerged. Allow to soak until you need it, a little later in the recipe.

Cupcake:

Place your butter and light brown sugar into a mixing bowl of choice and beat until they are combined.

Add in your eggs, 1 at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Repeat this with method with both eggs and try not to scramble your mixture at this stage.

Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl quickly.

Add in your flour and baking powder and mix on a low-medium speed just until combined, be careful not to over mix at this stage.

Drain your fruit mixture and add into your cake batter and fold in by hand until its fairly distributed.

Divide the mixture between your 12 cupcake cases, trying to get it as equal as possible. Then place the tray into the oven and bake for 20-22 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).

Allow them to cool completely before using them.

Caramel Pecan Filling:

To make the filling is really easy. Get yourself a small-medium saucepan and place in your butter, light brown sugar, double cream and chopped pecans and place on the hob over a medium heat.

Once the butter and sugar start to melt, make sure you’re constantly stirring the mixture so it doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan and burn.

Once everything has melted and has combined, you’ll be left with a smooth (apart from the lumps from the pecans) mixture.

Transfer from the saucepan into a small heatproof bowl and allow to cool before using.

Once the mixture has cooled completely, you can transfer it to a piping bag and use accordling.

Buttercream:

Get yourself a mixing bowl and place in the butter and half the icing sugar, mix the two together on a low speed to start, once combined then crank up the speed to a medium-high just until it looks lighter and fluffier, then add in the second weight of icing sugar and repeat the process with the remaining icing sugar.

Set aside until later on, where you’ll want to place it into a piping bag fitted with your choice of piping nozzle.

Assembly:

Make a cavity in each cupcake by using a shaping tool or something similar, then fill each of them with a generous amount of the filling.

Onto each cupcake, pipe a good amount of the salted caramel buttercream. Use as much or as little as you’d like, it’s really up to you.

To finish the cupcakes, get your final piping bag which has some canned caramel in it and drizzle over as much or as little as you’d like.

That’s it, you’re done! Congrats – what do you think of these cupcakes?

Coffee and Walnut Cupcakes

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’re a fan of coffee and walnut cake, these cupcakes may just be your new favourites.

I’ve taken the classic coffee and walnut cake and turned it on its head, giving you smaller portions, perfect for those time you don’t want an entire cake or you’re making these for a party or fundraiser.

You get everything in these cupcakes you would in the standard cake, simply smaller. I also find the amount of coffee is perfect for flavouring an colouring the cupcakes, however, I’m not a big coffee drinker (so a little goes a long way).

If you prefer a stronger coffee flavour, you can use more instant coffee, just adjust it to suit you as best you can. If you use too much coffee it may make the cake more bitter, I don’t recommend using more waters that will have a

These have always been a popular cupcake when I make them, even liked by people who don’t normally consume coffee, so I can assure you these will go down a treat.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cold Coffee:

1 – 1 1/2 tbsp instant coffee.

4-5 tbsp Boiling water.

Cupcakes:

175g Butter.

175g Plain flour.

1 tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

175g Granulated sugar.

3 Eggs.

75g Walnuts, roughly chopped.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

2-3 tbsp of the cold coffee mixture.

Buttercream:

125g Butter.

300g Icing sugar, sifted.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

1-2 tbsp of the cold coffee.

Finish with Walnuts.

Methods:

Before you get into making any element of these cupcakes, I recommend you do some prep work. Start by weighing up your ingredients, preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, line a cupcake tray with liners and get any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and a spatula.

Cold Coffee:

Making the coffee mixture is the easiest part of this recipe. You simple add boiling water to the instant coffee and mix until it has dissolved – set aside and allow to cool down fully before you continue to use it.

You can make this a day in advance just store in the fridge until you need it, although I recommend using it at room temperature.

Cupcakes:

To start on the cupcakes, you’ll want to grab yourself a large mixing bowl and into it, place the butter, granulated sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, vanilla extract and cold coffee. Beat over a medium-low speed to start, working your way up to a medium-high until a clear cake batter has formed.

A clear cake batter simply means you can’t see a single ingredient on its own, all of the ingredients have combined and have formed a cake batter.

Once you have a clear batter, you can go ahead and add in the chopped walnuts and fold them in using a spatula until they are fairly distributed throughout the dough.

Grab your prepared cupcake tray and scoop/pipe the batter into the cases, filling them roughly 2/3 or 3/4 of the way full – they will rise while baking in the oven.

Place the cupcake tray into the preheated oven and bake for around 20-22 minutes or until they are well risen and a perfect golden brown all over. You may also want test the centre with a tester, to ensure they are fully baked. If the tester comes out clean, the cupcakes are fully baked. Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully before you finish them off.

Buttercream:

While the cupcakes are cooling down, it’s the perfect time to make your buttercream.

Grab yourself a mixing bowl and place in the butter, beating it on its own for around 5-7 minutes, or until it’s lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Then you can go ahead and add in around half of the icing sugar and beat that in until its fully incorporated and become lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency. You’ll want to repeat this step with the remaining icing sugar.

Add in the cold coffee and vanilla extract into the bowl and mix it in until its fully incorporated. Feel free to add the liquids a tablespoon at a time, to help with the consistency.

You can then transfer it into a piping bag fitted with your nozzle of choice or into a bowl and place into the fridge. This can be made in advance, to help you save time.

If you’re decorating the cupcakes right away, pipe swirls of buttercream on top and finish with either a whole walnut or chopped walnuts, its really up to you.

Cupcake

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