Chocolate and Mint Giant Cupcake

I was asked if I could bake something for my local Macmillan Information Centre's official opening. Macmillan is a great charity in support of a worthy cause. Their colours are green so I decided to make a giant green cupcake consisting of a chocolate cake, mint buttercream icing and a green candy melt shell. I decorated it with coloured stars and a giant white chocolate star on top. I also bought a green cake board to go with it. The cake is my favourite Nigella's old fashioned chocolate cake. 

I'm sending it to Love Cake hosted by JibberJabberUK. The theme this month is flowers and as this has rose piping on top, I hope it qualifies.

 green candy melts for the shell. See my previous post for more detailed instructions on creating a candy melt shell

 cakes ready to go in the oven

 candy melt shell

 I split the cake and filled it with mint buttercream icing - remember to trim the cake before placing into the shell otherwise it won't fit!

 Then placed the other half of the cake on top

 I smoothed more buttercream icing on top 

 and placed the top layer of the cake on top of that

  I piped roses on the giant cupcake and decorated it with star sprinkles

For the chocolate cake, follow the link for Nigella's Old fashioned chocolate cake - I made a double recipe as I also used for something else but my guess is you will need approximately 1.5 recipes to make this giant cupcake

For the buttercream frosting - feel free to halve the quantities, I made a large batch as I needed it for another project soon to be revealed

300g butter

600g icing sugar

1 tablespoon peppermint extract + 1 teaspoon (or adjust to taste) 

a few drops of milk

green food colouring

The IN Thing

For the month of November Cancer Research UK is asking girls to host a night in to raise money for cancer research. The guys have Movember so it's time for the girls to have some fun! Life gets hectic and busy so it's a great opportunity to catch up with friends, have fun and raise money for a good cause.

All you have to do is register online, set a date, send invites out and host your fabulous night in. Make sure you remember to send your donations in via your JustGiving page or by post. The IN Thing runs from November 1st - 30th so there's still time to join in. 

A reminder about the great work that Cancer Research UK is doing and why it's worth supporting.

• Cancer Research UK is the world's leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research. 
• The charity’s groundbreaking work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives. This work is funded entirely by the public.
• Cancer Research UK has been at the heart of the progress that has already seen survival rates in the UK double in the last forty years.
• Cancer Research UK supports research into all aspects of cancer through the work of over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses.

Hosting a night in does not have to be stressful. It can be as simple or as fancy as you like. A little preparation goes a long way so make sure you get your friends and family involved. There are some great ideas on the Cancer Research UK website for hosting a night in. I'd like to share some of my ideas with you and I would also love it if you would share yours.  

1 Have a themed night. For example an American themed night - you can get American flags and memorabilia to decorate, cook some American food and have a fun quiz on American trivia. 

 Mini peanut butter oreo cheesecakes 

2 Choose an activity such as baking, crafting or even knitting. For example, you could make your own X'mas cards, bake cupcakes and then eat them or show off your baking talents by hosting your own masterclass. 

 

Kinder Bueno Cupcakes 

3. Have a costume party. It's not just for Halloween and can be great fun. Either pick a theme such as Bond Girls, the 70's or just get everyone to come in costume. Have a fun vote as to who wins best dressed of the night. 

James Bond Inspired Cookies 

4. A girlie girl's night in - I mean pampering and cocktails. Do each other's make up, nails and hair and take silly pictures.

Painkiller Cupcakes 

5. Have a 'help me de-clutter' party. Get a few of your best friends round to help you de-clutter and sort out piles of stuff that can be donated to charity. This will be a double fund raising event as you can donate goods to another charitable organisation and raise money for Cancer Research UK! You can even take it in turn amongst your closest friends. 

Smiley Face Jam Cookies to sweeten the deal! 

Tennis themed cake and cupcakes

I was asked to bake for a tennis tournament charity event to raise money for charity - half to Macmillan Cancer Support and half to a homeless charity. Initially, I thought I'd bake some brownies, biscuits and possibly a Victoria Sponge cake. However, one sleepless night, I started thinking about themed cakes and as it's for a tennis event I decided to make a tennis court cake and tennis cupcakes! Cake decorating is definitely not my strong suit but I tried my best and was pleased with the final result. It definitely needs a lot more work (especially the icing) but it did the job and raised a fair bit for charity! The tennis court cake sold for £58!! All the cupcakes were sold as well at a suggested donation of £1 per cupcake. 

I've just watched this week's episode of the Great British Bake off and I have no idea how they created their showstoppers in 4 hours as this took me longer than that and doesn't even come close to what they produced! Just as well I'm not in the show! 

Anyway back to the cakes- the tennis court cake is a vanilla sponge sandwiched with vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam. It was then covered in buttercream and placed in the fridge to set before being covered with green fondant icing. The finishing touches were made with royal icing. You will notice that the icing is terrible as I decided to use egg white powder (instead of fresh egg whites) for the icing and ended up with clumps which prevented me using a smaller tip. The tennis ball cupcakes are lemon cupcakes covered with a thin layer of buttercream followed by a circle of yellow fondant icing. Royal icing was used to pipe 2 lines to resemble a tennis ball. 

 I baked a square cake as I didn't have a rectangle tin and didn't want to 'cut and paste' 

 Spread vanilla buttercream on one half 

 and strawberry jam on the second half 

 covered in vanilla buttercream 

 finally covered with green fondant

 I made some tennis racquets using fondant icing and decided to pipe the netting later 

 

 lemon cupcakes 

 covered in yellow fondant icing 

 the finished product! If you don't look too closely - they don't look too bad :) 

For vanilla sponge

250g butter

250g caster sugar

250g self raising flour

4 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon vanilla paste 

For vanilla buttercream

250g butter

500g icing sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 -2  teaspoon of milk 

Lemon Cupcakes

Makes 10 cupcakes - I tripled this recipe

110g golden caster sugar
110g self-raising flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
12g cornflour
110g unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

For royal icing

1 sachet egg white powder

10 teaspoons water

250g icing

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

• Preheat oven to 180C
• To make vanilla sponge - cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix in the flour and vanilla extract and paste.
• Pour into a baking tin and bake for approximately 45-50 minutes or until risen and golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool before decorating.
• To make the lemon cupcakes - cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix in flours, zest and juice of lemon. 
• Spoon into cupcake cases and bake for approximately 15-18 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• To make the buttercream - mix all ingredients in a mixer until smooth. 
• To make the royal icing - mix egg white powder with warm water until smooth. Beat in sifted icing sugar and lemon juice. You may need to add more water or icing sugar to get the right consistency. 

Homemade Hot Chocolate on a stick for Macmillan Coffee Morning

Today is the World's Biggest Coffee Morning which is Macmillan's biggest fundraising event.  In 2012 115,000 people signed up, raising a record £15 million. I'm sure there's one near you so if you're not hosting your own, please support this great cause. 

Unfortunately I am away in Chicago this year so won't be baking up a storm as I usually do for this great cause.  However, I made sure to leave something for my colleagues to sell at the Macmillan Coffee morning stand. It had to be something that would keep for more than a week so I decided to make some hot chocolate on a stick with mini marshmallows. I made these previously for Christmas one year and they were a huge hit. This time, I used my dariole mould and packaged them nicely in cake pop bags and cute ribbons and gift tags. They look really cute and I hope that they will help raise money for Macmillan. 

 lollipop sticks, dark chocolate, mini marshmallows 

 melt chocolate and pour into a suitable mould. Add mini marshmallows on top so they will stay in place as the chocolate sets. Refrigerate for about 10-15 minutes then place a lollipop stick in the centre. The chocolate should be semi-set at this point and the stick will stand up on its own. You can also use a teaspoon. 

 Once completely set, remove from mould

 

 My little note :) 

Polka Dot Pudsey Cupcakes

I really enjoyed participating in the Baking Mad Children in Need campaign last year by baking Rainbow Pudsey Cupcakes and Smarties Cookies. When they approached me again this year, I could hardly say no. The brief for this year was to create a unique recipe for Pudsey Bear cupcakes or biscuits.  The team at Baking Mad will pick the most inventive recipe and announce a winner who will be featured on their homepage.

I really liked my rainbow cupcakes last year so had a hard time thinking of another idea. I know this is not terribly original but spots remind me of Pudsey bear so I decided to make Polka Dot cupcakes. It's a basic vanilla cupcake with Polka Dot sprinkles mixed in the batter. 

 You can buy polka dot sprinkles from most supermarket 

 they look so colourful! 

 you can still see the spots... just about 

 and even after they are baked 

 yum! 

I used my now favourite vanilla cupcake recipe - the ultimate vanilla cupcake

For the cakes
125g flour + 1 tablespoon cornflour
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
113g butter
225g sugar
1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 eggs yolk

35g polka dot sprinkles

For the frosting 
250g icing sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g butter

10g polka dot sprinkles to decorate

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Sift the flours, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together butter, sugar, vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
• In a measuring jug, whisk together sour cream, eggs and egg yolk until smotth.
• Pour half of the wet ingredients into the butter-sugar mixture and beat until smooth.
• Reduce mixer speed to low and stir in half of the flour mixture.
• Repeat with the remaining dry and wet ingredients. 
• Add in 35g of polka dot sprinkles and mix well. 
• Fill cases until 2/3 full. 
• Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, about 22-25 minutes. 
• Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
• To make the frosting, place the icing sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. 
• Add milk, vanilla extract and salt and mix on low speed until sugar is evenly moistened. 
• Add butter and gradually increase the speed from low to medium-high. 
• Beat until fluffy and light in texture, 3 to 4 minutes.

Macmillan Cancer Support and SilverSpoon - Little Local Hero Awards

On the 28th of September this year the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning is going to be taking place. This is a fantastic one day fundraising event hosted by Macmillan Cancer Support to raise money for people with lives affected by cancer. It's a great cause and one that is close to my heart. I baked dark indulgent chocolate and walnut brownies, chocolate chip flapjacks, victoria sponge in 2010 for my local coffee morning.

Silver Spoon, the homegrown sugar people, are the official sugar sponsor for the event, and this year have decided to launch a fantastic competition as part of their activity. On the 24th August 2012 Silver Spoon and Macmillan are launching Silver Spoons Little Local Hero Awards. They are scouring the country for local heroes under the age of 18 who have done something truly special. Your local little hero could have looked after their little sister when they were ill, gone to great lengths to make Mother’s Day very special, or done something fantastic to raise money for charity.

If you know someone under 18 in your local area who you think would be a worthy winner, just follow this link and explain in less than 100 words who you are nominating, why, and what you would bake them to say thank you
www.macmillan.org.uk/littlehero

Master Pâtissier Eric Lanlard, star of Channel 4’s Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard, will choose a Silver Spoon National Little Hero and to celebrate he will bake them a special cake of their choice! 10 runners up will also receive a Silver Spoon Baking Hamper packed full of exciting treats.

 

There are sure to be some amazing stories from our local little heroes all over the country, but in the meantime don’t forget to register to hold your own coffee morning on the 28th September, just follow this link and you can help to raise money for people with lives affected by cancer. http://coffeeregister.macmillan.org.uk/2012/register.asp

Flowerpot Cupcakes

Remember the Jubilee Rose cupcakes I baked for a charity bake sale last weekend? Well I made these cute flowerpot cupcakes as well as the event had a garden theme. I first saw them on this website which has really clear step by step photo instructions. The recipes given looked good so I gave them a go and I'm so glad I did! The cupcake and frosting was really easy to make and tasted really good! My cake decorating skills are still amateurish at best and it took me the whole evening to make 9 of these. As before, I gave up and piped the frosting on the remainder of the cupcakes and decorated with sprinkles. Fortunately, these were a huge hit at the bake sale. In fact I sold out of all my cakes and we raised lots of money for charity :) 

I'm entering these to Cupcake Tuesday hosted by Liz from Hoosier Homemade

And to bookmarked recipes hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes as I bookmarked these the minute I saw them! 

 I could only find a 'skin tone' icing and orange icing so I decided to mix the two to get a terracotta like colour 

 place a cupcake upside down on a plate 

 cover the top and sides with chocolate buttercream  

 roll out the icing and cut a large circle 

 place that circle of icing over the top of the cupcake and press gently so that the icing encases the cupcake

 crush some oreo cookies

 turn the cupcake over and spread more frosting on top 

 dip in oreo crumbs to look like "mud" 

 Finally cut a strip of icing and place around the top of the cupcake to resemble a flowerpot

 decorate with wafer daisies (I couldn't face making fondant flowers at this point and I didn't have any leaf cutters) 

 My cupcakes at the bake sale table - Only a few for display as the table was groaning with cakes and bakes! 

 I made some brownies as well on the bottom right of the picture

Recipe from instructable.com

Black Midnight Cupcake

280g plain flour

250g caster sugar

80g cocoa powder

1 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder  

1 1/4 cup water

170g butter

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

113g butter

28g cocoa powder

250g icing sugar, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons milk

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Place all the ingredients for the cupcake into a large mixer bowl and mix on low - medium speed for a few minutes until well mixed. 
• Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• Scoop into cupcake cases and bake for 18-20 minutes.
• To make the frosting, mix the butter and cocoa powder in a large mixer bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and continue beating until you get a smooth consistency. 
• To make the flowerpot cupcakes, see pictorial instructions above.