Ginger Bonfire Cupcakes

As promised I have a Bonfire Night recipe for you. Today is Guy Fawkes Night celebrated annually on November 5th to commemorate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot. The traditional cake eaten today is parkin cake which is a sticky gingerbread cake. I've taken inspiration and come up with a fun cupcake that has flavours of traditional parkin.

These cupcakes are perfect for the occasion and relatively simple to bake. I baked these twice as I had to experiment with the spice levels and different frosting and I think they are now almost perfect. It has a sticky gingerbread cake base topped with  lemon buttercream and orange matchmaker sticks. The flavours work well together as the sweet and zesty lemon frosting sets of the fiery, spiced cupcake. My initial trial I made a golden syrup cinnamon cream cheese frosting which was absolutely delicious but unfortunately the icing was too soft to pipe tall peaks required for the bonfire effect. The lemon frosting worked equally well in terms of flavour pairing and visually it looks much better. 

I'm sending this to a few blog challenges this month.

Treat Petite hosted by Kat from The Baking Explorer and Stuart fromCakeyboi. The theme this month is Autumn.

Recipe of the Week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too.

#FoodYearLinkUp hosted by Charlotte from Charlotte's Lively Kitchen. Lots of foodies events in November and this is for Guy Fawkes Night.

 adding golden syrup to the cake batter 

 ready to go in the oven 

 I made 2 bags of frosting - 1 yellow and 1 orange and then placed them both in another piping bag with a 1M star tip to create the two tone piping effect.

 Pipe the frosting a high as you can

 Add orange matchmaker sticks so that it looks like a bonfire and add a sprinkling of orange sugar if you have it. 

 This is my initial failed attempt with the cream cheese frosting - absolutely delicious but less visually appealing! 

Makes 15cupcakes 

For the cupcakes

150g butter

130g soft brown sugar

3 eggs

150g self raising flour

60mls golden syrup

2.5 teaspoons ground ginger

1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the frosting

110g butter

zest of 1 lemon

300g icing sugar, sifted

1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

food colouring - orange and yellow

For the decoration

Orange matchmaker sticks

Orange sanding sugar 

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Add in the golden syrup.
• Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition.
• In a separate bowl, sift the flour and spices and add it to the butter mixture.
• Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases - I use an ice cream scoop to get an even amount of cake batter per cupcake case.
• Bake for approximately 16-18 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool completely. 
• I made a double batch of frosting and it's plenty to frost all the cupcakes - I didn't want to risk running out as it would be difficult to get the same colour again. If you have leftover frosting, you can use it to make cookies! 
• To make the frosting, beat the butter and icing sugar for at least 5 minutes until smooth and fluffy. Add in the lemon zest and slowly add in the lemon juice until you get the required consistency. 
• Add the food colouring and mix well - I use colour paste.
• Repeat for the second batch.
• As shown in the pictures, place each colour of icing in a disposable piping bag and snip the end of the bag off. 
• Place both bags side by side into another piping bag fitted with a 1M star tip ensuring that the ends of the bags go into the piping nozzle.
• Pipe the buttercream on a plate initially to get a good mix of colour then decorate the cupcakes as shown.

Toffee Apple Muffins

A quick and easy atumnal bake today. These muffins are really quick to make and are bursting with flavour. You get juicy apple pieces and melted toffee and a hint of spice to round it all up. I adapted a recipe from BBC Food and used low fat toffee yoghurt instead of milk for extra flavour. You can also add nuts which complement these muffins well but I kept these nut free as a colleague is allergic to walnuts. These were a real hit and I baked them 3 times last week! I have another very exciting bake for Bonfire Night coming up so make sure you check back soon :)

I'm sending this to Treat Petite hosted by Kat from The Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is Autumn.

 adding chunks of apple

2 toffees per muffin 

 I love that you getlarge chunks of apple to bite into and how the toffee has melted all down the sides of the muffin

Makes 14 muffins

2 pots of 165g fat free toffee yoghurt 

60 mls milk

2 eggs

100g brown sugar

100g butter, melted

300g plain flour

1.5 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 apples, peeled, cored and choped

28 toffee sweets

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• In a large bowl, mix the yoghurt, milk, eggs, sugar and butter.
• In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients.
• Stir into the wet ingredients until just mixed.
• Stir in the chopped apples.
• Divide the mixture between the muffin cases.
• Place 2 toffee sweets on top of each muffin.
• Bake for approximately 25-28 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Zucchini and Orange Marmalade Muffins with Cranberry and Pecans

It's another courgette recipe but it's too good not to share. I saw this on Brown Eyed Baker and the flavour combination really appealed to me. As with my previous post on biscotti, this has a distinctively festive flavour with the orange, pecan and cranberry.  The muffins were quick and easy to put together and made for a substantial breakfast. You can clearly taste the tangy marmalade which pairs well with the cranberry and pecan. You can actually see bits of green from the courgette in the muffin not that it put anyone off. I brought this to a work breakfast do and they were a real hit. Definitely on the bake again list. I also experimented with coconut sugar rather than caster sugar and to be honest I couldn't taste the difference. I was worried that it would have a coconut taste but it didn't so I will definitely be using more of my coconut sugar in the future. I like to think that this is healthier for me as it has courgettes, coconut sugar, dried fruit and nut! 

I'm sending this to a few blog challenges this month.

AlphaBakes hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes and co hosted by myself on alternate months. The letter this month is Z for Zucchini also known as courgette. 

Extra Veg challenge hosted by Jen from Jen's Food this month. The challenge is run by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours and Michelle from Utterly Scrummy. These muffins are a great way to incorporate extra veg into your diet.

Simple and in Season hosted by Ren as courgettes are currently in season. 

No Waste Food Challenge hosted by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary. I used up the end of a jar of marmalade, an open pack of dried cranberries and a pack of pecans which I bought for something else. There was also 1 courgette left in the fridge which was exactly what I needed. 

 adding (strained) finely grated courgette 

 adding dried cranberries and pecan nuts 

 place a pecan nut on top of each muffin before baking 

 I love how you can see the green flecks from the courgette 

Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker 

Makes 12 muffins 

185g plain flour

125g coconut sugar

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 eggs

80mls vegetable oil

100g orange marmalade (I used 125g as that was all that was left in the jar) 

50g pecans, roughly chopped

120g dried cranberries

1 courgette, finely grated and strained well

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and ground cinnamon.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, oil and marmalade. Stir in the courgette. 
• Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix briefly.
• Add in the dried cranberries and pecans and stir until just mixed.
• Divide evenly between 12 muffin cases.
• Place a whole pecan on top of each muffin before baking.
• Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Hot Cross Buns

If you read my blog regularly you will see that I love baking cakes, cupcakes and cookies. I've started to bake more with pastry recently which includes trying different types of pastry and I even had a go at hot water pastry but that's for another post. Bread baking is a different matter and I've tended to stray away from baking bread or dough.  

J has been asking for hot cross buns since before Easter. It's traditionally eaten on Good Friday in the UK and in many other countries. Unfortunately I didn't get round to baking it and Easter flew by in the blink of an eye.  A week after Easter and J was still asking for his hot cross buns so I decided to give it a go. 

I used a Paul Hollywood recipe from BBC Good Food and followed it exactly. As it's my first time baking hot cross buns I decided not to stray from the recipe. The dough needed to prove 3 times and by the time I finished baking this it was almost dinnertime! Luckily we had a busy day doing some home improvements and did not have a chance to have lunch so these were a welcome treat with a cup of tea. I also gave some to our lovely neighbours next door and to our new neighbours who moved in a few weeks ago. 

They were very impressed with the homemade hot cross buns and so were we. The buns were soft and fruity and tasted so much better than the shop bought ones. We had them warm from the oven with lashings of butter and they tasted heavenly. We also had them toasted the next day with some homemade marmalade (from a friend) and it tasted just as good. 

I'm sending this to Bready, Steady, Go! hosted by Jen from Jen's Food and Michelle from Utterly Scrummy Food For Families.  Both Jen and Michelle are keen bread bakers so they've decided to host this challenge together. I think it has a great challenge name which was chosen by one of Michelle's daughters. 

It's also going to Treat Petite hosted by Kat from The Baking Eplorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is Hello Spring. 

Food Year Link Up hosted by Charlotte from My Recipe Book. These are of course for Easter.

Finally to Let's Cook for Easter hosted by Nayna from Simply Food.

 bread flour with salt, yeast and sugar 

 the dough is soft and crumbly...

 ...but becomes smooth and glossy after kneading 

 adding in the fruit after allowing the dough to prove 

 looks delicious!

 I weighed each bun as suggested to ensure even cooking 

 The cross is made from a flour and water paste 

 The glaze gives it a really nice shine 

 Lashings of butter! 

Recipe from BBC Good Food 

Cinnabunnies for Easter

Another quick and easy recipe for Easter. This will be a hit with both adults and children alike. The kids will have fun making and eating these and there's still time to get the ingredients before Easter Sunday. I saw this reipe online from Pillsbury. It's an American brand and I wasn't sure if I would find the equivalent here so I was really pleased when I saw this Jus Rol Cinnamon Swirls in the supermarket. One box makes 6 swirls which is 3 bunnies as you need 2 per bunny. You also need some raisins and almond flakes for decoration. It's really simple and looks so cute! The pastry was really flaky and you can definitely taste the cinnamon. It also comes with a little tub of icing sugar - just add water and drizzle over the pastry. This is brilliant for when you don't have time to make cinnamon buns from scratch.

 flaked almonds, raisins, box of Jus Rol cinnamon swirls 

 It comes in a can and the dough looks like this. Cut into 6 even slices. 

 You need 2 swirls - one for the face and one for the ears. Place one swirl on your baking tray then unravel the second swirl as shown. Turn it around so the cinnamon filling is facing downwards. 

 Push the middle of the top pastry on to the swirl and tuck both ends under to look like bunny ears. Pinch the adjoining ends to ensure that it bakes in 1 piece. 

 add 3 raisins per bunny - two for eyes and one for the nose and 2 almond flakes for the teeth. Press firmly in the dough before baking. 

 Bake in the oven according to the box instructions. 

 I tried drizzling the icing and only putting the icing on the ears - which do you prefer? 

I'm sending these super cute Easter Cinnabunnies to a few blog challenges this month...

AlphaBakes hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes and myself on alternate months. The letter ths month is B for Bunny!

Treat Petite hosted by Kat from The Baking Eplorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is Hello Spring. 

Food Year Link Up hosted by Charlotte from My Recipe Book.

Cook Blog Share hosted by Lucy at Supergolden Bakes

Credit Crunch Munch guest hosted by Michelle from Utterly Scrummy. The challenge is run by Camilla from Fab Food 4 All and Helen from Fuss Free Flavours. This recipe uses ready made ingredients which cuts down on time. It's also quite cost effective as I bought the box of cinnamon swirls for £2 and it makes 6 swirls which is a cost of 33p each or 3 bunnies at 66p each. The raisins and almond flakes were store cupboard ingredients.