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

Giant Strawberries and Cream Cupcake

I made this for a surprise birthday at work. I wanted something girly and pink so decided on a giant strawberries and cream cupcake. I've made the same cake about 4 years ago back in 2010 and it looks so much better now. It's good to know that my cake decorating skills have actually improved! Back then it was my first time making a giant cupcake and I had no clue about decorating it. I have to say this is the first time it's turned out so professional looking and that's mainly due to the candy melt base. I will definitely be using this technique in the future although I may try my hand at using fondant one day. 

The cake itself was delicious and the layer of strawberry jam in the middle really added to the taste and texture of the cake. The candy melt shell was tasty too as it was vanilla flavoured and complemented the cake well. 

 making the candy melt shell 

 coat the cake pan in melted candy melts and allow to set in the fridge 

 adding fresh strawberries to the cake mix 

 trim the cake so it will fit into the shell. A small bit broke off as you can see but it will be covered so no one will notice! 

 add some strawberry jam in the middle 

 then cover with the top layer 

 Pipe pink buttercream frosting on top, add some sprinkles and edible glitter and a wafer daisy on top. 

 You can see the edible glitter - it really makes the cake sparkle and gives it a special touch

For the cupcake

225g caster sugar
210g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
25g cornflour
150g fresh, ripe strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 large eggs

For the Buttercream Icing 

110g unsalted butter,at room temperature

220g icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract

a few drops of milk if required

a few drops of pink food colouring 

For the cupcake shell

1 x 340g bag of white candy melts

• Make the candy melt shell by melting the candy melts in a microwave or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
• It will be quite a thick mixture so use a pastry brush to coat the inside of the cupcake case and place in the fridge to set. You will need to repeat this process twice to ensure a thick shell. 
• To remove the shell, very gently peel the edges back and then turn out the shell - be very careful towards the end as you don't want to break it. 
• If the top is uneven, heat a large pan on medium heat. Place the shell upside down and give it a few twists then remove immediately. 

• Preheat the oven to 160C.
• Spray giant cupcake cases liberally with non stick spray. 
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. 
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time until well mixed.
• Mix in the flours and baking powder and finally stir in the chopped strawberries 
• Carefully spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, filling them to about 2/3 full. 
• Bake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes - the bottom will need longer to cook. Check that it is fully cooked by placing a skewer in the centre of the cake and ensure that it comes out clean. 
• Remove from the oven and leave in their tins for about 10 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool. 
• Make the icing by beating all the ingredients together in an electric mixer until smooth. You may or may not need the milk depending on the consistency of icing required. 
• Decorate as shown or be creative and choose your own design. 

Giant Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cake

It's been a busy birthday month in the office in March and more coming up in April.  I made this for Kim who loves chocolate and peanut butter so I decided to make a giant reese's peanut butter cup cake. It's a chocolate sponge with a peanut butter frosting encased in a chocolate shell. I was really pleased at how it turned out particularly the cross section as it really does look like a giant reese's cup!

This is my first time creating a shell with melted chocolate using the giant cupcake case and I am impressed at how easy it is. I will definitely keep this in mind for decorating giant cupcakes as I always find it difficult to decorate the bottom half - I have been using chocolate fingers but this gives it a more refined finish. A tip that I read online was to heat up a frying pan and to place the chocolate shell upside down for a few seconds to get a smooth, even finish to the shell. My inspiration for this cake came from My Cupcake Addiction and you can watch the video to get more helpful tips.

 Giant cupcake case (bottom half only) & melted chocolate 

 pour chocolate into the case and tip the case at an angle, turning as you go to get a smooth covering 

 it should look like this. Place it to set in the fridge to set (at least 20 minutes) then coat with a second layer 

 You can just about see that the edges at the top are uneven 

 heat a pan then place the chocolate shell upside down and twist it slightly to get smooth, even edges 

 looks much better now! 

 I used toothpicks to mark out the cake sections. You want to discard the top bit (the uneven top) and the middle bit (this is where the peanut butter filling goes) 

 Place bottom 1/3 of the cake into the chocolate shell 

 Cover with a thick layer of peanut butter frosting. Use a palette knife to smooth the top 

 place the flat top 1/3 of the cake on top 

 cover with chocolate ganache - try not to spill over the edges 

 after it has set 

 Normal sized Reese's cup for size comparison 

 cross section of the cake 

For the cake

185g plain flour
200g caster sugar (I'd suggest 250g for a sweeter bake)
185mls buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1.5 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
185mls warm water
95g cocoa powder

For the peanut butter filling

110g icing sugar
200g smooth peanut butter
70g butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
80ml double cream

For the chocolate ganache

200g dark chocolate

150g double cream

15g butter (optional) 

For the chocolate shell

200g chocolate, melted 

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. 
• Add in eggs, oil, vanilla extract, buttermilk and warm water.
• Mix thoroughly.
• Divide into the cupcake cases and bake for approximately 35-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. (the bottom half my need more baking time than the top half) 
• Allow to cool completely before decorating. 
• To make the filling,  place the icing sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
• Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work.
• Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth. 
• To make the chocolate ganache, heat the cream in a small saucepan until almost boiling. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped chocolates until smooth. Add in the butter if using. 
• To assemble the cake, follow the instructions that accompany the photos above or watch the video from My Cupcake Addiction. 

Lemon and Blueberry Giant Cupcake

Today is Chinese New Year so Happy New Year to everyone who is celebrating today. This is not a typical Chinese New Year cake but it is a celebration cake which I actually made for a colleague's birthday recently. It's still Jan and we are still on the health kick so this is a lighter lemon and blueberry cake made with low fat yoghurt. It's filled with homemade lemon curd and topped with a vanilla buttercream frosting. The cake was light and moist due to the yoghurt and full of blueberries which are good for you! The lemon curd was absolutely divine and I think it was the highlight of the cake. 

 ready to go in the oven 

 homemade lemon curd filling 

 Love the colour of the blueberries! 

For the cupcake
200g self raising flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
75g golden caster sugar
250g blueberries
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 eggs
150mls low fat yoghurt
50mls sunflower/vegetable oil

For the icing
100g butter
200g icing sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon (optional) or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Lemon curd
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
115g sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
pinch of salt
85g butter

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Sift flour and bicarbonate of soda in a medium bowl.
• Stir in sugar, blueberries and lemon zest. 
• Add eggs, yoghurt, oil and lemon juice in the centre and mix well. 
• Divide into a giant cupcake mould and fill it to about 2/3 full. 
• Bake for approximately 40-45 minutes or until well risen, golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool completely before decorating. 
• To make the lemon curd, place a fine mesh sieve over a medium bowl and set aside.
• In a medium pot, whisk together the lemon juice, sugar, egg yolks and pinch of salt.
• Place the pot over a medium-low heat and add the butter.
• Stir the mixture with a whisk. You may want to use a spatula to scrape down the edges. 
• Cook the curd until the butter is melted and the mixture is the thickness of warm hot fudge. 
• Remove from the heat and immediately pour into the fine mesh sieve over a medium bowl. 
• Press through the sieve leaving any cooked egg bits in the strainer.
• To make icing, mix all ingredients in an electric stand mixer until smooth. You can make lemon or vanilla icing - I ran out of lemons so made a vanilla icing here. 
• Cut the bottom half of the cupcake in half and fill with lemon curd.
• Put more lemon curd in between the top and bottom half of the giant cupcake.
• Spread a thin layer of frosting around the outside of the bottom half of the cupcake.
• Arrange chocolate fingers as shown.
• Pipe rosettes on the top half of the giant cupcake and decorate with sprinkles. 

Happy Blogoversary and Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone and Happy 4th Birthday to my blog! I really can't believe that it's been 4 years since I started this blog. It has gone from strength to strength and I have all of you to thank. I've met so many fantastic bloggers through this blog - some on their blogs, some via twitter and some in person! A year ago I wrote that 2012 was a great year for my blog and I planned to take a slower pace in 2013 due to other commitments. I've certainly blogged less, a total of 113 posts compared to 166 in 2012 but it didn't feel like I baked any less! I managed to expand my repertoire a little and venture outside my comfort zone mainly in baking pastry and trying out a few unusual flavour combinations and ingredients. 

I'm not sure yet what direction my blog will take in 2014 but I do know that I definitely want to keep it going. I guess we'll all have to wait and see :) 

Right no more long soppy messages or reflections, on to the cake! This was actually a cake I made for a colleague who told her husband she wanted to be treated 'like a princess for a day" So it was decided (by my team!) that I would bake a big pink cake and I chose to make this giant vanilla raspberry cupcake cake. It has fresh raspberries in the batter and raspberry jam in the middle. It's decorated with white chocolate fingers, piped buttercream roses, wafer butterflies and coloured sugar pearls and some edible glitter. The finishing touch is the pink satin ribbon. Everyone was really impressed with the presentation of the cake and it tasted heavenly. Light and soft sponge with lovely tart raspberries. A perfect celebration for a birthday - for my colleague and for my dear blog. It also looks much better than my previous attempt so I'm doubly pleased with myself. 

 I love fresh raspberries! I know it's not seasonal but it's just so pretty and tasty too. 

 ready to go in the oven 

 looking good 

 Fill with raspberry jam 

 spread buttercream around the cake and arrange white chocolate fingers around the base 

 ready to be decorated 

 view from the top 

 can you see the edible glitter? 

This recipe makes 1 giant cupcake and 6 small cupcakes - be careful not to overfill the giant cupcake mould! 

For the cake
375g butter
375g sugar
6 eggs
375g self raising flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
150g fresh raspberries

For the icing
300g icing sugar
120g butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons of milk
pink gel paste (optional)

For the filling and decoration

Raspberry jam

White chocolate fingers (about 1.5 boxes) 

Sprinkles

Edible glitter

Pink satin ribbon

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Add the eggs one at a time and mix well between each addition.
• Mix in the flour and vanilla extract.
• Finally stir in the fresh raspberries.
• Fill the cupcake mould until 2/3 full - do not overfill!
• Bake for approximately 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool completely.
• Sandwich the top and bottom with raspberry jam.
• Make the icing by beating all the ingredients together until smooth. 
• Decorate as shown above.