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.

Chocolate, orange, almond and cranberry biscotti

This sounds like a really festive bake but it's made in the middle of summer! It will definitely be a great gift at the end of the year when it's 'C' time... just can't bring myself to say it in August! This recipe is of course inspired by the current season of the Great British Bake Off. It was biscuit week in week 2 and they made biscotti. I've baked Italian biscotti once before and they weren't hugely successful so I was really pleased with how these turned out.  Clearly, I have to work on shaping these as my biscotti were huge! They passed the crunch test and tasted delicious. The flavours work really well together and it really tasted very festive with the chocolate, cranberry and orange. I'm definitely baking more biscotti in the future and might be more adventurous with flavour combinations. 

I'm sending this to Treat Petite hosted by Kat from the Baking Explorer and co hosted by Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is The Great British Bake Off.

 adding dried cranberries, chocolate chips and blanched almonds 

 Love how the orange zest turns the eggs very orange! 

 biscotti loaves 

 sliced after the first round of baking

 biscotti! 

 

375g plain flour
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
200g caster sugar
100g dark chocolate chips
75g blanched almonds (bring a pot of water to boil, add the almonds for 1 minute then strain. Remove the skins by squeezing the end of the almond)
100g dried cranberries
3 eggs
zest of 1 orange
1 teaspoon orange flavoured water

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Mix flour, baking powder and sugar. 
• Add in the chocolate chips, dried cranberries and blanched almonds and mix. 
• In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the orange zest and orange flavoured water (or fresh orange juice).
• Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix well. 
• Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into two fat sausages. 
• Place on a baking tray spaced apart, allowing room for spreading. 
• Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes. 
• Reduce the oven temperature to 140C. 
• Allow the biscotti to cool for 10 minutes then slice diagonally using a bread knife. 
• Place the slices facing up on a baking tray and bake for a further 20 minutes or until crispy. 

Gooseberry and Orange Drizzle Cake

My colleague gave me a huge box of fresh gooseberries from her garden. I don't think I've ever baked with them before and apart from making a gooseberry fool I wasn't quite sure what to do with them. I turned to twitter and got a few very helpful suggestions including jam, crumble, cobbler or tart. As I was short on time, I decided to bake a cake and used a BBC Good Food recipe. It's essentially a light sponge cake with orange zest and fresh gooseberries and an orangle drizzle to go on top. The gooseberries sunk to the bottom of the cake and gave a lovely tart bite to the cake. The orange complemented the gooseberries well as it's a subtle citrus flavour which has a sweetness to it unlike lemon or lime.

I'm sending this to Formula 1 Foods hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. The idea is to cook something inspired by the country that is hosting the Formula 1 race. This time it's in the UK which opens up a lot of possibilities particularly with using seasonal produce. It was good timing then that I got this box of gooseberries as they are very British.

I'm also sending it to Simple and in Season hosted by Ren as gooseberries are in season currently.

 fresh gooseberries 

 adding gooseberries to the cake batter 

 I love the sugary bits from the orange drizzle 

 You can see that the gooseberries sunk to the bottom of the cake 

Recipe from BBC Good Food 

Cranbery, Orange, Pecan and White Chocolate Mini Loaves

It's almost Christmas and I have one final Christmas recipe to share with you. I've baked a few other things but I may save them for next year! It's been a really busy month and I've not had a chance to bake as many homemade gifts as I'd like. I wanted something relatively quick and easy yet stunning. I'm not a huge fan of fruit cake so I decided to make this very festive cake using cranberries and orange. I added in some pecan and white chocolate for indulgence and a spoonful of marmalade in the middle. I made an orange glaze to go on top of the cakes and decorated it with a lightly toasted pecan nut. The cake was incredibly moist and orange was the predominant flavour. You can clearly taste the other ingredients when you got a bite of it particularly the marmalade centre. I think I'll have to bake this again after Christmas just because it's so tasty!

I'm sending this to AlphaBakes hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes and myself on alternate months. The letter this month is 'X' and Caroline is accepting everything Christmas related.

These mini loaves are also perfect for Treat Petite hosted by Kat from the Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is Christmas.

 marmalade, dried cranberries, oranges, pecan nuts, white chocolate chips

 half fill the mini loaf case with batter 

add a spoonful of marmalade

 cover with more batter 

 ready to be decorated 

 I poured orange glaze icing on top and placed a lightly toasted pecan nut in the centre

 Finished with a christmas ribbon for the festive touch 

Happy Christmas Everyone! 

Makes 19 mini loaves

For the cake

225g butter

350g caster sugar

450g flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

250mls milk

125mls fresh orange juice

zest of 2 oranges

4 eggs

170g dried cranberries

100g white chocolate chips

100g pecans, roughly chopped  + extra whole pecans to decorate 

Orange marmalade (optional)

For the glaze

juice of 1-2 oranges

150 -200g icing sugar

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy,
• Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. 
• In a large bowl, mix the milk and orange juice.
• Sieve the flour and baking powder into another bowl.
• Add in the milk mixture alternating with the flour mixture in 3 batches.
• Add in the orange zest, dried cranberries, white chocolate chips and pecan nuts. 
• Half fill the mini loaf case with batter.
• Add a teaspoon of marmalae on top.
• Cover with more batter until about 3/4 full. 
• Bake for approximately 18-20 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• To make the glaze, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add the orange juice until you get a spreadable consistency. You may need to add more juice or icing sugar depending on the consistency you want. 
• Spread a generous layer of glaze on top of the cake and decorate with a whole pecan nut which has been lightly toasted. 

Parsnip Cake and a review

I watched a demonstration by Mich Turner at a cake show years ago and was really impressed. Jacqui Small offered me a review copy of Mich Turner's Cake School and I can tell you now that I will be referring to this book frequently from now on. First impressions are that it's a substantial book. It's a large hardback with 272 pages including index. It has stunning colour photography by Amanda Heywood. I love a recipe with photos and this definitely delivers on that count.

Mich's introduction explains that this book is more than just about recipes, it's to help you understand the stages of baking, what is important, what to do, what not to do and offers lots of practical hints and tips. It has a nice large, easy to read font accompanied by pictorials.

The chapters are divided into

• Lesson 1 : Making & Baking Cakes - ingredients, preparation, cake-baking methods
• Lesson 2: Putting it All Together - fillings & frostings, covering & assembly
• Lesson 3 : Decorating - hand piping, hand moulding, hand painting
• Cake Templates
• Tools
• Index

Below is an example page of her monochrome lace tutorial with pictorial step by step guide and hand tips from Mich. 

She also has a tutorial on hand-moulding teddy bears. The bear looks really realistic!

There are a few recipes in the book for cakes, brownies and muffins. I chose to make her parsnip cake as I've tried it once before and it was delicious.  As Mich says, the cake is wonderfully moist, sweet and succelent. She's added in apples, walnuts and maple syrup all of which work well with the parsnips. Everyone was really impressed with the cake and could not tell that there were parsnips in the cake.

My verdict - This is really good book to have on your shelf whether you are a beginner or an advanced baker. It's full of practical tips and the book is beautifully laid out with plenty of colour photographs illustrating methods and recipes. It's very easy to read and the instructions are clear and simple. I would have happily bought this book for myself and will definitely make a great gift either for yourself or for someone else.

If you are interested in a copy, Jacqui Small are offering a discount to my readers.
To order Mich Turner's Cake School at the discounted price of £24.00 including p&p* (RRP: £30.00), telephone 01903 828503 or email mailorders@lbsltd.co.uk and quote the offer code APG212.
*UK ONLY - Please add £2.50 if ordering from overseas.

 melt butter, sugar and maple syrup

 grated parsnip, apple and orange zest

 adding the grated parsnip, apple and orange zest

 adding in the walnuts

 Place one cake on a serving tray then smooth frosting on top 

 place the second cake on top and cover with the remaining frosting

 drizzle with maple syrup before serving 

 who wants a slice? 

Recipe extracted from Mich Turner's Cake School by Mich Turner, published by Jacqui Small www.jacquismallpub.com - reproduced with permission

Makes a 20cm (8inch) round cake

For the cake

175g unsalted butter

250g demerara sugar

100ml maple syrup

3 large eggs

250g self-raising flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons mixed spie

150g parsnips, peeled and grated

1 medium apple, peeled and grated 

grated zest of 1 small orange, plus 2 tablespoons juie

50g walnuts, roughly chopped

For the mascarpone and maple syrup frosting

250g mascarpone

3 tablespoons maple syrup, plus extra to drizzle

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.
• Grease and line two 20cm (8inch) sandwich tins with non-stick baking parchment. 
• Melt the butter, sugar and maple syrup together in a saucepan over a gentle heat until dissolved and smooth. 
• Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
• Whick the eggs into the mixture.
• In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and mixed spice.
• Stir this into the cake batter until smooth. 
• Add the grated parsnips, apple, orange zest and juice and the walnuts and stir until well combined,
• Divide the cake mixture between the prepared tins and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and the tops spring back when pressed lightly. 
• Transfer the tins to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes in the tins before turning out and leaving to cool completely.
• To make the frosting; just before serving, stir the maple syrup into the mascarpone.
• Place one cake on a serving plate.
• Spread half the mascarpone frosting over the base cake and place the other cake on top.
• Spread the remaining frosting on top of the cake and drizzle with maple syrup as the cake is served.
• Storage: Keeps for 3 days in an airtight container - preferably in the fridge.
• Variation: Substitute half the parsnip with grated carrot. 

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of Mich Turner's Cake School for review purposes. A positive review was not required and all opinions expressed are my own. This is not a sponsored post.