Sticky Toffee Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream

I've been dying to make these cupcakes ever since I saw them in Fiona Cairns book 'Bake & Decorate Tea Time Luxury'. One of my favourite bloggers, Heavenly Housewife wrote a post about this book recently and I knew I had to get a copy. As it happens the theme for this month's Iron Cupcake Challenge was fruit so I made these as my entry. I usually like to make a test run before the challenge in case it needs tweaking but didn't have time this time. Fortunately the cakes turned out fine. The icing however was a different story. I burnt the caramel the first time round and couldn't use it as it had a bitter after taste. I then had to go out to meet some friends and therefore started my second batch of caramel at 11pm (on a sunday night)! I watched it even more closely and probably could have left it a little longer but I didnt want to take any chances. I then had to wait for it to cool completely before making the buttercream. It tasted really good and I thought my troubles were over.

Apparently not as disaster strikes twice. Approximately 2 hours later, I was ready to pipe the buttercream on my cakes and unfortunately I had bits of caramel that had crystallised clogging up my piping tube. Had to use a different piping bag in the end which had a removable nozzle so I could easily clear the obstruction each time it occurred. It took much longer than I expected to frost all the cakes as I had to re-do quite a few of them. The silver lining though is that the pattern is really pretty - it looks like a rose, doesnt it? I've not used this nozzle before so was really pleased with the end result.
Would I make this again? YES! In fact I made another batch on Tuesday night as everyone got to look at it on Monday but couldn't eat it as it was for the challenge. Voted one of my best baking creations by my colleague who has sampled almost everything on here. The cake is really moist and light and the salted caramel buttercream is amazing. I'll confess, I had a small bowlful of buttercream for breakfast on Tuesday :) Thought I deserved it after all this effort!

date mixture

KitchenAid in action (Again? I know I can't help it, I just love it so much)

Burnt caramel! :(

Perhaps slightly underdone but great caramel

salted caramel buttercream

Cakes waiting to be frosted

Final result after hours of stress!

Recipe from Fiona Cairns. Makes 12

For the cakes

180g dates, pitted and chopped

1 tsp vanilla extract

180g self-raising flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

80g unsalted butter, softened

150g light muscovado sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

For the buttercream

Caramel method

125g white caster sugar

80ml double cream

1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Dulce de leche method

3-4 tbsp dulce de leche

1/2 tsp salt (to taste)

1 tsp vanilla extract

160g salted butter, softened

200g icing sugar, sifted

• Preheat the oven to 180C
• In a heatproof bowl, pour 180ml boiling water over the dates and leave to soak for 20 minutes.
• Then, with a fork, dently break up the dates and stir in the vanilla.
• Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and set aside.
• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs gradually, beating between each addition and slipping in 1 tbsp flour about halfway through to prevent curdling.
• Lastly, fold in the remaining flour and then the date mixture.
• Spoon into cupcake cases and bake for 15-20 minutes.
• Remove and leave to cool.

• To make the caramel, dissolve the sugar and 60ml water in a small, solid-based pan over a gentle heat, then increase the heat to a boil.
• Wait a few minutes, leaving the pan undisturbed but watching it like a hawk and, as soon as it changes to a wonderful caramel colour (like strong tea) and is thicker, remove immediately from the heat.
• Stand well back and add the cream.
• Be very careful as it's searing hot and may splatter a little.
• it will reach or 'seize' and you may think it has gone wrong; it hasn't.
• Keep stirring, adding the salt and the vanilla.
• Leave until stone cold.
• If using dulce de leche, simply mix it with the salt and vanilla.

• For the buttercream icing, cream the butter and icing sugar for at least 5 minutes.
• Add the caramel or the dulce de leche.
• Pipe with a piping bag or spread with a palette knife.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake

As you can tell, I got a KitchenAid recently. I also have a few other new kitchen gadgets including a chiffon cake tin/tube pan. When I got my new KitchenAid, I tried to make a chiffon cake which failed miserably. I'm glad to report I finally perfected it and it turned out beautifully the second time round. I have the best neighbour ever so I made this as a thank you as she has been particularly helpful lately.

From baking911.com: The Chiffon Cake is its most well-known member of the foam cake family. A Chiffon Cake contains vegetable oil, similar to Sponge Cakes. Since oil is always liquid at room temperature, a chiffon cake stays soft and moist. It is less likely to lose moisture and stays fresher than other foam type cakes, such as an Angel Food Cake.  A Chiffon Cake is made with vegetable oil and egg yolks beaten into the flour and dry ingredients. The fat coats the flour proteins, much like a raincoat, which protect them against the moisture and from forming gluten when mixed. This results in a very tender cake. Although the recipe contains fat, the pans should not be greased.

In 1948 Betty Crocker introduced the Chiffon Cake and hailed it as "the cake discovery of the century!" Up to this point cakes were either the light sponge cake or a heavier butter or shortening cake. The Chiffon Cake mysteriously combined the richness of the butter cake, but with the light spring of the Angel Food and Sponge Cakes.


A California insurance salesman, Harry Baker, invented the recipe in 1927. He baked his cakes in the Los Angeles area and for Hollywood restaurants, but he never divulged the secret recipe. Harry decided that Betty Crocker should share in his special recipe and he traveled to Minneapolis to finally divulge the secret. And the Chiffon Cake was given to cooks across the nation.

I made a simple chocolate chiffon cake mainly because I didn't have any other ingredients to hand and didn't want to run out to the shops. It was really moist and light and not too chocolatey. I'm sure there will be more chiffon cakes coming out of this kitchen soon. My mum made an orange chiffon cake which is amazing so will have to give that a try.

I worked out why it didn't work the first time round - wrong temperature and cooking time (I followed the recipe exactly which is not always a good thing) and also because I didn't leave it to cool in the tin long enough before turning it out.

my new chiffon cake tin :)

egg white foam

ready to go in the oven

fresh from the oven. So pleased that it rose properly

Egg yolk batter

80g chocolate

150ml milk

60ml cooking oil

6 egg yolks

110g plain flour

20g cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Egg white foam

6 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

150g caster sugar

• To make egg yolk batter - melt chocolate and milk in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Combine with oil and egg yolks.
• Fold in flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda until it forms a batter.
• Next make egg white foam by beating egg whites and cream of tartar until the mixture forms soft peaks.
• Gradually add in sugar, beating at high speed until frothy and stiff peaks form.
• GENTLY (do not over mix) fold beaten egg white foam into egg yolk batter until just blended.
• Pour batter in an UNGREASED 22cm tube pan.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 130C for 35 minutes then 160C for a further 25minutes. (This is what worked for me)
• Remove from the oven and invert the cake tin onto a wire rack.
• Allow to cool completely before unmoulding from tin.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sorry for the long absence, life has been pretty hectic lately but I won't go into it here. I was super excited to unpack my new KitchenAid but didn't have time to make all the things I envisioned - bread, cinnamon rolls, caramel walnut banana torte, cakes, cookies....
Well I did actually make a cake but it was a complete disaster so I won't be blogging about it. Anyway, I  had a late night craving for cookies, as you do, so decided to whip up some good ol' chocolate chip cookies (with the help of my KitchenAid of course!)
These are soft, chewy cookies which were really gooey and delicious straight from the oven.

Life is so simple with a KitchenAidCookie dough

Tip: use a small ice cream scoop to get even sized cookiesYummy :)

Ingredients

220g butter

120g (160g)brown sugar

80g (110g)caster sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

300g plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

200g (250g) chocolate chips

Note: I reduced the sugar and chocolate chips in this recipe as I prefer mine less sweet. Original values are in brackets

• Preheat the oven to 190C
• Beat the butter and sugars together until smooth.
• Add the eggs and vanilla extract and continue beating until combined.
• Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt together and stir into the butter mixture.
• Add the chocolate chips.
• Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough on to baking sheets. I used a small ice-cream scoop - perfect for getting even sized cookies.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the surface is just set but the centres are still soft.
• Leave to cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes then transfer to wire racks and allow to cool completely.

The moment I've been waiting for

Drum roll please....my new KitchenAid has arrived!!! I'm sooooooo super excited I can't even think straight. It's absolutely gorgeous and the photos don't do it justice at all. I know the lighting is really bad but I couldn't wait till daylight to unpack it.

As previously mentioned, I have been debating since last year whether I should purchase one of these babies or not. Well I finally did it. The comments from my previous post really helped and what finally tipped the scale for me was when I saw a good deal on the internet at the weekend. I do love a good bargain! I have been keeping an eye on the price since last year and it has remained fairly constant - if anything it has gone up slightly. There were not many special offers post Christmas until now.  Amazon seemed to have the best price but I found a few other websites offering competitive prices and free gifts!

Next step was deciding on the colour. After hours of deliberation, I shortlisted it down to candy apple red, boysenberry, pearl metallic grey and possibly majestic yellow. The cranberry looked pretty good as well. Anyway I decided on candy apple red in the end partly because this is a special edition 90th anniversary colour and I do love red.

For anyone who is considering getting a KitchenAid in UK, I would suggest taking a look at these sites. KitchenAid is currently doing a promotion where you get a free 6 piece utensil set valid until end May 2010 - this is available from all the websites I looked at (except Amazon) including high street stores - Debenhams, John Lewis.
(I have researched this extensively so if you need any help do get in touch)

1. housemakers.co.uk - http://www.housemakers.co.uk/epages/Housemakers.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/Housemakers/Categories/By_Brand/Kitchenaid/Kitchenaid_Mixers&PageSize=1000
This is where I got mine from. I would highly recommend this website - there is availability of a wide range of colours and has extremely competitive prices. The customer service is excellent - thank you Gail! Delivery was super speedy and efficient.
The main reason I chose this website is because their 90th anniversary edition was the same price as all other units (£359.00) All other websites were selling it for upwards of £389.00.

2. wheesh.com - http://www.wheesh.com/product/product2.aspx?product=ksm150&lang=&dep=622&gclid=CKv2qo6jn6ECFQhBlAod3xL2vg

Same price as housemakers for most colours (£359.00) but £389.00 for candy apple red. They are also running a promotion at present with a few other free gifts

3. Harts of Stur - http://www.hartsofstur.com/acatalog/Kitchenaid_Artisan_Mixer.html

If you want the 2010 pepper yellow then this is the site for you as they are doing a special promotion where you get a free KitchenAid citrus juicer attachment worth £32.00 in addition to the following gifts

And now my new kitchen toy :)

Zebra Cake

It's been ages since I've baked anything in my kitchen due to annual leave, work and life in general. I received a lovely dinner invitation and wanted to make something special for the host. I thought it would also be a nice celebration of my return to the kitchen. I saw this recently whilst food-blog surfing on baking bites and knew I absolutely had to make it.

It looked simple yet impressive which was exactly what I was aiming for. I was intrigued as to the method of creating the zebra stripes. I felt nervous trying it out and was convinced it wouldn't turn out and I'd have to make a marble cake instead.  Fortunately, it worked out well (apart from me using the wrong sized tin). Apologies for the photos as my camera battery died and I had to use the camera on my phone. I need to take a crash course on food photography anyway.

To digress a little, Lorraine@Not Quite Nigella blogged about 10 more things you should know about food bloggers. Maybe this is just me but I wonder if this should go on the list - cutting a slice of cake (made for someone else) so it can be photographed for your blog! I reassembled the cake before giving it away!

Start with ~3 tbsp plain batter

Add 3 tbsp chocolate batter on top

Add plain batter on top Keep going....

Isn't it beautiful?

Ingredients
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup sunflower oil
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa powder

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Grease a 23cm round cake tin and ideally line with parchment paper.
• Beat eggs and sugar together until light and creamy.
• Add milk, sunflower oil and vanilla extract. (Another recipe I read only added vanilla extract to the plain batter but I added mine at this point)
• Add the sifted dry ingredients (flour, baking powder) and mix well.
• Divide the batter into 2 equal halves.
• Add cocoa powder to 1 half and leave the other plain.
• Put 3 tbsp of the plain batter in the centre of the pan and let it spread on its own.
• Put 3 tbsp of chocolate batter in the center of the vanilla. It will push out the other batter and, as it sits for a moment, will also spread itself.
• This is important - do NOT tilt the pan or put less batter subsequently or 'help' the batter spread which I was tempted to do as I wasn't sure if it would turn out. It really does work on its own.
• Continue alternating the batter until all the batter has been used up (refer to pictures)
• Bake in the pre-heated oven for 40 mins until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
• Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out to cool completely on a wire rack.

PS - I've just ordered a KitchenAid mixer and am anxiously waiting it's delivery - full post on that when it arrives. Now what shall I make to christen my KitchenAid? Suggestions anyone?

To KitchenAid or not

Haven't had time to bake recently so I thought I'd share a few thoughts and maybe get some comments about whether I should invest in a KitchenAid (KA) mixer or not. I did mention this in my baked alaska post as I had a chance to use mum's stand mixer (kenwood) to make the meringue and sponge cake. I found it very clean and efficient and it got me thinking how much nicer it would be to bake with the help of a KA.

I have been dreaming of owning one of these beauties since I got serious with my baking. However, I already own a Magimix (which I saved and agonised over for months pre KA) and an electric hand mixer. I know I'm just being indulgent and it's more a case of want rather than need. There is also the issue of tabletop space of which I don't have much to spare but I'm sure I can make room! I do think that I will put it to good use and I see it as a long term investment as hopefully you only need to buy one in your lifetime.

I'd be really interested in your thoughts. If you have one - how often do you use it? Is it a worhtwhile investment? Does it make a difference to the final product?
If you don't have one - have you thought about it? Why have you not bought one? (assuming you want one)

Hope to be back to baking soon so do check back later :)

Baked Alaska

Baked Alaska also known as glace au four, omelette à la norvégienne, Norwegian omelette and omelette surprise is a dessert made of ice cream placed in a pie dish lined with slices of sponge cake or Christmas pudding and topped with meringue. The entire dessert is then placed in an extremely hot oven for just long enough to firm the meringue.The meringue is an effective insulator, and the short cooking time prevents the heat from getting through to the ice cream. February 1 is Baked Alaska Day so I'm a few months late but better late than never, right?
I have never made one of these before but I saw it on TV and decided to try it out for a dinner party as it looked like a wow dessert. It certainly did not fail to impress!
I made 2 miniature and 1 large one and was really pleased with the final result. Another bonus was that I made this in my mum's kitchen. It's slightly disconcerting baking in someone else's kitchen as you're not familiar with equipment etc but definitely a bonus for me because she has a stand mixer which I desperately want. I think there may be a post about this later. Watch this space :)
Back to the dessert. First step is to make the sponge cake. I used a basic sponge cake recipe. You can use a store bought cake to save time or flavour the cake differently to suit your taste. I saw a version using a chocolate brownie base which looked good too.

Next step is the ice-cream. You need to freeze the ice cream in the shape of your cake base. Line the bottom of your bowl with clingfilm for easier removal. I made 1 large round one and 2 smaller shaped ones. 

 

Make sure your shaped ice cream is well frozen - at least 2 hours. Place the shaped ice cream on top of your cake base.

Vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice-cream

Coffee cream

I got to use one of my favourite kitchen gadgets - this nifty egg separator to make the meringue.

Working quickly, cover the ice-cream and cake with a generous layer of meringue. Make sure it completely encases the dessert as the meringue acts as an insulator.

Should have just made these round to save time as you can't really see the shape under all that meringue! Live and learn :)

Place in the freezer again for a minimum of 30 minutes so that it's nice and firm. Bake in a very, very hot oven for a few minutes until brown or you can use a blow torch if you have one.

I love the effect of the tri-coloured ice cream.

For the sponge

225g butter, softened

225g caster sugar

225g self-raising flour

3-4 eggs (depending on size of eggs)

Grated zest of 1 orange (optional)

1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed orange juice (optional)

For the meringue

8 egg whites

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

• 
  
  To make the sponge :
• 
  
  Combine all the ingredients (ideally with a mixer) until smooth.
• 
  
  Pour into a lined cake tin and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
• 
  
  Allow to cool in tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.

• 
  
  To make the meringue :
• 
  
  Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until frothy.
• 
  
  Slowly add the sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

• 
  
  To assemble dessert:
• 
  
  Shape ice cream if desired (using moulds) and freeze until solid.
• For the traditional dome shape, line a bowl with clingfilm. Fill with softened ice cream until it's packed tightly with no air bubbles. Ideally the diameter of your bowl should be slightly less than the diameter of your cake base. Freeze until solid.
• 
  
  Place shaped ice cream on top of cake base.
• 
  
  Cover the ice-cream and cake fully with meringue ensuring the bases are fully covered. You need to work quickly to prevent the ice cream melting and making a mess.
• 
  
  Freeze again for a minimum of 30 minutes, ideally a few hours or overnight.
• 
  
  Preheat oven to 240C or as hot as your oven will go.
• 
  
  Place frozen dessert on a baking tray and bake for 3-5 minutes until browned.
• 
  
  Remove from oven and serve immediately.
• 
  
  Tip :use a sharp knife dipped in hot water to slice dessert.