Friday 30 July 2010

Malty Malteser Cupcakes

A lovely moist malted cupcake covered in sinful chocolate frosting - a perfect little treat

My perfect little treat - can you hear it saying "Anne I want to come home with you" ... I can!

Maltesers have linked up with acclaimed chef Lorraine Pascale and My Dish in a fabulous competition where the top prizes are, the winning recipe will be sold for a day in Lorraine Pascale's bakery, Ella's Bakehouse in Covent Garden, and a shiny new red gorgeous KITCHENAID!!! I have been drooling over a Kitchenaid (even popping into shops to touch them occasionally) for some time so decided to enter the competition and have been baking up a storm in the kitchen recently with Malteser Cupcakes, and I have to say they came out a treat. Lovely and moist with a bit of crunch on the base (I added Maltesers into the batter), with lashings of frosting on top - a vanilla with Malteser "dust" covered in lashings of very chocolatey frosting -all topped off with a Malteser on top - of course!

The recipe for my entry is below, or you can find it on the MyDish site, but first some pics of my different attempts.

Vanilla frosting, with bits of Malteser "dust" mixed in

A lump of vanilla and chocolate frosting ice cream scooped onto the cupcake to look (kinda like) a Maltester)

Naked with a mixture of vanilla (with Malteser "dust" mixed in) and chocolate frostings

Just good old chocolate frosting with a Malteser on top (obviously)

This is the frosting for my final entry however - the vanilla/Malteser dust combo, covered in chocolate frosting.

A nice blob of vanilla frosting (mixed with the Malteser "dust") to form the inside of the Malteser style frosting

Then fully cover with lashings of yummy chocolate frosting and a Malteser

And voila! a Cute little Maltesers Cupcake

Recipe and baking instructions

Ingredients

Cupcake
180g self raising flour, sifted
100g dark brown sugar
120g golden caster sugar
55g ovaltine
110g unsalted butter, room temp
2 large eggs, free range
125ml milk (I use Semi Skimmed throughout)
½ teaspoon good quality vanilla (I use Vanilla Paste throughout)
1 tablespoon sour cream
135g Maltesers pack (I used 2 -one regular one white)

Chocolate Frosting
250g icing sugar, sifted
225g butter, room temp
150g dark chocolate (I used Green and Blacks 85%)
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Vanilla Frosting
125g icing sugar, sifted
40g unsalted butter, room temp
12ml milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla
6 Maltesers blitzed/crushed to a fine dust

Method
Preheat your oven to 160 fan (180c or gas mark 4) and line a cupcake/muffin tin with cupcake cases.

Cupcakes
In a large bowl cream together your butter and both sugars for about 5 minutes until well mixed and pale. Add your eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg.

In a separate bowl combine flour and ovaltine, and in small jug (easier for pouring!) combine your milk, sour cream and vanilla.

Add approx half of the flour mixture into the creamed butter and sugar and mix well. Then add half the wet ingredients, again mixing well. Repeat and then ensure all the ingredients are well combined. I beat by hand when adding the flour and wet ingredients but you could use a hand mixer if you prefer.

Using an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon place a scoop of the mixture into each cupcake case. Then add 2 Maltesers into each case (either regular or white - I used a mixture) and top with another scoop of cake mix.

Bake in the oven for approx 25 minutes. To check if they are cooked insert a skewer into the centre of the cakes - if it comes out clean they're done. Leave to rest in the tray for 5 minutes, then place on a wire rack to cool fully.

Once they are cool you are ready to frost the cupcakes. I used a mixture of both vanilla and chocolate to create a Maltesers effect, however you could use just one if you prefer (I've tested with all just vanilla, and just chocolate and both are very tasty).

Vanilla Frosting

Mix the icing sugar and butter in a bowl for approx 5 minutes until nice and fluffy. I tend to add a little bit of icing sugar at a time to minimise icing sugar dust clouds! Mix the milk and vanilla together and add a little at a time, whilst continuing to mix. Continue mixing until the frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-5mins).

Take approx 6 Maltesers and use a hand held blender/food processer to make Maltester dust and mix this into the vanilla frosting to make your Malteser frosting centre.

Chocolate Frosting
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof glass bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Or alternatively use your microwave. Leave to cool.

Beat together butter, milk, vanilla, and icing sugar till smooth. Again I add the icing sugar a bit at a time to minimise mess. This will take several minutes to achieve a smooth frosting. Add the cooled, melted chocolate and beat again for approx 5 minutes until thick and creamy.

To decorate
For the Maltesers effect I piped a small circle of vanilla onto each cupcake, and then surrounded it with piped chocolate frosting. Topping each cupcake with a Malteser to finish.

Please note: you could use just vanilla (if you do this double the vanilla frosting recipe as there is just enough to for a little amount on each cupcake in the quantity given), or chocolate frosting (the recipe is enough for 12 cupcakes). Obviously all taste better topped with a Malteser!

EAT, and ENJOY!!





Thursday 29 July 2010

Yum bots take over the kitchen


I've been spending my non-sleeping time trying to find the Fred Nomskulls without any sucess (I have emailed them to find out when they'll be on sale as they aren't anywhere yet -I've checked everywhere!!)

While searching I've been perusing their new Autumn range and spotted a couple of other goodies- one cupcake and one cookie, but perfect for the little ninja in your life (hello Manny!)

Yumbots are happy to serve mankind. Just fill their cubic heads with cake batter and set your oven to “stun.” In a few nanomoments you’ll have an entire squad of scifi cupcakes. Made of high-tech silicone and built to last, each ‘Bot has a rotating head for extra android action.

Yet another must have from Fred for me! Perfect for kids birthdays and the older sci fi geeks amongst us! And their heads move - how cool!


Ninjabread Men are a set of 3 stealthy warrior cookie cutters perfect to feed your inner Karate Kid (old skool - wax on, wax off, none of this jacket on, jacket off malarkey!).

Tuesday 27 July 2010

Braaaaaains



There seems to be a bit of a recent theme with cupcakes - we've moved on from the cute and pastel to brains and zombies.

I recently ordered Lily Vanilli's A Zombie ate my Cupcake, and it's waiting for me at work to drool over once I'm off my deathbed and back there (even though it says its not released yet they shipped it straight away!). Then today on Twitter someone posted a link to perhaps the most awesome cupcake molds ever - the Nomskulls by Fred! I MUST get these but can't find them anywhere in the UK at the moment - will have a proper look though and upload any links to suppliers incase anyone else wants some :)

I must make brains cupcakes asap!


Thursday 22 July 2010

More cupcake shopping

A little round up up of a few new cupcake items in my life :)




First up, Winnie the Pooh Thirst Pockets featuring a double dose of cuteness - Winnie the Pooh and cupcakes. Now I generally use kitchen roll for cleaning and picking up cat sick (you're jealous of my glam life at this moment I betcha!) but isn't everything better with cupcakes on! I've bought these from Ocado, but I'm sure you can get them in any major supermarket.



This little notebook is from John Lewis, and is part of a range of cupcake goodies they have instore at the moment. I already have purse (although the cupcake dangler got lost on a drunken night out), and may have to get the tote bag for carting stuff to work.


I picked up this pink fluted dish in the John Lewis sale - although its not a cupcake item as such I love the cupcake logo they use on their baking/ovenware goods.



My new tea, coffee and sugar tins from Very as mentioned in a previous post taking pride of place in my kitchen :) I love these - even cuter than my previous Alessi tea and coffee jars. And no I didn't throw away my gorgeous Alessi jars - they now have herbal tea in instead :)

Finally a pair of socks I picked up for £1 in the Matalan sale - they've stolen my blog name!

Saturday 17 July 2010

Vegan cupcakes take over my tastebuds


A couple of weeks ago we visited the glamorous Ms Cupcake at her weekend residence, The Tearooms in Brick Lane.

I was lucky enough to meet, and scoff the wares of Ms C at my first Iron Cupcake and have been keen to try some more ever since. Not only are her cupcakes gorgeous and incredibly tasty, they are 100% vegan!! That's right - no butter, eggs or milk - the mainstay of most cupcake recipes. I'm a bit of a sceptic when it comes to vegan cupcakes - I've had a few that are just downright unpleasant, and when I've tried to bake my own from recipes they've been completely inedible and ended up in the bin. When I say you wouldn't know Ms C's cupcakes are vegan because they taste so delish I hope she takes that as the compliment it's meant.


Ms C's stall is enough to tempt even the non-cupcake lovers amongst you. A veritable feast of gorgeous looking cakes in bright colours. Not that you'd know this from my photos - sorry bad camera day. You can see much better photos of the cupcakes, and the many flavours available on her website.


After a chat with Ms C, and a pet of the gorgeous little dog of the stallholder next door we finally decided what cupcakes we wanted. Manny of course opted for two chocolate varieties - triple chocolate and ferrero rocher. I went for raspberry ripple and mango blueberry.



The cupcakes got a little squished on the way home, sorry! Being squished detracted in no way from their fabulousness however and they tasted amazing. The raspberry ripple base was incredibly moist and the frosting was very tasty. Previous vegan cupcakes I've had have been quite dry, or the opposite, and quite oily - this one was perfect. The mango blueberry was my favourite of the two - the frosting was divine, and very moreish!



Manny's two chocolate cupcakes were scoffed with his usual sounds of happiness (hmmm, yum, hmmm, good - caveman style, with a chunk of frosting in his gob). I tried some of the chocolate frosting and some of the cake and both were incredibly chocolaty and very very tasty. I'd love to know how Ms C gets her frosting so tasty without lashings of butter! Some kind of vegan magic!



You can find Ms Cupcake at Greenwich Market on Thursday's and Friday's - get there early as she's always on Twitter saying she's sold out, and at the Tearooms on Saturday and Sunday. More details of her whereabouts can be found here.

Thursday 15 July 2010

Do you need an electric cupcake maker?


Lakeland seem to think so.

I think they'd be good for kids, rather than those awful "gourmet" cupcake makers that were the toy of the moment a couple of Christmas' ago which relied on packet mixes for the cake.

Scrumptious home-made cupcakes without having to turn the oven on? Sounds too good to be true, but with Lakeland’s new machine, it’s as simple as making a toasted sandwich, and they’re ready in no time!

Just like a sandwich maker, our cute cupcake creator is extremely easy to use – plug it in and lights indicate when it’s ready; follow one of the included recipes, pour in the mix and in 9 to 10 minutes your cupcakes are baked to perfection!

With premium non-stick coating. For best results, use cupcake case
s.

Costing £39.99 it makes 6 cupcakes at a time and comes with 5 cupcake recipes. You can purchase yours here. I shalln't be bothering (I have an oven and how difficult is it really to turn that on!), but would be interested to hear if anyone buys one, or your thoughts on the cupcake maker.

Tuesday 13 July 2010

It's cupcake o'clock *

I popped into Selfridges last week for some shopping and decided to lunch there - a cupcake and coffee counts as lunch right?

My cupcake of choice was Lola's flavour of the month for July - Pimms;

light vanilla cupcake is infused with Pimms No1, a gin based beverage mixed with apples, oranges, lemons, strawberry, cucumber and mint. It is smothered with a heavenly Pimms buttercream

I have to agree it was heavenly, the frosting was really tasty and the cake was very fresh and moist! And I'm still a big fan of the coffee in their cafe!

The Pimm's cupcake is available instore till July 31st and I recommend grabbing one, either with a coffee, or take it to the park and have some Pimms with it!

The top photo was taken with my mobile phone, here's a bit of a prettier one from Lola's.



*this post title may have been used before ...sorry!

Sunday 11 July 2010

I love cupcakes

This post is basically a GIANT hint to my other half to buy me these cupcake goodies from Next! I adore the cupcake stand and must have it, and never mind what I said about cupcake tins in my last post - I want these!

If I don't get my cake stand I may also have use for the single bedding with I ♥ bedding as it only comes in single ;)

Cupcakes for the kitchen

I love shopping online as you don't have to deal with people or getting there or carrying bags! One of my favourites is Very as they have loads of nice homewares as well and their latest catalogue features quite a bit of cupcake kitchenware. Yay I say. Boo says Manny.

First up is this gorgeous, and already purchased trio of tins for your coffee, tea and sugar.
Next is this lovely teapot set. I'm still contemplating whether I need another cupcake teapot, but I think the answer will most likely be yes. I adore the little milk jug and sugarpot!
I really like the cupcake design on this tin but I have a feeling if I buy any more tins Manny may stop talking to me altogether.

This cupcake apron, tea towel and oven glove set would be a perfect addition to any cupcake kitchen - again I have several cupcake of each item with cupcakes on so wont buy anymore - for the time being!

Finally, I love these placemats but we don't have a dining table so there's little point in me buying them, and we already have a few cupcake coasters in the house :)
My biggest disappointment with the collection is that the dining set doesn't have cupcakes on, instead having co-ordinating dots :( I'd love a proper cupcake dinner set!

Wednesday 7 July 2010

Me eat kooky, om nom nom nom



I have been meaning to visit Sunday Upmarket again for months  to try Kooky Bakes baked goods. In particular the Snickers Slice, which I've been lusting after for some time via Facebook!

How yum does the Snicker Slice look?


Drooool


Nearly as good as it tasted.

It was fabulous! A fudgy brownie with peanut butter cake topped with salted caramel buttercream (this was DIVINE and I'm not fond of salted caramel!) topped with a thin chocolate on top. One of the nicest cakes I've eaten - ever! Oh and I shared it with Manny as I'm a nice girl.

We shared some more of Kooky's goodies - including the glorious technicoloured Krazy Kid slice - Fruit Loop cereal made into a gooey marshmallow'y Rice Crispie style treat. I really liked this - nice and chewy and perfect with a cup of tea!


Goooooey goodness

Then came Manny's S'mores slice. Yes it was Manny's. We shared the rest of our Kooky haul but when it came to this one I got a wee sliver to taste and he scarfed the rest! Tsk. This was definitely his favourite. The moist chocolate brownie, covered in sticky marshmallows with digestive crumbs brings together all of the S'mores elements in a gooey, sticky bundle of joy. And it kept him quiet for five minutes- well apart from the usual "hhhmmm hmmmm hmmm"ing that accompanies him enjoying something chocolatey!

Next up was my second favourite - the pina colada whoopie pie. This was gorgeous to look at, and to eat! The filling on the whoopie pie was one of the nicest I have tasted - it was like a mousse buttercream - light, fluffy and melt in your mouth - oh and very, very tasty.


Squished but still yum!

Last, but not least, our only cupcake of this visit, a rather squished black forest gateaux cupcake. It wasn't squished when we got it but I had a bit of a blonde moment with the bag on the way home and it ended up a wee bit mis-shapen. This didn't affect the taste though - moist chocolate cake, with a cherry kirsch filling, covered in delicious vanilla buttercream. Again the buttercream was gorgeous. Manny scoffed the cherry too - sod.

I highly recommend a visit to UpMarket to buy some Kooky goodies, and say hi to Scott (Mr Kooky) as he must spend hours in the kitchen creating these fabulous treats. Well I know he spends hours as I'm forever drooling over his Twitter and Facebook updates.

You can find Kooky Bakes at Sunday UpMarket at the Old Truman Brewery just off Brick Lane. They're at the back entrance/exit off the indoor market bit.