I heart peanut butter

Today the first meeting of Cupcake Club is taking place in London and alas I can't be there. Cupcake Club is the brain child of Kelly from An American Cupcake in London, to keep bakers busy while Iron Cupcake takes a (we hope temporary) break.

I had planned to go tonight and already practiced my cupcakes which were delicious, and my toppers, which although tasted fabulous, looked like something I'd picked off the floor.

I stuck with the nuts theme from the now cancelled Iron Cupcake and went with peanut butter and chocolate - the reasons being;

1. I love the combination
2. I'd never made peanut butter cupcakes before (too tempting to scoff them all) and
3. Cupcake club was taking place the day after July 5th and my favourite American candy is Reese's Peanut butter cups

I used the recipe for Peanut Butter cupcakes with chocolate frosting from my Primrose Bakery cookbook, changing it only slightly. I used crunchy peanut butter rather than smooth, and for the chocolate frosting used the 85% Green and Blacks chocolate as in my opinion it makes the best chocolate frosting ever. I also used slightly less salt than required as I find peanut butter a bit salty already. The cakes took a little less time than stated in the recipe and were just beginning to over-brown in the oven but luckily I caught them in time, and lashings of chocolate frosting covered up any darker bits. The cupcake was really moist and flavoursome - and lasted for days (I made them last Sunday and Manny was still scoffing them Tuesday night). The frosting remains my favourite ever chocolate frosting - we had to put these in the fridge as it was so hot last weekend and it still tasted great.

My toppers were going to be homemade peanut butter cups. I'd originally planned to just make cake pop type balls on a stick, but then while buying more lollipop sticks on ebay I chanced upon this beautiful candy mould and couldn't resist. Co-incidentally we bought a cupcake shaped chocolate lollypop at William Curley last week after visiting the Elephant Parade and they totally use this mould!

I didn't get a chance to test the moulds until Saturday, when my kitchen thermometer read in the high 30's. This was an omen of the disaster that followed. I melted the chocolate (used Green and Blacks cooking milk chocolate first, then their cooking dark chocolate for the second attempt) and while it set I mixed my peanut butter filling (smooth peanut butter, bit of icing sugar and a touch of vanilla paste = yum). I then plopped in the peanut butter mixture, shoved in a lolly stick and covered the mixture with the remaining melted chocolate. Then my error, I put it in the fridge as I thought this'd help. I know chocolate and fridges don't go but there was no way in hell it'd set in my kitchen. From looking online and checking forums etc I should've bunged it in the freezer..grr. I'll know next time. They tasted really nice, if only they'd not "bloomed" - maybe next time I should temper the chocolate? Any candy making tips gratefully received.

Anyways I thought my cupcakes looked quite cute - even without the toppers

And here are the failed toppers

Finally if you're a peanut butter fan like me, pop on over to Peanut Butter and Co's website and drool. Their sandwich range has given me some fabulous ideas for cupcake flavours and I desperately want some Easy Squeezy Peanut Butter squeeze packs! If you're in the UK, Waitrose and Whole Foods stock some of the range, including The Heat is On and White Chocolate Wonderful, which I think would make a lovely cupcake. I must check if they do the peanut butter cupcake mix next time I'm there.

Best ever chocolate cupcake

It was Manny's birthday on Wednesday and I offered to make some cupcakes for him to take into work for his colleagues for the "bring cakes to work for your birthday" tradition. I made the chocolate cupcakes from the Cupcakes from Primrose Bakery cookbook with their chocolate frosting.

As I mentioned when I made them before the cupcakes are a bit off a faff to make - you need to melt choc, then mix butter and sugar in one bowl, then whip egg yolks in another bowl, while mixing milk and vanilla in a jug and flour and baking powder in yet another bowl. Once all that is mixed together you whip egg whites to a soft peak and fold them in. It's a lot of washing up but its very much worth it. The cakes are moist and very flavoursome.

The only word to describe the frosting is divine. I rarely get excited about chocolate frosting but this frosting excites me - I had to stop myself from piping it straight into my mouth and leaving the cupcakes naked! It's that good! The secret is the large amount of melted Green and Blacks 82% chocolate that's in the frosting -it really makes it uber chocolaty and very very moreish.

The cupcakes were transported in the cupcake carrier to my husbands office today and they were all gone very quickly. His manager even sent me an email to thank me for the cakes and tell me how fabulous they were which was lovely to hear - it's always nice to hear your cupcakes are liked.

Primrose Bakery Chocolate cupcakes = home baked heaven

Firstly, I apologise for the pics, the light and my camera were working against me.

So last weekend, I finally got round to making the chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting from my Primrose Bakery book that I'd been planning since October.

Making the base used pretty much every bowl in my house -there was chocolate to melt, egg yolks to beat, sugar and butter to cream, egg whites to peak - then there was sifting, mixing and folding - all of which took ages. But once they were in the oven all my hard work seemed to be paying off as the smell of chocolate wafting through my house was making my mouth water. The frosting was also a first for me - when I've made chocolate frosting before it's called for cocoa powder, however this recipe called for lashings of freshly melted dark chocolate, which I had to stop Manny from drinking out of the pyrex jug I'd melted it in!

I could barely get them frosted quickly enough for Manny who was hovering round the kitchen waiting to lick the frosting bowl clean. No Maison Cupcake left-over frosting issues in my kitchen! I could use Manny standing eagerly waiting for me to finish as an excuse for my slap-dash approach to cupcake decorating but I really prefer them to look home-made rather than fancy, which is just as well as my attempts at fancy haven't really worked! Next time though I'd just leave them plain without sprinkles or use the chocolate sprinkles as I think the colour sprinkles look a bit odd on the chocolate frosting! The silver balls are for Manny as he loves them for some reason - I find they just hurt my teeth!

So, the important part - how did they taste? Firstly I'm not a fan of chocolate frosting (much to Manny's horror) and I found this frosting to be one of the nicest I've ever tasted. It was almost like a thick chocolate mousse and not too sweet (maybe due to the dark chocolate in it?). The base was really soft and very chocolaty - the denseness of the chocolate reminded me of a chocolate brownie, but the sponge was lighter. All in all one of the nicest cupcakes I've ever baked. If you're a fan of chocolate cupcakes, or know someone who is, I highly recommend the Primrose recipe - these would be perfect to give to friends or neighbours as a gift - especially if your decorating skills are better than mine!

Oh and I also highly recommend the Squires cupcake cases I bought some time ago - this is the second time I used them and they are by far the best.