A whole lotta baking going on

Some of the people who follow my Twitter seem to think I bake a lot. I don't really, but baking is never far from my thoughts. For example in meetings when they're 'downloading' about 'moving in the right direction', 'bottoming out' and 'parking ideas in the carpark', I tend to be sitting updating my list of cupcakes I must bake rather than stir frying ideas in my intellectual wok. There are never enough days to bake all the things I want to and this is when I miss Iron Cupcake - it was a perfect excuse to bake. At least this month we have Cupcake Camp, and the list of ideas for that is v.long.

However sometimes my list gets cast aside when something else takes my fancy and I leave work early to knock up some cupcakes. This usually occurs after a particularly bad day in the office - I find baking soothes me. Last month I spotted some rather cute looking cupcakes in Jamie Magazine. The accompanying story was about a girl, Georgina Bragg, who is a piercing artist by day and a cupcake baker by night. My kinda girl. The recipe was for some very simple, but very tasty lemon cupcakes and as I had  a few lemons mooching round the fridge I decided to make them. I added a little chunk of my new favourite chocolate, Green &  Black's white chocolate into the batter of each cupcake before baking and they were delish! The frosting didn't work as well unfortunately - it tasted really good but didn't stiffen up very well. I took them to work and no-one seemed to notice as they were eaten in seconds!

Slightly less successful were my attempt at the Hummingbird banana cupcakes. The cupcakes turned out well but as you can see the frosting really didn't want to get hard. All I can say it was one of the hotter days of last month!

They did taste really nice, with a banana base which was really moist and flavoursome. I used my favourite caramel Bonne Maman Confiture De Caramel in the frosting and although it didn't set to stay in lovely swirls, it did taste delicious!

Finally, we had a bake sale to raise money for the flood victims in Pakistan last Tuesday so I decided to bake two lots of cupcakes. I made some malted cupcakes with a vanilla and maltester frosting and some good old vanilla. Two seconds into baking my mixer, yes the one I bought just over 3 months ago, broke. So everything was done by hand. Alas I only don't have any picture of the vanilla cupcakes as I was using my phone (the day before my mixer exploded my camera stopped working also..damn), but they were pink and very glittery.

I loaded up a few boxes of cupcakes and schleped them into work in the morning rush hour and I was so happy at how excited everyone got when they saw them - everyone except the 'lady' who organised the sale who didn't say thank you to any of the bakers, and insisted on telling people I'd bought my cupcakes - grrrrr. Jealous much -  her cake was drying than Gandhi's slipper I'm told. My cakes sold out in about 15minutes and I was so happy to receive a lot of emails from my co-workers telling me they enjoyed them and offering to be my taste tester! I think her cake ended up in the bin. All I can say is KARMA!

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!!