A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise

The Love Bakery book is fast becoming my favourite cupcake book. If I fancy baking something different it is definitely my go to book at the moment. The recipes are incredibly easy to follow, don't require lots of strange ingredients (well buttermilk but I don't consider that strange anymore) and the cakes I've made from it have all been a success, which I can't say for many other cookbooks I have!

I first made these cupcakes last week on a whim after work when I'd had a bit of a shitty day and needed cheering up. They were very tasty, however not quite right as I was missing one vital ingredient, honey for the frosting, so decided to re-bake them yesterday to see how they tasted when made properly. There is only once word to describe them - DELICIOUS.

All pretty in it's gingham case (from Sainsburys)

gasp...naked! 

The cake is a pretty basic cupcake with two apples (peeled and grated) added to the batter, which makes the cake incredibly moist. I used some plump Pink Lady apples as they're my favourite but you could use any apple you like. It also has a generous amount of cinnamon and this really brings out the apple in the cake.

I'm not a great fan of honey (even though my husband insists I should be because I love Winnie the Pooh so much) so when I tried the honey cinnamon frosting yesterday I was a little disappointed in it as it tasted a bit too honey-ish for me (go figure - it had 2 x tbsp of honey in it!) and had decided that if I were to make these again, I'd frost with custard frosting instead. However, when I came back from work today I had one with a cup of tea and the honey-taste had mellowed a bit and was much nicer. Or maybe I'm just growing to like it? In fact I much preferred this, the proper frosting, to my vanilla version I did it with the first time. Also the cake is still very fresh and moist. This recipe is definitely one I'd recommend -  an all round fabulous cupcake for the colder months of the year.

 First attempt with a vanilla frosting

naked vanilla frosted cupcake

You can get the Love Bakery book from The Book People for the bargain price of £4.99. 

As wonderful as these cupcakes are, before you bake a batch and sit down with a pot of tea to scoff them all remember the wise words of Pooh “When having a smackerel of something with a friend, don't eat so much that you get stuck in the doorway trying to get out.”

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!

Winnie the Pooh festive cupcakes

Saw these in Tesco's and thought they might be quite cute for any children's parties you have coming up over the festive season - although you'd be cheaper and they'd taste better if you baked them fresh I'm sure :)

Sorry for the pic quality - was doing it quickly on my phone before I got thrown out of the store!