Some recent cupcake'ing fun

This was my dinner a couple of weeks ago in Peter Jones when I went to collect my brand new blowtorch. The cake was nice and fresh, but the topping was like a hard fondant - not really worth the calories. But the view from the upper floor restaurant is fabulous!

A rather delicious cupcake from yesterday's visit to the Skin exhibition at the Wellcome Collection. The cake was the best thing about the trip. The exhibition was rather boring and then someone made me spend what felt like HOURS in the bookshop. The blueberry cupcake was from the Peyton & Byrne cafe in the foyer. The frosting was luscious - melt in the mouth mousse-like texture and incredibly fruity and flavoursome. The cake itself was plain vanilla I think. I have a feeling all the cakes are vanilla, and its just the frostings that are flavoured - they are very tasty though.

We also visited the Peyton & Byrne cafe briefly last weekend - we were meant to go to see the Skin exhibition but were a bit late but managed to pick up a couple of cupcakes and a cup of coffee.

I opted for a lemon cupcake and Manny had a chocolate one. The frosting on Manny's was like a ganache and fantastic. My cupcake was very tasty, but a little old - perhaps not fresh that day.

Next up from a recent(ish) trip to the delightful Ms Cupcake's stall at Greenwich Market. I'd been off work sick for nearly two weeks, only leaving the house to go to the doctors but on one of last days off I managed to drag myself out to see Ms C and it was totally worth it.

I had a cherry bakewell which was amazingly fruity and moist, and Manny had the rolo which was was absolutely gorgeous (I had allowed a wee bite).

As I've said before I am really amazed at how gorgeous Ms Cupcake's vegan cupcakes are - they are so moist and tasty - unlike some of the other vegan cupcakes I've tried.

If you're a cupcake lover I recommend you give them a try asap to see if you agree with me. I'm pretty sure you will.

I can't remember if I mentioned these when I bought them a couple of months ago but just in case check out my gorgeous Matryoshka measuring cups from Fred (which I bought via Amazon). They are adorable and look ever so cute in my kitchen. The only thing I've used them to make so far was my attempt at the chocolate vegan cupcakes from the Bleeding Heart Bakery's cookbook which alas ended up straight in the bin. I was a bit disappointed at the time but now I read online that the books been the cause of many problems for people so its not just me. This is the second incredibly disappointing baking book I've got this year and is now unfortunately relegated to my "looks pretty but don't use" along with Eat Me (yuk). I also feel a bit disheartened when I keep reading that these books are meant to be inspiration rather than baking books - I buy books for recipes. I think the same has to be said of my recent Lily Vanili book - more inspiration than recipe based with the 5 recipes it contains.

Finally, and I have to really admit to being an utterly bad person here. About 3 months ago I received a lovely package from the lovely Tram at Sweetdee's Cupcakes and I totally forgot to blog about them. Aren't they adorable. The notebook is just perfect for carrying around in my bag and writing about my cupcake adventures and the little card holder is just too cute! I love it. I've not tried Sweetdee's cupcakes yet but hope to in the near future.

Who you callin' cupcake?

I got this book last week, all the way from the US of A as Amazon UK kept mucking me about (after having it on pre-order for months) and it actually worked out cheaper to get it from Amazon.com, and only took a week or so to get to me!

I've not baked from it yet but had to let fellow cupcakers know that I've seen it for just over £7 on W.H Smith's website so grab it while you can.

The book is Michelle and Vinny Garcia owners of The Bleeding Heart Bakery in Chicago - the bakery they opened "with the mission of providing thought provoking pasty as delicious and beautiful as it is cutting edge."

The book is divided up into sections featuring approx 100 different variations in all.

Anarchy in the cupcake pan has all the basic cake and frosting recipes you'll need (lots are vegan but can be adapted accordingly if you'd rather use butter).

Happy Hour includes recipes for boozy cupcakes like Strawberry Daiquiri, Bloody Mary and the gorgeous sounding Chocolate Cherry Stout. I wish I'd had a chance to read it pre-Iron Cupcake as the recipe for lime tequila might've helped me! (If you check out the review at Tasting Table you can access an exclusive copy of this recipe).

Some of the more unusual cupcakes are featured in the World Tour section including Tandoori, Curry Cardamom and Oaxacan cupcakes.

There are also some meaty recipes in The Blue Plate Section including bacon peanut butter and bbq pork, and some non-meat with root beer float and mountain dew.

Farm to Table has strawberry shortcake and coconut mango and lots of other gorgeous fruity cupcake recipes.

Choc-o-Matic has (you guessed it) lots of choc-tastic recipes including one dedicated to Slash formerly of Guns 'n' Roses and one that looks and sounds right up Manny's street - chocolate decadence.

I want Candy has lots of American candy based cupcakes including the previously mentioned Chocolate Turtle, S'mores and Snickerdoodles.

The final chapter Shut your Pie Hole is dedicated to cupcakes based on pie recipes such as blueberry peach crumble and lemon meringue.

Lots of the cupcakes use the basic recipes from the first chapter but then talks you through additions needed for that particular recipe. As I said I've not baked from it yet but I do plan to this weekend and of course shall let you know how I get on. The recipes look fairly straightforward and easy to follow and even without baking from it I'd say this book is a must for any cupcake lover if only for the unusual recipes!