Red Velvet Cake with Blue Lace Butterfies

"Remember, Sofia has no idea about this birthday meal. Keep it quiet! So I'm thinking red velvet cake?" I read the message that my friend sent and was like: "Yessss!! Cake commission!!"

This particular cake was for a good friend who I've made birthday cakes for in the past.   

Red velvet is one of those cakes that has that luxury feel, and it wouldn't be the same without a white icing but trying to incorporate blue, (which is Sofia's favourite colour) was tough. But after a great deal of thinking, inspiration came in from an insect form. 

I was waiting for the bus when a butterfly flew past me and as I got home I was reading my cookery books for inspiration and a royal icing tutorial jumped out at me and guess what? It featured butterflies. Clearly a sign right? Or maybe just an odd coincidence? Whatever the case, the end result was worth the extra effort. 

I was very please how this cake turned out. Not because it was tasty and super sugary (because that's what you need after a heavy meal...), but more because my best friends was thrilled with the cake. 

I hope that we made your birthday really special Sofia.

These delicate butterflies are just that, DELICATE! Make extra because there will be causalities but there worth the effort in the end as they look so pretty. You have to leave these to dry overnight, so do these before you bake the cake. 

Recipe: Lace Butterflies (Adapted from Divine Cupcakes by Tamara Jane)

Ingredients:

·       1 egg white

·       Ice blue colouring paste

·       300g icing sugar

·       ½ teaspoon lemon juice

Equipment:

·       Electric mixer/hand-held electric whisk

·       Sieve

·       Bowl x 1

·       Baking paper

·       Foil

·       Paper

·       Pencil/pen

·       Edible glitter in pink

·       Disposable piping bag

·       Scissors

Step 1. Beat the egg white

1.    Beat the egg white with an electric mixer until foamy.

2.    Add the icing sugar gradually beating well after each addition.

Step 3. Colour the icing

3.    Icing is ready when peaks appear and holds shape. Beat in lemon juice and food colouring. 

Step 4. Trace a butterfly template

4.    Trace a butterfly template (use a simple one as a complex template will be tricky) onto paper and place the baking paper on top.

Step 5. Fill the piping bag

5.    Fill the bag with royal icing and cut the point off the bag so there is a 1mm diameter.

Step 6. Pipe the thin line to create the butterfly

6.    Pipe a thin line over the template. Once finish sprinkle with edible glitter and allow to dry overnight.

Step 7. Place on decorated cake 

7.    Peel off the paper and use to decorate the cake by placing around the sides of the cake.

8.    With the remaining icing pipe your message on top of the cake.

Recipe: Red Velvet Cake

·       75g unsalted butter, softened (plus a little extra for greasing)

·       300g caster sugar

·       2 eggs, beaten

·       1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·       225g plain flour

·       3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

·       1 ½ teaspoon red food colour paste

·       125ml buttermilk

·       1 tablespoon white vinegar

Equipment:

·       Wilton Tasty Fill cake pan

·       Electric mixer/hand-held electric whisk

·       Sieve

·       Bowl x 2

·       Tablespoon

·       Teaspoon

1.    Pre heat the oven to 180c/350c/ Gas mark 4. Grease and flour cake tins.

Step 2. Sift all dry ingredients together

2.    For the cake, cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl, then beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a separate bowl. Stir in the food colour paste into buttermilk.

3.    Alternately add the flour and buttermilk mixtures to the creamed mixture. Stir in the vinegar, mixing well. Pour the mixture into the prepared tins, dividing it evenly. Bake in the oven for 30-35 mins or until firm to touch. Cool in the tins for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Recipe: Bulk Vanilla Buttercream frosting (Adapted from Divine Cupcakes by Tamara Jane)

·       200g unsalted butter, softened

·       125ml milk

·       1 tablespoon vanilla extract

·       2kg icing sugar, sifted

Equipment:

·       Electric mixer/hand-held electric whisk

·       Sieve

·       Bowl x 1

        Palette knife

       Optional piping bag fitted with a nozzle

1.Using a large mixer, cream the butter for 1-2 minutes.

2. Add the milk, vanilla and half the icing sugar and beat for 3 minutes or until light a fluffy.

Step 3. Beat until spreadable

3. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat for a further 3 minutes or until it is a spreadable consistency.

Step 4. Spread  the buttercream into the middle of the cake.

4. Once the cakes are completely cooled you can start putting some of the buttercream into the middle of the cake. 

5. Spread the rest of the buttercream over the top and sides of the cake using a palette knife ensuring it is as smooth as you can get it. 

6. If you have any leftover buttercream (depends on how thick you like it on your cake), you can place some in a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle to swirl around the edges. 

Its not as hard as it looks and is worth the effort and the smile on peoples faces when they see a 3-D cake.

Horror Film Gory Cupcakes Recipe

Its less then a week until Halloween, I hope you all have fantastic plans. My plans to celebrate is with cupcakes. But not just cute little cupcakes...
Be warned- This post contains blood like decoration and if your  a little faint hearted or a bit weird with blood then look away now.

Coming to your kitchen soon! You wont be able to hide from these yummy yet disturbing treats. They will find you. They wont stop until they have been devoured. Its, its ITS...:
Horror Film Style Gory Cupcakes!!!!

Ahh! Those Poor Sour Patch Kids!!

 

Ok film time has finished, time for that recipe!
Recipe-Makes 14 Cupcakes:

·       225g plain flour, sifted

·       2  teaspoon baking powder, sifted

·       ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda, sifted

·       2 tsp mixed spice, sifted

·       1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon, sifted

·       1/2  tsp salt, sifted

·       400g canned pumpkin puree (I used Libby’s)

·       80g unsalted butter, melted

·       55g golden caster sugar

·       120ml evaporated milk

·       2 large eggs

·       1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting:

·       300g icing sugar, sifted

·       200g cream cheese

·       1 teaspoon mixed spice

·       110g unsalted butter, plus a little extra to grease the baking tin

To decorate:

·       Red food colouring

·       Sour Patch Kids with the heads cut off

Equipment:

·       Muffin tin lined with cupcake cases

·       Wooden spoon/ spatula/ Electric whisk

·       Bowl x 2

·       Jug

·       Sieve

·       Can opener

·       Straw

1.    Pre-heat the oven to190c/375f/Gas Mark 5 and line the cupcake tin with cupcake cases.

2.    Make the frosting first as it needs 2 hours to thicken in the fridge.

This will make it easier to spread. To make the frosting, in a large bowl beat the butter and cream cheese with an electric whisk/ wooden spoon/ spatula.

3.    Gradually the rest of the icing sugar until the frosting is smooth and creamy. You can make it last however, to make it very gooey and very drippy so it looks halloweeny.

4.    In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, mixed spice, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Put to one side.   

5.    In the other bowl, on medium speed if using an electric hand whisk, beat together the pumpkin, butter, evaporated milk, vanilla and eggs until smooth.

6.    Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. 

7.    Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester, until golden and risen. Cool tins for 5 minutes, then place onto a wire rack to cool completely. Make sure that the cakes are completely cool before icing.

8.    Spoon into icing bag and ice the cupcakes with the gooey icing.

9.    Using the red food colouring, get a straw and splash icing so it looks like blood. Then decorate with sour patch kids cut in half so it looks like a massacre. 

So in a little more detail: How to Bloody Up Your Cupcakes

1. Dip your straw into your liquid food colouring. Cover the top of the straw with your thumb.
2.Hover your straw above your chosen cupcake and release your

thumb so that the food colouring drips onto the cupcake. 

3.This will create a 'blood effect' and that's how you make a gory cupcake! 

In the end you will have a good and gory cupcake that you will be able to eat and Halloween night!

Have a good weekend and a Happy Halloween!

The Obsession with Pumpkin and the Trip to Waitrose.

American's, please tell your obsession with pumpkin. Ever since I went to New York for a weekend years ago (years and years ago...), I believe it was for Thanksgiving weekend, so all the floats were all floating around the busy streets of the big apple, I saw this thing with pumpkin. 
It was pumpkin pie, pumpkin cakes, pumpkin bars, pumpkin cookies etc. There are tons more I'm sure.
The moment October graces the calender, a flurry of sweet based pumpkin recipes hits the blogs and websites especially on the wonderful blogs of the U.S. In the UK, the general use for pumpkin is for carving or for savoury dishes. In my case pumpkin soup.  
I always used to think how you U.S bakers do it? A pumpkin is too fiddley.
I'm way to lazy to clean out a pumpkin, peel it, cook it and then blend it into a bake-type thing because I knew it wouldn't last because I would moonch it all. 
Then I found out that you U.S readers have the access to canned pumpkin. This stuff takes the hassle out of baking with pumpkin and makes it so easy!
Now I'm going to make a confession here: I was a little jealous of this easy option. I couldn't canned pumpkin anywhere locally. 
This all changed when I went shopping recently in Waitrose and if anyone who has been to a Waitrose supermarket, will know what I mean when I say that it is considered a foodies paradise. 

 I mean check this out: gold leaf? I mean why would you want to eat this? Gold is for wearing, not for eating in my eyes. And then the booze! OMG Earl Grey and Lemon Gin and Salted Caramel vodka?!
I'm not a big drinker. Lets make that clear. But how much would you like to order a salted caramel vodka shot at the local pub?

But back to the baking story. I then found these on the shelves. 

Awe-strucked I grabbed what I could carry and ran to the till. So I wanted to find a recipe to test out this canned pumpkin. I've got the Complete Magnolia Cookbook which was my first baking book but it was in cups. I don't do cups, I'll always be a grams girl and I'll die a grams girl. Its not that I refuse to use cups, I just don't understand it. 

Recipe Name: Pumpkin Pecan Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting (Recipe translated from Cups to grams The Complete Magnolia Cookbook)

Recipe-Makes 24 large bars:

·       180g plain flour, sifted

·       1  teaspoon baking powder, sifted

·       1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, sifted

·       1 ½ teaspoon baking soda, sifted

·       ¼ teaspoon salt, sifted

·       305g canned pumpkin puree (I used Libby’s) 

·       280g golden caster sugar

·       180ml vegetable oil

·       3 large eggs

·       60g toasted pecans, chopped

Cream Cheese Frosting:

·       288g icing sugar, sifted

·       200g cream cheese

·       1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·       3 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus a little extra to grease the baking tin

To decorate:

·       60g toasted pecans, chopped

Equipment:

·       Wooden spoon/ spatula/ Electric whisk

·       Bowl x 2

·       Jug

·       Baking tin lined with greased and lined with silicone paper

·       Baking sheet

·       Sieve

·       Can opener

1.    Pre-heat the oven to180c/350f/Gas Mark 4 and place the pecans on a baking sheet for 15 minutes or until lightly brown.

2.    Grease the baking tin with a little butter and line with silicone paper.

Step 4. The finished icing sugar

3.    Make the frosting first as it needs 2 hours to thicken in the fridge. This will make it easier to spread. To make the frosting, in a large bowl beat the butter and cream cheese with an electric whisk/ wooden spoon/ spatula. Add the vanilla extract and beat again.

4.    Gradually the rest of the icing sugar until the frosting is smooth and creamy.

5.    In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Pop this to one side. 

Step 5. The pumpkin, sugar, oil and eggs

6.    In the other bowl, on medium speed if using an electric hand whisk, beat together the pumpkin, sugar, oil and eggs until smooth.

Step 7. The dry ingredients all mixed together

7.    Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Then mix in the pecans.

The Pumpkin cake after!

The pumpkin batter before

8.    Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into centred of the pan comes out clean.

The finished product!

9.    Remove from the oven and  allow to cool completely before icing. 

After baking these wonderful bars and tasting them I can now understand why you U.S readers love baking with pumpkin. Have you readers got any other pumpkin baking recipes that you swear by?