Friday Review: Professional Piping Set

A piping bag and a set of nozzles are essential items to have when decorating cupcakes, especially if you want to achieve those lovely piped swirls of frosting that professional cakes have. This is the set I have, yet again it is a Lakeland product. I promise I do buy things from other shops, it just happens that my favourite things come from Lakeland!

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/2233/Professional-Piping-Set

So what do I like about it?
Well for starters you get a nice selection of nozzle shapes, there are 4 star shapes, a shell and 2 round ones (a large and a small one). The nozzles are also really good, they are stainless steel and extremely well made. These are going to last for a long time; the nozzles also don’t require the use of a coupler which is good for me as I don’t like using couplers that much.  These nozzles produce excellent results; even with a beginner like me using them the icing is always well defined.



These were iced with premade frosting.
As you can see the nozzles produce well defined lines,
 but like with buttercream I ended up with a greasy bag.



And what don’t I like?
The bag. The reusable, nylon piping bag really is awful and lets down the entire set really. The nozzles fit it really well but the bag is simply useless. If you use it to try and pipe butter cream which I often do, the bag gets extremely greasy making it quite tricky to use as it gets slippery quickly. And your hands also get covered in grease which can be rather annoying if you want to keep your sprinkles clean! The bag also struggled with whipped cream; in fact the only icing I have found that the bag agrees with is cream cheese frosting. I would seriously suggest that if you buy this set to invest in some disposable silicone piping bags instead of using this one!

And with cream cheese frosting.
Again well defined lines but no greasy bag!

Coincidentally, Lakeland happens to sell some silicone bags. I haven’t used them myself but they are very well reviewed on Lakeland: http://www.lakeland.co.uk/10666/Get-a-Grip-Piping-Bags

So how do I rate it?
Well, the nozzles get 5/5 stars, they are well made and produce good professional looking results. The piping bag on the other hand gets 1/5, it is very unpleasant to use and honestly is not worth the effort.

Monday Recipe: Double Chocolate and Raspberry Cupcakes

Raspberries go fabulously with chocolate, better I think than strawberries. So last summer I came up with these. I normally use dark chocolate but if you don’t like dark chocolate you can substitute whatever chocolate you prefer.

Please note these quantities are designed for use in a Cupcake Maker, but the recipe can also be baked in the oven. This amount will make approximately 6 fairy sized cakes, but can easily be scaled up to make more.

Ingredients:
1 large egg
30g/1oz Self-rising flour, sifted
20g/1oz Coco powder, sifted
50g/2oz Caster sugar
50g/2oz Softened butter or margarine
approx 25g/1oz of dark chocolate chips
a handful of raspberries

Method:
Cream together the butter and sugar then beat in the egg.  Fold in the flour and coco powder.
Put the raspberries in a small bowl and crush them lightly with a fork, then add to the cake mix along with the chocolate chips and gently stir them in.
Divide between 6 cake cases and then bake in the cupcake maker for approximately 10 minutes or in the oven at Gas 4/180 C for about 15 minutes. The cakes are ready when a skewer inserted into the thickest part of the cake comes out clean!
Leave on a wire rack to cool.

Just a quick warning, the whole fruit inside these means they are very soft when removed from the oven/cupcake maker. So be careful when putting them out to cool as it’s very easy to get a misshapen cake!
I like to leave these cakes plain mostly, but they do go very nicely with a chocolate or vanilla butter cream. Or better yet, top with melted chocolate, preferably the same type as the chocolate chips!

Monday Recipe: Apple and Blackberry Cupcakes

Opps, late post. I wrote this post but forgot to schedule it!

Normally I try and keep my fruit cupcakes seasonal as I prefer to use British fruit, but as I have lots of cupcake recipes but not many photographed examples for the moment we’ll go with what I have until I have time to make some more! So for today we have a slightly unseasonal recipe, apple and blackberry cupcakes.

This recipe is designed for use in a cupcake maker but can easily be cooked in the oven and will make approx 6 fairy sized cakes. It can however easily be scaled up. When I make them in the cupcake maker these cakes usually come out a pretty purple colour, so bear that in mind if you make them in the oven!

Sorry for recycling the picture.
The ones with pink sugar are raspberry and white chocolate.

Ingredients
50g/2 oz butter or margarine
50g/2oz caster sugar
50g/2oz self-rising flour, sifted
1 egg
2-3 tbsp blackberry puree
1 small eating apple, chopped

Method:
Cream together the butter and sugar then beat in the egg.  Fold in the flour and carefully mix in the apple pieces and blackberry puree.
Divide between 6 cake cases and then bake in the cupcake maker for approximately 10 minutes or in the oven at Gas 4/180 C for about 15 minutes. The cakes are ready when a skewer inserted into the thickest part of the cake comes out clean!
Leave on a wire rack to cool.

These cakes are lovely as is, but I like to top mine with some vanilla butter cream and a couple of whole blackberries.

Friday Review: Snip & Swirl Icing Bags

As I have so many books, choosing which one to review first is taking a while! So while I decide where to start here is a quick review of a product I recently tried.  Today’s review is for the Snip & Swirl, pre-filled piping bags available from Lakeland. I’ll be talking about the vanilla flavoured one.

Vanilla Flavour http://www.lakeland.co.uk/15467/Snip-and-Swirl-Vanilla-Flavour

This product is quite simply, a piping bag that comes pre-filled with frosting in vanilla, strawberry or chocolate flavour. All you do is snip of the end and pipe onto your cakes like you would a normal piping bag.

Peach cupcakes frosting using the Snip & Swirl Bags.
These were made for the Queen's Jubilee hence the crowns!

So what do I like about it?
Well it’s easy to use, I’m not very good at piping yet but I managed to get very stylish looking cakes using this. You can also control what look you create, the bag has guidelines for cutting along which allow you to recreate the effect of a star shaped or round nozzle. It’s also incredibly easy to alter the size of the “nozzle”, simply by cutting lower or higher on the bag. And most importantly the frosting is very tasty! It’s sweet but not overly so; it also has a nice smooth texture. The fact that these bags are produced by Renshaw probably is the reason why the frosting is such high quality.

What don’t I like about it?
I find it very hard to find a fault with these; they are easy to use even for a complete beginner, taste nice and produce a nice effect. My only fault is that the frosting is not particularly sticky. By that I mean it’s very hard to add further decorations to a cake that has been frosted using them. I wanted to put some sprinkles on the cakes I used them for, and the traditional sprinkle application technique (also known as throwing sprinkles in the general direction of the cake) simply didn’t work! The sprinkles just fell off the cake; I had to physically poke the sprinkles into the frosting to get them to stay!

So overall rating? 4/5
The icing is yummy and the bags are easy to use, but I find the fact that sprinkles don’t stick to be very frustrating as that’s how I normally decorate cupcakes! But would I buy them again? Yep, in fact I already have. Shortly after using them for the first time I purchased another vanilla bag and a strawberry one, I think I shall always have at least one lurking in the cupboard because of how tasty and useful they are.

Monday Recipe: Raspberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

I love raspberries, especially Scottish ones, those are the best. And while raspberries are in season I thought it would be an excellent time to share the recipe for my raspberry and white chocolate cupcakes. These are very popular with my family and friends!

It's the one with the pink sugar, the others are apple and blackberry!

Please note these quantities are designed for use in a Cupcake Maker but the recipe can also be baked in the oven. However if you do bake them in the oven you may wish to omit the food dye or add more! This amount will make approximately 6 fairy sized cakes, but can easily be scaled up to make more.

Ingredients:
1 large egg
50g/2oz Self-rising flour, sifted
50g/2oz Caster sugar
50g/2oz softened butter or margarine
1 tsp raspberry flavouring
2-3 tbsps raspberry puree
approx 25g/1oz white chocolate chips
a few drops of red food dye (optional)

Method:
Cream together the butter and sugar then beat in the egg.  Mix in the raspberry flavouring, and then fold in the flour. Finally carefully mix in the chocolate chips, raspberry puree and food dye.
Divide between 6 cake cases and then bake in the cupcake maker for approximately 10 minutes  or in the oven at Gas 4/180 C for about 15 minutes. The cakes are ready when a skewer inserted into the thickest part of the cake comes out clean!
Leave on a wire rack to cool.

These cakes are lovely as they are, but are equally nice topped with a vanilla butter cream or some melted white chocolate!

Friday Review: Lakeland Cupcake Maker

When cupcakes became trendy the market soon became filled with lots of cute and fun things to use to make and decorate them. Everything from fancy cake cases and sprinkles to nifty gadgets to use in the kitchen became available. Chief among these gadgets are the Cupcake Makers!

These gadgets work in a similar way to a toasted sandwich maker, only they have holes in the base rather than a sandwich plate. There are many versions of these appliances available from a whole host of suppliers, and this review is for the one available from Lakeland.

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/15861/Lakeland-Electric-Cupcake-Maker-Purple

So what do I like about it?
What I love most about the cupcake maker is the fact is it quick, when I use it I can have a batch of 6 cakes ready in about 20 minutes. No oven required, so it’s better for the environment. I know this because we have one of those fancy Smart Meters that tell you how much electricity you are using, and this really doesn’t use very much at all. I find the fact that it makes 6 cakes at a time is ideal if like me you want to experiment with new flavours, it’s much easier to experiment with small batches and the cakes are always light and springy. I also like how small it is, it doesn’t take up much storage space which is very handy if you have a small kitchen.

And it’s extremely easy to use; you just turn it on and leave it. The power light turns green when it’s warm enough, and mine makes a click noise when the light comes on so even if I’m not looking at it I know when it’s the correct temperature. Cleaning it also easy because of the non-stick coating, if I spill any cake mix on to it I can just wipe it off with no problems.



The power indicator is good and clear to see



So what don’t I like about it?
Well it is a bit tricky to get the cakes out of it; I used to use a fork. (I just stabbed the top of the cake and lifted. Result? Holes in the top of your cake!) However I’ve now solved this problem, I use a pair of bamboo tongs. They are gentle enough to get the cake out without damaging the surface of the cake and also there is no risk of them damaging the non-stick coating. I like the “Toast Tongs” also available from Lakeland: http://www.lakeland.co.uk/14236/Magnetic-Toast-Tongs

See very pale but they are cooked

The other downside is the fact that your cakes come out very anaemic looking. They are cooked but are such a pale colour they don’t always look it! However this problem is solved by simply icing the cake or adding some food colour to the mixture. Because it doesn’t colour the cakes much, it is ideal for making coloured cakes.



However some food dye solves the problem!



And my major issue with it? It’s called a “cupcake” maker, but the cakes it actually makes are NOT cupcakes, they are too small. The cakes are actually more like fairy cakes. But I think that is more down to the fact that many people don’t know the difference between cake sizes so I won’t hold that against it.

So how do I rate it? Overall I give it 5/5 stars.
Yes there are some negative aspects to it but they are easily overcome and in my mind the positives out way the negatives. I’d love to hear your opinions on cupcake makers if you have one!

Welcome

Hi and welcome to the launch of Princess Cupcake!
Over the last couple of years I’ve become quite dedicated to cake baking as a hobby and as such feel that now is a good time in my life to start to properly document my cake making adventures.  This has lead to a lot of picture spamming on Facebook and the birth of Princess Cupcake the Blog! The layout round here will probably be a little wonky while I learn my way round Blogger.

I intend to fill this blog with pictures of my cakes and other baking. I’ll also be sharing some recipes and reviewing everything from books to equipment, in addition to some baking related rambling. So before we get going I’d just like to explain the schedule I intend to work to. The current plan is to post at least one recipe or review per week, recipes will be posted on Mondays and reviews on Fridays. Any ramble posts should go up on a Wednesday.

As a general rule I will not post any recipe that I have taken from a book unless it has been heavily adapted, but any cakes I do make using a book recipe will include a full reference to the relevant book. I will however share recipes taken from magazines. Review posts will include shopping links for the book or product that I am reviewing and unless otherwise noted all pictures posted on this blog belong to me. So please do not use them without my permission.

Oh and before I forget, a couple of notes regarding measurements and ingredients. Oven temperatures will be given in Gas Mark and Centigrade, while ingredient measurements will be given in Grams (g) and Ounces (oz). So if you don’t use these systems please use your preferred converter. I normally don’t use measuring cups but if I do I will make sure to specify if the original recipe uses American or Australian cups as I have discovered that American and Australian cups are actually slightly different sizes! I use UK Large size eggs and self-rising flour. If you use baking powder and plain flour please substitute following the instructions on your baking powder!

Right I think that’s everything, see you soon!