Storage Solutions: Cake Cases

When decorating cupcakes I love to get everything to match a theme, which is why I now have a huge collection of sprinkles and paper cases. This would be fine if I had tons of space to store them all, but sadly I don’t.

This is just a selection of my cake case collection.
I have loads more pretty ones lurking

It’s easy enough to store cases that come in handy plastic tubs since they can easily be stacked in a corner or something. The problem is all the cases that come attached to cardboard backing sheets or in plastic bags usually with some cake toppers! Well to deal with these pesky sets I’ve been a bit creative.

By using an old jam and Kilner jar I’ve hit upon a handy storage solution! The jam jar is the perfect size to hold cake toppers, and the Kilner jar is big enough to hold all those cake cases that don’t have plastic tubs. Now all my extras are safe from damage, much easier to store (this takes up a fraction of the space they previously needed) and displayed prettily (it’s a shame to hide away all those lovely designs)! And as an added bonus storing them like this is a great way to recycle old jar, so Eco points as well as creativity points! All I need now are some pretty labels for each jar and maybe some ribbon?

Now I just need to figure out what to do about my sprinkles stash...
So how do you store your cake cases? If anyone does anything like this please tell me about it in the comments, I’d love to see pictures J

Snapshots: The Cake is a Lie

And that’s about as far as my knowledge of Portal goes... I really must have a go at playing it sometime but first I need to finish Lego Lord of the Rings and try some other games. My attempts at playing Bioshock are going to be hilarious but you aren’t here to hear me talk about games so on to the actual subject of this post.

Last Sunday was my baby brother’s 21^st birthday, and since I’m an amazing and fantastic sister I kindly made him a birthday cake. And here it is, the Weighted Companion Cube!

You have no idea how awkward it was get the cake into my photography setup.
It was extremely heavy which made moving it tricky!

This cake is constructed out of four, 8 inch square Madeira cakes which have been sandwiched together with cream cheese frosting.  The whole thing was then covered in sugarpaste (which I coloured myself) and then all the decorations were appliquéd onto the surface. They were also made of sugarpaste and glued on with royal icing. Each piece was cut out by hand with a scalpel (well apart from the circles/hearts, obviously I used a cutter for those) and all I can say is thank the lord that icing is not like pastry so it doesn’t matter how many times you re-roll it!

Me and my mum are united in our hatred of people who just shove candles into cakes without a thought for the amount of effort that has gone into them or the overall design, so I baked a cupcake to hold the candle. This cupcake is a Peanut Butter Cup Cupcake V1 (recipe coming soon) which has been topped with some leftover frosting and a blue sugarpaste portal. Where is the orange portal? Well that’s a trade secret ;)

I learnt a lot making this cake, not only did I learn that sugarcraft will always take longer than you think it will; I also learnt some new techniques.  I learnt how to cover a square cake in sugarpaste (much harder than a circle cake, especially one this size!) and I learnt how to level cakes (a spirit level is your best friend). All in all I’m pretty darn proud of this cake, it was truly a labour of love but I think it was worth it!

Quick and Easy Valentine’s Day Cakes

No matter what you think about Valentine’s Day it does present a great opportunity for cake decorating, especially as the shops are full of adorable cooking equipment right now. So here are some quick and easy ideas for Valentine’s themed cakes.

This post is structured slightly differently to my last Quick and Easy post as I’m not entirely happy with the way that post turned out. So the new structure for this series is as follows: Recipe Ideas, Simple Decorative Touches, Themed Designs and Fun Things from Shops.
Ok so let’s get started!

Recipe Ideas
I firmly believe that cakes should taste as good as they look, but who wants boring vanilla cakes all the time? It’s great fun to match recipes and cake flavours to the holidays so for Valentine’s why not try some of these goodies?

Chocolate – Since chocolate is an instrumental part of Valentines celebrations, why not keep things simple with a chocolate cake rather than a box of overpriced chocolates? To jazz things up why not try adding chocolate chips, fruits (raspberries and strawberries are a favourite of mine), chillies, caramel or your favourites?  If you want something a bit more visually impressive why not have a go at a Red Velvet Cake?

Flowers – Roses are the official flower of Valentines and happily as a flavour rose tastes really lovely when used in baking. Rose is actually my all time favourite macaroon flavour! Try adding some rose water to chocolate cupcakes for a lovely twist on the traditional flavours. Or why not try topping vanilla flavoured cakes with a gorgeous rose buttercream? To make rose buttercream omit the vanilla extract when making normal buttercream (or frosting) and add a teaspoon or so of rose water instead. This is great if you want a more subtle flavour as it’s much easier to adjust the quantities to your personal taste.

Simple Vanilla – Not everyone wants flavoured cakes but plain old vanilla cakes are dull. So why not add a new dimension to vanilla cakes by adding some food dye? Red and pink are great seasonal options.  Just remember that what kind of dye you use will affect the final colour; gel food dyes give rich vibrant colours while the liquid ones available in most supermarkets will give you softer more pastel colours. Also using plain vanilla cakes is a great opportunity to play with flavoured icing as the plain cake makes the icing flavour really pop.

Stuck for inspiration or just want something quick and easy? Then why not try clicking the “Recipe” tag on the side and take a look at some of my recipes.

Simple Decorative Touches
Now that you’ve got some an awesome recipe lined up you want them to look great right? So let’s start with the basics, cake cases. I’d suggest going with a red or pink case, but there are lots of beautiful patterned ones available. How about love hearts or a rose design?

Now when it comes to decorating your cakes what you can do is largely dependent on what icing you want you use. Sugarpaste and water icing work best when used to simply cover the surface of the cake, water icing makes great “glue” for sprinkles as well. Sugarpaste however makes a great canvas for both painted designs (which while simple in principal do require a certain amount of artistic skill) or piped patterns using royal icing. Frosting/buttercream however can be piped into beautiful spirals and swirls, spread on and shaped, and like water icing is very useful for sprinkle adhesive.

Sprinkles are the simplest way of decorating a cake, and since this is a Valentines themed post why not try and get some adorable heart shaped ones like on my Red Velvet Cakes? Supermarkets often sell premade icing roses which also fit the theme, but if you want something a bit more special why not try using real rose petals? Just make sure they are ok to eat first! Oh and don’t underestimate the value of edible glitter for that final touch!

Themed Designs
Want something a little bit more special than sprinkles and frosting? Then why not try some of these ideas? I did not come up with all of these ideas myself, several have been adapted from those I have seen in cake decorating books.

Rose Bouquet – Why not try making a simple rose out of sugarpaste and putting that on top of your cake? There are many tutorials available online and in cake decorating books, but if you don’t fancy making your own rose cheat and buy some premade ones. Cake decorating shops and the baking aisle of most supermarkets sell lovely premade roses; my local cake decorating shop even sells chocolate roses! Rose petals or even fresh roses would work in this design.

Sealed with a Kiss – This design does require some artistic skill but looks very effective. Simply cover your cake with some coloured sugarpaste, then using red food colouring, paint a set of lips onto each cake. It should look like you’ve just blotted your lipstick.

Hearts – Instead of using heart shaped sprinkles how about using royal icing? On a sheet of baking parchment draw the outline of lots of hearts and leave to dry overnight (make lots more than you think you’ll need to allow for breakage). Then after icing your cake in your chosen style, carefully remove each heart from the paper and place them on the cake. I think these hearts work great when used in a similar manner to my snowflake cakes from Christmas.

Anti-Valentine – All this pink and hearts getting you down? Then why not turn things your way with these broken hearts? Using sugarpaste cut out several heart shapes, then using a sharp knife cut each heart in half making sure you get a jagged line. You want the heart to look like it’s been snapped in half, then carefully insert a cocktail stick into each piece and leave for a few hours to harden up. Then cover your cake with black icing and then carefully insert each 2 heart halves into each cake.

Fun Things from Shops
And finally here are some fun things to look out for in your local shops, since these products are seasonal I won’t provide shop links as they’ll be broken in a few days time. So while out shopping keep your eyes peeled for these. 

Biscuit cutters – Available in a selection of sizes heart shaped cutter can make Valentines biscuits extra cute, and as a bonus they are useful all year round.

Cake Pans – I currently own heart shaped silicone cupcake cases and a large silicone heart shaped cake pan. These are fun to use all year round and being silicone they don’t take up much storage space.

Lurking in my local shops I’ve also stumbled upon heart shaped ramekins and lots of cute home wares for setting the table like placemats, coasters and even heart shaped wine glasses!

Well I hope this post was useful in some way, all that I have left for Valentines now is my review of the book Kinky Cupcakes which I hope to get up tomorrow.  That post may got up rather late (or I might just save it until Friday) as I have an awful lot to do tomorrow including work and getting ingredients for my brother’s birthday cake!

Recipe: Pancakes

Just a quick post today since I haven't quite finished the other Valentines posts yet and this post is seasonal anyway.

Today is Shrove Tuesday and in the UK at least that means one thing... pancakes! Shrove Tuesday in the UK is also known as Pancake Day; basically we start Lent by eating as much sugar as possible.

Pancakes are so simple to make and yet I know an awful lot of people who use packet mixes. Those things baffle me, loads of them tell you to add an egg or milk which means you’ve spend a couple of pounds on a bag of flour! That makes no sense to me at all (and don’t get me started on the ones that just involve adding water, they taste disgusting.)Well as a protest against packet mixes I’m sharing this recipe! This is the pancake recipe my mum always uses and in my opinion it makes the best pancakes.

Ingredients
100g/4oz plain flour
2 eggs
250ml/half pint of milk
pinch salt
1 tsp caster sugar (optional for sweet pancakes)

Method
Sift all dry ingredients into a bowl, then make a well in the centre of the flour. Add the eggs and a splash of milk. Beat until the flour is all incorporated, then keep beating while gradually adding the rest of the milk. You should end up with a smooth batter with bubbles of the surface, leave to rest for a while before cooking. You may need to stir the batter gently before cooking.

My favourite pancake topping has to be maple syrup but you can’t beat the classic combination of lemon and sugar. What’s your favourite topping?

Monday Recipe: Inca Berry Cupcakes

Ok so this recipe isn’t particularly Valentines in theme, but now seems as good a time as any to post this.

I stumbled across Inca berries (also known as physalis) while reading James Wong’s new book, Homegrown Revolution. As the title suggests this book is all about growing your own foods but this book focuses on distinctly more exotic fare rather than the traditional (and not cost/space effective) crops like potatoes and tomatoes. I have never had an interest in gardening until I read this book and it has given me some great new cupcake ideas, including this recipe. Seriously I suggest checking this book out it’s amazing.

Anyway I discovered lots of interesting new foods, including Inca berries and before I invested in a plant it seemed sensible to find out if I actually liked Inca berries first. Luckily my local Tesco supermarket happens to sell them and for only £1 a bag! Happily I do like them and thus set about playing with them. The result was the following cupcake recipe.

I decided to top these cakes with a cream cheese frosting mostly because I made these at the same time as the Red Velvet Cupcakes and I had made an awful lot of frosting... James Wong describes Inca berries as having a flavour like a ripe gooseberry with a hint of tropical fruit, followed by a bittersweet aftertaste. And I find the creamy flavour of the frosting makes a great contrast to the tangy flavour of the berries.

As usual this recipe is designed for use in a cupcake maker and will make 6 fairy cake sized cakes, the recipe can easily be scaled up and should work in an oven equally well. The quantities given for the frosting should be enough to cover 12 cakes but this is dependent on how you choose to cover them.

Ingredients
Cake
1 large egg
50g/2oz Self-rising flour, sifted
50g/2oz Caster sugar
50g/2oz Softened butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5-6 Inca berries, leaves removed and chopped into quarters

Frosting
100g/4oz full fat cream cheese
50g/2oz softened butter
300g/12oz icing sugar, sifted
Vanilla extract

Decorations (optional)
6 Inca berries, leaves folded up

Method
Cream together the butter and sugar; then beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Fold in the flour and then mix in the chopped berries. Divide evenly between the cake cakes and bake for about 10 minutes in a cupcake maker  or for about 15 minutes in the oven at Gas Mark 4/180 C. 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.

To make the frosting, first cream together the cheese and butter, then add the vanilla extract. I used about a teaspoon but add to your personal taste.  Then gradually add the icing sugar and beat it in, the frosting will look quite runny at first but it will thicken up. Once you’ve added all the icing sugar cover the cakes as you want and top each cake with an extra berry. If the frosting seems a little runny add a tiny bit more icing sugar or chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.

Well that’s it for now; if you try these out I’d love to know what you all think. Later in the year I hope to post some more recipes using crops I found through this book. 

Recipe: Chocolate and Caramel Cupcakes

Chocolate is a fundamental part of Valentine’s Day commercialism, but who wants plain chocolate when you can have chocolate caramels?

Yet again a flavoured hot chocolate that smells lovely but tastes kinda horrid has come into my life; this time it’s a caramel one. But like the raspberry one I’ve mentioned here before it’s basically just coco powder with flavoured sugar, so that means one thing, CUPCAKES!!! No pictures of these cakes as I didn’t bother to frost them before eating them, and un-iced they just look like normal chocolate cakes...

This one is currently available from Whittards, and can be acquired here.

As usual this recipe is designed for use in a cupcake maker and makes 6 fairy cake sized cakes. However it should work in the oven and can easily be scaled up to make more. 

Ingredients
1 large egg
30g/1oz Self-rising flour, sifted
20g/1oz Caramel Hot Chocolate, sifted
50g/2oz Caster sugar
50g/2oz Softened butter or margarine

Method
Cream together the butter and sugar then beat in the egg. Fold in the flour and hot chocolate, divide evenly amongst 6 cake cases 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.

The caramel flavour is quite subtle so when frosting these I’d suggest a caramel flavoured buttercream (I have a recipe for salted caramel buttercream, when I get the hang of making it I’ll share it here). 

Recipe: Red Velvet Cakes (Cheating method)

I love Red Velvet Cake, the contrast between the bright red cake and the white frosting always looks amazing. And it’s a chocolate flavoured cake so what’s not to love? And the colour is pretty appropriate for Valentine’s Day. Sadly I find making it to be a bit of a pain in the backside. I struggle to balance the ratio of coco powder to food dye, and more often than not I don’t use enough dye. The result is usually a chocolate cake with a vaguely pink tint if you squint a bit.

But Lakeland has come to the rescue, as they now stock Star Kay extracts. These extracts come in a huge range of flavours and include a chocolate flavour. The extracts are quite expensive, but I’m given to believe that they are a very high quality brand so I don’t mind paying so much for them (and Lakeland have them on 3 for 2 at the moment). So armed with this and some red gel food dye I went into battle and made some adorable cupcakes for Valentine's Day.

Check out my shiny new backdrop! Much nicer than my messy kitchen!

Star Kay Chocolate Extract is available here. I’ve also found some Star Key extracts in Tesco so if you have access to a large store I’d suggest looking there. However Tesco will have a fairly limited range of flavours.

Naturally these are topped with cream cheese frosting; the quantities given below should provide enough frosting to cover 12 cupcakes. Obviously this is dependent on how you choose to cover the cakes, if you pipe the frosting like I did you’ll probably need more. As for the cakes the usual rules apply, this makes 6 fairy cake sized cakes in a cupcake maker. This recipe can be scaled up to make more and also works in the oven. I’m not sure how well the colour will come out when baked in the oven though.

Now isn't that a fabulous colour?

Ingredients
Cake
1 large egg
50g/2oz Self-rising flour, sifted
50g/2oz Caster sugar
50g/2oz Softened butter or margarine
2 teaspoons chocolate extract
Red gel food colouring

Frosting
100g/4oz full fat cream cheese
50g/2oz softened butter
300g/12oz icing sugar, sifted
Vanilla extract (to taste)

Decorations (optional)
Red/pink heart shaped sprinkles
Pink edible glitter

Method
Cream together the butter and sugar; then beat in the egg and chocolate extract. Fold in the flour and then mix in a little of the food dye. Gel dyes are highly concentrated so you don’t need much! Divide evenly between the cake cakes and bake for about 10 minutes in a cupcake maker  or for about 15 minutes in the oven at Gas Mark 4/180 C. 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.

To make the frosting, first cream together the cheese and butter, then add the vanilla extract. I used about a teaspoon but add to your personal taste.  Then gradually add the icing sugar and beat it in, the frosting will look quite runny at first but it will thicken up. Once you’ve added all the icing sugar cover the cakes as you want and decorate. If the frosting seems a little runny add a tiny bit more icing sugar or chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.

Valentines Preview

Hi sorry for the lack of updates everyone, I've been so busy working on new posts/other projects that I haven't had time to get anything finished or posted. But to make it up to you all there shall be a flurry of new posts over the next few days as I try and get all the Valentines themed stuff up before next Thursday! So yeah my normal posting schedule of recipes on Mondays and Friday Reviews shall be ignored for the next week.

So what do I have in store for you all?
There shall be 3 new cupcake recipes, a review of the book "Kinky Cupcakes", Valentines decorating tips and some other stuff. Oh and there might even be pictures of my brother's 21st birthday cake.

I'm not really a fan of Valentines, being single it kinda sucks to have an entire day dedicated to reminding you of that fact and I do believe that you should show people that you love them all year round not just on a day created by cards companies. But I am a fan of hearts and pink... so I can happily embrace that element of Valentine's Day (and I love buying tons of cheap chocolate/flowers on Feb 15th!!)  so this year I'm shaking things up. In my world Feb 14th 2013 is "Love Everyone Day, Especially Youself"
We all need a bit more love in our lives especially us girls, so this year I vote that us single girls reclaim Feb 14th for ourselves. Eat cake, get a makeover, whatever just do something that makes you happy and share the love with everyone you care about.