Everyone loves cupcakes. I hope! When bakeries established solely for the production of cupcakes broke on to the commercial cooking scene a few years ago I could hardly contain my delight. Although the naysayers are spelling the end of the boutique cupcake trend I fervently hope they stick around for many years to come (Cupcakes on Pitt im looking at you!!).
Cupcakes have got to be one of the most diverse and magic member of the cake family. Diverse because they can come in all shapes, sizes, flavours and colours, and magic because no matter how badly you stuff them up, they still look and taste pretty damn good. Unless you forget to put the eggs and milk in them… Anyway, I felt that I had become a bit too pedestrian with my cupcake flavours lately so I decided to branch out. Im not the most adventurous of people so my branching out only extended as far as experimenting with the icing. Baby steps!
Sometimes it feels like everyone I know is born in June and July. Not that im complaining, I love birthdays! What better time to catch up with old friends, get to know new friends, eat alot of some cake and let your hair down. Because im pretty useless at buying gifts, I decided to make people birthday presents this year. Jungle cake for Ginger Ninja was phase one of operation Edible Gifts. This was phase two.
The wonderful birthday girl Mrs S isn’t a great fan of chocolate so I had to put my thinking cap on. You may have gained an inkling as to my lifelong love affair with chocolate, and it wasn’t easy to find a good safe alternate cupcake flavour. I wasn’t adventurous enough to try some of the crazier flavours so, after consulting the demi-gods of cooking (otherwise known as Australian Women’s Weekly) I settled on orange buttercake with orange buttercream icing.
Although I was a bit naughty and didn’t do a test before baking the real thing, they came out perfectly! Hooray! They were super fluffy, lightly orangey and flat enough to accommodate the decorating ideas I had in mind. Which were…
Penguins! Well, it is winter after all, and winter is penguin season!
Teddy Bears (for cuddleability) and Rubber Duckies!
And of course, what is a birthday without a few presents?
Or a tower of presents!
This was the first time I had used rolled fondant to decorate the whole tops of cupcakes and I think it went pretty well. Of course, I had a lot of help from the fantastic Planet Cake Cake Decorating Book and im no stranger to fondant animals. Im looking forward to making more of these babies for future birthdays!
So, my lovelies, what is your take on edible gifts?
p.s. like my new microplane zester? It was amazing! No bitter white pith for me!
But there are a few bald oranges in my house now… sorry Mr Orange…
Orange Buttercake Cupcake Recipe – From the Australian Women’s Weekly Cupcakes Cookbook
Ingredients
90g butter
90g cream cheese
2 tsp finely grated orange rind
2/3 cup (150g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup (50g) self raising flour
1/2 cup (75g) plain flour
Method
1. Beat butter, cheese, rind, sugar and eggs with an electric mixer until light and fluffy
2. Mix in flours until just combined
3. Divide mix among patty pans and smooth the surface of the batter
4. Bake for 20 mins at 160 decrees celsius (for a fan forced oven)
Orange Buttercream Icing Recipe – From the Australian Women’s Weekly Cupcakes Cookbook
Ingredients
90g butter
1/4 tsp orange essence (I used orange blossom water and it gave a nice light orangey taste, you might want to use a little more than 1/4 tsp though)
1 cup (160g) icing sugar
1 tbsp milk
Method
1. Beat butter and essence until light and fluffy
2. Beat in sifted icing sugar and milk
3. If icing is too thick, add a little more milk
4. Ice your cupcakes quickly, as my icing seemed to harden quite quickly. Im not sure if that was the result of using more orange blossom water or if that would happen with orange essence as well. You have been warned!
So i’ve trumpeted the amazingness of the Donna Hay Buttermilk Chocolate Cake far and wide. “It’s the best chocolate cake ever! It never fails!” I said. Well, we all know what happens when you get too cocky.
This happens.
So just to set the scene, it was a weekday evening. I was trying to do a million things at once, and one of those things was bake cupcakes for a staff morning tea. Where I worked before my faculty always did the best morning tea so I was determined to produce something good for my new workplace! I normally take all the ingredients out of the fridge and the cupboard before cooking just to be sure I actually have all the ingredients. That night, I didn’t.
Can you tell what is wrong with these cupcakes?
I knew something was amiss ten minutes into cooking time. There was no rising action going on in that oven. No action at all! I knew I had put the bi-carb in. I know that sometimes I go out and cant remember if i’ve left my hair straightener on, or even if i’ve locked the door, but I had a crystal clear memory of adding bi-carb.
The cupcakes were dense and sticky and just doughy. Awful. Turns out that clever clogs here had forgotten to add the buttermilk (as in one of the key ingredients) AND the eggs. Go me. Word to the wise my lovelies, always get your ingredients out before you begin baking!!
Of course, I couldn’t leave it there. So I rallied, and made another batch. Avec buttermilk and eggs this time!
Ta da! Keep it simple stupid.
Enough for everyone!
So my lovelies, what crucial element have you left out of a dish before?
They broke the mould when the made my grandpa. He was a man who was intensely loving and my moral compass for most of my adolescent and adult life. My grandpa was also the sharpest dressed man i’ve ever known. He was a man who always had several suits already hung up in his wardrobe along with matching shirt, tie and pocket hankie. He had a stack of hats up to my waist (a different one for every possible occasion) and he even changed his shoelaces according to the seasons. According to my Great Auntie, when he had one of his strokes many many years ago, he wouldn’t let my grandma call the ambulance until he had put his shoes on. Of course, you couldn’t go to emergency with bare feet!
He was the strongest person i’ve ever known, serving in World War Two, living through several strokes and caring for himself for the past ten years despite being paralysed down one side of his body and suffering from macular degeneration. All through this, he never left his house without first donning a clean suit with freshly polished shoes and a carefully chosen tie, hankie and hat combination. Even people at the bank and the post office remarked to me about what a gentleman he was and how he never came in without being immaculately dressed. He died last year, and although I remember him every day, I wanted to do something special to remember him. I know he would have loved these.
Some well dressed cupcakes!
He was man enough to wear pink!
Every man looks good in blue
Every man needs a black tie for special occasions.
So thats a little piece of my heart sent out into the universe. These are just a small tribute to a man who genuinely brightened up so many people’s lives.
