chocolate jazzie cupcakes

I had no intentions of blogging these cupcakes but they turned out so cute I couldn't resist sharing.

It was my uncle's birthday recently so I baked a small batch of chocolate cupcakes to drop past his house. Usually I bake a big cake but what with Covid19 household restrictions in Scotland/UK I thought a smaller amount of cake was more sensible since they wouldn't be having a bigger family gathering.

When rummaging through my baking cupboard for cake decorations I came across a bag of jazzies/snowies (white chocolate buttons covered in sprinkles.) I received them as a Christmas present from my best friend last year (she knows they're my favourite pick 'n' mix sweetie) but I was astounded to discover the bag was entirely unopened?!? Changed days. Anyway, I thought they'd make a fun topping for the birthday cupcakes.

It's been a while since I've baked cupcakes. For whatever reason I've been on more of a muffin and biscuit kick this year, so it was nice to return to them. They're always fun to make. Obviously I reserved one cupcake for myself. Quality control and all that.

I also used up the last of my pretty Lakeland paper cases when making these cupcakes. Dare I say it I think it's time to replenish the cupcake case stash as I mostly only have Christmas themed ones left. My stash was borderline out of control a few years ago so it's good to see I've worked through them!

Chocolate jazzie cupcakes

This recipes yields approx. 10 cupcakes.

cakes:

4oz soft light brown sugar

4oz softened butter or Stork margarine

2 large eggs

4oz self raising flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

Splash of milk.

1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

decoration:

chocolate butter icing - admittedly I made this up without a recipe, but the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook's chocolate icing recipe is a favourite of mine when I do follow a recipe.)

cake sprinkles/ chocolate buttons/ jazzies for decoration.

Preheat the oven to gas 4/180C/fan 160C and line a cupcake tray with paper cases.

In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add a tbsp of the flour mix with the second egg to prevent the mixture from curdling. 

In a separate bowl sift together the remaining flour and cocoa powder then add to the main mixture along with the vanilla extract and a splash of milk. Mix until everything is fully combined.

Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases, filling each case about 2/3 full. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for approx. 25-30 minutes, until well risen and firm to touch.

 

Make your chosen icing and spread onto the top of each cupcake with a teaspoon or palette knife then liberally cover the icing with cake sprinkles. Add two chocolate buttons or Jazzies on top for extra decoration.

courgette, coconut and lime cake

My first ever courgette cake. I've been wanting to make one of these for years and am kicking myself I didn't do it sooner. This is such a lovely cake.

A few weeks ago I came across a Nigella Lawson courgette cake recipe, and variations of it, at least three times within the space of a few days. I took it as a sign that I finally needed to try a courgette cake.

My cake is yet another (slight) variation. I mostly followed Jean's variation though of adding desiccated coconut and lime zest to the cake batter.

I think all versions I came across had used lemon curd as a filling, but I made a lime curd using a lovely recipe I recently found at Only Crumbs Remain. I wanted to enhance the lime flavour in the cake and just generally fancied making that curd! I also added lime zest to the cream cheese icing (no juice though) to fully ramp up the zingy flavour and general green appearance of the cake. I also added a little bit extra icing sugar to the icing to make it slightly firmer and topped the cake with toasted desiccated coconut.

Speaking of the green appearance, I loved all the green flecks from the courgette and lime in this cake. I'm aware green isn't generally considered an attractive colour for a cake, but I thought it looked really pretty.

The courgettes gave the cake a really lovely, soft texture and the lime curd tasted insanely good. Man I love a homemade curd! I only made half a batch but had plenty for this cake filling and enough extra to add to my plain yoghurt and fruit at breakfast for a few days. Yet again, ridiculously tasty alongside blueberries and chopped banana in yoghurt.

So if you're in any ways on the fence about courgette cake I say DO IT. If you already like carrot cake and citrus flavours then you won't regret making it.

moving... sort of

Hi folks, just a heads up to let you know I've finally set up a separate blog for my sewing and knitting projects.

The new blog is called "No beige, all colour" so as you'd expect, it's going to be full of fun and colourful makes. Please do pop over to say hi and follow if you're interested.

 

This blog will keep running as normal, so no worries if you're just here for the cake. You now have the option to follow my baking or crafting adventures... or both!