Caramel cupcakes

I had some left over dulce de leche after making sticky toffee cupcakes so I used it up in these caramel cupcakes.

I made these once last year, here, but I was slightly disappointed with them. I seem to remember them not rising as much as I had hoped and the texture not being quite right. However, this time they were perfect! Very light and fluffy, although incredibly sweet (I'll let you judge whether that's a good or bad thing. It didn't stop me eating them that's for sure!) I love sweet things, hence my blog, but I'm not sure if it's necessary to have so much sugar in the recipe in addition to the dulce de leche.

I've not always had 100% success with Hummingbird Bakery recipes but I certainly have been on a role with them lately. I think the trick is to make sure absolutely everything is at room temperature (butter, eggs, milk) and to follow the recipe to the letter. This may seem glaringly obvious, but I'm really bad at not having my butter and milk at room temperature. All I can say is thank goodness for microwaves!

I've just read through my old post of these cupcakes and noticed that I said that I'd add the recipe at "a later date." Is nearly seven months "later" enough?

Caramel cupcakes

Recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery, Cake Days.

80g (3oz) unsalted butter, softened
280g (10oz) caster sugar
240g (8 1/2oz) plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
240ml (8 1/2fl oz) whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 large eggs
150g (5 1/2oz) tinned caramel or dulce de leche

For the frosting (I recommend halving the amount):
500g (1lb 2oz) icing sugar
160g (5 1/2oz) unsalted butter, softened
50ml (1 3/4fl oz) whole milk
100g (3 1/2oz) tinned caramel or dulce de leche

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5 and line a muffin tin with muffin/cupcake cases (12-16). Using a hand held whisk or freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment whisk together the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt on a low speed until crumb like in consistency. Place the milk and vanilla essence in a jug with the eggs and whisk by hand until combined. Pour 3/4 of this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix together on a slow speed, then increase the speed to medium and keep beating until smooth and thick. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the remaining milk mixture and the tinned caramel, and continue to mix until all the ingredients are incorporated and the batter is smooth. Divide the batter between the muffin cases, filling each by two thirds. Place in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until well risen and springy to the touch. Leave to cool for a while in the tin then transfer to a wire rack to cool down fully.

Using the electric whisk or freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the icing sugar with the butter on a low speed until combined and still powdery in texture. Slowly mix in the milk, and once it is incorporated, increase the speed to high and whisk until light and fluffy. Add the caramel and beat in well. Spoon the frosting onto the cupcakes once they have cooled, smoothing it on with a palette knife and swirling the frosting.

Apple pie cake and sticky toffee cupcakes

Last week was my brother's birthday (my eldest brother was the week before) so I got to make another celebration cake! After showing him various recipes he decided on Edd Kimber's apple pie cake.

The sponge layers were light and packed with cinnamon flavour, but not in any ways overpowering. Sandwiched between the layers were cinnamon cream cheese icing (seriously tasty), caramelised apples and a drizzle of sticky syrup made from the apple juices. I think this was my tallest cake yet. It was huge! Huge and delicious.

Mmmmmm, look at that drizzly syrup!

As I want to support Edd Kimber with his first book I won't type out the recipe, but I can highly recommend it. I'd quite like to try all of his layer cakes as they look so impressive.

I also baked some sticky toffee cupcakes last week. These were iced in a mad rush so apologies for the lack of pretty decoration. I've made them before, for bonfire night last year, but they were so good I didn't get a chance to photograph them! They were just as tasty as before: a sticky date sponge with a dulche de leche butter icing (yes, it really does taste as good as it sounds!)

They may even be my favourite cupcake flavour to date (ooh I love a pun), or at least tie with nutella cupcakes, although I think I'm sliding into dodgy territory here, a bit like when Kate raised the difficult question, "if you could only have one type of cake for the rest of your life which would you choose?" It's so hard to pick an absolute favourite!

On a separate topic, I acquired some duck eggs this week. Can anybody recommend any recipes they'd be extra tasty in? I've never baked with them before so I'm quite excited.

Sticky Toffee Cupcakes

Recipe from Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days, p.185

For the sponge:

180g (6 1/2oz) pitted and chopped dates

180ml (6 1/2fl oz) boiling water

80g (3oz) unsalted butter, softened

150g (5 1/2oz) soft light brown sugar

2 large eggs

180g (6 1/2oz) plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla essence (use extract, it's better!)

For the frosting

160g (5 1/2oz) unsalted butter, softened

500g (1lb 2oz) icing sugar

50ml (1 3/4fl oz) whole milk

100g (3 1/2oz) tinned caramel/dulce de leche

12-16 dates, pitted and chopped, or small pieces of soft toffee to decorate

Place the chopped dates in a bowl, pour over the boiling water and leave to soak for approx. 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5, and line a muffin tin with cases. Using a hand held electric whisk or a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until soft and fluffy. Break the eggs in one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing well on a medium speed after adding each egg. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Add these dry ingredients in 3 batches to the egg and butter mix, then adjust the speed to medium-high and continue mixing until the batter is smooth and even. Scrape around the sides and bottom of the bowl to pick up any ingredients that might not be mixed in, then beat again briefly to ensure everything is well encorporated. Next add the vanilla essence to the date mixture and mix this into the cake batter by hand, making sure the dates are evenly dispersed throughout the batter.

Fill each paper case up to two thirds full with the batter. Any remaining batter can be used to fill extra cases in a second muffin tin. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes or until risen and springy to the touch. Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin and placing onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Using the electric whisk or freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and icing sugar on a low speed until sandy in texture and no large lumps of butter remain. Still mixing on a low speed gradually add the milk and mix in well, then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy. Finally add the tinned caramel, beating it in thoroughly to ensure the frosting is evenly mixed. Spoon generous amounts of the frosting onto each cupcakes, then gently smooth over with a palette knife making a swirl on top if you wish. Scatter over the chopped dates or toffee pieces if using. (I strongly advise halving the frosting quantity. I iced generously and still had loads left over!)

Caramel cupcakes

I had some left over dulche de leche from making sticky toffee cupcakes last week (which were so good I didn't get a chance to photograph them) so I decided to try the caramel cupcake recipe in the Hummingbird Bakery book.

The recipe calls for a lot of sugar, A LOT. I was fairly concerned about it but carried on regardless. Although the cupcakes aren't bad by any means, they are very sweet, even by my standards. I just don't understand why the recipe needs so much sugar. I loved the idea of a caramel cupcake and the icing tastes brilliant but I think I'll use a different sponge recipe next time.

Check out my juvenile piped caramel! I had some leftover caramel so I thought I'd have fun with it. This is also the first time this cake stand has appeared on the blog. One of my friends made it for my 21st birthday (her mum is a ceramicist) and it has my name and a birthday message scored onto the underside, so it's completely unique. It's nice having arty friends :)

I'll add the recipe at a later date, promise! It's getting late and I need my bed.

Has anybody else tried this recipe and felt unsure about it?