custard cream cupcakes

Another custard cream themed bake. Sorry, not sorry. Oreo and bourbon lovers will have to sit at the back of the room. It's all about custard creams here.

When I asked Mum what she'd like me to bake for Mother's Day this weekend she requested custard cream cupcakes. After searching my blog archives I discovered I haven't baked these since 2011! Quite surprising as I baked them a lot pre blog. Sometimes with blogging I think there can be an expectation to only post "new" things, whether it's food, clothing combinations, craft projects, purchases etc. I like revisiting old favourites though. If it works and you love it, who cares!

As I couldn't be bothered faffing about with a piping bag, I just spread the icing on with a palette knife. Ironically, this actually took far longer and some may argue that these look hideously lumpy and ugly, but I rather like the rustic, juvenile application. It has a homemade charm. Plus this form of icing lends itself very well to sprinkles. And everybody knows that sprinkles are the best.

These cupcakes are just as tasty as I remember. The cream in the batter definitely gives the cupcakes an extra indulgent kick and I love the sweetness of the custard cream chunks. I must have picked the cupcake containing the least biscuit chunks to photograph here (typical!) but you can see they're in there.

I'll try to return with a non custard cream related bake, but I can't promise you anything...

Did I mention that I really love custard creams? ;)

furniture revamp

What do you do when you have a boring, old chair and a spare, small wardrobe?

Paint them!

Preferably in vibrant colours such as turquoise and raspberry pink.

The wardrobe has been transformed into a funky storage cupboard for all my sewing materials. The shelves I put up were quite, erm.... rustic, so I lined them with colourful scraps of wrapping paper. Then I found more paper to line the drawers too. Finally my habit of hoarding pretty wrapping paper has paid off.

Project bedroom renovation is almost complete! It has taken well over a month to do but it has been worth it. I just need to finish arranging things and tidy up. All shall be revealed soon!

White chocolate and custard cream browned butter blondies

Well that's certainly a mouthful isn't it?

Last week I was thinking about how oreos are often incorporated into brownies which led me to ponder whether custard creams could be put into blondies. After a quick google image search I noticed nobody had done it. So I made it happen.

After remembering how tasty my last blondies were, I adapted the recipe to use custard creams instead of raspberries. As the recipe link no longer works (why would you remove such a great recipe bbc?) I'll type it up at the end of the post.

I really enjoyed the texture of these blondies. They have that essential crispy, cracked surface and fudgy/chewy texture inside you'd expect from a good blondie or brownie but also an added crunch from the custard cream biscuit chunks. Then there are the delicious, smooth chunks of white chocolate just to punch up the sweet-factor even further. Basically, if you love sweet, vanilla based bakes then you'll love these. They're a real treat.

I also don't think I can go back to making blondies without browning butter. It really does add something. Plus the sweet, biscuity smell of butter while it's browning is pretty addictive. Yay for butter!

White chocolate and custard cream browned butter blondies

Recipe originally from bbc good food's website

200g unsalted butter
150g white chocolate chopped into chunks (I used Lindt as it has a lovely vanilla flavour)
300g light muscovado sugar
3 large eggs (I used duck eggs)
200g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp good quality vanilla extract
100-125g custard cream sandwich biscuits, broken into chunks

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4 and line a 25 x 22cm tin. (I didn't have the correct sized tin so I used a smaller oblong one and a 7inch square sandwich tin.) Melt the butter in a saucepan and cook gently for about 5 minutes until the white solids turn golden and the butter starts to smell biscuity and sweet. Side aside to cool for 5 minutes. Add half of the white chocolate to the melted butter and set aside again for a few minutes, stirring until combined. Meanwhile, beat together the sugar and eggs for a couple of minutes until thick and pale. Add the flour, salt, vanilla extract and cooled butter mixture and mix together. 

Pour into the tin (or tins) then scatter custard creams and white chocolate chunks on top, pressing them in slightly. Bake for 40-45 minutes until it has a golden crust and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out relatively clean. (Since I used smaller tins my blondies cooked quicker, about 35-40 minutes.) Leave to cool in the tin. It's tempting to dive in straight away but they cut so much easier once cool.

berry bakewell cake

I'd like to start off by saying a huge thank you to everybody who left advice on my last post regarding my not so successful bundt. The general consensus is that I should invest in some cake release spray so that's what I'm going to try next. I shall not be defeated by that bundt tin!

Hello photogenic plugs and sockets.

Now onto a cake which was a total success, woohoo! My Mum is a huge fan of almondy, bakewell flavours so I decided to make this pimped up Victoria sponge for her birthday last week.

It's a very simple cake but the addition of ground almonds and berries make it that bit more special. Basically if you love victoria sponges and bakewell tarts then you'll love this cake.

The nephews are excellent fire extinguishers.

I used frozen berries in this cake but I imagine fresh would taste even better. I was a bit worried about adding too many in case they would all sink and make the sponges soggy but thankfully this wasn't the case. If anything I think I could get away with adding a few more next time.

We have red blinds in our kitchen so if you're wondering why all my photographs are rose tinted that's why. I haven't gone all instagram toaster filter on you.

Ahhh just looking at that photo makes me want to bake the cake again. Apparently the last slice tasted even better the following day.

Berry Bakewell Cake

I naturally bake in imperial measurements (I'm old school like that) but I've converted the weights into grams. I hope they're right!

8oz/ 225g caster sugar

8oz/ 225g margarine (I used Vitalite as I wanted to make the cake dairy free)

3 large duck eggs (hen eggs are fine, as long as the overall weight is roughly 8oz)

8oz/ 225g self-raising flour

1 oz/ 28g ground almonds

a few drops of almond essence (add to taste)

roughly 2-3 ounces/ about 75g mixture of berries (fresh or frozen) for scattering

a few tablespoons of strawberry jam

Icing sugar for dusting

Grease and line two 20cm round cake sandwich tins. Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C. Beat together the sugar and margarine for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a tablespoon of the flour if the mixture starts to curdle/split. Add a few drops of almond essence (to taste) along with the rest of the flour and ground almonds and mix until everything is fully combined. Divide the mixture between the two cake tins. In a separate bowl, give the berries a light coating of flour to stop them sinking in the mixture (you can cut some of the heavier berries such a blackberries in half to reduce weight.) Lightly press the berries into the surface of both cakes. 

Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for roughly 25 minutes or until both sponges are golden, well risen and spring back to touch. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire cooling rack. Once cold, sandwich together with a generous amount of jam and serve with a dusting of icing sugar on top.

help please!

Some constructive criticism or advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm at the stage where I might start spelling my bundt tin with a "c".

I've produced yet another half-turned-out cake which is becoming increasingly frustrating. I followed the recipe to the letter, and this is described as a good cake for not sticking, but it still stuck. I greased the tin with Wilton cake release oil (along with a coating of flour) which is the same combination I used for my successful lemon, almond and poppyseed bundt. I bought more of this oil as I hadn't used it for my last two (failed) bundts and I assumed that's where I was going wrong.

So......

Should I have left it to cool longer in the tin before turning out?

Should I only grease the tin with the cake release oil? (No coating of flour)

Is cake release spray better than cake release oil? I tried to find some in Lakeland last week but only came across the oil.

Or should I throw the bundt tin out the kitchen window? I'm mighty close to having a Ballistic Bob moment (a nice bit of Scottish TV for you!)

On the upside, despite the ugly appearance this is a very tasty cake: great banana flavour and packed with oozy chunks of milk chocolate. If I could get it to turn out the tin properly I would definitely bake it again.

everything will be fine...

Despite having the most amazing weekend EVER seeing the Strictly Come Dancing Tour in Glasgow, I have returned home entirely run down with a coldsore threatening to take over my face and a mobile phone potentially on its death bed. It's not the end of the world, I can go back to using my prehistoric pink flip phone, but it's an inconvenience and I was hoping February would involve less hassle than January.

Life isn't all doom and gloom though, it's hard to feel sad when a lovely bunch of flowers are on my sunshine yellow formica table. Here are some other photographs I've taken which make me smile.

My yellow Taunton Vale canisters look rather lovely next to Mary Bee the kitchenaid (please excuse her filthy mixing bowl!)

Tidying up china after photographing and eating the maple and walnut cake.

Patterned tins in a row. There's nothing stored inside, I just like looking at them!

I've been living out a suitcase for the last few weeks as the majority of my possessions are packed away in the attic while my bedroom is getting a massive make over. I've kept some nice pieces of jewellery out to jazz up outfits so I don't become entirely bored of my smaller selection of clothes.

A cute birdy brooch mum bought for my christmas last year. Today is the first day I've worn it!

So yes, everything will be fine. My coldsore will go away, I at least have a basic functioning phone to use and my room is going to look fantastic when it's finished.  I also have a bake planned for the weekend which is another thing to look forward to.

What's keeping you cheerful in February?

maple and walnut cake

Finally, a bake I can blog about! I haven't had much luck with baking recently. So far this year I have baked a chocolate banana cake which didn't quite hit the spot, a bundt which failed to come out the tin (again!) and a batch of sad looking cherry bakewells (burnt frangipane with barely cooked pastry). Annoyingly, they were all things I have baked before successfully.

Even this maple and walnut cake is a bit on the overcooked/dry/crumbly side, but it's the best bake I've produced so far therefore worth showing. Time for a tea party!

The best thing about this bake has to be the icing; it's so rich, sweet and creamy. However I almost thought I had a disaster with that too! Whilst mixing it looked as if it was curdling, so I swapped my beater attachment for a whisk and crossed my fingers. Thankfully it came together smooth and glossy.

I almost swapped the walnuts for pecans but I'm glad I stuck with the walnuts as their slight bitterness contrasted the sweet maple flavour nicely. It's a classic combination for a reason.

Three nights till I'm in Glasgow for the 2014 Strictly Come Dancing Tour, WOOHOO!!! Not that I'm excited.... much.

Sparkly clothes at the ready!

Maple and walnut cake
Recipe from "Vintage Cakes" by Jane Brocket. Published 2012 by Jacqui Small

150g butter, softened
150g soft light brown sugar
3 large eggs (I used duck eggs)
4 tablespoons maple syrup
2-3 tablespoons milk
75g walnuts, chopped
220g self-raising flour
extra walnut halves (or quarters in my case!) to decorate

icing:
200g full fat cream cheese
50g butter, softened
80g soft light brown sugar
3-4 tablespoons maple syrup (I used 3)

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4 and grease and line a deep 20cm square cake tin. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. In a jug, lightly whisk the eggs, maple syrup and milk. Pour the liquid mixture into the bowl, along with the chopped walnuts and flour. Carefully mix/fold everything together until just combined. The mixture should be of a soft dropping consistency. (Add more milk if the mixture doesn't drop off the spoon easily when tapped against the edge of the bowl.) Spoon the mixture into the tin and level the top. Bake for 30-35 minutes until well risen, golden and firm to touch or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool completely before turning out of the tin.

For the icing, mix together the cream cheese, butter, sugar and maple syrup in a large bowl until smooth and glossy. Spread the icing over the cake (don't worry about making a smooth surface. The more rustic it looks the better!) and divide the cake into a 4 x 4 grid pattern, cutting 16 square pieces of cake. Top each piece with a walnut half and serve.