Chocolate Orange Cupcakes With Orange Blossom Glacé Icing

As-Salaamu Alaykum,

Apologises for my lack of posting in recent months.

Here are some yummy cupcakes to re-break the blogging ice.

My first lot of Chocolate Orange Cupcakes I made way back in 2012 are still great but this time I chose to put a layer of orange blossom water glacé icing on top of each cupcake instead of a mountain of buttercream.  

The orange blossom water cuts through some of the sweetness of the cupcake, yet your sugar craving is well and truly satisfied. 

The baking cups I used were deep so the mix made 10 instead of the usual 12 and even then, they didn't rise to the top. This of course can be avoided if you use regular cases (liners). Do let me know if you try the recipe how it worked for you.

Chocolate Oranges Cupcakes With Orange Blossom Glacé Icing 

Recipe adapted from Fearne Cotton's Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 10-12 portions

Ingredients

Cupcakes

150 grams slightly salted butter (softened)

150 grams caster sugar (i prefer to use golden)

175 grams self-raising flour

25 grams cocoa powder 

3 medium size eggs

zest of 1 large orange (i used navel)

orange blossom water / orange juice

Glacé Icing

200 grams icing sugar 

1 teaspoon orange blossom water

1 -2 tablespoon water

Decorate

sprinkles of your choice

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Lay out baking cups on a baking tray.
2. Using an electric mixer or with a wooden spoon and bowl mix together butter and sugar till light and fluffy (5-10 minutes)
3. Beat in the orange zest.Add eggs one at a time, ensuring each one is thoroughly incorporated before adding the next (5 minutes)
4. Sift flour and cocoa powder into bowl and with a large metal spoon fold into the mixture until just incorporated. 
5. Lightly mix in enough orange blossom water/orange juice until you get a dropping consistency.
6. Using a 1/4cup or ice cream scoop, divide into baking cups. Bake in centre of oven for 15-20 minutes until firm to touch.
7. Remove from oven and leave to cool.
8. Once cupcakes are cool make the glacé icing; in a large bowl sift in icing sugar, add orange blossom water and 1 tablespoon water, gently mix adding more water as needed until it's just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
9. Top each cupcake with a generous teaspoon of glacé icing and decorate with your favourite sprinkles.

Mini Vanilla Custard Slices

As- Salamu Alaikum / Greetings Reader,

My sincere apologises to any of my instagram followers who saw my pic of these mini vanilla custard slices many days ago now and have been waiting to hear more about them, well let me tell you they didn't take all this time to eat, they were gone within 24 hours = proof you need to make these delicious treats sometime soon, yes preferably when the sun isn't on show like it is here today here in the north of England, mashaAllah / As Allah  = God Willed.

I don't think anything can beat dreamy, creamy vanilla infused custard, sandwiched between delicate, flaky layers of puff pastry and topped with sweet orange blossom perfumed icing.

Also, the good news is they are 'mini' so you can eat 2 in one sitting without any guilt / shame!

Mini Vanilla Custard Slices

Makes 12

Ingredients

Puff Pastry

500grams block of frozen puff pastry, thawed in the fridge overnight
Plain flour, for work surfaces and rolling pin

Filling

batch of Crème Patissiere / Pastry Cream = Thick Custard

Icing

200grams icing/powdered sugar
5teaspoons cold water OR 4 3/4 teaspoons water and 1/4 teaspoon orange blossom or rose water

Method

Pre-Heat Fan Oven to 200C

On a lightly floured surface roll out your puff pastry block until it's about 50 x 35cm 1/4cm thick.

Divide in half (a ruler and sharp knife come in handy for this) and place each half on it's own lined baking sheet and bake for on the 2 middle racks of your oven for 15-20minutes or until light golden in colour (you may wish to rotate the baking sheets half way through so you get even cooking and colouring)

 

Remove puff pastry halves from oven, prick each, all over with a fork and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Make up a batch of crème patissiere and cool/chill in the fridge until your ready to assemble.

 

To divide up your puff pastry equally, place one puff pastry half on top of the other, trim any curvy edges and divide up (ruler and serrated knife) into 12 pairs each puff pastry pair being about 3-4cm wide and 7-8cm in length.

 

To fill, I find it easiest to pipe my crème patissiere onto the puff pastry bottoms, I do one row of piping and then another on top, quickly place the puff pastry lid on top then smooth / spread out the pastry cream around the sides using an angled palette knife. Repeat this step until you have filled all your 12 mini vanilla custard slices.

 

 

Next make up your icing, I personally love anything flavoured with the hint of orange blossom water and it helps slightly cut through the sweetness of all the sugar, you could use rose water or lemon/orange juice too.

 

 

I find it's best to put a generous teaspoon of icing onto the pastry lid and then being very careful not to rough up the puff! using a butter knife spread the icing until it covers the lid. Note: Please only use 5teaspoons of water, don't think as I did that it's too thick and add another teaspoon of water it will make your icing run slightly down the sides which makes for a nice photo and sticky fingers!

 

I'm Taking A Blogging Break & Black Tea Cupcakes With Honey Buttercream

As-Salam Alaikum / Greetings Dear Reader,

Honesty is always the best policy, my home baking journey doesn't always run smoothly and I still manage to blog about it because that's just me 'keeping it real' I learn something new almost each time I bake that's what keeps me motivated and passionate about this hobby but with arrival of a new born within a matter of weeks I am going to be taking a back seat in blogging for a while.

I will still be updating my instagram while i'm gone so keep a look out.

As of yesterday, I became aware there was such a thing as a UK Cup size in baking and guess what? I've been using UK Cups when trying out US recipes all this time.

US Cup = 236.5ml

UK Cup = 250ml

The UK Cup is slightly bigger than US Cup.

Apologises to all who have tried any of the few Cup measured recipes I've featured here if they haven't worked out as you hoped.

I try to avoid using Cup recipes because I've always been told weighing is a bakers way to achieve the best results and I still stand by that, although some recipes are too irresistible like this Black Tea Cake With Honey Buttercream a Tea lovers dream which quite easily could have been a nightmare for me, alhamdulillah it wasn't even I used the wrong Cup size!

I should have trusted Kristin's US Cup to metric conversions and gone with my measuring jug and weighing scales but I incorrectly thought she must be wrong because to me a Cup = 250ml after all I'd read it on my shiny Cups and to read her first ingredient Milk 1 Cup = 235ml I just dismissed it and went with my Cups.

As you can see from the photos, using UK Cups didn't affect this recipe too much masha'Allah.

My cupcakes were alot lighter in colour than Kristin's cake. Afterwards I realised this is due to using more milk than the original recipe and not more tea because as far as I know and please tell me if I'm wrong, a UK&US tablespoon are the same?!

Black Tea in the cupcakes and salt in the buttercream balances out the honey plus icing sugar sweetness in the frosting so they aren't overly sweet and the milk brewed tea flavour is definitely still there.

You can use any Black Tea you prefer but I went with this high quality Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Black Tea, that is said to have an aroma reminiscent of citrus, maybe next time I make these I will try to enhance that quality by adding some zest of lemon/orange.

Another thing I'm pondering over since my recent measurement lesson is the size of a Cupcake, as Kristin says her recipe makes 18 US cupcakes, my larger scale recipe made just 14, not that I'm complaining but still I'm thinking are UK cupcake cases bigger? after all I was under the assumption as many are that the US are the super sizes! Looks like us Brits are quickly catching up.

So go on if I've not managed to make you run for the hills and your a Black Tea admirer put these cupcakes or the original cake high up on your things to bake list.

 

BLACK TEA CUPCAKES WITH HONEY BUTTERCREAM

Recipe Adapted from Pastry Affair

Makes 14

Measurements taken using UK Cups

Ingredients

Black Tea Cake                    

1 Cup milk                                            

3 tablespoons black tea (for me that meant contents of 6 Ceylon tea bags but it depends on size of teabags your using)                                            

1/4 Cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 Cup caster or granulated sugar  (i used vanilla sugar)                                                

2 large eggs                                     

1/4 Cup vegetable oil                   

1 teaspoon vanilla  (use if not using vanilla sugar)                                  

1 3/4 Cups + 2 teaspoons self raising flour

Honey Buttercream

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature                              

3 tablespoons honey  (i used set honey)                                       

2 cups powdered sugar            

2 tablespoons milk/water (may not be necessary if you use runny honey)

Pinch of salt

Method   

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F / 180 degrees C / 160 degrees C (Fan) Place cases in cupcake pan.

Warm the milk until near boiling on the stove or in the microwave. Cut open the tea bags and add the tea directly into the milk. Allow to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Beat in the vegetable oil and vanilla. Gradually add in the self raising flour. Stir in the tea brewed milk, mixing until batter is uniform and smooth.

Transfer batter to cupcake cases, bake for 15-20minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before frosting or serving.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and honey until smooth.
Add the icing sugar and salt and continue mixing until the frosting comes together. If the frosting is too runny, add more icing sugar until it reaches the right consistency. Likewise, if the frosting is too stiff, add more milk/water to thin it out. If the frosting is too sweet, add a pinch more salt until the desired sweetness is achieved.

Spread or pipe (i used a 9mm open star tip) the honey buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes and serve.

*Photos taken with xperiaZ with added instagram effects

A Bakers Dozen (13): Chocolate Lemon Cupcakes

Asalam Alaykum,

Ever heard the term 'Baker's dozen'? Well a Baker's dozen in England = 13 why? you may ask, i know i have, when all bun tins i've ever seen are even numbered i.e. 6, 12....

Here's the answer courtesy of Wikipedia

A baker's dozen, devil's dozen, long dozen, or long measure is 13, one more than a standard dozen. The oldest known source for the expression "baker's dozen" dates to the 13th century in one of the earliest English statutes, instituted during the reign of Henry III (1216–72), called the Assize of Bread and Ale. Bakers who were found to have shortchanged customers (some variations say that they would sell hollow bread) could be subject to severe punishment including judicial amputation of a hand. To guard against losing a hand to an axe, a baker would give 13 for the price of 12 in order to be certain of not being known as a cheat. Specifically, the practice of baking 13 items for an intended dozen was insurance against "short measure", on the basis that one of the 13 could be lost, eaten, burnt, or ruined in some way, leaving the baker with the original legal dozen. The practice can be seen in the guild codes of the Worshipful Company of Bakers in London. 

Masha'Allah the above reminded me of the following verses in the Qur'an regarding the matter of giving/receiving an accurate measure and weight in transactions.

*note the following is the english translation of the meaning of the arabic verses.

11:84. And to the Madyan people (We sent) their brother Shu`ayb. He said: "O my people! Worship Allah, you have no other god but Him, and give not short measure or weight. I see you in prosperity and verily, I fear for you the torment of a Day encompassing.''
11:85. And O my people! Give full measure and weight in justice and reduce not the things that are due to the people, and do not commit mischief in the land, causing corruption.

How many of you have been short changed in some form before? whether it's the description of the product or the number of items/money etc. By accident or on purpose, the feeling of being cheated out of something is not pleasant at all.

Then on the other hand you have the example of  how bakers would give away 1 extra for every 12(dozen) to prove they weren't unjust infact they were being generous! Does the bakers dozen still exist in bakeries today?

Well in my home Bakery lol it does, so on to my 13 Chocolate Lemon Cupcakes, i made a few changes including switching around the name from Lemon Chocolate Cupcakes

I changed the name to reflect the flavour, instead of having too much of a sour lemon taste they had before, now they have a nice balance between rich deep chocolate and zesty citrus.

I increased the amount of cocoa in the cupcake whilst removing it totally from the Icing which gave a nice contrast in colour and flavour.

I swapped the Icing from a chocolate buttercream to a lemon cream cheese icing, i made a slight boo boo with the icing, it became too runny to pipe hence the pool instead of a thick swirl. This led to using less icing than original anticipated :) which meant i had some leftover for eating straight out of the bowl!

Later, i discovered from the daring kitchen i wasn't the only one to have ever experienced this problem with runny cream cheese icing, what a relief! So from my limited research i discovered what could have gone wrong:-

The order of making my icing, i creamed the cream cheese and butter together first and then added the icing sugar.

I should have mixed the butter and icing sugar together and then added the cream cheese, i must try this next time in sha Allah but all in all i'm happy because the cupcakes looked ok and tasted great, so go on the next time your up for trying something new, give this odd but yummy flavour combination cupcakes a try!

By the way, i didn't purposely set out to make 13 cupcakes but in order not to waste the batter leftover in bowl, i filled a cupcake case, stuck it on a baking tray and off it went into the oven to bake and it didn't collapse like i thought it would having no support from a bun tin.

Chocolate Lemon Cupcakes

Makes: 13

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

165 grams Unsalted Butter (you can use margarine), at room temperature

165 grams Caster Sugar / vanilla sugar

3 eggs

115 grams Self raising Flour

50 grams Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Zest of 1 Lemon

1 tablespoon of Lemon Juice

For the Lemon Cream Cheese Icing:

I halved the recipe from Lizzy

 

1/4 cup Butter, softened

4oz. Cream Cheese, softened

Zest of 1 Lemon

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1 1/2 - 2 cup icing sugar, as needed

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 160C Fan/180C and line a bun tin with cases (don't forget you will have enough batter to make 13 so either bake 12 first and then 1 seperately or use a 24 hole bun tin if you have, alternatively fill the odd case and place on baking tray and bake on oven shelf underneath your 12 like i did)
2. In a bowl mix whisk together cocoa and flour, set aside. In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together your butter, sugar, lemon zest until light in colour and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 by 1 ensuring each egg is fully combined before adding the next.
3. Add cocoa/flour and your lemon juice and mix/fold in just until you have no traces of flour/butter left.
4. Bake on the rack just 1 lower than the middle for 15-20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Make cream cheese icing by mixing butter, zest, juice and icing sugar together and then add the cream cheese and mix until homogenous.
6. Spread or pipe icing onto cupcakes and top with your favourite sprinkles/decorations. 

Photos of my first Lemon Chocolate Cupcakes



The Only Use I Find For The Telephone Directory lol 

Salam Alaykum,

For a short while now i have been developing my own cupcake recipes, likey likey my Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes and Espresso Cupcakes.

The Lemon Chocolate Cupcakes pictured above are a work in progress.... i have succeeded with the cupcake itself, but the buttercream icing i made although it looks delightful was too sour, I'd over estimated how much i liked the bitter taste of lemon and not taken into account the fact that cocoa powder itself is slightly bitter, tut tut.

I was inspired by Lizzy's Chocolate Lemon Cupcakes and i mean come on what girl doesn't like either chocolate or lemon so why not combine both win, win situation!

I don't work from box mixes so following Lizzy's recipe was out of the question and since I'd had success before inventing cupcake recipes i thought why not? anyway i may take a leaf out of her book next time and go for a lemon cream cheese frosting as there is something eye catching about the contrasting colours, brown cupcake and creamy coloured frosting.

I am cupcaked out to be honest but my son's only baking request these days is 'let's make cupcakes' masha'Allah he helps by turning on the mixer and whisking the cocoa powder/flour together oh and he is a dab hand (NOT but let the lad learn) at sprinkling the sprinkles lol

* Note: Here is the link to my Chocolate Lemon Cupcake Recipe

Very Vanilla Cupcakes With Vanilla Buttercream Roses

If you follow me on instagram you have already had a sneaky peak at these very vanilla cupcakes i baked for my twin sister.

The rose buttercream swirl on each cupcake i promise you isn't as hard as it looks, honestly! for me it's the easiest piping technique i have come across so far in my cake decorating ventures.

The rose is flowing with natural beauty and you don't have to worry about every rose being identical or symmetrical, for me that is what is so appealing about using this technique for decorating cupcakes or cake.

The next time you and your children are baking together be confident and give it a try, what's the worst that could happen? that you have to remove the buttercream and start again? Take 1 cupcake  use it to practice, keep piping, scraping off and piping some more until you are happy, then you can have the peace of mind that you are able to decorate the rest of the batch.

I would always recommend you use a 1M wilton icing tip for this, other closed star tips are said to work too but i have never tried anything else because of the fab results i get each time using the 1M.

The texture of buttercream should not be so stiff or you won't be able to pipe, on the other hand if your buttercream is too runny/wet then the design will dissapear.

The icing recipe below was enough for me to pipe buttercream roses on 18 cupcakes.

I adapted Nigella's vanilla cupcake recipe by firstly x2 all the ingredients, hoping i would make 24 cupcakes out of the batter when infact i got 18! I replaced the vanilla extract with 2 lots of seeds from 2 vanilla pods and baked them at 160C/140C (Fan) for 15minutes

Vanilla Buttercream Icing Recipe

Ingredients

150g  unsalted butter, softened/ room temperature
300g icing sugar, sieved
4-5tbsp Milk
1 vanilla pod, seeds only

Method

1. Place butter and vanilla into a large bowl and beat for 30 seconds
2. Add icing sugar, starting Slowly!
3. Whilst beating the butter/sugar mixture, add Milk one tablespoon full at a time until the mixture just drops of the wooden spoon/beaters when lifted.

Here is a video that shows the buttercream rose technique amongst others.

Specific ingredients, bakeware, decorations i used

• Self raising flour (Mcdougalls brand supreme sponge self raising flour i believe is it's long winded name)
• Gourmet Indian vanilla pods - available from vanilla mart (germany, uk, usa).  I chose the indian variety as they are the cheapest and well my palate was pleased
• Blue baby cupcake toppers - available from designer cupcakes with love seller on e-bay ( please always ask for the ingredients list before buying decorations online something i forgot in this instance so i asked the seller after the arrival of my purchase and alhamduillah they were made with fondant that is suitable for vegetarians and without alcohol.
• Green sugar crystals - i purchased these directly from Quality Sprinkles UK Ltd who normally only deal with retailers, as i couldn't get hold of another product from their range of halal sprinkles from their stockists Farmfoods, 99p Stores, Home Bargains, TJ Morris or Iceland in my area/South Yorkshire (they are or were at the time of purchase, still stocking the older haram version which contains E120 and shellac so beware if your on the look out) it took a long time to process my order from start to finish but i am but not literally (doesn't make sense i know) a small fish in a big pond and they did me a massive favour by even dealing with me in the first place.

Until next time, Salam Alaikum / Peace!

Raspberry Ripple Mascarpone Buttercream Icing

Home baking is so forgiving of the nonidentical froster in you!

This icing came about as my husband likes soft, creamy not too sweet frosting's on cupcakes (he's slowly being converted into a sweet tooth inshaAllah/God willing)
I on the other hand rather like sweet, firmer icings that hold their shape when piped, don't worry that is just the beginning of how my marriage is a case of opposites attract! Anyway, back to cakery business.

This frosting would firm up a little in the fridge either before or after being piped onto your favourite cupcake (i used a orange zested cupcake later filled with raspberry coulis) So, then all is not lost for me and all my fellow rock hard (OK I'm going too far) icing fans and if like me you have been known to stuff cupcakes in the freezer for a later date, things could only get better because if your anything like me, you can't even wait for the sun's rays to penetrate what would be a fluffy, creamy dream boat cupcake, you take a spoon and just get at it!

OK time for prayer then bed

Makes: enough frosting for 11-12(yes that small of a margin) cupcakes

Ingredients
75g Mascarpone cheese, softened
50g unsalted butter, softened ( i used unsalted spreadable lurpak because dh 'forgot'(there was a deal at the supermarket) to get me the real McCoy
250grams+ icing sugar (depends how sweet you prefer yours)
approximately 5tablespoon raspberry coulis, divided (I made my own by blending a 225g then pushing through a fine sieve to remove the seeds which was more than enough to fill 11cupcakes and for the frosting)

You will need
A piping bag
Pastry or paint brush
Round icing tip

Method
Beat Mascarpone and butter together until it is well blended, about a minute in a stand mixer, slowly add the icing sugar until your desired sweetness is achieved, add a tablespoon of coulis to achieve a pale pink coloured frosting. (optional)
Place icing tip inside piping bag, fold down the piping bag as if you were about to fill with frosting but instead paint the inside of the bag with your raspberry coulis then add your frosting, twist the bag so you don't get frosting shooting out when you start decorating your cupcakes and your ready to go ripple it up!
I admit a picture of painting the icing bag would be very useful, i hope my written notes will be good enough for even one of you to try this at home, maybe this Ramadan?