Buttercream Bakery Mini Chocolate Bar Cupcakes

I was so pleased to get back to the bakery today after a week of needless and rather annoying distractions.  This was a great order to come back to, they are vanilla, chocolate filled cupcakes frosted with white, milk and dark chocolate buttercream, topped with white, milk and dark mini chocolate bars. 

I made the mini chocolate bars using silicone moulds, I think they're adorable.

These cupcakes are definitely a chocolate lovers dream.

I have some great orders next week that I'm really excited about, including an amazing set for a Fetish art exhibition in honour of Brighton's massive Gay Pride celebrations next weekend and a super cute garden party themed batch. 

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Buttercream Bakery Mini Chocolate Bar Cupcakes

Official Butterbeer Recipe

The fictional drink Butterbeer, made famous in the Harry Potter books is now being served up at "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" Universal Orlando. The drink is one of the features of the new Harry Potter attraction at Universal's Islands of Adventure and since it's the height of summer, both warm and ice cold butterbeer are available to try.

I started reading Harry Potter when I was 12, I have read them all and love them to death.  I have always wanted to try butterbeer, I defy anyone not to after reading the amazing descriptions of the drink in the books and although it is the warm version I really wanted to try, I just couldn't face it after the sweltering, humid week we've had and so I decided to try the icy cold version. 

It really was delicious and tasted a bit like frappuccino or a butterscotch ice cream float, I'm guessing the warm one tastes like a creamy butterscotch flavoured hot chocolate and I will definitely be trying that on the next wintry or even semi-wintry night

  I couldn't drink the whole glass, the butterbeer is very sweet and rich, I imagine I would have gone crazy for it as a kid, although maybe without the rum extract.  There are loads of much easier recipes on the Internet but I decided to try this one as it claims to be the official recipe.

Official Butterbeer Recipe - Florida Thrills

Servings: 4

•1 cup light or dark brown sugar

•2 tablespoons water

•6 tablespoon butter

•1/2 teaspoon salt

•1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

•3/4 cup heavy cream, divided

•1/2 teaspoon rum extract

•Four 12-ounce bottles cream soda

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the brown sugar and water. Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring often, until the mixture reads 240 F on a candy thermometer. Stir in the butter, salt, vinegar and 1/4 cup heavy cream. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Once the mixture has cooled, stir in the rum extract.

In a medium bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar mixture and the remaining 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Use an electric mixer to beat until just thickened, but not completely whipped, about 2 to 3 minutes.

To serve, divide the brown sugar mixture between 4 tall glasses (about 1/4 cup for each glass). Add 1/4 cup of cream soda to each glass, then stir to combine. Fill each glass nearly to the top with additional cream soda, then spoon the whipped topping over each.

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Official Butterbeer Recipe

Leila Lindholm Peanut Butter Lion Bar Recipe

A Lion Bars is a chocolate bar that consists of wafer, caramel and crisp cereal (Rice Krispies) covered in milk chocolate.  In Europe, both White and Peanut Butter Lion limited edition bars have also been available which I'm guessing is the origin of this recipe, it is obviously not an exact replica but in my opinion it comes pretty darn close taste wise.

Really this is essentially a Rice Krispie treat recipe but it is so so delicious and I thought they really did taste exactly like a peanut butter version of the Lion Bar I know and love.  I have never had the pleasure of trying one of the limited edition bars so I can't say for sure but either way I was more than happy. 

Baby Love thought they tasted more like Reese's Pieces Rice Krispie Treats, which in my opinion is no bad thing and needless to say if your a fan of peanut butter and chocolate you will go crazy for these, I love love love them, they are absolutely delicious.

A few notes on the recipe and the changes I made:

 Leila uses a powdered vanilla sugar, you can make your own by placing a couple of vanilla pods in a jar of confectioners' sugar and leaving for a couple of weeks to flavour, or you can find it in some ethnic food shops or specialist baking stores. 

 I used a brownie pan instead of two loaf tins, just for ease and as they were for Baby Love I cut them much bigger than the recipe suggests.

 I substituted milk chocolate for the dark chocolate just for preference and left out the coconut as neither of us is a huge fan. 

I only dipped half of each bar in chocolate for two reasons, a) I was in a hurry and b) so that you could see what they were made of of course, I will definitely make these again so I will probably try covering the whole bar in chocolate although I thought it was great plain too.

Lion Bars

Leila Lindholm -  A Piece of Cake.

Makes 20

(Or in my case 12)

300g (11oz) crunchy peanut butter

200ml (7 fl oz) golden syrup

90g (3 1/2 oz) caster sugar

1 tbsp vanilla sugar

 135g (4 3/4 oz) desiccated coconut

55g (2 1/4 oz) Rice Krispies

250g (9oz) good quality dark chocolate

1. Melt the peanut butter, syrup, sugar and vanilla sugar over a low heat.

2. Toast the desiccated coconut in a dry frying pan.

3. Stir the coconut and Rice Krispies into the mixture.

4. Divide the mixture into two rectangular loaf tins lined with cling film.

5. Leave to set in the refrigerator for 1 1/2 hours.

6. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.  Cut the cake into 1.5cm (3/4 in) bars and dip into the melted chocolate.

7. Put back in the refrigerator and leave to set for a few hours.

Now try not to eat them all!

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Leila Lindholm Peanut Butter Lion Bar Recipe

Choccywoccydoodah Brighton

Choccywoccydoodah is one of my favourite places in Brighton, they are the most amazing chocolatiers and as you will see their cakes are stunning too.  I walked past on my way home today and since I have some time to kill in between my lion bars setting and making dinner, I thought I would show you their current window display. 

Yes that is ALL chocolate!

I absolutely adore this cake, the white chocolate glitter butterflies are so beautiful and I just think the entire cake is perfectly designed and executed.  God they're good!

On second thoughts maybe I prefer this one, again it is just perfect in my opinion, the flowers are fantastic don't you think?

And check out this cutie...

I love the little pink chocolate gnome too!

Choccywoccydoodah always has the most amazing window displays, I posted their Alice In Wonderland themed window a while back and I'm sure I will do another post on them soon, I'm a huge fan, I just think their work is so so beautiful.  If you're ever visiting Brighton you absolutely must go, the entire shop is gorgeous and jam packed with goodies big and small.

Check out the website here - Choccywoccydoodah.

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Choccywoccydoodah Brighton

Fantastic Foodielicious OPI Nail Varnishes

I have too apologise to all my non foodie followers for my lack of non foodie posts recently, I do get sidetracked by cake more often than not but will try to even things up a little.  This week I'm super busy with non cake related stuff and I have been wanting to do an OPI post for ages so I decided today is the day. 

Since I am completely obsessed however there is still a bit of a foodie theme to this post, I just couldn't help it!

I love OPI nail varnishes, the colours are fantastic but I have to admit it's the brilliant names that get me, here are a few of my favourite foodielicious colours.

1. Red My Fortune Cookie
2.  Ate Berries In The Canneries
3. Dulce De Leche
4. Dim Sum Plum
5. Coney Island Cotton Candy
6. Strawberry Margarita
7. Chocolate Shakespeare

I love the Dulce De Leche colour it is one of my favourites and Red My Fortune Cookie has gone straight to the top of my wish list along with Dim Sum Plum, which looks very similar to Ate Berries In The Canneries but is less pink and a much deeper plummy purple.  I couldn't decide whether to post Chocolate Moose or Chocolate Shakespeare, both are gorgeous, Chocolate Shakespeare is a little darker so I decided to go with that one.

The OPI website is fantastic and shows you what the colours look like on the actual nail rather than just in the bottle, there are hours of fun to be had.

I'm going to do another OPI post soon because there were tonnes of colours I wanted to post, some of my other foodie favourites were Black Cherry Chutney, 20 Candles On My Cake, Hearts and Tarts and Gargantuan Green Grape. 

I'm hoping to have time to make some homemade Lion Bars later so I will post them a.s.a.p.
Lion Bars are Baby Loves favourite chocolate bar and since he remarked, in a rather wounded manner that I no longer bake for him but rather just for my blog, I thought I had better make him some of his favourites, Lion Bars and Rice Krispie Squares should do it.

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Fantastic Foodielicious OPI Nail Varnishes

Amazing St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake Cupcake Recipe

So I got a fantastic new cookbook The United Cakes of America by Warren Brown, I am absolutely in love with it and couldn't wait to try at least half of the recipes.  In the book Brown provides classic cake and dessert  recipes for all fifty states, plus Puerto Rico and Washington, (is Washington not a state?  I'm confused, can someone educate me please).

Anyway the book is fantastic, there are loads of traditional cakes such as Boston Cream Pie, Red Velvet Cake, Angel Food Cake, New York Cheesecake and Old Fashioned Ice Box Cake but there are also loads of more unusual recipes like a chocolate chip cake (this is basically a massive chocolate chip cookie!!!), Coca Cola Cake, Sweet Potato Cake and Margarita Mousse Cake.

The book is gorgeous in design, very American in red, white and blue, not all of the recipes have pictures but, to be fair many do and I'm not complaining.

Any way back to the St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake, I am head over heels for this recipe, words cannot describe the unbelievable deliciousness that is this cakey, cheesecakey scrumptious combo!

The goo bit comes from a dousing of cheesecake like batter poured over the regular cake batter just before baking.  This is genius!  Where has this cake been all my life?

The recipe appears quite long but it really isn't that complicated, prepare all the ingredients before hand and it will be a breeze.  Make this cake, you will not be disappointed, it is seriously gooey, moist, delicious and incredibly comforting.

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake - United Cakes of America by Warren Brown

Dry Ingredients

All purpose flour - 12 ounces (2 1/2 cups)

Baking Powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Salt - 3/4 tsp

Wet Ingredients

Milk - 3/4 cup

Buttermilk - 3/4 cup

Vanilla Extract - 1 1/2 tsp

Creaming Ingredients

Unsalted Butter - 3 ounce (6 tbsp)

Vegetable Shortening - 3 ounces (6 tbsp)

Superfine granulated sugar - 15 ounces (2 cups less 2 tbsp)

Vanilla Bean, seed only - 1/2 bean

Eggs -  3

For the Topping

Cream Cheese - 8 ounces

Confectioners' sugar - 16 ounces (4 cups)

Vanilla Bean or Extract - 1 bean seeded or 1 tsp

Eggs - 3

Milk - 1/2 cup

Yield: One 12 inch round cake or 18 cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 335 F and place the rack in the centre.  Line the bottom of a 12 inch round cake pan with parchment or lightly coat a cupcake tray with non-stick oil-and-starch spray and place paper liners in the cups.  (I just sprayed the edges of the holes with easy bake spray before putting my cases in).

2. Measure the dry ingredients and wet ingredients into separate bowls. Whisk each to combine.

3. Measure the Butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla bean into the bowl of a free standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Combine on a medium to low speed for about 5 minutes.

4. Add the eggs one at a time to the creamed butter mixture, allowing each to fully incorporate before adding the next.

5. Alternately add the dry and wet ingredients about a quarter at a time.  Scrape the bowl to the bottom and mix for 20 seconds on a low speed.

6.  Scoop the batter into prepared pans.  (I filled the cupcake cases just under half full with this batter, when you top with the cheesecake batter you want the cupcake cases to end up about two thirds full, I have no idea if this is right the recipe doesn't specify, I might try a bit more cheesecake batter next time just to see).

7. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on a medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.  Add the rest of the ingredients (including any variations, see below) and mix for about 4 minutes.  Don't worry if  lumps of  cream cheese remain, they will disappear during baking.

8. Pour the mixture onto the cake batter in the cake pan or scoop it into the individual cupcake liners.  For the cupcakes, bake for 18-24 minutes; for the cake, bake for approximately 35 minutes, or until the sides are lightly browned and a wooden skewer inserted into the centre comes out with just a few crumbs on it.

9. Sprinkle the cakes or cupcakes with confectioners' sugar if you like before serving.

Gooey Variations

Add any of the following to the topping:

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, and 1 ounce unsalted butte, melted and combined.

3 ounces natural peanut butter

Minced zest and juice of one lemon combined with 2 ounces of superfine granulated sugar.

I can't wait to try the variations, I might make half chocolate and half peanut butter next time, I also think Dulce De Leche would be an amazing addition.  I'm also looking forward to trying some more recipes from the book, you can tell just by the way Brown talks about cake that he is good.  The Caramel Cake, Coca Cola Cake and Hoosier Cream Pie are next on my list.

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Amazing St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake Cupcake Recipe

The Most Stunning Cupcake Cases

I am totally addicted to cupcake cases and I'm always finding astonishingly beautiful designs, it has been a while since I posted some so here are a few of my favourites at the moment. 

 I've mainly stuck to bright, colourful summery styles with a super cute paw print exception that I just couldn't resist.

I am crazy for the candy stripe muffin wrappers and the violet cupcake cases are unbelievably beautiful, both I think are a must for the collection. 

 All the Vestli House cases are Swedish I believe, they do the most beautiful designs and they're really good quality. 

I have ordered from all the shops listed and they're all brilliant so have a good look but beware if your anything like me it might end up costing you a pretty penny.

Top to Bottom, Left to Right:

1. Violet Cupcake Cases - Cottage Cooks

2. Paw Print Cupcake Cases - Cottage Cooks

3. Pink Butterfly Cupcake Cases - Squires Kitchen

4. Hedda Yellow Cupcake Cases - Squires Kitchen

5. Hillary Design Cupcake Cases - Squires Kitchen

6. Candy Stripe Muffin Wraps - Cake Craft Shop

7. Pastel Blue Spotty Cupcake Cases - Cake Craft Shop

8.  Gro Design Cupcake Cases Squires Kitchen

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The Most Stunning Cupcake Cases

Buttercream Bakery Foodie Cupcakes

Just a quick post today because I'm making Sliders tonight and have three different types of burgers to make before Baby Love gets home, I'm making lamb, chicken and beef.  I'm looking forward to it and all being good and yummy I might post the recipes.

Anyway back to the cupcakes, these are delicious Brownie Cupcakes with Chocolate Dulce de Leche Frosting (so so yummy), they were all topped with foodie themed toppers, hotdogs, cakes, waffles and donuts.

I love the strawberry cake, I modelled it on the amazing Magnolia Bakery Strawberry Shortcake

I posted a while back.

I also thought the waffles were super cute and am really glad I had the idea to use edible wafer paper as napkins for the hotdogs because I think this makes them a little bit different.

I did both hotdogs with ketchup and hotdogs with mustard. 

I'm sure most are you are familiar with my sugared donuts but I thought the white iced one with sprinkles was adorable and a nice addition to the collection.

I have been seeing some amazing foodie themed cupcakes recently and hope I get a chance to do some more soon.

I'm off to make burgers x

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Buttercream Bakery Foodie Cupcakes

Hummingbird Bakery Blueberry Muffins Recipe

Loads of blogs have been featuring fantastic blueberry recipes recently and it got me thinking about this blueberry muffin recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook.  I had been wanting to try it since I got the book, which was ages ago now but I somehow never managed to get around to it.

I have had mixed results with the recipes in this book, I wasn't overly impressed with the cupcake recipes, except maybe for the Marshmallow one I posted a while back which was lovely but more because of the filling then the cake, that being said I have enjoyed some of the other cake recipes and am very happy with this recipe.

The muffins have a great texture and the flavour is fantastic, they are much more tasty than I expected.  My muffin tops came out smooth where as the ones in the book have cracked tops which I thought was odd, I'm not quite sure why and am also unsure if this is a good or bad thing when it comes to muffins?  The pessimist in me is thinking it's probably bad...

I would definitely make these again though, they are very yummy indeed and you can play with the recipe a bit substituting, raspberries, chocolate chips, cherries or raisins for the blueberries.  I think this is my favourite

recipe in the book so far and it has encouraged me to try a few more, I'm thinking the lemon bars look good.  Mind you I have a recipe for Magnolia Bakery's Lemon Bars too and might be tempted to try that one instead.  On second thoughts maybe I will do the Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies next, they look delicious.

Blueberry Muffins - The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

360g plain flour

370g caster sugar

1 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ bicarbonate of soda

375ml buttermilk

1 egg

½ vanilla extract

70g unsalted butter, melted

250g blueberries

Preheat oven to 170C / 325F.

Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.

Put the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl and use an electric blender or a hand whisk and beat.

Pour in the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract into a jug and mix to combine. Slowly pour into the flour mixture and beat until all the ingredients are incorporated.

Pour in the melted butter and beat until the butter is just incorporated, then beat until the batter is even and smooth.

Finally, gently fold in the blueberries with a wooden spoon until evenly dispersed.

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the muffins to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Makes 12

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Hummingbird Bakery Blueberry Muffins Recipe

Red Bow Cupcakes From Buttercream Bakery

I think these were my favourite cupcakes of the week, I had mostly quite simple orders so it was nice to do a little bit of modelling.  I love making sugar paste bows, especially red ones because they remind me of Christmas, which, I'll admit is a little disconcerting when the sun is shining.

The whole batch were chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream, the hearts are sweet and reminded me of one of my Alice In Wonderland set but I'm such a sucker for a cute cuppie with a bow on top.....

I'll post more pics of my cupcakes next week, I also want to try some more Whoopie Pie recipes (still loving the new book and it must be selling well because I know most of you either have it or have ordered it) and if I get a chance I haven't made my Williams Sonoma Donut Cake yet!  It is gigantic though, well maybe not gigantic but too big for two at least....

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Red Bow Cupcakes From Buttercream Bakery

Buttercream Bakery Chocolate & Bubblegum Pink Cupcakes

It's been a super fun week at the bakery and I thought I'd better post some pictures of what's been happening in cupcake land.

I made this batch of chocolate cupcakes early in the week and they were really fun to do, the cupcake toppers are hand pipped chocolate and I think the effect is really cute and quirky.  

 I love the bubblegum colours of the toppers and the pink icing, I would probably have preferred to frost the cupcakes in pink and blue rather than pink and chocolate but I do really like the brown and pink colour scheme and you can't fight a chocoholic.

I stood some of the toppers up and placed others flat on the cupcakes, I'm still not sure which look I prefer but I'm leaning towards the stood up ones.....I think....

This wasn't the only pink and brown batch I made this week, I also had an order for these simple but adorable dusty pink and chocolate cupcakes,  as you can see I used a much softer pink buttercream which I personally think works better with the brown.

Cute and simple with sprinkles!

Mmmm chocolate........

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Buttercream Bakery Chocolate & Bubblegum Pink Cupcakes

Spicy Steaks with Scotch Bonnet Chili Butter and Baked Potato Bar Recipes

This is a really simple recipe and most of you I'm sure know exactly how to cook a great steak and baked potato but last nights dinner was so scrumptious I just had to post the recipe.
 

Scotch Bonnet Chillies are Baby Loves favourite, they are incredibly spicy and are often used in Caribbean and African cuisine.  Scotch Bonnets are not for everyone so use what ever chili you like for your butter but the spice really compliments the creamy freshness of the sour cream and the sweetness of the maple smoked bacon perfectly, so I say go spicy.  My photographs are terrible, I know and I'm sorry, I'm worse at photographing savory then I am at sweet and that's saying something!  Needless to say the pictures don't really convey the deliciousness of this dinner.

Obviously adapt and alter the toppings as you wish, I would have liked to have done more but I was only feeding myself and Baby Love.  I love the idea of the Baked Potato Bar, it's something I picked up in Vegas and in true American fashion this is a pretty heavy dinner.   The baked potato would probably have been more than enough for me, that being said the spicy steaks were seriously delicious.  This is definitely a mans meal and Baby Love was most impressed.

For the Baked Potatoes:

Preheat your oven to 210C (400F)

Scrub your potatoes in cold water and pat dry.

Sprinkle the potatoes with sea salt and drizzle with olive oil.  Rub the salt into the potato skin and prick the potatoes a couple of times with a fork.

Place directly onto the oven rack and bake for about an hour to an hour and a half, or until a knife slips easily through the centre.

Remove from the oven and cut a cross into the top of each potato, using a fork fluff up the inside of the baked potato adding a little butter.

For the Baked Potato Bar:

Cheddar Cheese

Sour Cream

Chives/Dill

Crispy strips of Bacon

I used a strong English Cheddar, sprinkled the Sour Cream with a little Dill (Chives would have been better, if I had had any), and cut maple syrup smoked bacon into short strips and fried them until crispy. 

Place the toppings in small individual bowls and line them up so everyone can pick and choose their own.

For the Steaks:

I used Aberdeen Angus Fillet Steaks just for preference but use what every steak you like, as long as they're thick, juicy and good quality.

  I seasoned the steaks with sea salt and black pepper and drizzled with garlic infused olive oil.  I then used a peppery spice mix that includes chili flakes, black  peppercorns, horseradish and garlic salt.  You can make your own or most supermarkets now stock great spice mixes in little grinding pots, (Jamie Oliver actually does a really good one). 

 Wrap the steaks in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least an hour.

We like our steaks well to very well done but everyone is different so here are lots of different cooking times.

Rare -  Cooking time: 2-3 minutes each side.

Medium rare –  Cooking time: 3-4 minutes each side.

Medium - Cooking time: 4-5 minutes each side.

Medium well -  Cooking time: 5-6 minutes each side.
Well done - . Cooking time: 6-7 minutes each side.

Very well done -  Cooking time: 7-8 minutes each side.

For the Scotch Bonnet Chili Butter:

Use 1 Tbsp of softened Butter per person

1/2 Scotch Bonnet Chili (I was making for 2)

Very finely chop the chili and vigorously mix into the butter.  Wrap the butter in plastic wrap and mold into a log shape, refrigerate for 1 hour and then slice into individual discs.  As I was only making two discs I dolloped a tbsp of chili butter onto some plastic wrap and shaped each disc individually.

Plate up the potatoes and the steaks, topping each steak with a disc of chili butter.


I think this is great to serve to friends with cold beer and good conversation, I also think the baked potato bar is a great idea for kids, it's like potato pic n' mix.  The chili butter was fantastic with the steaks and I'm crazy for crispy potato skin.

This is only my second savory post and I hope you like it, I will try to take better pictures for the next one : )

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Spicy Steaks with Scotch Bonnet Chili Butter and Baked Potato Bar Recipes

Coffee & Cake at La Fourchette Patisserie

I have done a post about La Fourchette Patisserie before but when I popped in for coffee and cake with my Mum and Grandma I couldn't resist taking a couple of pictures to show you their goodies.

I have no idea what this delicious looking strawberry tart type thing is called but the base was similar to a scone, there was some sort of yummy custard and of course super sweet strawberries.  It was very very yummy.

We also had an almond croissant which I thought was gorgeous although my Mum said she prefers them a little more moist, with lots more syrup.    I'm not sure if having a patisserie this good at the end of the road is a good or bad thing....but it certainly is delicious.

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Coffee & Cake at La Fourchette Patisserie

Fantastic New Blogs - Decadence and Menace & Butter Hearts Sugar

If you look at my profile and check out the blogs I follow you will see that I follow hundreds.  The thing is I'm always finding amazing new blogs that I just have to keep tabs on.  At the moment there are two blogs in particular that I'm crazy about, the first one is my lovely sisters, Spirit, I know I may be slightly biased but I think her blog is shaping up to be fantastically interesting, with lots of yummy bits and I learn something new every time I read one of her posts.

So Check out Decadence and Menace.

You won't be disappointed, her today in history bits are my favourite, if you fancy knowing when Paris was founded or when the donut cutter was first patented then this is a blog for you.

The second blog is one I have only just come across but already I love, I will just show you one picture of some of her genius cupcakes and I know you will all rush to her blog with eager anticipation, I encourage it, this blog is amazing!

Butter Hearts Sugar

I know, I know, calm down, I'm excited too, do you think she will mind if we all copy this amazing idea?

Just go check out her blog out every thing on it is this fantastic.

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Fantastic New Blogs - Decadence and Menace & Butter Hearts Sugar

Yummy Red Velvet Whoopie Pie Recipe

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy.

I really love Whoopie Pies and these are no exception, the texture of the cake/cookie is brilliant and when combined with the delicious frosting these really are scrumptious.  I found the recipe at Carly's Kitchen, she had made cute heart shaped whoopies for Valentines day, they look great and I will certainly try some heart shaped whoopies soon.

This recipe is really simple and the batter piped really well, I didn't have any problems at all although I may up the baking powder just a smidgen next time, I'm partial to a slightly puffy whoopie and these where just a tiny bit flat for me.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pie Recipe

For the cookies:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp. cocoa powder

½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 oz. red food coloring

For the frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese

5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375˚ F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Blend in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, beat in about a third of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the buttermilk, beating each addition just until incorporated. Repeat so that all the buttermilk has been added and then mix in the final third of dry ingredients. Do not over beat. Blend in the food coloring.

Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip. Pipe the batter onto the parchment paper and bake 7-9 minutes or until the tops are set, rotating the baking sheets halfway through. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets at least 10 minutes, until they can be easily transferred to a cooling rack. Repeat with any remaining batter. Allow cookies to cool completely before proceeding.

To make the cream cheese frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract. Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth.

Transfer the frosting to a clean pastry bag fitted with a plain, round tip. Pair the cookies up by shape and size and pipe frosting onto the flat-sided cookie of each pair, leaving the edges clear. Sandwich the cookies together so the flat sides are facing each other and press gently to help the filling reach the edges. To store, refrigerate in an airtight container.

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Yummy Red Velvet Whoopie Pie Recipe

Ladurée Parisian Hot Chocolate Recipe

 I love making my own hot chocolate and the Laduree in Paris is one of my favourite places on earth so when I saw this recipe in Dorie Greenspan's Paris Sweets I was over the moon. 

 I have never tried the hot chocolate at Laduree, usually I opt for a caramel infused coffee which is the greatest thing on earth but I have had many a Parisian hot chocolate and this one really was up there with the best of them.

This is a serious cup of hot chocolate or chocolate chaud as it is called at the Laduree, the recipe uses only bittersweet chocolate resulting in a more sophisticated, adult version of hot chocolate.  It is seriously rich, thick and luscious and is sure to tame even the most hardcore chocoholics.

The chocolate you use is really important, choose one that you would enjoy eating and is at least 70% cocoa solids.  I'm not a huge dark chocolate fan and use it much more for baking than eating or indeed drinking, I did however really really enjoy this hot chocolate and will definitely make it again.

Hot Chocolate / Chocolate Chaud Recipe

Adapted from Laduree

Dorie Greenspan Paris Sweets

Ingredients

3 cups whole milk

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup sugar

6 ounces bittersweet

chocolate, finely chopped

Bring the milk, water and sugar just to the boil in a medium saucepan.  Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the chocolate.  At this point the hot chocolate needs to be blended.  At Laduree this is done with a hand-held blender, if you have one leave the hot chocolate in the saucepan whip it with the hand-held blender of one minute.  If you do not have a hand-held blender transfer the hot chocolate to a traditional blender and whip on high speed for one minute.  The chocolate should be served immediately, while still hot and frothy.

If you want to store the hot chocolate leave it to cool before putting it in the fridge, tightly covered, for up to two days.  Re-heat and re-whip before serving.

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Ladurée Parisian Hot Chocolate Recipe