Buttercream Bakery Maggot Infested Cupcakes

**Warning**

This post is just a little bit gross!

I made these maggot infested cupcakes this morning, for a local media company, filming a short horror movie, that will evidently include people eating maggot cupcakes.

Here is a snap of my maggots, I quickly realized it was all in the wiggle,  this picture totally creeps me out!

I actually think the maggots look more disgusting off of the cupcake and I would still totally munch one of these luscious chocolate cupcakes, sugar maggots and all!

I have provided both maggot cupcakes and loose maggots, I can't wait to see what horrific things the film makers do with them.

I love that I'm the person to ask for maggot cupcakes, I love that I have a reputation for weird and wacky cupcakes, that you don't see other bakers make.  I live in a really artistic, unusual part of the country and I'm always amazed by the wonderful and unique ideas my clients come up with.  In short I really love my job!

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Buttercream Bakery Maggot Infested Cupcakes

Skye's Pretty Pink Party Cakes

When I was little my Mum used to throw my sisters and I pink slumber-parties, I have so many lovely memories of these amazing pink themed evenings, complete with pink cakes and pajamas, so when my little sisters 21st birthday came up we decided to recreate one of these pink parties.

My camera ran out of battery the second I arrived so I don't have pictures of the party yet but my Mum took loads so I'll post some soon.  In the mean time I thought I'd show you my baby sisters birthday cakes, she is special so she gets a cake and cupcakes.

This cake slice photo was snapped on my IPhone so isn't the best quality but you get the idea.  I only had a few hours to make the cakes so it was a little rushed but they all looked really cute. 

 The layer cake was inspired by Martha Stewart's Pastel Layer Cake but I decided to do 3 layers instead of 5 as I didn't want to piddle about with really thin layers.  I iced the cake in buttercream swirls, which weren't quite as perfect as I would have liked but still looked pretty.

Sorry, another bad IPhone photo!

The cupcake toppers are Japanese and utterly adorable, my sister loved them and both the Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes and Pink Vanilla Layer Cake went down a storm.

I drank far too much pink Champagne, in fact I think we all did and for those of you wondering, Skye will be out on the town having a proper, more grown up 21st this weekend.

I am making some rather less pretty cupcakes this weekend for the filming of a short horror movie, well the cupcakes themselves will be pretty, until I cover them in sugar maggots that is! Eeewww!

Look at these pretty cupcakes to take your mind off of it and spare a thought for me.

I really loved Minnie Mouse and if you were wondering how the toppers seem to be balancing perfectly atop the cupcakes, seemingly defying gravity, they are on mini lollipop sticks.

x x x

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Skye's Pretty Pink Party Cakes

Introducing The Aero Lamb: A Seriously Cute Easter Cupcake Idea

Last Easter when the Malteser Bunny came out I was inundated with orders for Malteser Bunny Cupcakes, so when I spotted the Aero Lamb the other day I grabbed a few because I'm pretty sure he will be a popular choice this Easter.

He's a real cutie and sits brilliantly atop a cupcake...I might even prefer him to the Malteser Bunny...he is after all totally luvabubble!

It's my little sisters birthday party tomorrow, my Mum and I decided to throw her a Pink Party and I can't wait, I've been making her cute pink goodies all day and I hope she's going to love them.  All the food is pink, the drink is pink, the decorations are pink and everyone has to wear pink, it's going to be great fun.

By the way Aero Lamb is totally delicious, especially when on top of a chocolate fudge cupcake.

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Introducing The Aero Lamb: A Seriously Cute Easter Cupcake Idea

Amazing Chewy Cinnamon Bun Cookies Recipe

As you know I popped into my local Cybercandy the other day, I got a little bit carried away with goodies but they have so many amazing and exciting things in there.  When I came across these Cinnamon Bun Bites I knew I had to have some, the only question was, what would I bake them into?

The Cinnamon Bun Bites are described as bite sized cinnamon bun pieces in a white chocolatey coating, they are seriously yummy and smell amazing.

The only thing that tastes more like a Cinnamon Bun or Cinnabon than these cookies is an actual Cinnamon Bun!  The gorgeous sugary cinnamon scent that fills the whole house when baking these cookies is now my favourite smell in the world.

I used my favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe as my cookie base, exchanging the chocolate chips for Cinnamon Bun Bites and adding plenty of cinnamon of course.  I chopped some of the Cinnamon Bun Bites in half and left others whole, I also sprinkled my cookies with a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon sugar before baking. 

A box of Cinnamon Bun Bites costs £2.42 at Cybercandy which admittedly makes these cookies a little pricier than most but it is totally worth it.  I'm going to get a stash of Cinnamon Bun Bites so I can make a batch of these glorious cookies when ever the mood strikes.

  

Of course if you live in the U.S. you will be able to find Cinnamon Bun Bites really easily, in which case you have to make these immediately!



Chewy Cinnamon Bun Cookies

Recipe adapted from:

 Magnolia Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

11/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

2/3 cup (11/3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 x 88g box Cinnamon Bun Bites

Preheat oven to 350F/170C

In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, and the salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugars until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Add the egg and the vanilla and mix well.

Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls on to ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Cool the cookies on the sheets for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

Makes 2-3 Dozen Cookies

I always bake my cookies for 10 minutes on the dot, 8 minutes if they're smaller but then I do like a chewy cookie, if you prefer a crisp cookie bake for 12 minutes.

I still have these left....

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Cupcakes anyone?



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Amazing Chewy Cinnamon Bun Cookies Recipe

Buttercream Bakery Karate Bear Cake Topper

Oh Karate Bear you have stolen my heart!

Karate bear is just like a traditional Buttercream Bakery bear only more bad-ass!

He is dressed in full Karate gear and although he is not quite a black belt yet, he'd still kick your butt. 

x x x

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Buttercream Bakery Karate Bear Cake Topper

Japanese DIY Mini Lollipop Kit

I found this adorable Japanese lollipop kit at my local Cybercandy although I can't find it on their website. 

All the instructions are in Japanese but it isn't exactly rocket science and the entire process only took about ten minutes, although that was I might add, ten minutes of pure joy.

In the kit you get a double sided mould, one bear and one elephant, 4 mini lollipop sticks and 4 squares of sort candy, 2 yellow and 2 pink.

I found the mould worked better if you warmed the soft candy square up a little first in your hands.

You will need to trim away the excess and may as well eat it, mmm...candy off cuts...

The finished pops looked super cute and I will definitely keep the mould for later use.

I can already sense that this may become a new addiction, I will be nipping back to Cybercandy to look for more exciting kits. 

 Check out this video of a sushi themed candy kit, it's totally magical and scientific all at the same time!

 Japanese Sushi Candy Making Set Video 

 x x x

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Japanese DIY Mini Lollipop Kit

Buttercream Bakery Valentines Day Cupcakes

I hope you all had a lovely Valentines day, I managed to have all the cupcakes delivered/collected by 3 o'clock and then ran home to make a Valentines day afternoon tea for Mr. Perfect.  

We had a lovely afternoon and tea was gorgeous, cucumber sandwiches, heart shaped strawberry and clotted cream scones, double chocolate peanut butter M&M cookies (a special request from Mr. P) and of course cream tea.

As lovely as Valentines weekend was I'm certainly glad of a rest today and it's a joy to be home having a cuppa when it's so horrible and rainy outside.  I have decided to do one big Valentines cupcake post instead of lots of little ones, so lets get stuck in.

This batch was one of my favourites, I love the rose bud border on the love heart toppers and the little Valentines Mouse is adorable.

This next one is a icing laden sweet-tooth's dream...

Simple yet stunning with lashings of Vanilla buttercream.

Love hearts, love heart everywhere...

Devil's Food Cake Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Buttercream, love heart sprinkles and red and pink love heart sweets.

I've always loved white roses and these white rose red velvet cupcakes looked gorgeous, our client loved them and the look is so easy to achieve, all you need is a Wilton 1M piping tip and you pipe from the centre of the cupcake outwards.

So pretty.

This next batch was another favourite of mine, the cut out hearts have been painted using edible food colouring.

This was a very simple technique but one I have never used before now, I absolutely loved the results and spent a good long while swooning over these cuppies.

The black cupcake cases set the design off perfectly don't you think?

Have a lovely day everyone. x

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Buttercream Bakery Valentines Day Cupcakes

Unicorn Cake & Cupcake Topper Video Tutorial

Happy Valentines Day!

It has been crazy Valentines weekend, lots of cupcakes to post but first, as promised here is my Fondant Unicorn tutorial. The Unicorn is a little more complicated than the teddy bear but well worth the effort. I hope it's helpful and as always I want to see pictures of your gorgeous work.

 Another huge thank you to Goddamn Media for filming these tutorials for me in their studio kitchen, I'm really enjoying it and can't wait for the next one.



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Unicorn Cake & Cupcake Topper Video Tutorial

The Belleau Kitchen 'Random Recipe' Challenge - Cranberry Jam Recipe

A couple of weeks ago the lovely Dom of Belleau Kitchen announced he had decided to set up his own blogger challenge.  The idea behind the 'random recipe' challenge was to rediscover old cookbooks that you really should use but don't, I have been trying to do this rather successfully since the start of the year so this challenge really appealed to me. 

Dom instructions were as follows:

1. take all your cook books off the shelf and shuffle them ( a friendly giant will help)

2. close your eyes and run your fingers down their spines and stop at a random book

3. now, close your eyes again and randomly open the chosen book at a page

4. cook this dish (if it's something you've cooked before then turn to the very next page and cook that dish)... and don't cheat... (do it with a friend in the room who will make you stick to it...) it's a challenge after all and you're only cheating yourself... this is specifically designed to take you out of your comfort zone...!

5. post it up on your blog, with a link to this page and then email me with a link at dom@thepersuaders.co.uk so I know you've joined in, you can also attach the badge to show people you're taking part.

Pretty scary stuff this random recipe thing! Admittedly I didn't pull all my books off the shelves but I took a good 30 or so that I know I haven't used for a while down and spread them out on the floor.  I closed my eyes, spun in a circle a few times and ended up pointing at...

Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros

I love Tessa Kiros' books, they're beautifully written as well as aesthetically beautiful but admittedly I have only tried one of two of the recipes, despite having the book for ages, so I was happy with my selection.  I closed my eyes and randomly opened the book..it was a chapter page! Anti-climax much?  I tried again...(please be a cake, please be a cake).. and landed on this recipe for Lingonberry or Cranberry Jam.

I was a little apprehensive, I have been meaning to make my own Jam for ages but never seemed to get around to it. What about sterilising the jars? What if I get the dreaded jam mould? What if it doesn't set?

I needn't have worried, this recipe was a breeze and I'm so glad I decided to take part in this challenge, it really did push me to make something I out of my comfort zone and rediscover a brilliant book that I should definitely be using more. 

The deadline for random recipes isn't until 27th Feb so you still have plenty of time to join in the fun.

This jam is tart, rather than sweet and is delicious served with meats and game.  Make it in a heavy-based saucepan, the jam will be ready to eat once it has cooled but you can also seal it in jars and store for when you need it.  Find info on sterilising jars here.

Cranberry or Lingonberry Jam

Recipe from - Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros

Makes 500ml (2 cups)

500g frozen or fresh lingonberries or cranberries

200g caster sugar

Finely grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

1 small apple, peeled and cored

Rinse the berries, if necessary, then drain well and put them in a non-metallic bowl with the sugar and lemon juice. Leave overnight, turning once or twice.

Coarsely grate the apple and put it into a jam-making pan or other heavy based saucepan with the grated lemon rind. Strain in all the juice from the berries and add two wooden spoonfuls of berries, leaving the rest of the berries in the bowl for now. Add ½ cup (125 ml) water and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the apple is very soft and the whole lot has thickened. Add the rest of the berries and heat through for 5-8 minutes. Pour into sterilized jars. Seal tightly and turn upside down. Cover with a cloth and leave to cool completely before turning upright and storing in a cool place. The jam will keep for a couple months but, once open, keep it in the fridge and use fairly quickly.

I'm terrible at sticking to monthly challenges, as I'm sure you have noticed but I will really try to stick with this one.  It's a brilliant exercise and such a fantastic way to broaden your cooking/baking horizons, I can't wait to see what recipes other bloggers ended up with.

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The Belleau Kitchen 'Random Recipe' Challenge - Cranberry Jam Recipe

Lemon Meringue Cake Recipe

Who doesn't love lemon meringue pie? Mr. Perfect that's who! He's a strange boy and since I can't or rather really shouldn't eat a whole pie to myself, I haven't made one in forever.  In an effort to persuade Mr. Perfect that lemon meringue pie is definitely the way forward, I decided to try Nigella's Lemon Meringue Cake recipe. 

 The recipe is from Nigella's Feast, a massive book that I love but hardly ever use.  Continuing with my aim to rediscover forgotten cookbooks I flipped through to find a tempting recipe, I was torn between making this and the homemade custard creams but this cake won as it just looked and sounded so perfectly yummy.  

As requested I have added this fantastic recipe to both Real Sustenance Seasonal Sunday and Sweet as Sugar Cookies Sweets for Saturday.

This cake is everything I had hoped it would be, it tastes just like lemon meringue pie, the meringue is heavenly and despite the cake batter being unusually thick the cake was great.  Use good quality lemon curd or indeed make your own, Nigella also suggests using passion fruit curd in place of the lemon, yum!

I will be trying all sorts of variations of this gorgeous cake, I really love it and if Mr. Perfect doesn't then I'm going to have him sectioned.

Lemon Meringue Cake

 Recipe From Feast Food that Celebrates Life by Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

125g very soft unsalted butter

4 eggs, separated

300g plus 1 teaspoon caster sugar

100g plain flour

25g cornflour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Zest of 1 lemon

4 teaspoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons milk

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

150ml double or whipping cream

150g good quality lemon curd

Method

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/200°C. Line and butter two 21cm sandwich tins.

Mix the egg yolks, 100g of the sugar, the butter, flour, cornflour, baking powder, bicarb, and lemon zest in a processor. Add the lemon juice and milk and process again.

Divide the mixture between the prepared tins. You will think you don't even have enough to cover the bottom of the tins, but don't panic. Spread calmly with a rubber spatula until smooth.

Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until peaks form and then slowly whisk in 200g of sugar. Divide the whisked whites between the two sponge-filled tins, pouring or, more accurately, spreading the meringue straight on top of the cake batter.

Smooth one flat with a metal spatula, and with the back of a spoon, peak the other and sprinkle 1 teaspoon sugar over the peaks. Put the tins into the oven for 20-25 minutes.

With a cake-tester, pierce the cake that has the flat meringue topping to check it's cooked all through. (It will have risen now but will fall back flattish later.) No sponge mixture should stick to the tester. Remove both cakes to a wire rack and let cool completely in the tins.

Unmould the flat-topped one on to a cake stand or plate, meringue side down.

Whisk the double cream until thick but not stiff and set aside. Spread the flat sponge surface of the first, waiting, cake with the lemon curd and than spatula over the cream and top with the remaining cake, bronze-peaked meringue uppermost.

Serves: Makes 8 Slices

I decided to give my cake a light dusting of icing sugar at the last minute, my meringue browned just a little more than I would have liked but with a cake this delicious I can't really quibble.  The gorgeous Nigella has done it again.

 

x x x

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Lemon Meringue Cake Recipe