Cakey Perry Part 1: The Cupcakes

Yesterday was the start of uber cool cake lovers event Cakey Perry, I was lucky enough to be invited to the press night, which was fantastic and I can't wait to share all my pictures with you.  I thought however that I'd better start with the cupcakes.

I made 118 sparkling mini cupcakes...

I also made 12 large candy land cupcakes...

Spot the sneaky gingerbread men, so cute and so sneaky even I can't ever seem to find them both when looking at the batch of cupcakes.

Each candy land topper is made up of around 17 individual items, such as ice creams, wrapped sweets, cupcakes, dolly mixtures, marshmallows and candy canes.

I have had so many orders and enquiries about these candy land cupcakes since I originally designed them for Cakey Perry, something tells me I will be making them for a long time to come.

As well as mini Katy Perry wigs half of the mini cupcakes were topped with Snoop Dog's bling bling sunglasses.

The mini cupcakes looked brilliant at the event and I can't wait till you see how amazing the Cakey Perry venue looked, there was cake and candy carnage everywhere!

I also made some Katy Perry Cupcake Bra Macarons that rather disappointingly did not arrive in London in quite the same state as they left Brighton, top heavy crazy Katy Perry Macarons do not like to travel.

It was an absolute pleasure to make these goodies for the Cakey Perry high tea, the event is running all weekend, I hope everyone has a fantastic time and of course enjoys my cupcakes.

It has been another crazy week and I am so glad I get a little rest today before it all starts again.  A large part of next week will be dedicated to making Christmas macaron samples and playing with some awesome new cupcake designs.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, Cakey Perry Part 2 coming up asap. x

◦

Cakey Perry Part 1: The Cupcakes

My Strawberry Sweetheart Cake Recipe

 This is a glorious cake and one I have been working on for a while, it is inspired by a combination of gorgeous strawberry and cream cakes I have made over the years.

Two layers of beautifully vanilla flavoured sponge are sandwiched together with vanilla sweetened whipped cream and strawberries and then covered with a blanket of cream cheese frosting.  The cake is finished with shortbread biscuit crumbs and of course more strawberries.

I made this cake as a special treat for Mr. P. It has been a long & difficult week for both of us so we definitely deserve a treat. 

This is a perfect tea party cake, it is like a Victoria sponge crossed with a strawberry cheesecake, with an edge of strawberry shortcake for good measure, it is heaven and I would never turn down a slice.

It is entirely up to you whether you trim your layers or not, either way works wonderfully.

Strawberry Sweetheart Cake

150g unsalted butter, room temperature

150g vanilla sugar (or caster sugar)

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla paste

150g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

75ml milk

For the Vanilla Whipped Cream Filling:

200ml double cream

1 tbsp icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla paste

1 punnet of strawberries

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

175g icing sugar

25g butter, room temperature

75g cream cheese, room temperature

2 shortbread biscuits

For the cake:

Greece and line two 18cm cake tins.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add the vanilla paste and mix until fully incorporated.

Sift together the plain flour, baking powder and salt.  Gently fold into the butter mixture.  Add the milk and mix until fully incorporated.

Divide the batter between your prepared cake tins and bake for around 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Allow cakes to cool in tins before removing to a wire rack, cool completely before icing.

For the Vanilla Whipped Cream Filling:

In a large bowl beat the cream on a high speed until thick, add the sifted icing sugar and vanilla. Beat until the icing sugar and vanilla is combined and the cream is fully whipped.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

Beat together the butter and cream cheese.  Add the sifted icing sugar and beat for 3 minutes. 

Apply cream to the top of one of the sponge layers and top with strawberry halves, place the final layer on top and spread on the cream cheese frosting.  Crumble the shortbread biscuits and sprinkle over the top of the cake before finishing with strawberries.

Have a great weekend everyone. x

◦

My Strawberry Sweetheart Cake Recipe

Buttercream Bakery Chocolate Cupcakes Galore

I cannot believe it is Thursday already, where did the week go? 

It is Thursday isn't it? I'm not sure, I have completely lost track!

It has been another busy week and I'm slightly exhausted not to mention covered head to toe in cake decorating glitter but more on that another time because right now we're talking chocolate...

Glorious, glorious chocolate...

I made a big batch of chocolate cupcakes for the hotels, mini ones and big ones as you will see later.  I wanted cupcakes that just scream yummy and I think I succeeded.

All the cupcakes are Devil's Food Cake with either vanilla bean buttercream or milk chocolate vanilla bean buttercream.  These cupcakes are drizzled with the most glorious chocolate ganache, I use a mixture of milk and dark chocolate for this, it is silky smooth and scrumptious.

The larger versions are similar, although I sprinkled some with crushed pecans, for added yum.

I'm loving my giant chocolate buttons at the moment.

Before my new contract started I knew I was going to be busy so I thought ahead and started making and stockpiling mini toppers especially for the hotels, I'm so glad I did otherwise I may not have slept at all this month.

I have gone for simple and cute little toppers like...

Mini Cupcakes...

...which look adorable on a mini cupcake...

...and mini chocolate bars..

I love the mini chocolate bar cupcakes, so freakin' cute!

The chocolate bars are so easy to make, I will try and do a quick tutorial on them soon, they take minutes and I can make about 150 at a time.

These chocolate bars first appeared on my Cakey Perry cupcakes and I have been keeping up an endless supply ever since.

I am so excited about cupcaking for Cakey Perry next week, the chosen designs are among my favourite cupcakes of all time and the Cakey Perry High Tea is surely the foodie event of the year.  You must head over to Cakey Perry and check out the utter awesomeness that is occurring.

x x x



◦

Buttercream Bakery Chocolate Cupcakes Galore

Beautiful Blueberry Macaron Recipe

I love these macarons, they remind me of the beautiful jam filled macarons they serve with coffee at The Hotel Martinez in Cannes.

I have used a natural blueberry extract to flavour my shells but this is entirely optional, these macarons will still be brilliantly blueberry flavoured without it.

I made these lovely blueberry macarons for the hotels but I also made some adorable tiny tiny, almost blueberry sized ones for my wonderful friend Michelle.

They really were the cutest thing ever and Michelle loved them.

Blueberry Macaron Recipe

(Makes 25-50 macarons depending on their size and obviously loads more if you are making tiny tiny macarons).

200g (7oz) icing sugar

200g (7oz) ground almonds

80ml (2 3/4 fl oz) water

200g caster sugar

2 x 80g (2 3/4 oz) egg whites

1/2 tsp natural blueberry extract (optional)

1/2 tsp blue food colouring paste

1/2 tsp violet food colouring paste

Blueberry & Vanilla Jam Filling

1 vanilla pod

350g blueberries

150g caster sugar

2 tbsp water

For the Macarons:

Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

Sieve together the icing sugar and almonds into a large bowl. Mix 80g of the egg whites (unbeaten) with the sieved icing sugar and almond mixture until you have a thick paste. Add both food colouring pastes and mix until the colour is evenly blended.

Place the remaining egg whites into the clean bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl and have a hand mixer ready.

In a saucepan, bring the water and the caster sugar to the boil. Use a thermometer to ensure that the temperature of the syrup does not exceed 118C. This is very important.

Once the syrup has reached 110C begin to whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Decrease the speed of the whisk, then, still whisking, pour the sugar syrup over the egg whites in a thin stream. Be sure to avoid the whisk.

Add the blueberry extract (optional) and continue whisking until the mixture has cooled.

Fold the meringue into the almond paste mixture using a rubber spatula. The batter is ready when it falls from the spatula in a ribbon, this ribbon should disappear back into the batter after about 30 seconds.

Use a piping bag fitted with a plain round tip to pipe rounds onto the prepared baking sheets. Lightly tap the bottom of the tray on the work surface to remove any small air bubbles. Put the tray aside for between 30 minutes and 1 hour to allow the macarons to dry, you should be able to touch the macaron and come away with a clean finger, the macarons will be noticeably firmer.

Pre-heat oven to 150C (125F).

Bake the macaron shells for between 13 - 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately slide the greaseproof paper onto a clean work surface. Leave to cool completely before removing from the sheets.

For the filling:

Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and combine with the blueberries, caster sugar and water in the bowl of a food processor.  Sieve the mixture into a small saucepan and place over a medium heat for 10-15 minutes until thick and syrupy.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool (about 1 hour), it will thicken considerably whilst cooling.

Pair your macarons shells up and sandwich them together with a teaspoon of blueberry and vanilla jam.

Macarons will keep for up to 3 days, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

x x x

◦

Beautiful Blueberry Macaron Recipe

As cute as a chocolate button cupcake...

Yummy Yummy

These delicious chocolate cupcakes are frosted with gorgeous milk or white chocolate buttercream, topped with yummy sprinkles and a single giant chocolate button, also in milk or white chocolate.

 The milk chocolate ones looked so delicious, I piped the milk chocolate buttons with white chocolate to add a little detail and break up the chocolate brown. They just look like chocolate heaven to me, especially with the chocolate rock sprinkles.

The adorable mini love heart sprinkles came all the way from New York, they're so sweet and looked lovely against the white chocolate buttercream swirls.

x x x

◦

As cute as a chocolate button cupcake...

Mac Attack #21 - Scream For Ice Cream - Salted Caramel Ice Cream Macarons

I will be honest, when I saw that this months Mac Tweets challenge was to combine homemade ice cream or sorbet with your macarons I wasn't exactly enthralled.  I don't have an ice cream maker (yet) and have heard terrible things about non ice cream maker ice cream, I really didn't fancy a day of running backward and forward from the freezer either.

As if by kismet however I found a gorgeous looking ice cream recipe in this months GoodFood magazine that lo and behold didn't need an ice cream maker and requires no hand churning.  Amazingly I think I have somehow managed to make the best ice cream I've ever tasted in my life and let me tell you ice cream macarons are unbelievably delicious!

Thanks so much Mac Tweets for once again pushing me to do something new, I love you for it.

The cold ice cream makes the macarons gloriously chewy and after taking these pictures I ate three...

I have made huge batches of salted caramel macarons every week since I started my new contract with the hotels, they are my most popular flavour and the hotels always seem to sell out immediately, which I'm really ecstatic about.  I think the key to caramel macarons, apart from amazing caramel of course, is a little cocoa powder in the shells, it makes all the difference and you don't have to add any colouring.

I haven't yet posted my usual salted caramel macarons so I thought I best show you a pic of those too.

Salted Caramel Macarons

(Basic macaron recipe adapted from The Boy Who Bakes)

Makes 35

170g icing sugar

160g ground almonds

3 tsp cocoa powder

4 large egg whites, separated into two equal batches -

160g caster sugar

1 vanilla pod

Sieve together the icing sugar, ground almonds & cocoa powder into a large mixing bowl.  Add the first batch of egg whites (unbeaten) and mix to form a thick paste. Set aside.

Tip the second batch of egg whites into a heatproof bowl and have an electric whisk at the ready. Place 50ml water and the caster sugar into a small saucepan on a medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook until the syrup registers 110C, using a sugar thermometer, at which time start beating the egg whites on a high speed. Once the syrup has reached 118C pour it slowly down the side of the mixer bowl, avoiding the whisk. Continue to whisk on high until the mixture has cooled slightly and you have a shiny peaked meringue mixture - the bowl should no longer be hot to the touch, but still warm. 

Split your vanilla pod in half and using the back of the knife, run it along the length of each bean scraping out the vanilla beans. Add to the egg whites and mix until combined.

Tip the meringue onto the almond mixture and gently fold together. It is important not to over-mix the batter - it should fall in a thick ribbon from the spatula. The ribbon should fade back into the batter within about 30 seconds - if it does not, fold a few more times.

Heat the oven to 170C/150C Fan/ gas 3-4. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Pipe rounds onto the prepared baking sheets, leave to rest for 30 minutes on the kitchen counter, or until the macarons have developed a skin.

Bake the macarons for 14 minutes (around 10 minutes for mini macarons). Once out of the oven immediately slide the parchment onto a work surface and cool for a few minutes before gently peeling off the paper.

For the Salted Caramel:

1 cup / 225g caster sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 cup / 125ml heavy cream

1 teaspoon fleur de sel

1/4 cup / 60ml sour cream

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and corn syrup with 1/4 cup water, stirring them together carefully so you don’t splash the sides of the pan. Cook over high heat until an instant-read thermometer reads 350F (175 C), or until the mixture is dark amber in colour, 6 to 8 minutes. Meanwhile warm the cream gently in another small saucepan. Remove the caramel from the heat, and slowly add the cream (careful, it will bubble up) and then the fleur de sel. Whisk in the sour cream. Set aside to cool before placing airtight in the refrigerator until needed.

This ice cream is the creamiest most delightful thing I think I've ever tasted and not only that but it is really easy to make, you could also substitute the salted caramel for fruit puree, to make a ripple ice cream such as raspberry or blueberry.

For the Ice Cream:

200g caster sugar

2 large eggs, plus 4 egg yolks

600ml/1 pt double cream

250ml Salted Caramel (recipe above)

Place the eggs, egg yolks and remaining sugar in a heatproof bowl.  Whisk with an electric whisk to combine, then place over a pan of simmering water - make sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water.  Beat with the electric whisk for 3-4 minutes until thick and pale.  Remove from the heat and beat until cool.

In another bowl whisk the cream until it forms soft peaks, then gently fold into the cooled egg mixture until just combined.  Pour the mix into a shallow container or a dish that can be frozen.

Gently swirl the salted caramel through the ice cream mixture, cover with cling film and freeze for at least 6 hours or ideally overnight.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. x

◦

Mac Attack #21 - Scream For Ice Cream - Salted Caramel Ice Cream Macarons