Part One.
I have begun the grand cupcake rehearsal. I'm full of fear and excitement as I've put myself up to make 75 cupcakes for a big district guiding event at the end of February.
Which is probably crackers, as I've never attempted a cupcake in my life, and have always been a bit anti-cupcake, more of a fairy cake girl, and then I was a bit snobbish for this trend which is seemingly tailored for yummy mummies.
Anyway, the challenge was too tempting. So.
Practice run one;
Vanilla Cupcake recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Book.
I used to enjoy a wander along Portabello Road to the Hummingbird Bakery. Made a hard day at work and long journey almost worth it. And they are one of the most highly regarded cupcake bakers in London.
So I put myself in their hands and currently have some buns in the oven.
I only got 7 cakes, not the 12 I should have. I assume this is because they realise most people would pop to the supermarket for bun cases, which is standard size, whereas I've used larger ones.
The mix was like pancake batter. It seems to be mostly milk. I have no faith in the professionals and I doubt that they will rise.
Watch this space...
One Hour later...
I think I must have over-filled the cases, but they taste gorgeous! I'll have another go soon and put less mix in. Tomorrow I'll have a bash at carving these ones down and icing them..
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You should have a go at their red velvet cupcakes, look rather stunning and taste great - especially with the cream cheese icing! x
ReplyDeleteBut the only red thing about them is the food colouring...
ReplyDeleteI spent ages trying to find out about red velvet, thinking it was some kind of holy grail of the cupcake world... What a dissapointment. I thought it would be a magic ingredient or method :(
J laughed at me when I told him it was just food colouring.
You can put cheesey frosting on any kind of cupcake can't you?
Ahh, bless - mine didn't quite get the fasination either =o(
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean - it just being red colouring is a bit of a let down, however there is a hint of chocolate in there (perhaps that makes up for it?!). There is a tasteless red coloring it's about £5 a pop, but it dyes rather than taints the flavour. It's Wiltons paste if your interested. Having said that I did a little bit of experimenting with beetroot juice - seemed to turn the mixture a little purple instead of red, but made an interesting form of carrot cake!
Cream cheese frosting is still very sweet and rich, loads of icing sugar in it - oh and butter. It's really good to pipe with, seems to define the points if using a star nozzle and it's a really clean white, so I guess it sets off the red of the velvet cake really well. Talking of carrot cake, that is traditionally topped with cream cheese frosting. x
I have colourings that are flavourless.. but I use them when I want to make something actually look like something else...
ReplyDeleteSo just dying a sponge in order to give a cupcake a different name seems a tad pointless..
Maybe I am really missing the point, but a rich chocolate sponge with cream cheese frosting is tempting enough, it doesn't need to be red.. does it?
If the cupcake is in a case, then I guess there is little point of it being red other than when it's opened and a ruby cake is showing after the person has bitten into it - however if it is a mini cake without the case then you get to see the red and makes it look rather interesting and contempory. But no, it doesn't need to be red. Perhaps my love of red makes me a little biaised, lol! x
ReplyDelete