Mini Chocolate Cake Christmas Puddings

  quick and easy mini Tia Maria chocolate cake Christmas puddings cupcake toppers

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It started yesterday with a "pucker", not a Jamie Oliver pucker but rather puckering cupcake liners after I baked chocolate sour cream cupcakes. 

 puckering of the liner caused by a higher fat recipe, is this case sour cream

Hmmm, what to do? Why crumble the cakes and make mini puds of course! Small faux Christmas puddings are popular in Australia, although usually made from crumbled fruit cake I thought a chocolate version would placate all those that gag at the thought of dried fruit. Besides, they have Tia Maria in them so you know they are going to be good!

Whilst there is no hard and fast recipe for these, I'm giving an example recipe made from six crumbled cupcakes... it will all depend on what cake you have on hand, store bought or homemade; chocolate mud cake, choc sour cream cake, chocolate pound cake or any moist dense chocolate cake would be good.

Makes 18 mini puddings for mini cupcake toppers or 12 mini puddings to serve in chocolate cases.

Ingredients

6 crumbled moist chocolate cupcakes

150g (5.3oz) melted dark eating chocolate

3 tablespoons of *Tia Maria

1/4 cup of cold black coffee sweetened to taste

For decorating you will need melted white chocolate and any of the following... green and red sprinkles, edible glitter, chopped green and red glace cherries, chopped green and red jelly lollies or do what I did and make fondant leaves and a "cherry". 

Method

I started with 6 chocolate cupcakes and crumbled them into a mixing bowl.

Stir in your melted chocolate and Tia Maria. Scoop up a little of mixture and squeeze it in your hand, if it feels moist and stays together it's ready, if it feels dry add a little of the coffee repeating the squeeze test until you have a truffle like consistency. Roll a practice ball, it should be smooth with no "cracking", add more coffee if necessary. 

Moist mixture stays together and can easily rolled into balls

Roll your pudding balls and top with a small amount of *melted white chocolate and top with sprinkles of choice.

I used mine to top 12 mini ganache topped cupcakes. Just so cute they would make a perfect chocolate lovers gift this holiday season.

Happy Baking :)

*for orange choc mini puddings replace the Tia Maria and Coffee with Grand Marnier and orange juice.

*for an alcohol free version replace the Tia Maria and Coffee with orange juice and also add 1/2 teaspoon of orange zest

Mini cupcake liners from Martha Stewart Crafts ... note postage to Australia is slow, about 4 weeks.

Hi Adelayde, I owe you a cupcake!!

vampire mice attempt 4

My step sons girlfriend Adelayde is over from Western Australia along with her Mum. They were all going to Jamie Oliver's 15 restaurant last night, off tonight to see Celtic Women in concert and attending the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.

I thought it would nice to make Halloween cakes especially for Daniel and Adelayde and tossed up between a true blood type theme or cute; cute won.

First I made the fondant Mickey and Minnie with the help of Disney cutters, a heart cutter to make the wings & added fangs. My idea was to make chocolate vampire pops so I attempted to "cocoa mould" with fondant Mickey and Minnie vampire bats. This didn't work as the fondant shapes weren't heavy enough to make an imprint. Idea two was another attempt to make a mould by pressing a bat into pate sucree; the whole thing dissolved.

remaining head from the cocoa mould attempt 

Idea three became grandiose with marbled bats and columns, I was thinking wouldn't Mickey and Minnie be great as the statues on either side of a spooky gate and I could include a love heart in the gate. Weather came into play yesterday, hot day and a hot house led to drooping sagging modelling paste. 

the last remaining marbled wing from the drooping modelling paste bat

Woke up this morning with idea four [*insert crying between idea three and four] white billowy frosting with a marbling of dark blue and purple, dark bats and the moon behind them with a love heart cloud in front of it. Yep, yep, yep, finished the bats and took out a small brush just about to add shimmer details when I looked down at them and decided "I don't think I like this" and that was that.

Sooooo, "I owe Adelayde a cupcake!!

Adelayde and Linda I hope you're having a lovely time in Melbourne :)

Slay Vampires and Bake Lemon Lime Poppy seed Cakes

                            lemon & lime poppy seed mini loaves

Is your silver cross a fake? Can't find your stake? Forgot to pick up the holy water and used the last of the garlic in last nights aioli? Never fear, poppy seeds are here to stop that eminent vampire attack this Halloween.

According to folkloric tales....

'methods commonly practised in Europe included severing the tendons at the knees or placing poppy seeds, millet, or sand on the ground at the grave site of a presumed vampire; this was intended to keep the vampire occupied all night by counting the fallen grains, indicating an association of vampires with arithmomania' Wikipedia

Well, 'severing the tendons' seems a bit messy so I'd recommend sprinkling poppy seeds around the entrance of your home; the vampires are forced to count them, over and over again. Eventually the sun will rise or the vampire will have fled before dawn, either way poppy seeds play an important part in your vampire slaying kit. Plus you can always make cakes with the leftovers. 

Love this cupcake recipe adapted from two recipes one from Julie Hasson and one from Donna Hay; it's a versatile recipe, packed with flavour with a moist pound cake like texture & can be frosted or iced if desired. You don't need a stand mixer for this recipe it's hand mixed with a wooden spoon. Variants, including a reduced fat higher fibre version are below the recipe. Of course they are perfect served with a hot of tea after a hard nights vampire slaying. 

Lemon and Lime Poppy Seed cakes

Preheat oven to 180c (350F) line cupcake tin/s with paper liners

Makes 24 mini sized or 12 standard sized cupcakes 

I actually used a silicone mini financier mould & the produced 50 mini loaves from the batter.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups plain flour (all purpose)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup sugar 

1 tbs poppy seeds

1/2 cup unsalted butter melted & cooled

1 egg

1/2 cup plain yoghurt

1 tsp grated lemon zest

1 tsp lime zest

2 tbs lemon juice

1 tbls lime juice

Method

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl, add poppy seeds.

In a large bowl whisk together sugar, butter and egg until smooth. Swap to a wooden spoon and add yoghurt, zest's and juices, beat until smooth. Add flour mix and beat until just smooth.

Spoon into your prepared cupcake pan/s. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes for mini sized,  22 to 25 standard sized, 10 to 12 for mini financiers; until there centres are just set and spring when lightly touched. Cool in tin for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack until completely cold.

From here you can ice them with your favourite lemon glaze, frost them a cream cheese frosting or leave plain.

Variants; 

Reduced fat... I make a reduced fat version of these for my husbands lunch box by replacing the butter with margarine, full fat yoghurt with fat free and I omit the poppy seeds and instead add one tablespoon of oat bran. 

Choc chip... omit the poppy seeds and replace with a half a cup of dark or milk choc chips

Orange... swap around the zests used the recipe, orange is lovely & paired with milk chocolate they taste a bit like Terry's Chocolate Oranges. Try tangelo, grapefruit or mandarin zest for something different.

Sour Cream... for sour cream lovers out there replace yoghurt with an equal amount of sour cream. 

                         Vampires don't sparkle but a dead fairy does

I've found myself with many extra dead fairies from last Halloween, so I've made more cupcakes. Don't be surprised if you see dead fairies topping cupcakes next Halloween too, I may have made up a few too many!!!!

Happy Baking :)

Cockroach Cupcakes

                                     gothic cockroach cupcakes

Alas not back to full time blogging yet... but I do have a week of Halloween baking I'll be posting.

I'm saying "Halloween", but really I'm in vampire mode as my step-son Daniel readies himself to shoot his end of year short film to complete his first year of film studies. Yes, it's going to be a vampire story. To celebrate today's cupcakes have a gothic feel, thanks in part to Martha Stewart's gothic bug halloween cupcake liners and partly because I'm old enough to remember a time when vampires didn't sparkle!! 

Quick and easy to make, you will need...

12 iced, frosted or fondant topped cupcakes (I used choc/caramel cakes with caramel fondant)

12 rubber or plastic cockroaches or suitable creepy crawlies

1/2 cup crushed plain chocolate biscuits (cookies)

Dig a a hole in your cakes with the point of a small sharp knife, sprinkle a few biscuit crumbs in and around the hole then insert your cockroach. 

That's it, happy baking :)

My cockroaches came from SilverCrow Creations.  

*if serving to children under two years of age replace rubber/plastic bugs with lolly versions.

More rubbery creepy crawlies with quick and easy along came the spiders cupcakes....

                     Along came the Spider

                     BOO!! cupcake toppers 

Pearl Glaze Edible Paint

pearl glaze by bakery crafts

Pearl Glaze is a pre-mixed pearl lustre dust paint by Bakery Crafts. A fabulous product for cake decorators to carry with them for those emergency touch ups and for the home baker that occasionally wants to add a little shimmer to their cakes & cookies.

Use alone to add a pearly shimmer or Pearl Glaze can also be easily coloured with any of your existing gel paste food colours allowing you to create colour palettes of choice.  

here americolor electric pink gel paste is added to pearl glaze to create different shades of pink

Pearl Glaze is best applied in several lights coats to your dry fondant/modelling paste/royal icing, allowing 30 minutes to dry between each coat to get the full effect. 

Happy Baking :)

Pearl Glaze is available from cake decorating stores and online from Cakestuff (New Zealand), Cakes Around Town (Australia) Riches and Realms Ebay store (Australia), Bakers Nook (US) Sorry UK I haven't as yet found a supplier online for you. 

Whoopie Pies

          mini whoopie pie tops a marshmallow and chocolate cupcake

Off the shelf

baking book reviews

This weeks off the shelf is loads of fun & it's not cupcakes; it's Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell.

This super cute 120 page padded cover hard back book is packed full of whoopie pie recipes & fillings. What is a Whoopie Pie (also known as Gobs)? They're a cross between a cake and a biscuit (cookie), soft textured with a creamy frosting type filling.

As for the name 'Whoopie Pies' according to Wikipedia; Amish women would bake these (known as hucklebucks at the time) and put them in farmers' lunchboxes. When farmers would find these treats in their lunch, they would shout "Whoopie!" 

For those outside the US there is a few points I should mention first. Many of the recipes use half butter/half Crisco. Crisco is a vegetable shortening common in the US (copha is not a suitable substitute). However, you can successfully use all butter in the recipes or buy Crisco online in Australia from USA foods; available in three sizes, plus sticks and butter flavoured. 

marshmallow spreads... 'Fluff' and 'Jet-Puffed'

Most of the fillings are buttercream based, though the traditional marshmallow fluff filling is included too. 'Fluff' or 'Jet-Puffed' marshmallow are difficult to obtain in Australia but if your curious to try it out Jet-Puffed marshmallow spread & Crisco vegetable shortening both are available online in Australia from USA foods. 

Ahhhh, the publishers of this book have gone a little far with the "cute factor" by listing the ingredients in smallish pink font, it can demand some "squinting" or least popping on your glasses. 

Now on to what I love about this book!! The cake and fillings recipes (listed below) are mix and match, giving you lots of opportunity to experiment with flavour combinations, plus the authors give other suggestions such as jam, cream, fresh fruits, glazes and sprinkles. How about Classic Chocolate Whoopie paired with strawberries & cream, mint buttercream or chocolate ganache? Good to see a couple of vegan & gluten free recipes are included too.

So far I've baked the classic chocolate whoopie, vanilla whoopie and the pumpkin whoopie... all tasted great with the pumpkin just beating out the chocolate as our favourite. We tried four fillings from the book; salted caramel, strawberry buttercream, coconut cream, classic cream cheese and I also made a plain melted white marshmallow filling. The coconut cream & classic cream cheese were Marks favourite & I love the salted caramel. 

Kids will find the mix and match fillings and decorating the whoopies fun, adults will love the tiramisu, matcha and ganache flavours to name a few. They're something different to bake for your next function; bake them large, medium or mini, piped or plopped onto the trays  they are delicious. Can't wait to try the carrot cake whoopie's and step son Daniel wants to try lemon with a flavoured cream cheese filling.  

Recommended because of the novelty factor, the multitude of possible flavour combinations & they are loads of fun for kids and those young at heart. 

I piped the whoopie batter into small rounds & baked for 5 minutes to create mini sized whoopie cupcake toppers, filled with melted white marshmallow. 

The cake recipes:

• Classic chocolate whoopie 
• Red velvet whoopie 
• Vanilla whoopie 
• Mocha whoopie 
• Marbled whoopie 
• Chocolate chip whoopie 
• Lemon whoopie 
• Gingerbread whoopie 
• Peanut butter whoopie 
• Banana whoopie 
• Pistachio-cardamom whoopie 
• Graham cracker whoopie 
• Oatmeal whoopie 
• Pumpkin whoopie 
• Carrot cake whoopie 
• Vegan chocolate whoopie 
• Vegan vanilla whoopie 
• Gluten-free chocolate whoopie 
• Gluten-free vanilla whoopie 
• Whoopie cake 
• Jalapeno cornbread whoopie 

Recipes for fillings: 

• Classic marshmallow 
• Chocolate buttercream 
• Classic cream cheese 
• Classic buttercream 
• Chocolate ganache 
• Whipped chocolate ganache 
• Mint buttercream 
• Honey buttercream 
• Rosewater buttercream 
• Salty peanut butter 
• Coconut cream 
• Malted buttercream 
• Salted caramel 
• Candied ginger 
• Dulce de leche 
• Maple 
• Maple-bacon 
• Root beer 
• Orange cream cheese 
• Lemon mascarpone 
• Tiramisu cream 
• Strawberry buttercream 
• Peachy marshmallow cream 
• Banana 
• Matcha buttercream 
• Vegan chocolate "butter" cream 
• Vegan vanilla "butter" cream 
• Bacon-chive goat cheese 
• Chocolate glaze  

 See Whoopie Pies made by the authors themselves in this short video

Thank you to Jennifer for pointing out that 'Solite' a vegetable shortening available in Australia from cake decorating stores can substitute for Crisco if desired. 

Happy Baking :) 

You might also be interested in a recipe for...

           Raspberry Marshmallow

Very Violet Mistake

                                 very violet vanilla cupcake

Sometimes it's a huge advantage being self taught where baking is concerned; without preconceived/taught ideas you have a "freedom" to create... and sometimes it just makes you dumb!!

I was planning to bake small vanilla teacakes filled with blueberries & frosted with violet swiss meringue butter cream. Since they were for a special thank you gift I wanted a pretty topper and came up with modelling paste heart cut outs. I spent hours cake gluing crystallised violet petals to the hearts. Next day I popped the toppers into the prepared cakes, this is where I learnt a lesson your five year old already knows...

Sugar dissolves in moisture.

The tips of hearts dissolved in the moist frosting, the hearts collapsed and fell off leaving a trail of syrupy violet goo. 

If I had added toothpicks to the back of the hearts and raised them so they weren't touching the frosting this could have been avoided. Sooo, I've learnt something "not to do" & I'm looking forward to all new baking next week.

That's it for the end of my first week back, enjoy your weekend.

Happy Baking :) 

Stamped Sugar Cookies

camomile & honey cupcake, honey frosting, fondant flowers & stamped honey cookie winnie the pooh topper.

I'm still playing with my "new toys" from yesterdays post. The first batch of stamped cookies I made last week weren't successful; I "lost" the faces, they slowly faded away on baking. Now I have that problem sorted out by reducing the baking powder and by chilling the stamped cookies in the freezer before baking.

Making stamped cookies; I've adapted my cookies from a Martha Stewart recipe for sugar cookies, but you could use your favourite sugar cookie recipe and reduce or even omit the baking powder. 

Stamped Honey Sugar Cookies

Makes about 40

Ingredients

• 2 cups sifted plain flour (all-purpose) flour

• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 tablespoon of *honey 

• 1/2 cup butter

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour and baking powder. Set aside.

2. In bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg & honey beat until smooth, 1 minute.

3. Add reserved flour mixture, and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla. Wrap dough in plastic, and refrigerate for about 45 minutes.

4. Position two racks in oven; preheat oven to 160 celsius (325 degrees). Line two baking trays with baking paper or a non-stick baking mat; set aside.

5. On a well-floured work surface, roll out chilled dough to 0.3 cm (1/8 inch) thick. If using a 2 piece cutters like mine, cut out the outline shape. With a metal spatula, transfer whole cookies to the prepared baking trays. Stamp each cookie, with enough pressure to create a fairly deep imprint. If using a one piece stamp/cutter, press and cut your shapes and transfer cookies to prepared baking trays.

6. Transfer baking tray to the freezer, and chill until cookie dough is firm, about 15 minutes. Place the baking tray in the oven, and bake cookies for 6 to 8 minutes. 

7. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes, and then use a metal spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

* If using your cookies as cupcake toppers, frost your cupcakes as per usual and just before serving add your cookie toppers. 

*I used honey in these cookies, when you are baking with honey you will  notice your baked goods will brown more quickly... keep an eye on them, particularly if your stamped cookie has small protruding parts like ears. 

Happy Baking :) 

P.S Thank you Angela!!! I love these cutters!

Queens Birthday Cupcake

                                                          Queens Birthday Cupcake

       Pussy-cat, pussy-cat,

           Where have you been?"

       I've been to London

           To look at the Queen"

         Mother Goose

Don't I wish!! That I'd 'been in London to look at the Queen' that is, instead of being curled up swallowing antibiotics at regular intervals. 

It's Queen's Birthday today a public holiday in most of Australia, it's a day when the monarch's birthday is celebrated. It's not the "actual" birthday of our current monarch Queen Elizabeth the 2nd whose birthday falls on April 21st, but rather a set date for a Queen's/King's Birthday celebration: in Australia the second Monday in June.

Today the Order of Australia and other honours are announced, however for most Australians it marks the last public holiday as we well and truly settle into winter. 

Back tomorrow, Happy Baking :)

chocolate cupcake, with chocolate ganache, topped in fondant and modelling paste topper

O Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou... OOPS wrong story!

O Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou... Oops wrong story cupcake! 

Once upon a time in a far away land many years ago, a husband took his wife to see the movie Romeo and Juliet for her birthday. Mid way through the film he leaned over and whispered sweetly in her ear "Is this the part where she lets down her golden hair?".

At this point I was sipping a coca-cola, started to laugh, then choke on a piece of ice, (apologies for those that were in the audience that night) Mark had absolutely no idea what caused me to laugh, choke, laugh and choke. Finally with tears running down my face I spluttered "That's Rapunzel!!" 

But, here comes the pièce de résistance... on seeing me making the cupcake on the weekend Mark laughed when he realised what I was making and I swear on my life said "Oh, I get it your making Goldilocks!". Step son Dan just looked at him and shook his head sadly. Needless to say I didn't marry Mark for his knowledge of classic literature ;)

To my one and only love, thank you for your integrity, sense of honour, kind heart, generosity of spirit & of course for always making me laugh!

HAPPY 16TH ANNIVERSARY DARLING!!!

The cake; chocolate cupcake with chocolate ganache decorated with my first ever built "something" & first ever "hair". The cupcake tower I made last week from a LCM/rice krispie treat (yes, I have been watching Ace of Cakes) and fondant, details made made fondant & modelling past.  

Happy Baking :)