Tuesday 15 July 2014

Apple for the teacher thank you cupcakes

I've seen a load of these on Facebook and Pinterest recently so decided it was only right I should make these for Max's last day at nursery.

I made them with my favourite devil's food recipe which I've used in a couple of other posts: http://mahhattersteaparty.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/devilishly-good.html?m=1

and topped them with chocolate fudge frosting from this post: http://mahhattersteaparty.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/hen-do-goodness.html?m=1

I made the toppers a few days ago so they could dry out and I made them by rolling out red fondant and cutting out circles just a bit narrower than the width of the cupcakes. I then cut out a triangle at the top, one at the bottom then rounded them off to give an apple shape. A small amount of brown fondant was used to make the stems which are then added to the back side of the "apples" and stick out the top. I don't have a small leaf cutter so I just shaped some green fondant into a vaguely leaf shape and attached to the top of the "apples".



The letters are more time consuming and are made by rolling out petal paste until it's very thin. The tappits I used here are these ones.



Don't use fondant, it won't work! Only use small bits of petal paste as it dries out quick and roll some out so it's long and narrow (an inch wide), place the letter you want over the petal paste, press into it and wiggle up and down. Then lift up and the letter will be filled with petal paste. Tap, or should I say, bang on the table and the letter will (should!) fly out. Use icing sugar to help roll out the petal paste and stop it sticking to the table. Then "glue" with a paintbrush and very little water to the apples. Leave them to harden for a few days. It's best to leave them on kitchen roll as they can stick to other surfaces like plastic then you'll be in trouble.

Stick onto your cupcakes and you're done!

I really hope Max's nursery staff enjoy these cupcakes






Sunday 13 July 2014

Banana peanut butter cake

If only I liked bananas. But I don't. I can eat one if forced but it's my least favourite fruit. So I was happy to make this cake for non-me consumption.

However, when I made the frosting (banana free), I couldn't help but try a bit. It was UTTERLEY immense and I will definitely definitely be creating a special cupcake with it very soon.

You need to plan this one in advance so you have very ripe bananas which are then squished and added to the cake batter.

Ingredients:
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
150g light brown sugar
3 eggs
6 bananas (mashed)
150ml vegetable oil 
50ml sour cream

Frosting:
100g butter
225g icing sugar
100g smooth peanut butter 

Preheat oven to 160/140 fan

Very simply, mix all ingredients together in a bowl until well combined and pour into two prepared 20cm round loose bottom cake tins (don't be afraid as it looks like a lot more batter than I usually put in this size tin).





Bake for 35 minutes.

Leave to cool then mix all the icing ingredients together and spread half on top of one of the cakes. Place the other cake on top and spread over the other half of the frosting. It maybe could do with more frosting so you could happily double the amount.

Mmmmmmmm frosting!!!







The recipe is adapted from Simon Rimmer's found here (http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sunday-brunch/articles/all/banana-peanut-butter-donut-cake-recipe) but doesn't include the donuts or sauce