49. Valentine's Rose Cupcakes

Not into cookies? No worries, I’ve got the Valentine’s cupcake angle sorted too! Flowers and chocolates are always nice, but why not just combine the two and make these chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream roses?

Makes 12 rose cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

• 170g (6 oz) butter, room temp

• 140g (5 oz) caster sugar

• 3 eggs

• 140g (5 oz) dark chocolate, melted

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 170g (6 oz) self-raising flour

• Pinch of salt

For the buttercream

• 300g (10.5 oz) butter, room temp

• 450g (15.75 oz) icing sugar

• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

• 1-2 tbsp milk

• a few drops red food colouring

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160C and line a cupcake tray

2. Cream together the butter and caster sugar for the cupcakes until light and fluffy.

3. Add in the eggs, melted chocolate and vanilla extract, with a tablespoon of the flour to help it not split.

4. Mix in the flour and salt, until well combined.

5. Place a heaped tablespoon of mixture in each cupcake case.

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool to room temperature before icing

7. Cream the butter for the icing until light and fluffy. Add in the icing sugar in three portions, beating between each, until light and fluffy, then add in the vanilla extract and milk (as much as needed). Keep beating if not light and easily spreadable.

8. Split half the buttercream into a separate bowl. Colour half with red food colouring until pink. Add a few drops at a time and beat until you get your desired colour.

9. Prepare a piping bag with a star shaped nozzle. Fill with the pink icing first, and then create a hole down the centre and fill with the remaining white icing.

10. Pipe from the centre of the cupcake outwards, until you have created a rose. DO NOT twist the cupcake as you pipe, as this will lose the rose effect. Your first couple of roses may be purely pink, depending on how successful the piping filling has gone, but you should get some nice two tone roses in the bouquet!

11. Give to a loved one, or just to yourself. You deserve flowers.

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45. Espresso Chocolate Cake

I have the week off work!!! It has honestly been so nice to just chill out this week, as Christmas felt really hectic and not like a rest. To make full use of this I went to visit my Dad for a couple of days, and while there, decided that, you know, baking was required. And as Dad and my step-mum love coffee, an espresso cake that was definitely not too sweet was the right way to go.

This cake is really easy and the perfect afternoon snack for coffee time. I hope you enjoy!

Makes 1 cake

Ingredients

For the cake

• 170g (6 oz) butter

• 85g (3 oz) demerara

• 85g (3 oz) light brown sugar

• 170g (6 oz) self raising flour

• 2 eggs

• 75g (2.5 oz) dark chocolate, melted

• 1 espresso (1 oz = ~30ml)

For the buttercream

• 200g (7 oz) butter, room temp

• 300g (10.5 oz) icing sugar

• 50g (1.75 oz) dark chocolate, melted (+ some for grating to sprinkle)

• 1 espresso (1 oz = ~30ml)

• a pinch of salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C and line a square cake tin with greaseproof paper.

2. Cream together the butter and all the sugars until light and fluffy.

3. Add in the eggs one at a time and combine, adding in the flour if the mixture starts to curdle.

4. Add in the flour, and then the melted chocolate, and espresso. Mix until well combined.

5. Scrape all the cake mix into the cake tin, and spread evenly into all the corners.

6. Bake for 30-35 minutes until a skewer comes out clean and it bounces back.

7. Leave to cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes and then allow to cool on a cooling rack to room temperature.

8. For the icing, beat the butter until light and fluffy on its own, and then add the icing sugar in a bit at a time until fully combined. Add in a pinch of salt and mix.

9. Split the buttercream base into two and move half of it into another bowl. Add the melted chocolate to the first half and beat until well combined. Add the half of the espresso to the second half and beat until well combined. Taste to see how strong the coffee flavour is and add more espresso as needed.

10. Fill two piping bags with your two buttercreams and decorate the cake in your desired pattern (I chose diagonal lines). If you choose to sprinkle the shaved chocolate on, I chose to sprinkle it only on the chocolate buttercream to maintain the contrast between the two icings.

11. Enjoy!

44. Coconut Choc Chip Cake with Best Chocolate Buttercream

It was a colleague’s birthday at work this week, so I offered to make him a birthday cake. When asked what he would like, he ummed and ahhed, until I elicited the words chocolate and coconut fro him. That was as good a place to start as any.

But then he said white chocolate.

I don’t really like white chocolate in large quantities, as its REALLY sweet, and its not all that easy to bake with. So I made a white chocolate and coconut cake. This is not the cake pictured here. I was so embarrassed by not only the fact that the cake was ridiculously sweet (my boyfriend said he just pretended he was eating a white chocolate bar), but it was also hideous. I really messed up my ratios on the white chocolate ganache, and had been impatient when turning the cakes out and frosting so it was all crumbling and not smooth. It was not good.

So I made another cake. This one. Learning from my previous errors to make a cake that went down EXTREMELY well at work. Why not give it, or similar, a go this weekend?

Makes 1 cake and buttercream for 1 cake/12 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cake

• 170g (6 oz) butter

• 130g (4.5 oz) caster sugar

• 85g (3 oz) desiccated coconut (+ some for sprinkling)

• 140g (5 oz) self raising flour

• 3 eggs

• 100g (3.5 oz) chocolate chips (I used white choc chips)

For the buttercream

• 100g (3.5 oz) dark chocolate, melted (+ some for grating to sprinkle)

• 200g (7 oz) butter, room temp

• 300g (10.5 oz) icing sugar

• 2 tbsp milk

• a pinch of salt.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Line two sandwich tins with greaseproof paper and grease the sides.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until well combined.

3. Add in the eggs, desiccated coconut and self raising flour, and beat until smooth.

4. Mix in the chocolate chips until distributed throughout the cake mix, then divide into your sandwich tins. (roughly 13oz in each tine if you want to be precise)

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until slightly golden, and a knife comes out clean.

6. Allow the cakes to cool in their tins until the tins are cool enough to hold. Tip out your cakes and allow to cool further on a cooling rack. Place in the fridge to cool down further if you intend to spread rather than pipe your icing as this will make it less likely to crumble.

7. Beat the butter for your buttercream until light and fluffy.

8. Add in your icing sugar in two gos (or else it tends to go everywhere), and beat until light and smooth.

9. Beat in your melted chocolate and a pinch of salt.

10. Fill a piping bag and pipe a border around the edge of your bottom cake, then fill the middle with icing and spread to your border. This will keep it neat.

11. Place your top cake on top and decorate (piping or spreading) however you like! Sprinkle on a little grated chocolate and desiccated coconut and enjoy!

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