ORANGE CRANBERRY CUPCAKES

 

With cream cheese frosting and sugared fresh cranberry gems

 

These blew me away! I love fresh cranberries in any baked sweet bread or cake. It adds a touch of tartness to counteract the sweetness. And who doesn't love cream cheese frosting!!! I made little gingerbread cookies and decorated them with marshmallow fondant. So here are the recipes........
Firstly we need to make the sugared cranberries the day before we decorate the cupcakes.


SUGARED CRANBERRY GEMS

3 3/4 cups granulated white sugar, divided
1 3/4 cups water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
zest of 1 orange
12 ounces fresh cranberries
 

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine 2 1/2 cups of sugar, vanilla extract and orange zest and stir occasionally until all the sugar has dissolved.
2. Take the saucepan off the heat and add all the fresh cranberries.
3. Once the syrup and the cranberries have cooled down enough, place a small plate over the top to push the cranberries into the syrup.
4. Once the syrup has cooled down to room tempreture store it in the refridgerator over night.
5. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups of sugar to a rimmed plate.
6. Strain the cranberries and reserve the syrup. Let the cranberries dry on a baking sheet for at least an hour.
7. Then add the strained cranberries the the sugar and shake well until all the cranberries are well coated in sugar.

ORANGE CRANBERRY CUPCAKES
Makes 36 cupcakes

3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon reserved syrup from candied cranberries
zest of 1 orange
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries

 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Line your cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
2. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. Gently toss the cranberries in a tablespoon of flour. Set aside.
4. In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
5. With the mixer on low add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Add vanilla extract, reserved cranberry syrup and orange zest. Mix to combine.
7. Add a third of your flour mixture until combined, then add half of the milk and mix till just combined. Continue adding ingredients, alternating dry, wet, dry. Mix until just combined.
8. Gently fold in the cranberries.
9. Pour batter into cupcake liners about half full.
10. Bake for 17-19 minutes or until done.

ORANGE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

16 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
2 lbs confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
zest of 1 orange
2 tablespoons of orange juice

1. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
2. Add vanilla, orange zest and juice and mix until combined.
3. Add the powdered sugar until completely combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix again.

LILY BUG

A cake for Lily. Chocolate cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Lady bugs are made with chocolate clay.

 

 

CHOCOLATE CHIP OATMEAL COOKIES

I loved these cookies. Personally I prefer chocolate chip cookies with oatmeal rather than without. These cookies did not dissapoint.

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C)

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the rolled oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

VANILLA CAKE

Another cake from The Cake Boss.  This cake is very moist and really yummy and can be made into cupcakes. I used butter instead of the oil and loved it.


21/2 cups cake flour
2 cups granulated white sugar
3/4 cups of vegetable oil OR 1 1/2 sticks (170.5g) unsalted butter
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup whole milk

Method
Position the oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C)
Grease two 9-inch cake pans with *cake release.

Put the flour, sugar, butter or oil, baking powder,vanilla and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix on slow until all the ingredients are combined, then low-medium and continue to mix until smooth, approximately 1 minute.

With the mixer still mixing add eggs one at a time, incorporating eggs into mixture before adding the next. Stop mixing and scrape down the bowl making sure all ingredients are incorporated. Turn the mixer to low-medium speed until all the eggs are thoroughly mixed in. This will ensure that the sugar is dissolved and that the flour has been fully incorporated, which will help produce a luxurious mouth-feel in the final cake.

With the motor running, add the milk, 1/2 cup at a time, stopping the motor to scrape down the sides and bottom between the two additions. Continue to mix for another minute until the mixture appears smooth. Before baking, be sure the batter is at 70-73 F or the cake will crown.

Divide the batter between the 2 cake pans. Bake until done about 25-30 minutes.


*CAKE RELEASE
1 cup oil
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup shortening

Mix all ingredients in a mixer till well blended. Keep the mixture in an air tight container in the fridge.
Use a pastry brush to grease cake pans.

VANILLA SPONGE CAKE

This recipe is from The Cake Boss. Easy to make and absolutely delish. It can easily be made into cupcakes.

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup butter (lightly salted)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt


    1. Beat eggs in large mixing bowl with paddle attachment for 4 minutes. Do not skip this step!

2. Add sugar, and continue beating for another 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and stir on low until just combined.

3. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Add to eggs and sugar on low speed until just combined.

4. In a saucepan, heat milk and butter on low heat just until butter is melted. Add to batter, beat just until combined.

5. Pour into two greased and floured 8" round cake pans.

6. Bake at 325 F until the middle springs back when touched, or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let stand in pans for 10 minutes. Then turn out onto wire cooling racks and cool completely.

Hint: Cakes are close to being done when you start to smell them.

Moshling Monster Cake

 Scarlet O'Hara

 

My daughter turned another year older in February and likes the Moshling Monsters. Luckily she chose a fairly basic Moshling she wanted replicated as a cake. I was up for the challenge and the cake got rave reviews from all her friends.
The cake consisted of 3 eight inch round cakes, sanwhiched with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream. After carving the shape of the Moshling I applied an exterior coat of swiss meringue buttercream. I applied a fairly thin fondant layer and added the extra detail of eyes, ears, hands, feet, fur and smile.

 

Cutie Pie, Oddie, Iggy

 

Here are the sugar cookies depicting other Moshy Monsters. They were delicious and were eaten in no time. 



STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING

So Christmas has come and gone and I did quite a bit of baking this year. I decided to make Sticky Toffee pudding for dessert on Christmas Eve. I found Medjool Dates, which tend to be more expensive than other dates, but so worth it! The dessert was a hit.



Cake

1 cup water
3 tablespoons strong coffee
1 tablespoon brandy, scotch or rum
1 cup coarsely chopped Medjool dates (pitted)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Toffee Sauce

3/4 cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup 35% cream

 

Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Grease an 8 inch/2L square baking dish.

 

In a small saucepan, bring water, coffee and liquor to a boil. Add the dates and remove from the heat.

 

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking soda and powder, cinnamon and salt.

 

In a mixer cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

 

In a food processor, pules the date mixture with the liquid until just chunky. (I blended the mixture until it was smooth)

 

Beat in flour mixture alternately with date mixture, ending with the flour until the batter is thick and smooth..

 

Pour batter into your greased dish and smooth the top.

 

Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean.

 

Meanwhile make your toffee sauce. In a saucepan cook the sugar, butter and cream over a low heat until slightly thickened and brown. This usually takes a few minutes.

 

When your dessert comes out of the oven poke some holes with a skewer and slowly pour about 2/3's of the sauce over the cake. Reserve the rest of the toffee sauce to serve with the dessert.

Serve this delicious dessert with vanilla ice cream.