Friday, 19 August 2011

When Life Gives You Lemons..... BAKE!

Lemon & Ginger Cupcakes!
So I have decided to try and dedicate Wednesday nights to baking/experimenting and trying new recipes! Here is the first 'offish-aall' session! 

As you know, I LOVE lemons, and I happen to be a bit of a Lemon myself, so this recipe is defiantly one of my favourites. The Ginger gives it a nice, fragrant light spice too.


Preparation Time: 30 Minutes
Cooking Time: 25 Minutes
Makes around 12

Ingredients:

110g unsalted butter at room temperature
225g caster sugar
2 large organic eggs
150g self-raising flour
125g plain flour
90ml semi-skimmed milk
30ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ tsp ginger
1tsp grated lemon zest
1tbsp sour cream (I used double ½ tbsp of double cream on this occasion)

For the Icing:
115 g unsalted butter, at room temp
30ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp Grated Lemon Rind from a lemon
500g Icing Sugar, sifted
Food Colouring (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160oC or 180oC for fan assisted oven and Line a 12 hole muffin tray with cupcake cases.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the creamed butter and sugar and beat well.

3. In a jug, combine the milk, lemon juice, ginger and sour cream. Alternate adding the flours and milk to creamed butter mix as follows - add one-third of the flour and mix well. Add half the milk mixture and mix well. Add another third of flour and mix well. Add the remainder of the milk and mix well. Finish by adding the last third of flour and the lemon zest and beat like there’s no tomorrow sister!

4. If the mixture looks like it is curdling slightly, don’t panic – simply add another spoonful of plain flour and beat well. Spoon out the mixture evenly between the cases and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Use a cake skewer in the centre of one the cupcakes to check they are cooked through. They will appear quite a light golden brown colour even when cooked.
Leave in the tin for 10 minutes and the place carefully on a wire rack to cool completely.

5.  In a large bowl, beat the butter, milk, lemon juice, lemon rind and half the icing sugar until smooth. Gradually add the remainder of the icing sugar and beat until thick and creamy. (I find using an electric whisk in the last few minutes makes it extra smooth and creamy!

When the cupcakes are completely cold, they can be iced with the fresh lemon icing and decorated with a sugared lemon slice (I got a packed in the Sainsburys baking sale!) or some grated peel from a lemon. Sprinkle a tiny spinkling of ginger from a height over all the cakes and…. Walaaa!

I personalised a cake for my lovely friend, and wonderful human being - Zara (Keep It Bright/Dream Factory). I tried to make an equally special personalised box - unfortunately i forgot to take a photograph of the cake in its box presented in all it's glory :P

I also made a batch of classic Vanilla just for the sake of it. Same as above really , but substitute the Lemon juice, zest, ginger and sour cream with a few drops of Vanilla.

If you would like any of these beauties, get in touch! 

Stay Positive, Keep Calm, and BAKE CAKES! 

Wednesday, 17 August 2011

Earl Grey Mad Hatters Tea Party Cakes!


These little numbers were what i made for our Mad Hatterz Tea Party and they went down a treat! The Earl Grey really complimented the theme too.

They were inspired by Sarah of North West Nosh's Earl Grey Cake, which was absolutely delicious!

I got the Recipie from The Primrose Bakery Cupcake Cookbook  which was a 20th Birthday present from my Ma'Dukes - best present ever!



It really is such a great book, I would recommend it to anyone! Saves me in my moments of desperation...

Preparation Time: 20 Minutes (extra for decorating)
Cooking Time: 25 Minutes
Makes 12 Cupcakes

Ingredients:
125 ml milk
4 Earl Grey tea bags 
110g unsalted butter
225g granulated sugar
2 large eggs
¼ tsp almond essence (optional)
125g self-rising flour
120g plain flour
Frosting:
115g unsalted butter at room temperature
60 ml semi skimmed milk
1 tsp good quality vanilla extract
500g icing sugar
Few drops of lilac food colouring (i decided to skip this on this occasion)
Royal Icing 

A few days prior to baking/decorating, mould some royal icing into shapes for the theme and store in an lunchbox in a cool, dry place.

I made:
  • The Mad Hatters hat, and added green glitter for a bit of jazzy colour
  • Cheshire cat smiles and drew on the teeth using an edible food pen
  • The white rabbit! (This wasn't easy - you have to use your playdough skills)
  • Clocks - same idea as the Cheshire Cat Smiles, use edible pen to draw some quirky times
  • A tea cup and saucer - again this was a case of moulding until your happy with the shape, i then wrote 'Time 4 Tea' on the saucer and filled the cup with edible glitter, YUM!

Method
Preheat oven to 180c/ gas mark 4.  Line a 12 hole muffin tray with cupcake cases.  

1. Heat milk in a saucepan over a medium heat until it begins to boil. Remove from the heat and add teabags. Cover with a lid or cling film and leave for about 30 minutes.

2. Cream butter with sugar in a bowl until the mixture is pale and smooth. 3-4 minutes with electric whisk.  Add almond extract and eggs one at a time, mixing WELL after each addition.  Scrape bowl with a spatula to make sure that the mixture is well combined.

3. Combine the flours in a separate bowl. Add a third of the flour to the butter and sugar mixture and beat well. Pour in a third of the milk/tea mixture and beat. Repeat until all the flour and milk has been added to the mixture.

4. Carefully spoon mixture into cupcake cases, filling each one around two-thirds full.  Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes (i usually do a check at about 15-20 minutes). Stick a skewer or knife in the middle to see if it comes out dry, yes? then they are ready! :D Place on wire rack to cool down.

5. To make butter cream, beat butter, milk, vanilla and half the icing sugar until smooth. Gradually add the rest of icing sugar to produce a creamy and smooth consistency. Add a drop of colouring and beat thoroughly. (Add a drop of water/milk if too thick) When cool, ice the cupcakes with a generous swirl and sprinkle with a little extra granulated sugar and add your decorations accordingly! 


Let me know how you get on!

Here are some photos from the party... 


 


Party photos courtesy of Adam Air Photography on the pocket camera ;)

WELCOME!

Hello !

Welcome to the Little Lemon Cakery Blog!

Ive set up this blog in an attempt to chase my fantasy of having my own cakery! You have to start somewhere....

MY AIM!
To network as much as possible, meet new people, bakers, YOU!
Share Recipies
Give tips
Share photos of cake projects
Video tutorials
Set up open baking session at my house!

Essentially, this blog is acting as a platform for my love of cakes, sweet things, and love.


I can cater for events, birthdays, or just a general sweet tooth munchie session! If you would like to know more, please contact me at : littlelemoncakery@hotmail.com

YOU: If you want to hook up and bake with me , GET IN TOUCH. Im always up for a a baking session, and collaborating different styles and ideas can have wonderful outcomes! Not to mention learning off each other! please contact littlelemoncakery@hotmail.com and i will endevour to get back to you ASAP with some dates and more details.

Please repost this page on FB, Twitter, anything that you think will draw in potential Lemon Cakery Bakers ;)

Lots of Love,

The Little Lemon Cakery.
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