At this time of the year champagne can find its way into our lives in many forms from various cocktails, indulgent bath sets, and fancy hor d’oeuvres; so why not enjoy some bubbly infused into a delicious macaron or several. These Cranberry, Champagne and Chocolate Macarons have been specially created for The Devilled Egg Kitchen Academy by Juniper Cakery and are wonderfully perfect for New Year’s get-togethers and parties. Be adventurous and assemble them into an impressive macaron tower or topple them playfully onto golden tiered cake stands for a casual yet elegant feel. For the full recipe visit The Devilled Egg blog.
Hurrah! Christmas is now just around the corner and as we all prepare for evenings adorned with festive lights, cosy mulled wine and hours of Christmas TV specials why shouldn’t we also treat ourselves to a generous slice of cake too! Every month we create a delicious recipe using eggs from The Happy Egg Co. for you to re-create and enjoy at home. This month’s is a simple yet decadent treat inspired by every dinner host’s crowd pleaser; the After Dinner Mint. We absolutely adore the sweet and creamy chocolate paired with the fresh zing of peppermint; enjoy with a glass of ice cold milk or a steaming hot mug of coffee to help de-stress after all that Christmas shopping!
Basic Chocolate Cake (makes approximately 2 x 2″ layers of an 8″ diameter round cake)
453g self raising flour
453g butter
453g caster sugar
7 eggs
3 heaped tablespoons of cocoa powder mixed in a paste with boiling water
1 teaspoon baking powder
Cream your butter in a mixer then add the sugar. Add in the flour along with half of the happy eggs for around one minute. Once half of the happy eggs are combined add the remaining eggs along with the cocoa paste and baking powder. Mix for about 5 minutes.
Pour batter in the pan until 2/3 full and place on the top shelf of a pre-heated oven at Gas Mark 3/325F/170C. Bake for around 30 minutes. Repeat this step to create your second layer.
Chocolate and Peppermint Buttercream Recipe
500g diced/chopped butter at room temperature
300-400g icing sugar (keep testing when adding to make sure it is the consistency and sweetness you like)
6-12 drops of peppermint extract
100g melted dark chocolate
1 heaped tablespoon cocoa powder
Add half of the of butter into your mixer and cream. Then gradually add icing sugar and the remaining butter (cut into cubes) until you get a smooth, creamy texture. Add in the melted chocolate and cocoa powder then add the peppermint extract to taste.
For more hints and tips see our tutorial on how to make buttercream here.
Decoration-wise you can keep the look of your cake plain and simple or flex your decorating muscles with fondant elves and snow people. We created some large green trees with candy melts and some green gel paste food colouring. Simply pipe the melted candy melts onto parchment paper on a flat tray and chill until hard. We also created some subtle ridges in our chocolate buttercream and dusted the top with icing sugar to create the look of a mountainous snow sprinkled background.
Once finished you should find yourself left with one tempting cake. Remember to try to save at least half for everyone else to fight over.
What better way to warm up during the cold autumn and winter months than with a little hint of chilli in your home baking! Paired with rich and creamy dark chocolate the dash of chilli essence adds a wonderful tingle of heat to your taste buds; perfect for the adventurous at heart. With the addition of a picturesque edible log cabin, just like Little Red Riding Hood’s unfortunate grandmother’s, and charming hand piped chocolate trees, both dusted with icing sugar snow, these Chilli Chocolate Log Cabin Cupcakes make a delightful winter treat for everyone! Why not set them lovingly inside Christmas themed cupcake boxes and surprise your loved ones! Be warned, however, you’ll find them such a hit with everyone that you may need to bake them again and again!
226g self raising flour
226 butter
226g caster sugar
2-3 tablespoons of cocoa powder mixed into a paste with boiling water
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs
Pre-heat your oven to Gas Mark 3 / 160C / 325F and line a cupcake pan with cupcake cases. Cream your butter and sugar first. When creamy add your eggs and combine together with the flour. Mix well until silky and add in the cocoa powder paste and baking powder, mix again and fill your cases with the batter. Bake for around 20 minutes to 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean when tested.
Chilli Chocolate Ganache Filling
100g dark chocolate callets, chips or buttons
6-12 drops of natural chilli essence
50ml double cream
In a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering hot water on medium heat melt the chocolate with the double cream. Whisk every few minutes until fully melted and add in the natural chilli essence to taste. Remove from the heat and whisk for around 2 minutes before chilling for 10-15 minutes in a freezer. Repeat the whisking and chilling process until your ganache is the consistency of thick peanut butter. Once ready use a good cupcake corer to remove the centres of your cakes and fill with your delicious chilli chocolate ganache! Once filled set these aside and begin making your delicious chilli chocolate buttercream.
Chilli Chocolate Buttercream Recipe
250g butter
250-300g icing sugar (keep testing when adding to make sure it is the consistency and sweetness you are comfortable with)
6-12 drops of natural chilli essence
100g melted dark chocolate callets, buttons or chips
1-2 tablespoons of cocoa powder 808 or 809 plain round piping tip Disposable piping bag
Dice the butter and add to your mixer to cream. Then gradually add icing sugar and the remaining butter (cut into cubes) until you get a smooth, creamy texture. Add the cocoa powder, melted chocolate and chilli essence.
For more hints and tips see our tutorial on how to make buttercream here.
Once your buttercream is ready fill up a disposable piping bag fitted with a piping tip (we used a plain round tip such as an 808 or 809 tip) and generously swirl your ganache filled cupcakes! Now set aside to create your little log cabins!
How to Make the Miniature Edible Log Cabins and Trees
You will need…
Pretzel sticks (if in the UK try the Polish or World foods aisle of your supermarket) Candy melts Disposable piping bag
Dutch waffles (aka stroopwafels) OR pieces of ‘wheaties’ cereal for the roof
Icing sugar White nonpareil sprinkles (optional)
Step one: Carefully cut down your pretzel sticks to around 2.5cm in length. You’ll need quite a few of these so prepare a lot. If you have any leftovers save them in an airtight container for snacks later on.
Step two: Begin ‘glueing’ your log cabin together by carefully piping a thin line of candy melt atop of each pretzel ‘log’ as you go. For extra support you can ‘glue’ small vertical pretzel sticks into the inside along the ‘log wall’.
Step three: To create the roof pitch shape of the house cut down some sticks into descending sizes. Stick these together using the method in step two to create a triangle. Candy melt this to your log cabin wall.
Step four: Cut out some squares of your caramel stroopwafels the size of each side of the roof.
Step five: Using a blade tool carefully punch a hole in one of the roof sides, fill with a little candy melt and angle in a small piece of pretzel stick for a chimney. ‘Glue’ the sides to your house.
Step six: To add windows and doors simply draw them on using a black edible ink pen and a steady hand! (optional)
Step eight: Nestle your adorable log cabin atop your cupcake and dust with a sprinkling of icing/confectioner’s sugar to create a festive snowy scene!
Hurrah! Now it’s time to really see your cupcakes come together! Pop your adorable little log cabins atop a generously swirled cupcake, stick your hand piped trees around your cabin and dust with icing sugar through a sieve for a lovely snowy scene!
The Christmas period has always been synonymous with liqueur fueled festivities. Combine this with a little bit (or a lot) of indulgence at the dinner table and you should be left with a flurry of luxurious booze-y desserts! With this in mind we’ve whipped up a tempting Brandy Alexander cupcake; a creme de cacao with dark chocolate and brandy cake swirled with silky brandy buttercream, dusted with gold and finished with twinkling edible star sequins for culinary school, The Devilled Egg. This decadent cocktail inspired cupcake will no doubt have all of the grown ups at the party rushing to your dessert tables and cake stands for a sample or several. Head on over to The Devilled Egg Kitchen Academy’s blog for our full recipe!
Every year the fun filled winter season tempts us all with decadent desserts and luxurious liqueurs. This year is obviously no different as we present this grown up gourmet Bellini cupcake; perfect for celebrations and soirées! This light and fluffy Prosecco cupcake is filled with home made peach and brown sugar confiture, generously swirled with vanilla pod infused buttercream and finished with a sweet (no pun intended) white chocolate and Prosecco ‘snowball’ truffle. We created this cupcake recipe especially for Bristol based culinary school, The Devilled Egg. This festively frivolous cocktail inspired cupcake is sure to make you a hit on the dinner party circuit! Why not make your way to The Devilled Egg Kitchen Academy’s blog for our full recipe!
As cold, frosty mornings set in across the land here in the UK it’s time for the Snow Queen to begin her reign. What better way to see in the chilly season with these Vanilla Snow Queen cupcakes; soft and light vanilla cakes filled with luxurious white chocolate ganache, swirled with white vanilla buttercream and finally finished with a beautiful, sparkling crown! Display them atop a lovely silver platter or a pristine white tiered cake stand sprinkled with edible glitter for an extra frosty look. The wonderful thing about these particular cupcakes is they manage to be both fun for the kids yet full of glitz and glamour for more grown up sophisticated parties!
Pre-heat your oven to Gas Mark 3 / 160C / 325F and line a cupcake pan with cupcake cases. Cream your butter and sugar first and when ready add your eggs and vanilla. Once combined add the flour, mix well and pour your batter into your cases. Bake for around 20-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean when tested.
White Chocolate Ganache Filling
200g white chocolate callets, chips or buttons
100ml double cream
Glass bowl
Whisk
Saucepan of hot water
In a glass bowl pour in the chocolate with the double cream and set into a saucepan of hot water. Stir gently with the whisk until melted and incorporating together. Remove from the hob and leave the bowl of chocolate and cream to set either in a refrigerator or on a windowsill in cold weather (cover with cling film if doing so). The ganache will be ready to fill your cupcakes with when it has the consistency of peanut butter.
Vanilla Buttercream Recipe
250g butter
250-300g icing sugar (keep testing when adding to make sure it is the consistency and sweetness YOU’D like)
6-12 drops of natural vanilla essence Icing and buttercream whitener
Add half of the of butter diced into pieces. Cream the butter in a mixer. Then gradually add icing sugar and the remaining butter (cut into cubes) until you get a smooth, creamy texture. Add the flavour to taste and add a few drops of icing whitener at a time until you’re happy with the colour.
For more hints and tips see our tutorial on how to make buttercream here.
Step one: Add some tylo powder to your white or gray sugarpaste / fondant. You should only add a small amount; around 1/4 of a teaspoon per 250g.
Step two: Using a fondant rolling pin roll out your paste until around 3mm-4mm thick. With the straight edge blade tool cut out an elongated crown shape around 5-6cm in width at the bottom (but growing larger towards the top) and height.
Step three: Using the blade tool cut out a series of un-regimented ‘spikes’ along the top of the crown. Still using the blade tool indent ‘spikes’ along the crown’s bottom.
Step four: Roll out some gray fondant and cut a small strip. Cut ‘spikes’ along the top.
Step five: Using some dabs of edible glue attach the jagged strip from step four along the middle of the crown.
Step six: To create the pearls on the Snow Queen’s crown indent sections of the crown with the ball tool. Roll up some small white fondant balls and attach by adding a dab of edible glue into the indentation and lightly pressing the small ball into it. Alternatively you could use pearl beads.
Step seven: To shape your crown carefully stand it upright and paint the edges with edible glue before gently pressing together. Leave to set.
Step eight: Once your crown is set brush generously with silver lustre dust (avoiding the white fondant balls you’ve just attached). Leave for a few minutes and then dust once more.
Step nine: To make the pearls shimmer lightly brush them with a new paintbrush and some pearl lustre dust.
Once your crown is ready you can assemble your Vanilla Snow Queen cupcakes! Pipe each cake with your vanilla buttercream, gently nestle your crowns into the frosting and sprinkle generously with snowflake sprinkles! You can also add some edible glitter for some extra sparkle if you wish.
Voila! Congratulations on your collection of gorgeously glimmering Vanilla Snow Queen cupcakes; perfect for the frosty festive season.
We commence the frosty yet festive season with a collection of winter themed cupcake recipes and tutorials created to help make your party stand out and keep the frazzled stress levels at bay. These adorable and sweet (no pun intended) Peppermint Forest cupcakes evoke a crisp Winter Wonderland paired with Germanic fairytales and a childhood favourite board game for the American-bred half of Juniper Cakery… Candyland! We loved the idea of this so much that all of our ‘Winter Tales’ recipes and tutorials encompass a fairy tale-esque theme. Why not try our recipe and cupcake decorating tutorial for a truly magical batch of treats!
Pre-heat your oven to Gas Mark 3 / 160C / 325F and line a cupcake pan with cupcake cases. Cream your butter and sugar first. When creamy add your eggs and vanilla extract. When combined together it is time to add the flour. Mix well until silky and pour the batter into your cases. Bake for around 20 minutes to 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean when tested.
Dice the butter into pieces and add half to your mixer. Once the butter is smooth gradually add icing sugar and the remaining butter (also diced into cubes) until you get a smooth, creamy texture. Add the flavour to taste.
For more hints and tips see our tutorial on how to make buttercream here.
Step one: Lay out a flat sheet of baking parchment paper (you may need more depending on how many trees you’d like to make).
Step two: Melt the candy melts by stirring them in a glass bowl set over a pan of boiling water. If you decide to melt them in the microwave take care not to burn them as they would become unusable.
Step three: Fit a disposable piping bag with the writing tip.
Step four: Add the melted candy melts into the disposable piping bag you just prepared.
Step five: On the baking or parchment paper(s) pipe out some tree shapes varying from around 1.5cm to 6cm. Whilst still melted sprinkle with edible glitter or sprinkles. Leave to set.
Step six: Pipe your cupcakes generously with your lovely pink peppermint buttercream. We used the 828 open star piping tip which can be found at the link provided.
Step seven: Once your trees have hardened carefully lift them from the paper and insert them into the buttercream atop of your cupcakes. Nestle enough in to create a charming candy forest!
Step eight: Once your trees are in place sprinkle them with white edible glitter and white nonpareils.
You should now be left with a pretty collection of peppermint cupcakes festooned with festive candy Christmas trees; perfect for a sweet winter treat!
These addictive and decadent Golden Apple Strudel cupcakes are perfect to satisfy an autumnal sweet tooth. They are crumbly, soft cakes with brown sugar, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice baked in, filled with chunky homemade apple sauce, swirled with apple buttercream and topped with a gold dusted fondant apple; wonderfully simple and tempting, we’re sure you’ll agree!
226g self raising flour
226g butter
226g brown sugar
4 eggs
2 handfuls of raisins or sultanas (for some boozy decadence leave these to soak in a teacup of whiskey overnight before adding into your batter - remember to drain the whiskey first before adding to avoid sloppy, overly moist batter)
2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoon allspice
Pre-heat your over to Gas Mark 3 / 160C / 325F and line a cupcake pan with cupcake cases. Cream your butter and sugar first. When pale and creamy add your eggs, spices and raisins. When combined add the flour. Mix well and then pour your silky batter into your cases. Bake for around 20 minutes to 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean when tested.
Apple, Cinnamon & Brown Sugar Filling
5 large cooking apples
3 teapsoon cinnamon
140g brown sugar
14 tablespoons water
Peel and chop up your apples in chunks around 1cm in size. In a saucepan add the chopped apples, cinnamon, brown sugar and water on high heat. Bring to boil and then lower the heat to medium and let simmer until the apple pieces have softened and the water has reduced a little. Take off the heat and mash before pouring into a jar. Leave to cool. Once cooled down you can core your cupcakes with a good cupcake corer and spoon your delicious apple mixture inside.
Apple Buttercream Recipe
250g butter
250-300g icing sugar (keep testing when adding to make sure it is the consistency and sweetness YOU’D like)
6-12 drops of natural apple essence
Add half of the of butter diced into pieces. Cream the butter in a mixer. Then gradually add icing sugar and the remaining butter (cut into cubes) until you get a smooth, creamy texture. Add the flavour to taste.
For more hints and tips see our tutorial on how to make buttercream here.
How to Make the Golden Apples
To make your golden apple cupcake toppers you will need…
Step one: Shape some sugarpaste / fondant into the body of your apple. Begin with a ball and smooth your fingers over it to create a slightly tapered base and rounded top.
Step two: For the leaf simply roll out some sugarpaste / fondant onto an icing sugar dusted surface and use the plunger cutter to cut out a small leaf. Leave on a curved surface (e.g. a teaspoon) to dry into a more natural shape. OR you could shape a small piece of sugarpaste into a leaf shape and indent the centre with a line using a veining tool.
Step three: To create the stalk shape a small amount of sugarpaste / fondant into a apostrophe-like shape with a flat top.
Step four: Attach the stalk and leaf by pushing the tapered modelling tool into the top of the apple, add a dab of edible glue into the indent for the leaf, insert the stalk into the top of the apple and lightly press the leaf next to the stalk where you’ve applied some edible glue.
Step five: If you’re creating golden apples leave your apples to dry fully. Once dry dust generously with gold lustre dust. Leave to sit for a few minutes before dusting again until you get a gorgeous glimmering gold!
Now you have your own Golden Apple Strudel cupcakes; perfect for any seasonal party!
Autumn always brings forth some wonderfully warming and indulgent flavours when it comes to food and celebrations. As Guy Fawkes’ Night festivities commence in the United Kingdom this month’s cake is nothing short of a subtle yet sumptuous treat; perfect to enjoy during the Bonfire Night shenanigans! Imagine slicing into a fragrant cake spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and ginger; covered and filled with home made caramel sauce and scrumptious apple buttercream; and then drizzled with even more caramel sauce! Wouldn’t that be the perfect addition to your dinner table this 5th of November and during the rest of the chilly season! If you’re outside of Great Britain we’re sure you’ll still enjoy this recipe too. The rich spices, tangy apple frosting and sweet caramel pair wonderfully with any autumnal soirée. The little fondant apples sat happily amidst dripping caramel resemble glistening apples bobbing in a barrel of water ready for party games.
Simple Spiced Cake Recipe (makes approximately 3 x 1″ layers of an 8″ diameter round cake)
Cream your butter in a mixer then add the brown sugar. Add in the flour along with half of the happy eggs for around one minute. Once half of the happy eggs are combined add the remaining and the spices to taste. Mix for about 5 minutes.
Pour batter in the pan until 2/3 full and place on the top shelf of a pre-heated oven at Gas Mark 3/325F/170C. Bake for around 30 minutes. Repeat this step to create your second and third layer.
Apple Buttercream Recipe
500g butter (around two packs in the UK)
300-400g icing sugar (keep testing when adding to make sure it is the consistency and sweetness YOU’D like)
6-12 drops of natural apple essence
Add half of the of butter diced into pieces. Cream the butter in a mixer. Then gradually add icing sugar and the remaining butter (cut into cubes) until you get a smooth, creamy texture. Add the flavour to taste.
For more hints and tips see our tutorial on how to make buttercream here.
Easy Caramel Sauce Recipe
260g caster sugar
4 tablespoons of room temp water
140ml double cream
50g butter
On medium heat dissolve the sugar with the water whilst stirring in a saucepan. Raise the heat until the sugar mixture bubbles and turns a lovely golden brown (this should take around 5 minutes). Take off the heat and stir the cream and butter into your caramel sugar mixture. Leave to cool and it’s ready to fill and pour atop of your cake!
To assemble your cake smooth caramel sauce and apple buttercream between each layer of cake. Next apply a thin layer of buttercream over your cake evenly leaving extra buttercream for later. Smooth and leave in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes to an hour. Once chilled smother the rest of the lovely apple flavoured buttercream over the sides and top and smooth with a spatula. Now carefully pour the caramel sauce over the cake and use a clean spatula to push the sauce to the edges so it drips luxuriously! Finally you can decorate the top with little fondant apples, fudge pieces, cinnamon sticks or caramel filled truffles!
We do hope you thoroughly enjoy this warm and taste bud tingling recipe during the ensuing chilly months. Try a generous slice with a cup of spicy chai tea or gingerbread flavour coffee for an uplifting treat!
Last week we used Maggie Austin’s Fondant Frills tutorial, via Craftsy.com, to add ruffles to our spooky Witches’ Cauldron cake. Though this technique is certainly not out of place on extravagant wedding cakes the grey and black ruffles we used suited our Halloween cake perfectly! This week we’ve used a rich chocolate brown, glimmering gold and burnt orange to create a glamorous autumnal cake using the same method. We thought the frills on the Witches’ Cauldron cake resembled rugged rocks assenting a cliff face and we believe these frills resemble delicate, crunchy leaves; perfect for the season!
To find out how to create the gorgeous, delicate ruffles we used to decorate our Golden Acorn cake visit Craftsy.com for 25% off of your first cake decorating course. In Maggie Austen’s Fondant Frill class you’ll discover how to make your own flower paste / gumpaste, achieve a pretty ombre look, and create sumptuous cabbage roses. Why not catch the crafting and cake decorating bug in time for the festive season? You’ll be pretty darn popular when Thanksgiving, Christmas or Hanukkah arrives and you’ve created stunning ruffled mini cakes for everyone you love! We had so much fun frilling out fondant strips for our Golden Acorn cake and the dramatic yet subtle texture is perfect for lots of different projects. We’re already thinking of snowdrift themed tiers of ice blue and white ruffles teamed with shimmering hand painted snowflakes and quilting.
To decorate our cake we created lots of sugarpaste / fondant acorns to topple atop of our warm hued ruffle cake including one large golden acorn perched at the top; perfect for a playful yet glamorous cake. Of course, if you’re thinking of trying out this cake at home and lack the time we had why not fill the top of your cake with chocolate truffles, crumbled cookies, juicy berries or cracked walnuts.
Underneath the rich myriad of ruffles is a delicious chocolate, pumpkin and vanilla Neapolitan style layer cake filled with vanilla buttercream making this cake even more irresistible. With cold and blustery months ensuing this cake is the perfect centrepiece to cosy family get-togethers and dinners. Give our recipe below a try for a decadent treat!
Chocolate cake layer (makes one 1 1/2″ thick 8″ in diameter layer)
165g self-raising flour
165g caster sugar
165g butter
3 to 4 medium eggs
70g cocoa powder
Pre-heat your over to Gas Mark 3 / 160C / 325F and prep your 8″ circle cake pans with cake release. With each layer mix the appropriate ingredients by creaming your butter and sugar first. When pale and creamy add your eggs and any flavourings (such as cocoa powder, spices, pumpkin puree and extracts). When combined add the flour. Mix well and then pour your silky batter into your cake pan. Bake from around 25 minutes to 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean when tested.
Leaving all of your cake layers to cool on a wire rack start preparing your vanilla buttercream.
Vanilla buttercream
300g butter (stay clear of low fat spreads due to the larger water content)
350g-400g icing / confectioner’s sugar
2 bourbon vanilla pods
1 tablespoon of room temperature water
To begin your buttercream dice up your butter into small cubes before adding them into the bowl of a stand up mixer and creaming until smooth and silky. Once creamed gradually add in the icing sugar by adding a little and leaving to combine in the mixer for approximately 10 seconds. Repeat this until you have a consistency you like. Add in the seeds from the inside of a bourbon vanilla pod. To do this slice the pod in half, to scrape out the seeds inside and pop them into the buttercream. Mix for another 10 seconds.
Now you can stack up your cakes! Our layers consisted of the chocolate first, then a layer of vanilla buttercream, the layer of spiced pumpkin, some more vanilla buttercream and finally the vanilla cake layer. When decorating our striped ruffles corresponded with the cake layers hidden inside! Once your layers are stacked prepare your cake with a smooth crumb coat, chill for an hour, ice with roll out icing / fondant and make your way to Craftsy.com for Maggie Austen’s Fondant Frills class to re-create the delicate ruffles!
Craftsy.com provides online education for creative enthusiasts so they can turn their ideas into reality.Crafty’s online cake decorating courses allow you to learn at your own pace whenever you choose! Click here to receive 25% off your first cake decorating course with Craftsy.
This is a sponsored conversation written by Juniper Cakery on behalf of Craftsy. The opinions and text are all ours.
