We love Cookies ‘N’ Cream! It’s got everything your taste buds need for a fun filled party… chocolate… cookie crumble… whipped buttercream… and the finest vanilla pod seeds! This weekend we created a lovely Cookies ‘N’ Cream cake. It went down a treat to say the least. Why not give our recipe below a try for a delicious delight fit for any party?
Basic Chocolate Cake Recipe (makes approx. 3 x 9″ layers)
453g self-raising flour
453g butter
453g caster sugar
8-10 heaped tablespoons of cocoa powder (depending on brand)
10 eggs
1 vanilla bourbon pod
Step one: Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 3/325F/170C
Step two: Cream the butter with sugar and once well mixed add in the flour, vanilla bourbon pod seeds, cocoa powder and then the eggs.
Step three: Fill your 9″ cake pans 1/4 full.
Step four: Bake for around 30-45 minutes or until done.
Here is a cupcake recipe for all the white chocolate lovers out there! This cupcake is a lovely creamy, soft and smooth white chocolate crammed delight. It’s perfect for the chilliness of the coming months, but if you want something with a bit of bite why not throw in some lemon extract into the batter with a handful of blueberries, raspberries or blackberries. Either way this is a wonderful cupcake for a well deserved treat!
Vanilla and White Chocolate cupcakes (makes approximately 12)
226g self raising flour
226g butter
226g caster sugar
4 eggs
1 Bourbon Vanilla Pod
2 handfuls of white chocolate chips or buttons
Step one: Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 3/325F/170C
Step two: Cream the butter with sugar and once well mixed add in the seeds from the inside of your vanilla pod, flour and then the eggs.
Step three: Set out twelve cupcake cases in your pan and fill each case 2/3 full. Tumble some white chocolate chips/buttons into your batter.
Step four: Bake from around 12-18 minutes or until a golden brown on top and leave to cool on a counter.
White Chocolate Buttercream
We make our buttercream using our own intuition. We’ve tried countless recipes; all of which failed to pass our test (and stability) tests. It’s best that you begin to develop and ‘eye’, ‘feel’ and ‘taste’ so that you know when your frosting is perfect for you. For starters though, the recipe below is a rough guide…
Step one: Cut your butter into small cubes and cream your butter until soft. Gradually add icing sugar until a good consistency and add the seeds from a vanilla pod..
Step two: Melt 100g of white chocolate buttons and once partially cooled add to your buttercream. Mix well. Add a little extra icing sugar if needed.
Step three: Fill a piping bag fitted with an 855 piping tip/nozzle (this tip/nozzle creates lovely ruffled buttercream) with your white chocolate buttercream.
Step four: Now you can pipe lots of generous and tasty swirls of buttercream on top of your cupcakes once they have cooled down and topple some tasty white chocolate chips/buttons on top!
Bergamot has a wonderfully soft floral and citrus taste which pairs perfectly with tart flavours. For this cupcake recipe we teamed it with tangy raspberries baked inside. Another great thing about baking with bergamot extract is the smell; be prepared for a lovely earl grey tea scent travelling through your home when you have these cupcakes in the oven! Why not follow our recipe below for a batch of cupcakes perfect for an afternoon treat.
Step one: Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 3/325F/170C
Step two: Cream the butter with sugar and once well mixed add in the flour and then the eggs.
Step three: Set out twelve cupcake cases in your pan and fill each case 2/3 full. Push your raspberries into each cupcake case full of batter.
Step four: Bake from around 12-18 minutes or until a golden brown on top and leave to cool on a counter.
Bergamot Buttercream recipe
We make our buttercream using our own intuition. We’ve tried countless recipes; all of which failed to pass our taste and stability tests. It’s best that you begin to develop an ‘eye’, ‘feel’ and ‘taste’ so that you know when your frosting is perfect for you. For starters though, the recipe below is a rough guide…
Step four: Now you can pipe lots of generous and tasty swirls of buttercream on top of your cupcakes once they have cooled down and finish with a lovely fresh raspberry!
These honey whiskey cupcakes are the perfect boozy treat exclusively for grown ups! They’re a little more rustic than the trend for cocktail infused cupcakes and the rich, deep flavour of the honey adds a great sweetness to the buttercream. By adding bourbon vanilla pod seeds in your buttercream with a splash (or several) of Tennessee honey whiskey you’ll get a lovely creamy taste too. Follow our recipe below for some indulgent treats!
Vanilla Cupcake Recipe (makes approximately 12 cupcakes)
Step one: Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 3/325F/170C
Step two: Cream the butter with the sugar and once well mixed add the eggs then gradually add the flour and seeds from your vanilla pod.
Step three: Set out your cupcake cases in your pan and fill each case 2/3 full.
Step four: Bake from around 12-18 minutes and leave to cool on a counter. TIP: To stop the tops of cakes and cupcakes from hardening when cooling place slices of bread on top of them as they cool.
Step three: Fit a piping bag with a 808 piping tip (to get a lovely smooth-look buttercream like our cupcake). Fill your piping bag with your buttercream.
Step four: Pipe some generous swirls atop your cupcakes. We pipe our cupcakes from the centre and around whilst cutting in on top.
Summer is nearly over, so why not enjoy what is left of the sunny months with our recipe for Fizzy Pink Lemonade cupcakes! These will be a definite hit with both kids and grown ups at parties and barbecues. The soft lemon cake paired with the tangy lemon and pink grapefruit buttercream is fruity, sweet, refreshing and a wonderful summer inspired treat!
Basic Lemon Cupcake Recipe (makes approximately 12 cupcakes)
Step one: Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 3/325F/170C
Step two: Cream the butter with sugar and once well mixed add in lemon extract, flour and then the eggs.
Step three: Set out your cupcake cases in your pan and fill each case 2/3 full.
Step four: Bake from around 12-18 minutes or until a golden brown on top and leave to cool on a counter. TIP: To stop the tops of cakes and cupcakes from hardening when cooling place slices of bread on top of them as they cool.
Step three: Fit a piping bag with a 858 piping tip (to get a lovely traditional buttercream ruffle like our cupcake). Fill your piping bag with your buttercream.
Step four: Pipe some generous swirls atop your cupcakes, gently top with lemon sherbet crystals and add press half a retro paper straw into your buttercream!
Yay! Our super fruity and bright Lemon and Passion Fruit Ombré cupcakes were featured in this month’s issue of Craftseller magazine! Head to page 12 of the magazine to see our zesty cupcakes in all their glory. If you’d love to re-create these particular cupcakes yourself why not give our recipe a try?
Cookies ‘N’ Cream is our favourite flavour! It’s a soft chocolate cake swirled with a cookie and bourbon vanilla pod infused buttercream then finished with more crunchy cookie crumbles! Sound good? If so then why not give our recipe below a try and enjoy them yourself!
Basic Chocolate Cupcake Recipe (makes approx. 12)
226g self-raising flour
226g butter
226g caster sugar
4-5 heaped tablespoons of cocoa powder (depending on brand)
4-5 eggs
60ml canola or rapeseed oil
1 vanilla bourbon pod Cupcake cases
Step one: Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 3/325F/170C
Step two: Cream the butter with sugar and once well mixed add in the flour, vanilla bourbon pod seeds, cocoa powder, oil and then the eggs.
Step three: Set out your cupcake cases in your pan and fill each case 2/3 full.
Step four: Bake from around 12-18 minutes then leave to cool on a counter. Remember to try not to eat them!
These cupcakes are an instant crowd pleaser. By adding real and good quality vanilla bourbon pods to your cookies ‘n’ cream buttercream you get a gorgeous ice cream-like flavour to your frosting. Once these cupcakes are ready to eat save yourself a few because they will suddenly disappear!
Fresh blueberries and fragrant lavender are two of the best things about summer, plus they are wonderful flavours to add to various cake recipes too. With that in mind we whipped up a delicious Blueberry, Lavender and White Chocolate cake using eggs from The Happy Egg Co. This cake is perfect for a fruity summertime treat; why not try out our recipe for barbecues, garden parties or afternoon tea.
Blueberry, Lavender and White Chocolate Cake Recipe
Cream your butter in a mixer then add the caster 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 mix for about 5 minutes. Add 1 heaped teaspoon of edible lavender florets and mix.
Pour into a greased circle cake 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 three times for each circle layer.
Blueberry and Lavender Preserve Recipe
200g of blueberries
2 tablespoons of edible lavender florets
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
250g jam sugar
6 tablespoons of room temperature water
Add all ingredients into a saucepan on medium to high heat. Bring to boil whilst stirring constantly.
Leave to simmer and keep stirring. When the liquid has reduced to 50% less check if the preserve is ready. To do this turn off the heat and scoop out a tablespoon’s worth before leaving in the sample in a refrigerator for 2 minutes. Test when ready by pushing the jam with your finger. Is the jam moves and forms a wrinkled skin along the top then it is ready. Otherwise, turn on the heat and leave the preserve to simmer a little longer.
Once ready pour into clean jars to cool before using.
White Chocolate Buttercream
150g white chocolate buttons
350g butter
250-350g icing sugar
Step one: Cut up your butter into small cubes. We use a serrated knife to do this as the serrated edge causes less suction than a straight edge one. This means you shouldn’t be fighting desperately with getting the butter off your knife; a hazardous thing to do at best!
Step two: In a stand up mixer cream your butter using the flat beater on medium speed.
Step three: As the butter is creaming add in the icing sugar a bit at a time.
Step four: In a glass bowl melt up your chocolate callets in either a bain marie (the bowl in a saucepan of hot water) or a microwave (check and stir every 30 seconds to avoid burning).
Step five: Remove from heat once melted and stir until the chocolate has half cooled. Pour your melted chocolate into your mixer bowl with the buttercream and mix.
Step six: Mix your frosting at full speed at 30 second intervals; checking each time.
Sandwich your layers with your fruity blueberry buttercream on your turntable before covering your cake with your white chocolate frosting. Using a small spatula add the white chocolate buttercream onto your cake until it is completely covered and smoothed.
To create the linear texture in the buttercream that we created begin from the bottom of your cake and angle the tip of your spatula into the frosting slightly. As you turn your turntable keep your spatula steady and move slightly up the cake so you are left with a linear spiral working it’s way up through the buttercream!
Finally, sprinkle with edible lavender florets and topple generously with fresh blueberries! Now your Blueberry, Lavender and White Chocolate cake is ready to be enjoyed!
Now that we are in the middle of summer we thought we’d share a popular recipe of ours that is perfect barbecues and parties! These Lemon and Passion Fruit cupcakes are fruity, bright and fun. Add some Lemon Sherbet Crystals and you’ll be left with lovely tangy and fizzy buttercream!
Step one: Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 3/325F/170C
Step two: Cream the butter with sugar, flour and then the eggs.
Step three: Set out twelve cupcake cases in your pan and fill each case 2/3 full.
Step four: Bake from around 12-18 minutes or until a golden brown on top and leave to cool on a counter.
For the buttercream…
We make our buttercream using our own intuition. We’ve tried countless recipes; all of which failed to pass our test (and stability) tests. It’s best that you begin to develop and ‘eye’, ‘feel’ and ‘taste’ so that you know when your frosting is perfect for you. For starters though, the recipe below is a rough guide…
Step three: Scoop each flavour buttercream into separate piping bags fitted with an 868 piping tip/nozzle (this tip/nozzle creates lovely linear patterned buttercream).
Step: To pipe begin with your darker colour (Passion Fruit) and pipe one layer of buttercream onto your cupcakes. Now pipe your light colour (Lemon) buttercream atop.
As discussed in June’s development post our inspiration for this month’s cake was tart, fruity flavours. Our lemon, lime and passion fruit combination naturally lead us to create a fresh, vibrant colour palette full of tonal yellows, oranges and green! The ombré buttercream technique we used combined the summer hues of lemon and yellow perfectly and baked inside the cake are flecks of lemon and lime zest to add extra flavour and bursts of bright green.
Makes approx. 2-3 x 8″ circle layers depending on thickness of each layer
7-8 free range eggs by The Happy Egg Co. depending on egg size
453g self raising flour
453g caster sugar
453g butter
Zest from 2 lemons (optional)
Zest from 2 limes (optional) Natural Lemon Extract Natural Lime Extract
Pre-heat an oven to Gas Mark 3/325F/170C.
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. Mix for about 5 minutes.
Separate your batter into two or three clean bowls (depending on how many layers you’d like) and flavour each with either lemon or lime extract (and zest if you’ve opted for this… do bear in mind that having the zest inside your cake is a little like choosing orange juice with ‘bits’).
Pour batter into an 8″ cake tin/pan around (we aim for the batter to reach 1 1/2 to 2cm in height in the tin) place on the top shelf. Bake for around 40-50 minutes or until ready. Repeat this step to create your second and third layer. When all layers are baked leave them to cool fully as you prepare your buttercream!
For the buttercream you will need…
453g butter (don’t use margarine as the water content is higher and not suitable for buttercream)
453g – 553g icing sugar (choose your own consistency and taste) Natural Passion Fruit Essence (flavour to taste)
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 passion fruit essence to taste. Separate the buttercream evenly into three clean bowls and colour each a darker shade than the last.
The ombré buttercream technique
Achieving an ombré technique with buttercream is much simpler than with fondant as any mistakes can be improved.
Step one: Before you apply your deeper toned colours use some of your lighter coloured buttercream to apply a crumb coat; this will secure any crumbs so they won’t spill out into your design.
Step two: Now your cake is covered in a thin crumb coat begin to work in bands of colour from the top down. Use a large cranked spatula to apply the remainder of your lighter coloured buttercream to the top of your cake. We were intentionally messy when decorating the top of our cake as this is a fun and simple way to add texture!
Step three: Add your two remaining colours in the same way and use a straight edge scraper to blend the buttercream on the sides of your cake for the perfect ombré finish.
This cake could be created using any three colours so don’t be afraid to experiment with your design.
