The festive season is just around the corner and of course we are incredibly excited! We love everything about this time of year; woolly jumpers, blustery weather, houses adorned with tinkling lights and the abundance of fantastic flavours on offer! With all this in mind an obvious flavour choice for our next cake with The Happy Egg Co. jumped out at us; after dinner mint! The luxurious combination of dark chocolate and smooth mint cream is a seasonal classic around the Christmas dinner table, and one to share with family and friends while watching winter TV specials! We loved the idea of a decadent cake incorporating the fresh sweet taste of peppermint and the bitter creaminess of dark chocolate. Why not finish a festive dinner with an after dinner mint cake instead? We certainly will; we’re salivating at the thought!
Another thing we adore about combining peppermint with dark cocoa is the vibrancy of natural greens contrasted perfectly next to warm browns and crisp grey whites. They do say that you eat with your eyes first so festive greens and natural browns will help tempt everyone!
You don’t even have to wait until after your evening meal to enjoy such a cake flavour. It’s winter in less than a month so why not indulge and warm up your tummy with a generous slice and a piping hot mug of peppermint hot cocoa! Excited? Watch this space for our truly tempting and taste bud tingling 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!
