Easter Nest and Mini Egg Vanilla Cupcakes

A few weeks ago I saw the cutest picture on Pinterest, it was a cupcake with a gorgeous little frosted nest and mini eggs in the center, the perfect treat for Easter! I knew I HAD to try and create it, so I got my eBay on and ordered my Wilton grass/hair 233 piping nozzle. I had a very trusty co-Chefette in the form of Lisa and we baked these little babies for a work "Bake Off". Again, I used my favourite vanilla cupcake recipe from Rosie at Sweetapolita, so all recipe credits to her magical baking talents for these little babies!

 Classic Vanilla Cupcakes

(Recipe Credit: http://sweetapolita.com/2012/10/vanilla-bean-white-chocolate-birdie-cupcakes-and-video-tutorial/ )

275grams or 2 ½ cups cake flour

OR

100 grams corn flour

175 grams plain flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup full cream milk

2 large egg whites

1 whole egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

300grams caster sugar

115 grams butter

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and center the oven rack. Line 2 muffin/cupcake pans with your favourite standard-size cupcake liner, and put the first cupcake pan on a baking sheet. (You will place the second cupcake pan on the same sheet in the oven once the first tray is baked.)

2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium-sized bowl. Whisk together the milk, eggs and vanilla extract in a medium bowl or large glass measuring cup.

3. In an electric mixer fitted with the whisk or paddle attachment (I used the whisk), cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until very pale and creamy, about 5 minutes.

4. With the mixer still on medium speed, alternate additions of the flour mixture and milk-egg mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (3 dry additions, 2 wet), beating after each addition until incorporated. Continue mixing on medium speed for 2 minutes.

5. Divide batter evenly among your cupcake liners–about 2/3 full–and bake until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs only, about 16 minutes.

6. Carefully remove the cupcakes from the pan and let cool on wire racks. Repeat with second tray.

White Chocolate Frosting

227 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature

175 grams white chocolate

½ vanilla bean, seeded and scraped

Pinch of salt

375 grams sifted icing sugar

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter for 3-4 minutes on medium speed (I use “4″ on my KitchenAid). Butter will become very pale & creamy.

2. Melt chocolate in microwave in a small heatproof bowl, or over a pot of simmering water on the stovetop, stirring often. Let cool.

3. Add melted chocolate to butter and beat until incorporated. Add vanilla bean and salt and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add sifted icing sugar, beating on low speed until just combined, increasing to medium speed until well combined. (I added some pink food colouring to mine and piped the frosting on top using the Wilton rose attachment)

(I added dark chocolate to a portion of the frosting to make the nest, and green food colouring to the rest to make the base)

Chocolate Biscuit Slice/Bar

I have made this easy-peasy sweet on many occasions and it is always a hit! This is the one recipe people always ask me for. It is simply a variation of the humble Hedgehog slice.

Chocolate Biscuit Slice / Bar

750 grams milk chocolate
250 grams butter
1 packet of Marie or Rich Tea Biscuits (Lightly crushed)
2 eggs (well beaten)
1 cup of chopped hazelnuts
1/2 cup of chopped raspberry lollies or any favourite lolly/sweet
200 grams white chocolate

Method

1. Line a lamington tray or shallow tray with greaseproof paper.
2. Put biscuits into a bag and lightly crush them, I normally wrap a tea-towel around the bag and give it a few hits with a rolling pin. (The key is to still have some large chunks)
3. Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat until combined and take off heat.

4. Add beaten eggs and mix well.
5. Add nuts, sweets/ lollies and broken biscuits to the mixture and combine.
6. Spread mixture in tin and make the top as smooth as possible by using a spatula. Allow to chill for 30 minutes.

7. Spread melted white chocolate over chilled mixture and if you're extra adventurous you can make some fun patterns or add grated chocolate or desicated coconut.
8. Chill overnight, and then cut with a sharp knife and serve.

 Happy Caking! xxx

Chefette's take on Nigella's Chocolate Fudge Cake

I have had soooo many family birthdays' lately which has meant lots of baking. Ever since I have gotten into baking, I have been searching high and low for a really delicious chocolate cake recipe, and I have never found one... until now. This recipe is going to be be staple chocolate cake from now on. I found this Nigella Lawson recipe here and I only changed one ingredient and gave the cake four layers rather than two, and it was DEE-LISH!!! So if you need a special cake to ring in the New Year and celebrate 2013 then I can highly recommend this! Now I did do a bit of research with regards to substituting the various sugars in this recipe, but the molasses in both the muscovado and golden caster sugar are essential in bringing out the chocolatey goodness. I also sprayed this cake with some golden sugar shimmer spray which is now my favourite new cooking gadget!

* Recipe has been taken from nigella.com *

Chocolate Fudge Cake

For the cake

400 gram(s) plain flour

250 gram(s) golden caster sugar

100 gram(s) light muscovado sugar

50 gram(s) cocoa powder

2 teaspoon(s) baking powder

1 teaspoon(s) bicarbonate of soda

½ teaspoon(s) salt

3 medium egg(s)

142 ml sour cream

1 tablespoon(s) vanilla extract

175 gram(s) unsalted butter (melted and cooled)

125 ml vegetable oil (Nigella used Corn Oil)

300 ml water (chilled)

For the fudge icing

175 gram(s) dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)

250 gram(s) unsalted butter (softened)

275 gram(s) icing sugar (sieved)

1 tablespoon(s) vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.

2. Butter and line the bottom of two 20cm sandwich tins, I used four to get my layers.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb and salt. In another bowl or measuring jug whisk together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla until blended. 

4. Using an electric mixer, beat together the melted butter and oil until just blended, then beat in the water. 

5. Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix together on a slow speed. Add the egg mixture, and mix again until everything is blended and then pour into the prepared tins.

6. Bake the cakes for 50-55 minutes, or until a cake-tester comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their tins on a wire rack for 15 minutes, and then turn the cakes out onto the rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

175 gram(s) dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)

250 gram(s) unsalted butter (softened)

275 gram(s) icing sugar (sieved)

1 tablespoon(s) vanilla extract

1. To make the icing, melt the chocolate in the microwave - 2-3 minutes on medium should do it - or in a bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water, and let cool slightly.

2. In another bowl beat the butter until it's soft and creamy (again, I use the KitchenAid here) and then add the sieved icing sugar and beat again until everything's light and fluffy.Then gently add the vanilla and chocolate and mix together until everything is glossy and smooth.

3. Sandwich the the cakes together with the icing, and then ice the top and sides too, spreading and smoothing with a rubber spatula.

Happy caking and baking

xxx

Cannoli with Crema di Pasticceria

Given that the festive season is upon us, I thought I would share a little family classic. This is the kind of food we have at parties and celebrations and Christmas. Cannoli are a Sicilian pastry dessert, cannoli essentially means little tubes, traditionally they are filled with ricotta cream or another kind of sweet pasty cream/custard which I will show you below. Now I normally love making everything from scratch, but given these tiny tubes are consumed in seconds but are time-consuming to make, I always buy the shells and then fill them myself. I know shells are readily available in Australia from a good continental deli, but finding them in the UK has been seemingly difficult. I ended up purchasing my shells from my local Antonio Carluccio restaurant for a staggering £12 which is about $20AUD for 24 small shells, but it was all worth it, they disappeared in minutes. So here is my recipe for Cannoli Crema di Pasticceria.

These were the only cannoli shells I could find!

Crema di Pasticceria (fills 24 cannoli shells)

1/3 cup cornflour

1/3 cup of custard powder

1/4 cup caster sugar

2 cups milk

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or essence

300ml cream

1 egg yolk (beaten)

2 tbls of liquor (only if you like)

(150g of mixed dark/milk cooking chocolate for half the mixture to be chocolate flavoured)

1. Sift cornflour, custard powder, and caster sugar into a pot and stir to combine.

2. Gradually add milk and whisk until smooth and free from lumps.

3. Add vanilla bean and cream and continue whisking until combined.

4. Turn heat on. Whisk over a low heat until mixture begins to thicken and simmer.

5. Remove pot from heat and allow to cool slighly before adding the beaten egg yolk. Mix well.

6. Separate mixture evenly into two bowls.

7. Pour in melted chocolate into one of the bowls to make a chocolate version of the crema di pasticceria.

8. Cover bowls with cling film and refrigerate either over night or for several hours. Don't worry if mixture is slightly lumpy at this point.

9. Remove from fridge and place mixture into an electric mixing bowl and beat for a few minutes. This will remove any lumps from the cream and will make the mixture smooth and easy to pipe.

10. Fill piping bag up with mixture and pipe vanilla through one side and chocolate on the other. This means you get the best of both in one tiny tube. (Note: It is best to pipe the mixture as close as possible to serving so cannoli shells are still crispy)

11. Once piped, sift icing sugar on top for serving. Enjoy!