Alice in Cupcakeland: April 2009

Easter Bunny Madness!

Posted by DeVille | Labels: All cupcake recipes, Creme egg

Each week at work we have "Fill It Up Friday" where one person provides morning tea for the team. My last turn fell this week and as Friday was a public holiday it became 'Top It up Thursday". Inevitably I had to make Easter themed cakes, because, of course, the next day was Good Friday. Last year I made the cutest Easter bonnet (which took out the best in show award in my team), so whatever I made had to beat that! I saw at least 3 people taking photos and was asked for the recipe by a different 3 people, so I consider these a success :)

Again these are another cheats mix, with all the work being in the icing and decoration. These tasted like a sponge cake version of a Sally Lunn - oh so tasty! But there's a twist. Inside each cupcake is a mini Creme Egg! Now this sounded delicious to me as I've been addicted to Creme eggs ever since I was a child in the 70's, but sadly I didn't account for how much the centre would caramelize and in the end that part was just too sweet for my taste. Still, the eggs sunk to the bottom, so it was a simple matter of eating the delicious vanilla sponge surrounding it! Some people ate 2-3 each, so the sweetness factor is a matter of taste... Either way - I will absolutely be making these again, sans the creme egg :)

Ingredients

1 packet Edmonds Angelic Vanilla Cupcake Mix
60g butter at room temperature
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs

Note: As always, refer to the ingredients on your cake mix packet! The above is what the Edmonds mix calls for, so if you use a different brand you might need other ingredients. Any good quality cupcake mix will do.

12 Mini Creme Eggs (leave these out or replace with white chocolate for something different)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c (or whatever your box instructions say) and line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper liners. I used a muffin pan again for these because the mini creme eggs were bigger than I expected.

Combine the ingredients for your cupcake batter as per the instructions on the box and beat for 3 minutes on high. Divide the mixture evenly in your muffin pan. If you're adding the creme egg, put them in now and press them so they're sitting low in the cake.

Bake for 20 minutes, or for as long as your instructions state.

Icing

100g butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla essence
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
100g melted white chocolate
Dessicated coconut

Combine all ingredients except coconut at a low speed. Once combined, whip for 3 minutes at a high speed. This is what creates the fluffy, sally lunn type icing! If you're not doing the bunny decoration, sprinkle the coconut on as soon as you've iced the cakes. If you are doing the decorations then hold on for now.

Decorations
24 Strawberry and Cream lollies for ears
24 chocolate melts for eyes
Pink heartshaped sprinkles for nose

Generously ice each cupcake with the buttercream icing as this will help hold the lollies in place. Into each cup cake, place 2 strawberry and cream lollies into the icing and a little into the cake. Just below and in from the ears, use two melts for eyes (pointy side down). Next, add one heart shaped sprinkle upside down to form the nose. Finally, sprinkle the coconut over the top of each cake, shaking off the excess.

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Wicked Cupcakes

Posted by DeVille | Labels: All cupcake recipes, Wicked chocolate mint

I recently went to Melbourne with some friends and while we were there, we went to see Wicked. The day of the show itself was Melbourne's hotted recorded day in history, (46.7 deg. c) and I bought at least one minty ice cream to keep me cool that day!

Any way, a few nights later we had a 'slide night' and pot luck dinner and the girls asked me to make some Melbourne themed cupcakes. Naturally,the first thing that popped into my mind was "MMMM- Minty Melted Elphaba cakes!" and thus the Wicked cupcake was born. It's a bit of a cheat's cupcake as it's mostly packet mix, but I have to say, this is one of my favourite cupcakes so far!

Ingredients

1 packet Edmonds Chocolate Cupcake Mix
60g butter at room temperature
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs

Note: Refer to the ingredients on your cake mix packet! The above is what the Edmonds mix calls for, so if you use a different brand you might need other ingredients. Any good quality cupcake mix will do.

1 Kingsize block of Cadbury Milk Chocolate

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c (or whatever your box instructions say) and line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper liners. Yes, you need to use a muffin pan for these, not a cupcake pan, as these are desert sized cakes.

Melt half your block of chocolate and put it aside to cool just a little. Combine the ingredients for your cupcake batter as per the instructions on the box, then add the melted chocolate. Beat for 3 minutes on high.

Divide the mixture evenly in your muffin pan. Break off 12 pieces of chocolate and place one in the centre of each cupcake, pressing the chocolate in slightly - don't push it in too far as it will sink to the bottom! Bake for 20 minutes, or for as long as your instructions state.

Chocolate Icing

1/8 c softened butter
120 g cream cheese
44 g chocolate broken into small pieces
tiny pinch salt
1.5 c icing sugar
1/4 cup cream
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Heat the cream until it's just under boiling. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate to the heated cream. Stir until the chocolate is melted into the cream, then let the mix cool completely.

Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add the melted chocolate mixture, salt, icing sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Ice the cupcakes generously and put aside in a slightly warm place so the icing smooths out while you make the mint topping.

Mint Icing

1.5c Icing sugar
1/8 tsp mint essence
milk
green food colouring

Mix the icing sugar, mint and milk until you have a slightly runny consistancy. Add enough green food colouring so that the icing is a vibrant shade of green.

How to make the melted Witch!

This is the fun part! Once your cream cheese icing is smoothed, take a teaspoon of the icing mixture and start pouring it on, slightly to the side of the centre, so that it makes a small puddle that might resemble a melted witch. You want the icing to run naturally, so don't play with it too much, and don't cover the chocolate, you just want a contrasting puddle! Once you've added the mint icing, unwrap your Hershey's kisses, and pop them on top at a jaunty angle, pressing lightly so it sticks.

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