Dairy Free Blackberry and Lemon Cupcakes

I have been so busy lately but seem to have nothing to show for it. My mother went out the other day to pick some blackberries whilst hinting that my dad had nothing sweet to take into work. So there I was yesterday trying to think of what to bake and was oblivious to this huge tub of blackberries in the corner of the kitchen just staring at me. I am not a strong fan of blackberries and the thought of blackberry butter cream makes me feel sick slightly. Despite this I decide to use them and mix it with some lemon to add some more tang. Surprisingly they taste so good but I just wish I note down how much I add of each ingredient. This can be by goal this summer! 

Some of the extra ingredients:

• 1 Lemon for lemon juice in the cake batter and frosting
• and lemon zest inside the cake 
• Spoonful of lemon curd
• A couple of handfuls of blackberries

The center of the cupcakes are filled with mushed up blackberries mixed with lemon curd! Sounds odd but it just works, trust me! 

Here it goes..

What you'll need

3 eggs (measure.. mine were approx 207g.)

207 grams of: 

Self Raising Flour

Caster Sugar

Pure Sunflower Margarine

---

1 Lemon (maybe 2)

Tbsp Lemon Curd 

Couple of handfuls of Blackberries

Stork Butter Block

Icing Sugar

Pre heat fan oven to 180 C and line 12 muffin cases. 

Cupcakes

1. Mix the butter and sugar together until smooth and pale
2. Beat in one egg at a time 
3. Cut half the lemon and squeeze the juice to the mix (to taste)
4. Slowly sift in the flour, using a wooden spoon mix with a figure of 8
5. Add the zest of 1 lemon

Fill muffin cases and bake for approx 20-25 minutes until spongy on top and a toothpick comes out clean!

Filling

1. Mush a couple of handful of blackberries using a fork
2. Add a tbsp of lemon curd and mix

Once the cupcakes are cooled scoop out the centers and fill. Replace the cake back on top

Lemon Butter Cream

1. Whisk the block of Stork butter
2. Slowly add icing sugar using a wooden spoon. You'll probably use half of a small box
3. Squeeze some lemon juice until to taste
4. Add a tiny amount of yellow food gel

Use your favourite piping nozzle to pipe and decorate using the extra compote or with a blackberry! 

:) Nom nom! Summer sorted! 

xxx 

Kathryn Bakes: Fizzy Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

It has come to my attention that when I am feeling a little down in the dumps or extremely bored, baking cupcakes is my cure! I didn't have a clue what to bake but needed something to lift this damp and dismal weather so decided to create some Pink Lemonade inspired cupcakes! 

Not quite sure what I have done to my camera settings. Every photo is grainy :( 

The highlight of these is defiantly the Lemon Sherbet Crystals which I bought from one of those oldy worldy sweet shops! The recipe is taken from Juniper Cakery, link of which can be found here. As per I didn't actually use this recipe but based my idea around it. I just wish I could of bought them lovely pink and white straws. So here goes.. my Dairy Free Fizzy Pink Lemonade cupcakes! 

Lemon Cupcakes

• 3 Eggs 
• 180 Caster Sugar
• 180 Self Raising Flour
• 180 Pure Margarine
• Teaspoon ish of Lemon Essence 

1. Pre Heat oven at 180 degrees and line 12 cupcakes 
2. Cream the margarine and sugar
3. Once well mixed add an egg one by one and whisk, add drops of lemon essence
4. Sift in the flour and beat with a wooden until smooth
5. Place in cupcake cases 
6. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until the top is spongy or golden brown & leave to cool

Pink Lemon Buttercream 

• 250g Stork Butter Block
• 250-350g Icing Sugar 
• Few drops of Lemon Essence
• Juice of a fresh Grapefruit 
• Pink Gel Colouring
• Pipping Bags
• Piping nozzle
• Lemon Sherbet Crystals

1. Cut butter into small cubes and whisk until soft, gradually beat in the icing sugar.
2. Add lemon essence and some juice of a grapefruit. Colour with pink food gel!
3. Fill piping bag and pip a rose or swirl. Decorate with lemon sherbet crystals!

First Paid Batch!

Ekkk!! Soo as the title suggests I have been baking my first ever batch of cupcakes that someone ordered... well I say that, its actually my friend who I baked the giant cupcake for, but still! It's actually quite exciting having someone asking you to bake some cupcakes for them and with the added bonus of being paid to do so! Now with that excitement out of the way here are some photos... 

They are just my standard vanilla recipe but I ran out of vanilla essence so the icing is lemon butter cream! I actually love them, I'm not sure what I did different but the butter cream was so smooth when icing and am extremely happy with the outcome! 

I will dedicate this post to my lovely girl Zara and hope she had a wonderful birthday and loves all the cake! I'am also going to include a few photos of the night out and hope the girls loved the makeup I done for them (if I am not a weather girl or own a cupcake shop when I am older, a nail salon and makeup parlor will have to do!) 

Love you all x

Elderflower & Lemon

A month ago or so I started a new job at Hadley Wood Golf Club as a bar girl and absolutely love it. However like my previous job we can not drink coke/lemonade/ginger beer etc from the tap and have to drink boring cordials but thankfully this has brought me to discover my new favourite drink, elderflower & soda. So that is my influence for todays cupcakes!

For the cupcakes you will need:

• 3 eggs (together mine weighed around 208 grams)
• 208 g Margarine 
• 208 g Caster Sugar
• 208 g Self raising flower
• 1 1/2 tbsp Elderflower cordial
• 1 lemon zest finely grated

Beat together the sugar and margarine, then add an egg one by one

Mix in the flavourings

Slowly, without activating the gluten sieve in the self raising and fold 

Fill the cupcake cases

& place in a pre heated 180 degrees over for around 20-25 minutes :)

Lemon Syrup

When they are nearly cooled, measure 25 grams of caster sugar and squeeze around 1 1/2 lemons to get 75 ml juice. Boil together for a few minutes, then with a skewer pierce several holes and pour a small spoonful over each cake!

Butter cream! 

Mix icing sugar and butter with some elderflower cordial and squeeze the lemon out to get some drop of juice. Add some yellow colouring and pip.Voila! 

Sorry I apologize for the lack of description for the butter cream! Just taste and add whatever you like :) 

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Before I start I would like to just mention that even though I thought my lemon cheesecake cupcakes were a disaster, they actually taste surprisingly nice and I have been having one for breakfast every day since!

So, I was planning on creating Mint Chocolate Chip cakes today, however the peppermint essence I had in the cupboard expired in 2001 and Tesco did not sell it so instead I have baked Lemon Meringue with homemade Lemon Curd filling! Enjoy! 

Stage 1: Bake the Cupcakes

Recipe: 

As per usual, measure your 2 or 3 eggs. Beat the margarine and caster sugar (same weight as the eggs) together until smooth and add each egg one by one. Add a drop of vanilla essence and 2 tsp of lemon rind (around 1 lemon). 

Sieve in the self raising flour (also the same weight as the eggs) then place in the muffin cases and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C for 20-25 until golden brown!

Step 2: Make the Lemon Curd

Recipe: 

You will need; 1 egg, 50 grams of stork/butter, 2 tsp of lemon rind, 60 ml of lemon juice and 100 grams of caster sugar. 

Combine ingredients into a small saucepan over low heat. Cook and stir for around 5 minutes until it has thickened and strain through a sieve. Place in a bowl with cling film over the top and cool in the fridge. 

 Step 3: Fill the cupcake

Once the cake and lemon curd have both cooled, using an apple core or a cupcake cutter, remove the center of the cake and fill with lemon curd. 

 Step 4: Make the Meringue

Recipe: 

You will need; 3 egg whites and 150 grams of sugar. 

Place the egg whites in a dry bowl ( I placed mine in the fridge to begin with) and whisk until firm peaks form. Add 1 dessert spoon of sugar at a time beating well in between. Spoon or pipe over the cake and transfer them onto a baking tray in a pre-heated grill until lightly golden brown. 

 Step 5: Decorate

I sprayed some Pearl Lustre Spray onto some cakes, whilst others I sprinkled fine yellow edible glitter!

Lemon Cheesecake Cupcakes- FAIL.

As the post name suggests, these were an utter fail. For once I decided that it would be sensible to follow a recipe for a Lemon Cheesecake Cupcake as I wanted to know how people made them dairy free. Blergh, never again. I had to use Soya Cream Cheese and Trex, which is a block of vegetable fat to make the icing and put soya milk in with the cupcake mixture. 

I knew it would be a fail as soon as I put soya milk and lemon juice in with the cupcake mixture as I had never done this before and knowing me it would go completely wrong. Thinking positive I took them out of the oven, had they risen? no, are they golden? nope, more like burnt. 

Burnt cake with Lemon Marmalade 

I then opened the Soya cream cheese and not to my surprise it stank, mixed in with the cheese was Trex, soya margarine and as much icing sugar as possible to make the buttercream icing however it was still runny, by this time I had given up and piped the cakes. So here are my awful attempt at Dairy Free Lemon Cheesecake Cupcakes- using a recipe :(  

Sprinkled with a crumble mixture and Lemon Zest

Lesson learnt. Always stick to what you know.