Christmas Tree Cupcakes

As you may or may not know, today is Christmas!! I was therefore in charge of dessert for Christmas dinner. I knew I wanted to make something stunning that would really amaze people and would also taste as good as it looked, and of course it had to be festive!! I had seen a couple of recipes and creative ideas on the internet but I finally decided to make these Christmas tree cupcakes that I had seen in various places such as 9GAG and on Pinterest.

 To make the basis of the whole structure, you need to make the cupcakes. The recipe that I used is the fail-safe cupcake recipe I mentioned in a previous blog. Firstly preheat the oven to 180°c/350°F/Gas mark 4. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar. Then add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Then add the vanilla extract and carefully fold in the flour. If it is needed, you can add a couple of tablespoons of milk to the mixture so it reaches a dropping consistency, I usually need to add about 2 tablespoons of milk to reach the right consistency.

Spoon the cupcake mix into cupcake cases until they are about half full, an easy way to do this is to use an ice-cream scoop to drop the desired amount into each cupcake case. Not only is this method cleaner than using 2 spoons or other methods, it also means each cupcake case, has the exact same amount of the mixture in it, giving them a much more uniform appearance once they are cooked, making the presentation of them neater. 

Place the filled cupcake cases into the preheated oven and bake them for about 10-15 minutes, until they have gone golden-brown on top, or when a skewer is inserted into the centre of the cupcakes and comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the tin and allow them to cool,

To create the Christmas tree on top of the cupcakes, you will need to get some ready-made icing, I used Betty Crocker for this recipe, and by adding  some green food colouring I made the colour I needed to create the effect of a tree. To make the Christmas tree, I used some wafer cones and trimmed them to the right height as they were quite tall and looked out of proportion to my cupcakes. Once I had trimmed them, I placed a wafer on top of each cupcake and then it was time to ice them. 

Firstly I piped a ring of plain icing around the cone, just to hide any unwanted bits. Then using a small star nozzle on a piping bag or just a freezer bag with an icing nozzle in it, pipe small 'blobs' of the icing covering the whole wafer! This will give the effect of a Christmas tree because of all the points on the icing and the texture it creates, looking similar to tree branches and leaves. To add to the Christmas tree effect, you can use edible silver balls, or in this case, I decorated them with hundreds and thousands sprinkles, to make it seem like the tree had been decorated with baubles etc.

       

Ingredients:

For the Cupcakes:  

110g (4 ounces) Butter/Margarine, softened

110g (4 ounces) Caster sugar

2 Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

110g (4 ounces) Self-raising flour

1-2 tablespoons Milk

Makes 12 cupcakes

For the Christmas tree topper:

24 Wafer cones - Or one wafer cone per cupcake depending on how many you make (I doubled the cupcake recipe and made 24 cupcakes for the dinner party).

2 tubs of Betty Crocker icing - Or an appropriate amount for how many cupcakes are made.

Hundreds and Thousands: Sprinkles

These were a great hit at the Christmas dinner and everyone was in awe and really impressed by them! They thought they looked amazing and judging by how quickly they disappeared, they enjoyed eating them too!

Keep it sweet!

Aneesa

Baked Vanilla Cheesecake

As I mentioned in a previous blogpost - I LOVE cheesecake! So I knew I would have to share my favourite and in my opinion the best recipe for a baked vanilla cheesecake! I love this cheesecake because rather than being really heavy and dense, this recipe makes a cheesecake that is quite light but rich and full of flavour! It is good as it can be used as a base to add on flavours that you like, so you could add raspberry coulis, rhubarb compote or anything that you like really, to build up the flavour of the cheesecake and add another dimension to it or make it better suited to your own taste. It is even perfect on its own - just how I like it.

To start off preheat the oven to 200°c/180°c for a fan assisted oven /356°F. To make the base of the cheesecake, in a food processor or by hand crush the digestive biscuits into fine crumbs. Put the crumbs in a bowl and add the melted butter, mix thoroughly until the butter has been incorporated and all the crumbs have been covered. Transfer these crumbs to a lined baking tin, and press down until firm. Bake the base for 5 minutes, then remove it from the oven and let it cool completely. 

For the cheesecake filling just beat all the ingredients, the cream cheese, flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and crème fraiche in a large bowl until the mixture is pale and fluffy (the exact measurements for the recipe are found at the end). Turn the mixture onto the cooled base and smooth off the top. Bake this in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.

Check very carefully that it is set by touching it with a fingertip - it should give slightly but spring back and still wobble. Remember it will continue to cool a little once removed from the oven. Leave it to  cool completely in the tin. The centre will be quite wobbly when you take it out of the oven but it does set once it cools!

Once it is fully cooled after a couple of hours, you can serve it with the topping of your choice or as it is. I chose to use some of the crème fraiche I had used for the filling and spread a layer of it on top of the cheesecake. 

Usually some baked cheesecakes are prone to cracking but I haven't had that problem yet with this recipe. If it does happen though, the crème fraiche, or any topping you decide to use would do a great job of hiding it. 

Ingredients:

For the Base:

250g (9 ounces) Digestive Biscuits

100g (3.5 ounces) Melted Butter 

For the Cheesecake Filling:

600g (21 ounces) Cream cheese

2 tablespoons Plain flour

175g (6 ounces) Caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract

2 Large eggs

1 Egg-yolk

142ml crème fraiche 

Keep it sweet!

Aneesa

Brownie Burger Cupcakes and Sugar Cookie Fries

I have been following Bakeralla for quite a while now and I always loved this baking project she did. It was just very creative and didn't seem very difficult either as most of the components in this are made using mixes. 

So I finally decided to go for it and try the project for myself! As I thought it was not very difficult to bake everything - however it was very time consuming, but it was all worth it in the end when I saw the look of the final product!!

To start off with I made the dough for the sugar cookies as the dough needed to be refrigerated for at least an hour. I couldn't find the mix for sugar cookies so I used this recipe I found on the Joy of Baking website. It was quite easy and made more than enough dough - so I even had extra dough to make some cookies for myself! 

Once the dough was set, I rolled it out into a rectangle-ish shape and just cut thin strips, about the length of normal fries and placed them slightly spaced out on a baking sheet, since they do spread out a little when cooking. Once they were cooked, I put a bit of caster sugar on top of them so they looked like the "fries" had salt on them, making them look more realistic.

For the next component, the brownie burger, I used my favourite brownie mix - Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Brownies!! Once they were cooked according to the instructions on the box, I just cut out circles to make them look like burgers!

The only thing left to make was the cupcakes! I have a fail safe cupcake recipe I use whenever I need to make vanilla cupcakes, which I will definitely show in a future post. They only took about 10/15 minutes to bake, and I was ready to construct the fast food masterpiece.

To make the coloured icing to look like lettuce and ketchup, I just used some ready-made icing from Betty Crocker and added food colouring to get the right shade. Yellow food colouring could also be used to look like cheese or mustard in the burgers. 

Once the icing is made, just cut the cupcakes in half horizontally and put in the brownie circles. Then pipe a little of the icing on top of the brownie and top it off with the top-half of the cupcake. Then just serve the burgers and fries in the classic fast food looking trays, templates to which I will link at the end. To add an extra touch, you can add some sesame seeds on top of the cupcake buns, by brushing some water on them and sprinkling over the seeds to make them look like real burger buns.

The templates, are the ones linked to on Bakerella with the original recipe and they contain: the tray template, french fry holder (blank & with Happy Faher's Day) and the design for the Happy Father's Day tissue paper, as the original recipe was made for Father's Day. The templates can be downloaded here.

I was extremely happy with the way they turned out and am really glad I finally decided to give it a try! I definitely recommend giving this recipe a go as they are sure to impress anyone you make them for and they were really tasty too! 

Aneesa

Mini Raspberry swirl Cheesecakes

Hi everyone! I have been quite addicted to Pinterest lately and as I was browsing the food & drink section I came across this recipe and I knew I had to try it, since I loveee cheesecakes and this was a bit of a different take on it.


The original recipe makes 32 cupcakes, but that was way too much, as I knew I would undoubtedly eat them all myself, so I halved the recipe. The raspberry topping added a touch of raspberry flavour completely transforming the flavour of the cheesecakes adding a tangy hint to them, as well as providing an eye-catching pop of colour, so they not only tasted delicious, they also looked great, so would be good to serve to friends or family and would really impress at a dinner party.

Preheat the oven to 163 celcius (320 farenheit) and line the cupcake pans with cupcake cases.

Combine the digestive biscuits and the melted butter and sugar in a bowl and stir them until it is all blended and the ingredients are all moistened. Press 1 tablespoon of the mixture into the bottom of each cupcake case. Bake this until it is set, which usually takes about 5 minutes.

For the cheesecake filling, beat the cream cheese until fluffy and blend in the sugar until it is smooth. Mix in the salt and vanilla and beat in the eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition.

Spoon 3 tablespoons of this cheesecake filling over the biscuit base in each cupcake case.

To make the raspberry topping just combine the raspberries and sugar in a blender or food processor until it is smooth. Then pour this through a fine sieve to get rid of the seeds.

Dot about 1/2 teaspoon of the raspberry topping in a few dots over the cheesecake filling.

To create the swirl effect, using a toothpick or wooden skewer lightly drag them through the dots and swirl them around to create the marbled effect.

Bake the filling until it is set, about 22 minutes and make sure to rotate the pan halfway through baking to ensure they get an even bake.

Once you remove them from the oven, let them cool to room temperature and then transfer them to the fridge to cool for at least a couple of hours because nobody likes warm cheesecakes! 

Ingredients:


For the crust:
1 1/2 crushed digestive biscuits
4 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar


For the cheesecake filling:
2lbs Cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs


For the raspberry topping:
6oz fresh raspberries
2 tablespoons sugar

Here is the link to the original recipe from Annie's Eats

Hope you enjoy making these as much as I did eating them!! Let me know if you have anything else you would recommend to make!


Aneesa

Sun-dried tomato and rosemary palmiers

Hey everyone!! I have FINALLY decided to start a baking blog! 


I decided to make something savoury yesterday since I have the biggest sweet tooth and always bake sweet things - I think everyone is sick of deserts/baked treats, so I thought I would try something different, so I went for a savoury dish.


This is a very easy recipe and requires only 3 ingredients! Yes just 3!! Anyway let's just get into the recipe!

That's all you need - plus flour for dusting and a beaten egg to seal the pastry. All the ingredients are listed below.

Start by rolling out the pastry into a rectangle shape around 30x35cm (12x14in) and it should be the thickness of a £1 coin (3mm).

 Over the rolled out pastry spread the sun-dried tomatoes and sprinkle on the 

finely chopped rosemary

 Then with shortest end of the pastry facing you, roll the two long sides towards each other to meet in the middle. Brush a little of the beaten egg where the two sides meet to ensure they stick together.

 You will then need to transfer this onto a baking sheet and put it in the fridge for about half an hour to firm up, so it is easier to cut later.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas mark 6

Using a sharp knife cut about 1cm (1/2 in) slices of the roll and place them on a baking sheet. For mine I cut them a little thinner so they would be crispier and better as a snack.

 The slices should be placed on the baking sheet cut side up and make sure to brush the tops well with the beaten egg

I had some scraps left over so made little rolls with them

Put the baking tray into the preheated oven for about 10-15 minutes until they puff up and go golden and crispy

Once they are cooled just stack them up on a plate and serve them!

Ingredients: 

• 500g (1lb 2oz) ready-made puff pastry (you could also make your own, this is just easier and quicker)
  
  
  1 x 280g (10oz) jar sun-dried tomatoes, drained and finely chopped
  
  
  few sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves only, finely chopped
  
  
  Plain flour, for dusting
  
  
  1 free-range egg, lightly beaten
  
  
  Recipe by Lorraine Pascale from Baking made easy on the BBC
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Let me know if you try these and how well they turn out! Leave a reply of any recipe requests you may have. There will be many more sweet things to follow - ENJOY!!
  
  
  Aneesa