Ice cream sundae style cupcakes

Hello beauties,

So today's post is all about light, fluffy and delicious cupcakes....a light vanilla cupcake topped with a lightly whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel or a cherry and a pinch of chocolate! YUM!!

So we have two styles, caramel drizzle and cherry and chocolate

Vanilla cupcake ingrediants

8oz self raising flour

8oz butter

8oz granulated sugar

4 eggs

1.5tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp milk

Cream topping

Usually buttercream is a given for cupcakes, but I wanted to create a really light cupcake so i used dream topping instant cream, you can use whipped cream or any cream you like

Caramel ingrediants 

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1.5tbsp butter

Additional ingrediants

12 glacé cherries

2 small squares of chocolate

Vanilla cupcake method

1) preheat your oven to gas mark 4 and then cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (this step is crucial for a fluffy cake)

2) add in the eggs two at a time and mix until just combined 

3) add in the vanilla extract and mix until combined 

4) add in the flour and gently fold in until just combined (be careful to not over beat at this stage)

5) add in your milk and just beat until combined

6) place the batter in cupcake cases and bake for aprox 15 minutes or until slightly golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean, leave to cool completely

Cream topping method

Because i used and instant cream (i dont like whipping cream) i just followed package instructions, i used a little less milk so it had a thicker consistency! You can use any light cream!

Caramel method 

Making caramel can be very dangerous, please be careful and don't take your eyes off it:)

1) add sugar and water to a saucepan, place on medium heat and cover with a lid dont stir the mixture at all! Once the mixture starts to boil remove the lid and leave the caramel to turn a golden colour (this can take anything from 1-10 minutes) dont stir, you may gently swirl the pan to ensure even colouring

2) once the caramel is a golden colour remove from the heat and add the butter and stir in until melted ( this will make the caramel froth up so be very careful )

3) while the mixture is still off the heat gradually add the milk slowly (otherwise the mixture will separate) be careful again this might froth up and even spit

4) place back on the heat for about 1 minute until boils, remove from the heat and leave to cool completely (dont be tempted to stick your fingers in, it is dangerously hot) 

Decorating

1) pipe your cream onto your cupcakes, go from the outside and into the middle, or place a blob of cream on the cupcake and using the flat of your spoon spread it out a little

2) using a spoon drizzle over the caramel onto half the cupcakes (use the leftover caramel for ice cream:)) 

3) on the other half of the cupcakes, place a cherry in the centre and grate some chocolate over the top (or use chocolate sprinkles)

Hope you all enjoyed this recipe:) follow me on bloglovin for more recipes!

Bloglovin:- http://www.bloglovin.com/beautybakesandcakes

Twitter:- @BeautyandBakes

Happy baking 

Xxx

British Scones

Hello everyone,

Hope your all ok? So this recipe has been passed down the generations in my family! This is my great grandmothers recipe, its very simple, classic and well very British! This recipe means a lot to me, all my childhood whenever I would bake with my mum this is what we would bake and i love it.....problem is im very boring and like plain scones with a slab of butter, my mum on the other hand loves raisins and currents in hers! I suppose the only way we differ from the traditional British scone is we don't have ours with jam and cream! But that is the great thing about this recipe you can make it your own, add raisins, currents, any dried fruit, eat it hot or cold, with or without jam and cream...its a very versatile recipe! So let's get cracking (or baking) 

Ingrediants: 

1lb self raising flour

5oz butter

2tbsp granulated sugar

2 eggs

4oz milk

Method:

1) pre-heat your oven to gas mark 7 and then using your fingers and thumbs mix together the flour and butter until it resembles breadcrumbs

2) add in your sugar and stir in, at this stage if you would like dried fruits add them in now (cover the dried fruits in a tiny bit of flour to prevent them sinking to the bottom of your scone) 

3) whisk together your eggs and milk

4) add in your eggs and milk mixture gradually, you probably won't need all of it, the less you use the better! Just use enough until the mixture forms a dough! Keep the rest for brushing on top of the scones

5) roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface (about 1/2 inch thick) and cut out your scones using your desired cutter, place on a non greased baking tray and brush the tops with the remainder egg and milk mixture and bake in the oven for about 8-12 minutes until golden!

  

Take them out the oven and enjoy:)

Hope you all enjoyed this recipe! 

Follow me on bloglovin: http://www.bloglovin.com/beautybakesandcakes

Follow me on twitter: @BeautyandBakes

Happy baking

Xxx

Creme caramel recipe

Hello everyone! Hope your all ok? So creme caramel....i have never even tried this let alone made it, complete spare of the moment bake! I always thought it would be really hard to make this but it was actually one if the easiest things I've made! For those who don't know, creme caramel is a baked egg custard coated in caramel...so let's dive in!

You will need:-

For the caramel:

5oz granulated sugar

2.5 tbsp water

For the custard:

4 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

500ml milk

2tsp vanilla extract

4oz granulated sugar

Method:-

1) preheat oven to gas mark 2

2) grease 4 ramekin dishes with butter and place them in a bigger ceramic or roasting dish

3) for the caramel, place the sugar and water into a saucepan and heat on a low heat, stir only until the sugar is dissolved and then leave to boil when it starts to colour tip the pan from side to side to mix, don't stir just wiggle the pan, once its a copper colour turn off the heat and pour a little into the bottom of the ramekin dishes

4) for the custard mix the eggs, egg yolk and sugar together, then mix together the milk and vanilla extract and add that to the egg mixture! Once mixed pour the mixture through a sieve and into a clean bowl

5) pour the custard mixture into the ramekins on top of the caramel

6) using boiling water from a kettle fill the ceramic or roasting dish the ramekins are in, fill so the water reaches half way up the ramekin dishes

7) bake in the oven for aprox 40mins or until custard is set, it will still have a little wobble to it but it shouldn't be liquidy!!

8) once cooked, take out the ceramic or roasting dish and leave to cool for 20 mins then place in the fridge for about 2 hours, after the 2 hours scrape a knife around the edge of the custard to loosen it and tip them out onto a plate and enjoy!!:) 

Happy baking

Xxx

"Get to know me tag"

Hello lovelies, 

Hope your all well? So i have decided to do a tag and thought what a better one to start with than the "get to know me tag" so here it goes.....

How old are you?

I've just turned 24

What is your middle name?

Emma, I'm named after my great great grandmother, nearly all the women in my family have the middle name Emma...its kind of a tradition now:)

What is your nationality? 

British

What do you do for a living?

I'm currently a law student and in the process of starting a cake business from home

If you could visit anywhere in the world where would it be and why?

The States, i dont know why I've just always wanted to go and travel around America

What is your favourite place to shop for clothing?

At the moment I'm loving an online boutique called "Pink Boutique"

What is your shoe size?

3

How tall are you?

5ft 3

What is your favourite colour?

Pink

Have your got any siblings?

Yes i have 5 brothers and 1 sister 

Do you have any pets?

Yes i have 1 dog and a budgie

Do you have any children?

Not yet but i do want children in the future 

Favourite makeup brand? 

High end - Laura Mercier 

Drugstore - Maybelline

What do you do in your free time?

Bake and blog :)

Do you leave the house without makeup on?

Yes 

Favourite season?

Autumn and winter i love the build up to Christmas and cosy weather!

Do you still live with your parents?

Yes but I'm moving in with my fiancé this year

What is your favourite movie?

I dont have a favourite but i love Christmas films and chick flicks, put on home alone or mean girls and I'm happy!!

Favourite food?

hmmm...i love homey foods like stew, i love fruit and salads too :) 

Tent or hotel?

Definately hotel, i love outdoors and adventures but tents for me are a no no, too cold, too many bugs hehe!

Favourite youtube channel?

I have loads....i love Laura in the kitchen, i love cooking and baking and her recipes are fab! Beauty wize i love Elle & Blair (alltthatglitters21 & juicystar07), Zoella, fleurdeforce there are so many that i like! 

And that is it...hope you all liked this post, if you have anymore questions or want me to do anymore tags let me know:)

Xxx

 

Chocolate pudding

Hey guys, hope your all ok? So I made this gorgeous chocolate pudding yesterday that i just had to share with you! Crispy outside and gooey on the inside....delish!

You will need:

4 eggs

1 cup of margenrine or butter

2 cups of granulated sugar

3/4 cups of cocoa powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup of plain flour

Method:

1) preheat your oven to gas mark 3

2) mix together your eggs and sugar until light and thick (about 7 minutes), add in your vanilla extract

3) sift together your flour and cocoa powder and gradually add to your eggs and sugar

4) melt your butter, leave to cool slightly and add it slowly into your mixture

5) grease a ceramic dish with butter and pour the mixture into the dish, take a larger dish and place the dish with the mixture in inside of the bigger dish! Fill the bigger dish with hot water just enough to come half way up the sides of the dish that has the mixture in it....if that makes sense your making a Bain Marie!

 

6) place it into the oven for an hour! When you insert a skewer in the centre it should be crispy on the outside and really gooey on the inside (it will looked like a uncooked cake on the inside, thats how its meant to be)

7) Serve with whipping cream, pouring cream, ice cream...whatever cream you like or just eat as is and dig in!!

Happy baking

Xxx

Chocolate buttercream and crumb coating a cake

Hello lovelies,

Hope your all well!? Todays post is a short and easy recipe on chocolate buttercream and a few tips on how to crumb coat a cake! For those of you who don't know about crumb coating, its a technique used to seal in the crumbs of the cake.....its kind of like primer, a base coat if you like! Before i cover my cakes in fondant i always begin by doing a crumb coat with buttercream, not only does this seal the crumbs, it adds flavour and gives your cake a smoother finish! If you want the finish of the cake to be buttercream icing, it is best to first do a crumb coat and then a final coat for a super smooth finish! I wanted to create a simple chocolate cake covered in chocolate buttercream, so let's start on the recipe for chocolate buttercream:)

Chocolate buttercream:

3tbsp butter

1/4cup of milk

2tsp cocoa powder

Aprox 4cups of icing sugar (depending on the consistency...too runny add more icing sugar, too thick add more milk) 

Method:

Beat together the butter and some of the milk, save 1tsbp of the milk incase we need it later 

Add in the cocoa and mix well

 

Finally add in the icing sugar gradually until your buttercream forms stiff peaks! You may need more icing sugar to thicken it up or you may need to use the saved milk if its too thick! Once mixed, beat for a few minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy! 

Now let's move onto crumb coating the cake!

Take a really big scoop of the buttercream and put it onto the top of the cake, take a flat spatular and start gently spreading the mix outwards, let it come over the sides

Don't worry about the top being perfect yet, now onto the sides start smoothing the buttercream that has fallen down the sides around the cake, you will need to add more to the sides, dont worry about it being perfect yet, just get the cake covered in a good layer of buttercream first.

Once the cake has a good amount of buttercream around it, take a glass of hot water, and dip your spatular in it, place your spatular flat on the side of the cake, without stopping gently drag it around the sides of the cake. Keep repeating (dipping the spatular in hot water and smoothing) until you have a smooth cake!  Do the same for the top of the cake! For a crumb coat you don't want the icing to be thick and it doesn't need to be perfect! Here is my crumb coat

 Now pop the cake in the fridge to set for one hour! When you take it out you can add fondant or another layer of buttercream (which I did) and your done and ready to decorate:) 

I decorated mine into a chocolate drizzle cake for my fiancés birthday cake, i poured chocolate ganache over, added fondant letters and coloured sprinkles!

Hope you guys enjoyed this post! Let me know if you have any requests and please follow me on bloglovin http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/9820251/beautybakesandcakes and twitter @BeautyandBakes

Happy baking

Xxx