Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

by in Food 0

Everyone knows I love a good cupcake (a little too much!).  When I was looking for a new flavour idea, fresh strawberry cupcakes seemed so delightful.  The humble strawberry is often left out of cupcakes in favour of our friend artificial strawberry flavouring….these cupcakes have a whole punnet of strawberry goodness in the cakes, then some more in the icing for good measure.  What’s not to love about them?  If it wasn’t for the butter, sugar and flour, they’d practically be health food! 🙂

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Ingredients:

  • 2/3 cup to 1 cup fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
  • 1/4 cup whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1.5 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt10 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • For the Strawberry Cupcake Icing
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 3.5 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2-3 teaspoons milk
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh strawberries
  • Pink Food colouring (optional)

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Line a muffin tin with cupcake wrappers or grease with butter.
  2. Place strawberries in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. You will need enough strawberries to yield 1/2 cup strawberry puree. Mix strawberry puree with milk and vanilla. Set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  4. In a large bowl, cream butter 1 minute. Add sugar, beating well. Beat in eggs.
  5. Alternately add half the strawberry mixture, then half the flour mixture, mixing until blended. Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to fill muffin tins.
  6. Bake 20 to 22 minutes. Cool strawberry cupcakes 10 minutes in muffin tins, then transfer to wire racks to finish cooling.
  7. Make strawberry cupcake icing: Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. Add vanilla and 1 tsp. of milk. If frosting is too thick, beat in another teaspoon or two of milk until icing reaches desired consistency. Stir in chopped strawberries.  I added pink food colouring to mine, but if you leave this out, you will see the lovely pink flecks from the strawberries.
  8. Frost completely cooled strawberry cupcakes with fresh strawberry icing.

Strawberry Cupcake

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What’s your favourite cupcake flavour?  Would you give these strawberry bad-boys a go?  Serve with a glass of Rose for an added treat!!

Orange Sponge Cake with Chocolate Filling

Orange Sponge Cake with Chocolate Filling

by in Food 0

It’s freezing cold in Sydney today, so what better excuse would there be to crank up the oven and get baking?

I’ve never actually made a humble sponge cake before, so I thought I’d give it a whirl!!  I did a twist on the classic victoria sponge by adding some orange to my cakes, and filing it with chocolate instead of jam and cream…..good decision….very good decision!

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This is probably one of the easiest recipes I’ve ever made – you can have it mixed and in the oven in minutes.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

 

Method:

  1.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius
  2. Grease 2 x 6 inch baking pans with butter or olive oil spray, then dust with flour
  3. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl with an electric hand mixer, then add orange zest, sifted flour, and baking powder and continue mixing to combine.
  4. Bake for 25 minutes until golden, and coming away from the edges of the pan – they should be springy to touch.
  5. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer onto wire racks
  6. Mix the juice of half an orange with 2 tablespoons of caster sugar.  Lightly brush the juice mix over each cake (this will make them moist, and extra orangy)
  7. Melt chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, ensuring the bowl does not touch the water!!
  8. Spread chocolate over the top of one cake, then layer the second cake on top.  Dust the top cake with icing sugar.

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Pure citrusy goodness!!  Do you enjoy a classic sponge cake!?

Orange and poppyseed bundt cake

Orange and Poppyseed Bundt Cake

by in Food 0

What better to do on a rainy day than to bake (and subsequently eat) a delicious orange and poppyseed bundt cake!!

“What is a bundt cake,” you ask?  A bundt cake is made in a bundt (or kugelhopf) pan, and has a big hole in the middle, which means you can make a super delicious cake without the middle being undercooked.

I’ll never make a regular cake again!!  After making this chocolate espresso funfetti bundt cake, and now this delight, Im a bundt cake nut!!

This was delicious and easy to make…and yes, if anyone is wondering, that is a lemon lurking in the background, but it was purely for decorative purposes….I just ran out of oranges!!

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I used this recipe.

Ingredients:

  • Melted butter, to grease
  • 125ml (1/2 cup) fresh orange juice
  • 130g (1/2 cup) Greek-style natural yoghurt
  • 60g (1/4 cup) poppy seeds
  • 250g butter, at room temperature, chopped
  • 270g (1 1/4 cups) caster sugar
  • 2 tablespoons finely grated orange rind
  • 4 eggs
  • 340g (2 1/4 cups) plain flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 orange
  • 150g (1 cup) pure icing sugar
  • 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice, extra

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Brush a 25cm (top measurement) kugelhopf pan with melted butter to lightly grease. Combine the orange juice, yoghurt and poppy seeds in a small bowl.

  2. Use an electric beater to beat the butter, caster sugar and orange rind in a large bowl until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition until just combined.

  3. Sift the flour and baking powder over the egg mixture. Add the yoghurt mixture and use a large metal spoon to fold until just combined. Spoon mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Bake in oven for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

  4. Use a zester to remove the rind from the orange. (Alternatively, use a vegetable peeler to peel rind from the orange. Use a small sharp knife to remove white pith from the rind. Cut rind into thin strips.) Combine the icing sugar and extra orange juice in a bowl until smooth. Pour over the cake and sprinkle with the orange rind. Set aside for 20 minutes or until the icing is set.orangepoppyseedbundt3

Pure bundt deliciousness!!  Now I just need (another) coffee to have with this and my day will be complete!!