Halloween Cupcakes

It's not Halloween anymore, but I was waiting on what I need to do this to arrive in the post. Better late than never! I got lazy and only made four bats. Also, depending on how much icing you like to put on your cupcakes, you might want to make a litte extra. Enjoy :)

Gooey chocolate vanilla cupcakes with buttercream icing

Chocolate Bats:

• Mini Bat shaped cookie cutter (or anything else halloween shaped)
• Chocolate Melts

1. Fill a pot halfway with hot water, and put on the stove to boil. When boiling, remove from heat and place a metal bowl over.
2. Fill this bowl with the chocolate melts, and stir while the chocolate melts.
3. Line a plate with baking paper, and place your cookie cutter on this. Spoon your melted chocolate in this.
4. Stick in the freezer till in hardens.
5. Push the chocolate out of the cookie cutter. Unfortunately, you'll probably have to do this one at a time.

Gooey Chocolate Vanilla Cupcakes:

125g unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup & 2 tbsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp milk, warmed for 10 seconds in the microwave

 Block of chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a 12 hole muffin pan with cupcake cases.
2. Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift in the flour and baking powder and beat. Pour in the warm milk and beat well.
3. Fill cupcake holders up to half way with the mixture, then place in two pieces of chocolate. Fill the rest of the holder.
4. Bake for 20 minutes.

Buttercream Icing:

• 150g unsalted butter
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 2-3 tbsp hot water
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• Red and yellow food colouring

1. Beat the butter until smooth and pale. Add the icing sugar half a cup at a time. Add hot water until icing is at your desired consistancy. Beat in essence. Add red and yellow food colouring until you get the orange you want.

Chocolate Mousse Slice

I had an urge to make something Mousse related, and since Mousse itself would be not too exciting, what better than a slice?! I used milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate, Dairy Milk to be exact. This is not something you'd want to eat alot of! I got the real of approval from my partner, so it mustn't be too shabby huh! I got this recipe off Taste.com.au, and some people were saying they had problems with it not setting right, and the mousse ingredients separating. It set fine for me, and didn't separate. It was pointed out that the ingredients will separate if you don't allow them to cool properly.

Base:

• 1 1/2 cups self rising flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 200g butter, melted
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted

Mousse:

• 300g dark chocolate, chopped
• 2 eggs, seperated
• 3/4 cup thickened cream, whipped
• shaved chocolate and cream to serve

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C(fan forced). Line the base of an 18x28cm slice pan with baking paper, allowing an overhang on all sides.
2. Combine flour, sugar, butter and cocoa powder in a bowl. Press over the base of prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until firm to touch. Cool completely.
3. Place chocolate in a metal bowl over a pot of boiling water, and melt it. Cool.
4. Add egg yolks to chocolate. Stir until just combined. Fold in cream. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold into the chocolate mixture. Spoon over the base, and use a spatula to level the top. Refrigerate for 6 hours. Cut into squares and serve.

Cut off the end for a better image of the layers. And for a taste test :)

Coca-Cola Cupcakes

You can see that I got impatient and iced them before it cooled down!

 

Coca-cola...Cupcakes? Weird I know. Gave it a shot. Not too bad! Considering I'm a die-hard chocolate fan, nothing but chocolate is really going to hit the mark for me. I was too impatient to wait for the icing to cool enough, so you can see how it's flattened out. I used rainbow dust, Hologram White, but I should really get my hands on a red one. You can't let me loose in Trends though, I lose it a bit amongst all the cupcake decorations! The mixture was REALLY runny, so I debated adding some extra flour. I cooked one first to see how it turned out. So it's actually fine really runny. It also made 24 cupcakes...And the icing didn't quite cover that. I think I have about 5 uniced. So just add a little extra to the frosting ingredients. Another quarter should do it.

 

 

Coca-Cola Cupcakes Ingredients:

• 1 cup Coca-Cola
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 22 large marshmallows
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Line 24 cupcakes cases.
2. In a small saucepan mix cola, butter, oil and cocoa. Bring to boil. Remove from heat and add marshmallows. Place lid on the saucepan and leave until marshmallows begin to melt. Stir well.
3. Mix flour, sugar and baking soda in a large bowl. Add buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Mix well and combine with the above. Pour into the cupcakes cases.
4. Bake for 20 minutes, then cool.

Coca-Cola Frosting:

• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 6 tbsp Coca-Cola
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 3/4 cup icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

1. In a medium saucepan mix together cola, cocoa and butter. Heat over medium heat until melted, then bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and add icing sugar and vanilla. Stir well.
2. Let frosting cool until stiff enough to frost cupcakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This has to be the best chocolate chip recipe I have ever come across. When I made the above I halved the recipe, because I've made them before and it is ALOT of cookies! So if you have been searching for a great simple chocolate chip cookie recipe, look no further :)

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp hot water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Line a tray with baking paper.
2. Cream butter and sugars. Beat in eggs one at a time, and then stir in the vanilla extract. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water, and stir this in along with the salt. Sift the flour, and stir in. Beat, and add the chocolate chips. Place spoonfuls onto the baking tray.
3. Bake for 10 minutes. (Makes 4 dozen)

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

 

I have made so many different types of Cupcakes, so you'd have thought I'd have made the classic vanilla cupcake. But I never have as I'm not really a fan of something plain like this. I got the recipe of the internet, but I changed the process of making them (in a food processor? No thanks!). I also used an icing recipe that I already have. Either way, they turned out quite nice. The cupcake recipe is nice and light, and with nothing too strong on the flavour side, it helps lessen the rich taste of the icing. For the first time I have baked cupcakes, it made exactly how many it said it would! (I usually end up with more, through no fault of my own!).

Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe:

• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup & 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp milk, warmed for 10 seconds in the microwave

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a 12 hole muffin pan with cupcake cases.
2. Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift in the flour and baking powder and beat. Pour in the warm milk and beat well.
3. Bake for 20 minutes.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing Recipe:

• 250g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups icing sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp hot water (optional)

1. Beat butter until light and fluffy. Add sifted icing sugar, 1/2 cup at a time. Beat on low speed.
2. Sift in the cocoa, and beat until well combined.
3. Pipe onto the cool cupcakes.

 

 

Cappuccino Cookies

For all you coffee lovers...

Today I decided to try out a new recipe that was in my "Mmmm...Chocolate" book, and my partner requested this one. I'm quite impatient so I didn't follow the instructions exactly, especially the flattening and cutting. So excuse the ugliness! They are rather yummy though, a cappuccino cookie with white chocolate icing. I have just realised as I started typing this that I accidentally used a whole egg! Instead of just the yolk...I also creamed the butter and sugar, as the idea of just mixing it didn't appeal to me.
 
Recipe:

• 225g butter, softened
• 140g caster sugar
• 1 egg yolk, beaten
• 2 sachets instant cappuccino powder, mixed with 1 tbsp hot water
• 280g plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 175g white chocolate, broken into pieces
• cocoa powder, for dusting

1. Put the butter and sugar into a bowl, and mix well with a wooden spoon (I creamed it instead), then beat in the egg yolk, and cappuccino paste. Sift together the flour and salt into the mixture and stir until thoroughly combined. Halve the dough, wrap in clingfilm and chill in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes. (I put all my dough in a freezer bag, and refrigerated for just over half an hour.)
2. Preheat the oven to 190°C. Line your trays with baking trays with baking paper.
3. Unwrap the dough and roll out between two sheets of baking paper. Stamp out the cookies with a 6cm round cutter and put them on the baking trays, spaced well apart, and flatten slightly.
4. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool for 5-10 minutes, then carefully transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
5. When the cookies are cool, place the wire racks over a sheet of baking paper. Put the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and melt over a pan of gently simmering water. Remove the bowl from the heat and leave to cool, then spoon the chocolate over the cookies. Gently tap the wire racks to level the surface and leave to set. Dust lightly with cocoa powder.
   Makes 30 (I made 35)