Ice-Cream Cone Cupcakes

My daughter wanted to learn how to make cupcakes and muffins.  I like new ideas for baking, but although this idea is not new, it is very effective, so she had a choice between making traditional cupcakes or having a go at making ice-cream cone ones. They really are very simple.












Ingredients

Your normal cupcake or muffin recipe mixture
Flat bottomed ice-cream cones
Buttercream in your favourite colour and flavour
Extra decorations

There really is no point putting quantities.   bought a standard box of ice-cream cones. Make sure they are flat bottomed otherwise you won't be able to stand them up. Any leftover mix can be made into standard cakes and if there is buttercream left it can either ice the other cakes or stay in the fridge for a few days.

Spoon the muffin mix straight into the cones until about 3/4 full, place each one in a muffin pan to stop them toppling over, then bake them on the middle shelf for 20 minutes at Gas 6.

When they come out, the mix should have risen just above the cone.  Lift them onto a cooling rack, leave until completely cool then either pipe or spread on the icing and decorate.

They are best eaten within 24 hours as the cones go soft.  Miraculously the cones don't burn in the oven, so there is no need to foil them or cover them at all.  I think my daughter made a fantastic job of these and considering this was also her first time piping buttercream, she can be really proud of how they turned out.

Spicy Butternut Squash Cake

I had never heard of a butternut squash until I had my first child.  When I was weaning him onto solids I used a recipe book by a children's cook, Annabel Karmel, that stated babies LOVED the taste of this weird and wonderful member of the squash family.  She was right, he loved it.  Some days I mixed it with apple, some days with pear and other days with savoury ingredients and not once did he refuse it. In fact, all my children loved this sweetly smooth vegetable.  Soups made with it are superb and it absorb flavours well, from curry spices through to pudding spices.  Sage is also an excellent flavour to marry with butternut.

I've been thinking about using puréed vegetables in cake mixes for a while now, after my son said he'd eaten courgette cake at a friend's house and how nice it was.  I had a butternut in my fridge and scoured recipes and came across this one.  It is stated as a bread, but it's a cake really - cooked in a lined and greased 9x5" loaf tin.

It is beautifully moist but definitely more likely to appeal to the adult palette.  My older two liked it, but didn't rate it as highly as other cakes.  The younger two did not like it at all.  It needs to be left for at least a day before it is eaten as the spices are still very pungent and haven't had time to develop.  It is also nice spread with butter.

In this recipe, it is very important to roast the squash beforehand and to purée it.  It will give you an idea of the yield you have to determine how many cakes you can make. One cup of purée will give you one cake, so if your squash makes two cups, double the recipe, three cups, triple it and so on.  To roast, split the butternut in half lengthways, scoop out the seeds and put the two halves cut side down on a baking sheet and roast at Gas 4 / 350F / 180C for 45 minutes or until a knife goes through the flesh with no resistance.  Scoop out the flesh and put through a blender and discard the papery skin.  If you don't fancy making multiple loaves, then what's left can be made into a soup.

If you're not likely to eat this cake within 3-4 days, it is best sliced and either stacked with greaseproof paper between the slices, wrapped in clingfilm and placed in an airtight box to be frozen.

Ingredients

1½ cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground ginger
1 cup butternut squash purée
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, beaten
¼ cup water

Method

1.  In one bowl, sift flour, soda and all the spices.

2.  In another bowl mix the butternut purée, sugar, oil, eggs and water until well blended.  This will appear very sloppy and the oil will take a while to mix, but don't worry if it doesn't mix completely.

3.  Add the dry ingredients and stir until well mixed.

4.  Pour into loaf tin and bake at Gas 4 / 350F /180C for 50-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

5.  Leave to cool in tin on a wire rack for ten minutes, then remove from tin and cool completely.

Maple Syrup Muffins

I've always got a bottle of maple syrup in the larder and usually it's only poured over pancakes as I've often been wary of baking cakes with it as it has such a strong flavour.  But today my mouth has been watering at the thought of eating something cakey with it, so instead of heading for the chocolate muffin recipes I have, I decided to do a basic mix and then add in a bit of maple syrup.  I was still a bit hesitant about quantities, so I used half golden and half maple and I think the balance is just right.

4oz butter, softened
4oz caster sugar
4 tbsp maple syrup, plus extra for drizzling
4 tbsp golden syrup
2 eggs
8oz self raising flour
4 tbsp milk
cinnamon and icing sugar to dust

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add all other ingredients and mix well.  Put into muffin cases and bake at Gas 5 / 190C / 375F for 25 minutes.

 

When the muffins are just out of the oven put two skewer holes in, drizzle over extra maple syrup, sprinkle with a tiny dusting of cinnamon and then a layer of dusted icing sugar.






These are so delicious warm.  My youngest son had just gone to bed by the time they were cool enough to eat, but he heard the Mmmmmms coming from downstairs and was allowed to come down to enjoy the first batch with us. Next time I bake them I'm tempted to top them with  a maple flavoured icing .

When the butter's rock hard

Some days I want to make a cake in a hurry, but the butter dish is running low and the new pack is in the fridge, rock solid.  At times like this I use the following recipe because it doesn't use butter.  It's great because you put everything into one bowl and mix it up quickly.  It gives a really delicious and moist cake.

200g plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tsp baking powder
125g caster sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
2 eggs
150ml vegetable oil
150ml milk


Put all ingredients in a bowl, mix well and then put into either an 8 inch cake tin or two 8 inch sandwich tins and bake at Gas 4/ 160C / 325F for 30 - 40 minutes.

I like to serve this still slightly warm, sandwiched and topped with chocolate royal icing and a big dollop of vanilla ice-cream.

20 Minute Treats

Days like today, when I'm feeling run down and generally not well, I still have to consider fillers for the school lunch boxes.  So, anything that can be mixed, baked, cooled and finished off in 20 minutes is a winner.

I baked two Swiss rolls, one plain and one chocolate, which took 15 minutes.  Whilst they were baking I made chocolate buttercream.  The cooled sponges were then cut into rounds.  A plain and chocolate  round were sandwiched together with the buttercream.  The finished treats were piled on a plate and dusted with icing sugar.

Simple and tasty.

Passion Cake

I spent a day with my Mum yesterday and whilst we were queueing at a café, I spotted a very delicious looking cake.  It was called Passion Cake.  I'd never heard of it before, so upon further research, found out it was actually a variation of carrot cake.

I was pleasantly surprised when today, after offering to bake a carrot cake for the women's tea and cake afternoon at church I came across the recipe in one of my cook books.  Feeling a bit bold I thought I'd experiment and give it a go and if it was a success I'd take it along.  If not, I'd have to admit defeat and take along a shop bought one.   It also has banana and walnut and I can say, from tasting the leftover mix in the bowl, the banana is detectable, but not overpowering.  How it tasted in the baked sponge I can't tell as it had all gone by the time I went to get a slice!

My cake stand came home empty.  So I'm taking that as a thumbs up.