Cake 33, Nasty Cupcake Things

So my sister did some baking today, and I encouraged her to use up some of the 1kg bag of imitation m&ms I have. She made a chocolate cake mix, then stirred them in. They looked fine when they came out of the oven...

But it wasn't til we pulled the case off one that we realised how horrible they really are. I don't know what recipe she used, but I don't think this should be replicated.

(I had to make the picture giant, it's just so grotesque)

She also made some biscuits. I iced the green ones.

Cake 23, Cupcakes from a Box

I followed instructions, and added sprinkles. Very sweet, very mixed, getting closer.

Cake 21, Mini Chrimbus Cakes

It's a Chrimbus miracle!

I made mini cakes, and pressed glace cherries and almonds into the tops.

Chrimbus Cake

400g sultanas (I replaced these with a combination of dates and prunes)

400g raisins

200g currants

grated lemon rind

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup orange juice or brandy (I used up my stout)

250g butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

4 eggs

1 cup mashed banana

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

Combine the fruit, lemon rind, vanilla and juice/booze in a bowl and leave to soak overnight.

The next day, (preheat oven to 150C) cream the butter and sugar, and then beat in eggs one by one. Add the banana, flour, baking powder and spice and mix thoroughly. Finally stir in the fruit and liquid until the bits and pieces are evenly coated. Line a large cake tin (or many many muffin tins) and spoon in the mix. Bake at 150 for 1hour, and then reduce the heat to 140 for another 1 1/2 hours (or even another 2 if you have a slow oven). Allow to cool in the tin. 

This is the best plate I've ever found on the side of the road.

Cake 18, Christmas Cupcakes

It's been too hot to bake lately, but Lauren did make these amazing cupcakes the other day. The lurid icing ended up pooling in the middle of each cupcake...

Christmas Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 190C and line a muffin tin with patty cases.
Cream 125g butter with 1tsp vanilla and 1/2 cup caster sugar.
Add 2 eggs, one at a time.
Fold in 1 cup of flour and 2tsp baking powder, then stir in 1/4 cup milk.
Spoon mixture into lined muffin tin, and bake for 15minutes.
Allow to cool, then ice with wildly-coloured icing.

Cake 16, Chocolate Muffcakes

So Lauren made chocolate muffcakes (being a portmanteau word, rather than small cakes that look rude), and they were pretty delish. I'm going to pinch her baking for my blog :) She used a recipe my mum gave me, which is probably from Alison Holst. I think mum owns Alison's entire ouvre of cooking books.

12 Big Fat Chocolate Muffins
(something tells me mum calls them this, it's not a very Alison Holst title...)

Preheat oven to 180 C. Mix together:
100g melted butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1 egg
Add:
2 1/2 cups self-raising flour (Lauren used half wholemeal)
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Spoon into lined/greased tin, and bake for 10-15 minutes.
Lauren was going to ice these, but decided they'd be disgusting with icing on them, and it's true. They would be.

The muffcakes were strangely porous....

Cake 14, Coconut cupcakes

Inspiration came to me in a can of coconut cream. This is from "Recipe Secrets". I've decided that these would be amazing if they were served with rum-flavoured whipped cream and topped with fresh pineapple... drool... Basically, these are awesome muffin/cupcake things, most recommended.

Coconut Cream Muffins

Preheat the oven to 220 C.
Combine:
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup coconut cream
1 cup shredded coconut
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup flour

Spoon the mix into lined/greased 12-muffin tray, and sprinkle a little bit of coconut on top of each muffin. Bake for 15-20 mins.

"Cake" 10: the appropriation of cheese muffins

So my flatmate offered his cheese muffins as an antidote to cake. I was muchly pleased. The recipe is from "Jenn's Baking Chamber" (um...), but they were pretty nice. He altered the recipe a bit, since it was deemed "too strange".

Cheese Muffins

2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar (changed to 1/6 cup)
2 tsp baking powder (oh dear, he asked me before if I thought it was unreasonable that there were multiple "tablespoons" of baking powder in this mix, but I guess he misread the amount.... at any rate, the one I ate tasted fine)
1/2 tsp baking powder (omitted entirely)
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk (changed to 1 cup)
2 Tb sour cream (omitted)
1/3 cup melted and cooled butter (changed to oil instead of butter)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups grated cheese,  plus 1/4 cup for "garnish"

Preheat oven to 350 F (176.6666 C), and grease a 12-muffin tin. Combine all dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine all the other ingredients apart from the cheese. Mix the wet into the dry, don't over mix. Add cheese, and gently fold in.

Bake 15-20 mins, or until lightly golden. Sprinkle extra cheese on top of hot muffins as soon as you take them out of the oven.

They were pretty tasty, slightly sweet though (I suspect the amount of sugar has been altered in light of this). Not bad for cheese muffins.... I actually used to loathe savoury muffins, so these ones are pretty good considering.

Weekend in Wellington, and only one "cake" made

Me and my lad went down to Wellington for Zinefest, which was pretty ace, but not so great for my cake baking... I did, however, manage to make cupcakes (from a bought cake mix....).

Green's Golden Butter Cake Mix

Add 2 eggs, 100ml milk and 3 Tb butter. Blend and bake as per instructions.
Since I couldn't find a cake tin, I made muffins. They weren't too bad, Green's do a pretty good (and cheap-er) cake mix.
I also rolled the iced cupcakes in grated peppermint chocolate. Yumness all round.