Sugarbomb Bakery

The Sugarbomb Signature cupcakes Pt 1

2010-10-25T00:28:00.004+01:00

We've covered my dislike of vanilla before but it really does go into practically everything. Most people I know would go for a plain old vanilla cupcake. As much as I don't like them it seems that vanilla is almost universally loved.
I'd like to present the plain Jane or rather Not So Plain Jane. It's a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting decoarted with a sugarpaste heart or flower with a dusting of matching glitter.
Actually it's named after my mum who is definitely not a plain Jane even though she thinks she is.
She'll kill me for posting this picture of her!

Vanilla Blue Velvet

2010-10-18T16:29:00.006+01:00

A few months ago my sister had a baby shower for a boy and asked for a blue themed cake. I didn't want to go with a generic blue cake so I went with this:

No t very blue I know but just wait until you cut into it.

It's a blue velvet cake with a middle tier od vanilla sponge all sandwiched with black cherry conserve and vanilla butter cream. All covered in a thick layer of vanilla buttercream. This isn't the actual one from the baby shower, that one was a lot bigger. This cake is turning out to be very popular and I have made it a coupole of times now. I thought the blue colour would be completetly off putting but it seems to have gone done very well.

For anyone unsure of blue velvet cake, it's a colour change take on a American classic Red Velvet cake. It's a very soft buttermilk cake flavoured with cocoa and vanilla. It's traditionally topped with cream cheese frosting.

By the way, the professional cake pictures were taken by Dan Stone at his studio (more on that later). See http://danstoneimages.co.uk/ for details.

National Cupcake week 2010

2010-09-06T10:43:00.003+01:00

National cupcake week is next week, I hadn't even realised until I was doing a clean out and saw an order form from last year. Gosh this last year has just flown by.

I've kicked it off this year with a competition.

If you were a cupcake what would you be and why?

There is a prize for the competition but it's only open to people living in Manchester UK, sorry about that! Please leave a comment or email me. The competition closes on Sunday the 12th September.

For the next two weeks regular sized cupcakes will be one pound each. Please contact me at beks@sugarbombbakery.co.uk to place an order.

Whoops! or Mrs G and PB part 3 or 4 or 5...

2010-07-17T15:36:00.006+01:00

Firstly apologies for the long absence. Intermittant internet connections and real life have got in the way of blogging in the last couple of months. I also haven't baked much either. The weather has just been much too hot and the last thing i wanted to do was spend time in a boiling hot kitchen. I promise to try and update more regularly from now on but we'll see how long that resolution lasts.

Secondly: Whoopie Pies!

Take a gander at my BFF's blog

http://bakingwithmrsg.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-whoopie-week.html

She's so right, Whoopie Pies have been everywhere and I have been waiting to bake them for months, I've just been really rubbish about getting round to it. I'd seen recipes on some of my favourite blogs and it wasn't until last week when Bakerella posted a Whoopie Pie competition that I got my ass in gear.

I have heard a lot of chatter about these little treats being the new cupcake. They were really nice but I think that there is room for cupcakes and Whoopie Pies.

Knowing that I was making these for Mrs G I decided to make them chocolate with a sweet peanut butter frosting filling. I used the recipe from Bakerella's blog

http://www.bakerella.com/whoopie-pies/

It was actually really easy and I just whipped up a batch of my famous peanut butter frosting to sandwich them together with. I think Mrs G was impressed. I will definitely be making these again. If you look at the pictures you'll see that a few are sandwiched with vanilla and chocolate frosting.

Sorry, I liked this picture so much, I used it twice. (Pictures taken at Mr's G's house.)

twitter

2010-05-25T23:19:00.000+01:00

Just a quick one of some adorable twitter cookies.

www.twitter.com/beks78

And some twitter related stories:
http://www.techxav.com/2009/07/10/lets-activate-the-way-back-machine-the-history-of-twitter-in-pictures/

http://www.bakerella.com/follow-me-to-the-ranch/

http://laughingsquid.com/twitter-cookies/

Return Of The Reverend.... Sort Of...

2010-05-20T22:19:00.000+01:00

These cupcakes in liquid form go quite well with CocaCola. I usually make this chocolate velvet cake with Jack Daniel's. This time I made them with Jim Beam instead. I made these before way back in March 2009.

Apparently Jack Daniel's is "the reverend". So it was suggested that I name the Jack Daniels chocolate velvet cupcakes; Reverend's Choice. It sounds like a drink of some sort to me. I did look it up and couldn't find a drink with that name but I did find some interesting cocktails containing Jack Daniel's and Jim Beam. I actually prefer both with ginger beer and a slice of lime. Pop over to the Jack Daniel's website to learn more.

The Jim Beam chocolate velvet cake tastes stronger than the Jack Daniel's one. I omit pecans from the cake mixture but top the frosted cake with one instead. I'll have to look into a cola flavoured frosting and top it with a slice of lemon.

Mrs G Has A Blog!

2010-05-06T10:30:00.004+01:00

My bestest mate and baking partner in crime has a baking blog. It's adorable! Pop on over to http://bakingwithmrsg.blogspot.com/ and check it out.

Nadia is definitely the more creative person out of the two of us. She has infinite patience when it come to decorating cupcakes. You can tell that Nadia has a great love of baking and making it all pretty. I'm looking forward to reading her baking adventures over the coming months.

Heart Shaped Mocha Bundt

2010-05-03T10:39:00.001+01:00

I bought a gorgeous new heart shaped bundt cake pan from my favourite baking shop in Manchester (The Cook Shop in Manchester Arndale market) last week. I couldn't wait to try it out. Best thing is that I got it on sale so it was half price.

I had eggs to use up that were an unexpected gift (it says something of my baking mentality when I view eggs as a present!) So I made a simple mocha cake.

Mocha cake

80z Stork margarine or similar
8oz sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
6oz self raising flour
2oz cocoa
1 sachet of Starbucks Via coffee

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4

Grease and flour the bundt cake.
Cream butter and sugar together.
Beat in eggs fully one at a time adding the vanilla extract in with the first egg.
Fold in the flour, cocoa and the sachet of coffee.
Bake for 25minutes.

I look it into work and it went down quite well.

Something Savoury?

2010-04-21T21:59:00.003+01:00

You've probably seen this blog before and if you have then you'll know that I don't ever make anything savoury. The title of the blog says it all "Sugarbomb Bakery, An explosion of sweetness". You couldn't confuse that amount of sugar with anything else!

When I was asked to audition last week I had to take an example of savoury and sweet baking with me. I racked my brain and I realised that over the last two years I haven't made anything savoury. I have in the past but sweetness has taken over my life recently. So I made some sun-blushed tomato, basil and cheddar muffins.

2 cups self-raising flour

1 tsp salt
1½ cups grated mature cheddar cheese
½ cup drained sun-blushed tomatoes, coarsely chopped
½ cup torn basil
1 cup milk
80g butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4

Mix flour and salt together into a large bowl. Stir in cheese, sun-blushed tomatoes and basil. Beat together the milk, butter and egg.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix lightly, until just combined.
Spoon mixture evenly into 10 muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until cooked and golden on top. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Sugarbomb's Adventure in the Big City

2010-04-19T22:34:00.004+01:00

Friday was a big day for me. I had an audition for a baking show in London. The Great British Bake-off is a new show that is being filmed by Love Productions.

I had a surprise email on Tuesday from a lady called Madeline who is one of the producers. She'd seen my blog and invited me to take part. To be honest I had to read the email a couple of times, I didn't actually believe it.

DO YOU ENJOY BAKING PIES, LOAVES OR CAKES?

Is baking your hobby?
Do you enjoy making special food?
Can you turn out a great pie, a lovely cake or a tasty loaf?

Would you like to spend some time baking with some of Britain’s best bakers?

BBC2 are making a new series about amateur bakers which will be judged by some of Britain’s baking heroes. ‘The Great British Bake Off’ is looking for amateur bakers who are talented but can show the rest of Britain what great food can come from their region.

We hope it will be a lot of fun and in the end one baker will be crowned the UK’s best amateur baker.

So, I rang her and had a brief telephone interview. Next day there was an email asking me to come down to London on Friday with sweet and savoury baked items. I was at a loss as to what I should take with me. Something complicated? Or something tried and tested (and more importantly - loved!)? I had a look over the last two years oh my baking life and I realised I hadn't made anything savoury for ages.

In the end I went for cheese, sun-blushed tomato and basil muffins and chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting.

I had a brief interview that went over the questions that I'd already answered on the telephone. Then there was an interview about my skill level when it came to baking different items. My cupcakes and muffins were taken to a judging area and that was it.

I received a call later on in the evening telling me I hadn't got through to the next round. Of course I was gutted but I still had the chance to try out for it. I would never have guessed that my week would end with a visit to London.

Luscious Lemon Bars

2010-04-03T23:28:00.005+01:00

Lemon Bars aren't something generally found for sale in the UK. I've always been curious about them and I love lemon so I decided to give them a go.

They are a sort of shortbread with a set lemony custard topping. You can see the layers in the pictures.

I lovelovelovelovelove lemon bars. To be honest this isn't the first time I've made them, I made them last week and they were so good that I didn't even get to take pictures, they disappeared too quick!

Luscious Lemon Bars

Base
150g/5oz/1¼ cups plain flour
90g/3½oz/7tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and diced
50g/2oz/½ cups icing sugar

Preheat the oven 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4
Line the base of a 20cm/8" square cake tin with baking parchment and lightly grease the sides of the tin.

Process the flour, butter and icing sugar in a food processor until the mixture comes together as a firm dough. Press evenly into the base of the tin and spread smoothly using the back of a tablespoon. Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden. Cool in the tin.

Topping
2 eggs
175g/6oz/scant 1 cup caster sugar
finely grated rind and juice of 1 large lemon
15ml/1 tbsp plain flour
2.5ml/½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
Icing sugar for dusting - optional

Whisk the eggs in a bowl until frothy. Add the caster sugar a little t a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in the lemon zest, juice, flour and bicarbonate of soda. Pour over the cookie base. Bake for 20-25 minutes until set and golden.
Leave to cool slightly and cut into squares and dust lightly with icing sugar if required. Leave to cool completely.

So Vanilla... Extract

2010-04-02T11:43:00.009+01:00

I've spoken before of my loathing for vanilla. Unfortunately vanilla goes into pretty much everything I make.

Behold Nielsen Massey Vanilla Extract.

This little bottle holds just under 24 teaspoons of precious vanilla extract and costs about £5.00

I was browsing the fabulous Joy The Baker website a couple of months ago when I stumbled across this: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2009/06/how-to-make-vanilla-extract/
So I decided to give it a try.

You will need a 70cl bottle of vodka or brandy and 10 vanilla pods that have been purchased on ebay for not much money.

Split open the vanilla pods by cutting almost to the top with a sharp knife. Feed vanilla pods into bottle of vodka. Leave for 3-4 months shaking it occasionally.

Vanilla extract 6 months on. I made two bottles and filled up my old empty Nielsen Massey bottles and gave them away for Christmas.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-03-17T12:23:00.002Z

Just a quick post of Mother's Day cupcakes.
They're chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting in pink, purple and cream colour. The cupcake in the centre is topped with a handmade chocolate hat from Slattery's Patissier and Chocolatier, in Prestwich.

Oreo Cupcakes

2010-03-12T11:46:00.001Z

I haven't posted for a while. I've baked some stuff but I've been a bit lazy with the taking pictures and blogging!

I'll make it up to you with a rare recipe!

Oreo Cupcakes

80z Stork margarine or similar
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
10 crushed Oreo cookies

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4

Cream butter and sugar together.
Beat in eggs fully one at a time adding the vanilla extract in with the first egg.
Fold in the flour and the baking powder.
Stir in the crushed Oreo cookies.
Fill the cupcake cases two thirds full, you should get 16.
Bake for 17 minutes until lightly golden on top.

Oreo frosting
4oz unsalted butter
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
10 crushed Oreo cookies
1 - 3 tsp of milk

Beat the butter until soft and then beat in the icing sugar. Beat in the vanilla extract and some milk one teaspoon at a time if needed.
Stir in the crushed Oreo cookies. Spread on top of the cooled cupcakes.

Alternatively make up the frosting without the crushed Oreo cookies and pipe on the frosting. Dip tops of cupcakes into the Crushed Oreo cookies

The First #Teawitter Party

2010-03-01T15:21:00.008Z

Just a warning that this post will be picture heavy!

On Sunday the 28th February we held a tea party at Madlab (Manchester Digital Laboratory) http://madlab.org.uk/content/teawitter/

it was lovely afternoon of awesome food and awesome people. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. All pictures are described from the top clockwise.

Hamataschen, choc/vanilla fairy cakes, choc/vanilla cupcakes and oreo cupcakes, apple pie, lemon drizzle cake and double choc cookies.

You can just about see the two massive platters of sandwiches at the back of this picture. Sandwiches, choc/vanilla fairy cakes, choc/vanilla cupcakes and oreo cupcakes, hamataschen, chocolate orange pinwheels and double choc cookies.

Ginger biscuits, pear, pistachio and amaretto drizzle cake, spicy apple muffins, chocolate brownies, hammataschen and lemon drizzle cake.

Fresh crumpets.

Spicy apple muffins, pear, pistachio and amaretto cake, LadyMcScamp cupcake, choc/vanilla cupcakes, oreo cupcakes, double choc cookies, chocolate, fruit and nut cake, chocolate brownies.

Lemon drizzle cake, hamataschen, chocolate brownies, spicy apple muffins, chocolate, fruit and nut cake, double choc cookies, choc/vanilla fairy cakes, choc/vanilla cupcakes and oreo cupcakes.

Spicy apple muffins, chocolate, fruit and nut cake, chocolate brownies, hamataschen, lemon drizzle, pear, pistachio and amaretto, LadyMcScamp cupcakes, choc/vanilla cupcakes and oreo cupcakes

LadyMcScamp cupcakes, choc/vanilla cupcakes, oreo cupcakes, double choc cookies, chocolate chilli bites and spicy apple muffins.

I'd just like to say a big thank you to all the people who baked something and also those that stayed to tidy up at the end. There was so much cake left over that everyone ended up taking a box home with them.

Latest order.

2010-02-19T14:18:00.001Z

This week I have had two orders. To be honest this post is more about the pictures of cupcakes.

One was for a friend who was taking them down to Norfolk to a party.

Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream topped with a chocolate heart.

The good old Mrs G - chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream and topped with Reese's Pieces

The cookies and cream deluxe - Cookies and cream cake, with an oreo at the bottom. Topped with vanilla buttercream, an oreo, more buttercream and an M & M. The one in the middle is a cookies and cream deluxe +1, which has a chocolate covered oreo and hides a layer of chocolate buttercream too.

Rocky Road - chocolate cake with chocolate frosting topped with marshmallows, brazil nuts, malteasers and chocolate bar bits then drizzled with chocolate.
The second order was a surprise tweet that asked if I could do some animal cupcakes. It was my first attempt at animals although I have done Sesame street characters. I was really impressed with the dog more than the others. I think I need to work on the panda.

Competition Time (part 2)

2010-02-08T22:00:00.001Z

I have wanted to make iced vanilla sugar cookies for ages. It seems everyone is going on about them. I've noticed them even cropping up in a few select bakeries in the UK too. There are some gorgeous examples out there of beautifully decorated biscuits. These are my first attempt and while they're not gorgeous, I certainly think they're cute. Just for the record, I did cheat. I didn't ice them in the traditional way, I just coloured some fondant and fixed the cut outs to the cookies. The pink ribbon cookies are a present for someone.

Little vanilla cookies

Medium vanilla cookies

Medium and large vanilla cookies
Small, medium and large vanilla cookies

The recipe was quite simple but the dough was really difficult to work with. I'm not going to post the recipe because I'm going to try and find a better one and do them again.

So competition time then.
Well I made far too many so the prize is the big sugar co0kie, four medium cookies and five small cookies. I've wrapped them in cellophane to keep them fresh.
The winner will be chosen at random on Thursday evening so that I can deliver them on Friday in time for Valentine's day.

I would like you to leave a comment on the blog telling me what your favourite flavour of sugar cookie would be. I personally dislike vanilla so I was considering making them almond flavoured.

Please note that we'll need to meet in Manchester sometime on Friday to pick these up.

Competition Time (part 1)

2010-02-01T16:04:00.005Z

Would you like to win cake? Of course you would.

This is the cupcake for two. Either as a cake to share or just more cake for one person. To win one all you have to do is leave a comment telling me who you would share the cupcake with.

Please include your email address at the end of the comment so that I can contact you. Winners will be chosen randomly by the end of the 6th February.

I'm really sorry but the competition will be only open to people who live in easy deliverable distance of Manchester city centre, United Kingdom.

Good luck. Part 2 will be on the 8th February.

**EDIT**
I really enjoyed reading the comments on who you would like to share your cupcake with. I'll use a random number generator to select the TWO winners (www.random.org)

Comment 7 - Godders1210

Comment 4 - Chris

I seriously want you all to have cupcakes. This is why I had to up it to two winners. But as promised there will be other competitions coming up!

PB and Mrs G (part 1)

2010-01-30T19:28:00.005Z

You may have heard that my mate Mrs G has a real peanut butter and chocolate weakness. So here are some chocolate cookies that I made for her. Don't they look boring.

But hold on... break one open!
They're awesome peanut butter and chocolate cookies with a peanut butter frosting filling.

I copied the recipe from a website about a gazillion years ago and i don't know where from. I know it was an American baking blog but that's all I know. Whoever came up with these - thank you!

What are these! Chocolates?
I admit they're not very professional looking. I'm not great with the chocolate finish on chocolates. But gosh they tasted nice. And in keeping with the theme...
Remember the peanut butter cookies from a few posts ago? Well I turned them into truffles. I usually make them into truffle lollipops but the mixture was too soft and fell off the sticks.

So there you have it. There will be more more episode of PB and Mrs G to follow in the next couple of weeks. I just hope that I don't over do it. I don't think our friendship will survive if I turn her off peanut butter! Nah, never happen (I hope)!

The First Cupcakes Of 2010

2010-01-27T20:50:00.004Z

My first order of this year! A birthday for a friend's granddaughter.

I went for very simple chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting and chocolate brownie toppers. There is some pink glitter on the cakes but you can't see it properly. Actually, you can if you click on the picture.

Pineapple and Almond Upside-down Cake

2010-01-26T23:45:00.000Z

Last Tuesday I came across an old Marks and Spencer magazine at my Grandad's house. I always copy recipes down but I never actually make them. I have untried recipes written down everywhere in my house. I bit the bullet and actually decided to go for it. Since I was meeting a fellow foodie - Simon, I thought I'd have someone to give me some useful concrit.

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

Mix together 50g each of sugar and butter and spread over the base of a 22cm diameter springform tin.
Arrange seven slices of drained pineapple on top of the butter mixture.

125g butter
125g sugar
2 eggs
100g self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
50g ground almonds
a few drops of almond extract

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, gradually beat in the eggs. Sift in the flour and baking powder and stir in the almonds. Add a few drops of almond extract at the same time as the eggs if you are using it. Pour the mixture over the pineaplle in the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes until risen an firm to the touch. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack.

By the way, Simon said it was nice.

Happy Australia Day

2010-01-26T22:41:00.003Z

Do you know what Anzacs are?

Anzac biscuits are a sweet biscuit popular in Australasia.

Anzac biscuits have long been associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) established in WWI. The biscuits were often sent to loved ones abroad because the ingredients didn't spoil easily and the biscuits kept well during naval transportation. This is probably due to the omission of eggs which were scarce during war rationing.

These biscuits seem like they're rock hard. like a hard flapjack. Due to the addition of coconut I won't be trying one.

Anzac biscuits.
6oz plain flour
5oz rolled oats
3oz dessicated coconut
8oz dark brown sugar
4oz lightly salted butter
2tbsp honey
1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
2tsp milk

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line two trays with parchment paper.

In a large bowl mix the flour, oats, coconut and sugar together.
Melt the butter and honey.
Mix the bicarbonate of soda into the milk and then mix into the butter/honey mixture.
Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir together.

Drop rounded teaspoons of mixture on the prepared trays allowing space to spread. Bake for 15 minutes or until browned. Leave to cool on the trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Makes 40.

These biscuits are a gift for my friend Pete. Pete spent 13 years living in Australia and although he has lived here for a 10 (?) years, I associate Pete with Australia. He doesn't suit living in cold and wet UK, he's like sunshine and awesomeness all rolled into one. Even though I'll miss him loads I really hope he'll move back to Australia to live there again some day.

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY PETE!!!

What, No Cupcakes?

2010-01-24T22:54:00.009Z

Last year I don't think I baked anything other than cupcakes. Well I certainly didn't mention here If I did. There are so many more things I want to bake this year. So I started tonight.

I'd like to present Mrs G's secret peanut butter, cheesecake brownies. YUM! They're not really secret but they are the most deelish brownies ever.

Just a side note on brownies, I'm not the biggest fan. I prefer cakey brownies not the fudgey kind. Although Dish and Spoon bakery (see the links I follow) do a lovely really dark chocolatey one and I love Baking Bites oreo brownies. For a long time that was the only brownie recipe that would work for me. I've always used to regard brownies as the enemy as I found them extremely difficult to bake. I don't mind them but I stay away from shop bought ones because most of them in the UK taste nice-ish but have the consistency of crumbly brick.

I also made up the mix for some secret truffles (only secret because they're a present for someone!) and some peanut butter cookies. The truffles will be revealed soon.

What am I going to do with 11 brownies (I ate one) and half of the peanut butter cookies? I am supposed to be on a diet! The other half of the peanut butter cookies will be used for another something secret. I think I'll be giving away baked stuff at work tomorrow.

Inspiration to keep on baking!

2010-01-15T02:05:00.004Z

This blog was about the be consigned to the internet ether, just before Christmas I'd decided to give up baking. I had a couple of bad orders and I was no closer to my bakery dreams. I'd spent a lot of money on ingredients and had nothing to show for it. I'd told my friend Nadia (Mrs. G) that that was it, no more!

The picture above was her response. The print is a special Cakespy creation that was ordered by Nadia for me for a Christmas present. According to Nadia, I'm the Cupcake Queen. Check out the writing on the crown!

It really made me so happy. So I guess I'll carry on baking but I'm not going overboard like I did last year and this year I'm going to try to make more than just cupcakes. I've been reliably informed that they were so 2009. Well, I don't buy it, I think cupcakes are here to stay but I do want to try baking more things. I make darn good cookies - keep tuned for a feature soon!

Just one more thing - thank you Nadia! (This is why she gets free cupcakes for life!)

Mince Pie Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery

2009-12-20T10:13:00.003Z

I bought a copy of BBC Good Food magazine a few weeks ago and they had a recipe for some lovely mince pie cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery. But they're not in the Primrose Bakery book. So the recipe follows for those of you who would like to try them. I love mince pies and this year I was surprised that the best mince pie I've had was from Gregg’s bakery. Please try them if you can. The best thing is, you can buy them in singles rather than a pack of 6, if you're inclined to eat all of them in one go like I want to do!

I took these cupcakes into work and gave them out instead of Christmas cards, because you can't eat a Christmas card, well I suppose you could if you wanted to...

Mince Pie Cupcakes

225g butter
225g sugar
4 eggs
250g good quality mince (I just used Robinson's traditional)
200g self raising flour
25g cornflour
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time until mixed thoroughly before adding the next.
Stir in the mincemeat.
Fold in the dry ingredients.
Fill the cupcake papers 2/3rds full and bake for 17-18 minutes until golden brown on top and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out mostly dry. They will still be quite moist cakes.
Makes 18

Just a couple of notes on the recipe:
I use muffin papers rather than dainty cupcake papers, mainly so there's more cake.
I felt they needed spices so I added some but feel free to leave them out if you want.
I found the 25 minutes cooking time given by Primrose far too much and my first batch nearly burnt after 21 minutes. I think 17 minutes should be fine for most.

The magazine suggests topping with a brandy flavoured buttercream but I simply brushed mine with apricot jam and topped them with cut out rounds of icing. I also used apricot jam as glue to stick the decorations on.

Happy Christmas!

Celebrity cupcake?

2009-12-03T11:38:00.002Z

I've previously posted how difficult I find it to come up with names for cupcakes well I'd like to introduce two new ones:

Belle de Jour, a dark chocolate cupcake with dark chocolate frosting complete with a red heart dragee and red glitter.

Jane, a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting topped with a fondant flower and matching glitter - this one just happens to be blue. This cupcake is named after my mum.

I know I don't have a Twitter link here but I am active on Twitter. In fact I would probably go so far as to say that I am a little addicted.

A couple of months ago I began following a certain Belle de Jour, the author of The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl on Twitter. A few weeks later she outed herself to the media. So in honour of this brave act I have named a cupcake after her. I really enjoyed the blog, book and the television adaptation. Over the years I've really warmed to Belle and I've often thought that she is the type of person I'd love to be friends with.

So, anyway, I twittered her to let her know that I was dedicating a cupcake to her and she twittered back. I was absolutely made up! It's not exactly an endorsement but it made my day. Maybe I should send her some...

Chocolate and vanilla...

2009-11-20T11:14:00.000Z

It's always chocolate and vanilla or vanilla and chocolate or chocolate and chocolate or vanilla or vanilla. Well I guess these are popular flavours but it does get a little boring after a while. It helps me though, I usually only have to make up two different types of frosting.

Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and a Galaxy Minstrel

Vanilla cake with chocolate frosting and a white chocolate Malteaser

Cholcate cake with vanilla buttercream and a giant Cadbury's button

Vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream and a blue fondant flower

Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream topped with a heart shaped brownie

Oreo Monster

2009-11-11T15:13:00.002Z

My newest creation! Cookies and cream cupcake but it's a serious cookie overload. I had one last week and it was too much for me. There's an oreo cookie at the bottom topped with oreo cookie sponge (vanilla sponge with crumbled oreos). Finished off with vanilla frosting and an oreo cookie. I wonder what it would be like with chocolate and cookie sponge with chocolate sponge? Sounds too much for me....

Jack O'Lantern Cupcakes

2009-10-30T14:51:00.002Z

Happy Hallowe'en.
So for Hallowe'en I thought I'd try a nice comforting ginger and cinnamon cake with ginger frosting. They smelt lovely while they were baking actually they made my house smell quite Christmassy!

Flower cupcakes

2009-10-19T15:02:00.000+01:00

Excuse the poor photography. These are just posted for being pretty. Could do with a sprinkle of glitter though!

Nomenclature....

2009-09-27T16:35:00.006+01:00

Naming cupcakes is really hard. So far I only have two named:

Chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting - Mrs G

Coffee cake with chocolate frosting - Trix Regis

Can anyone help me out? There's cupcakes in it for you...

Chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. A picture for no reason, just because it was pretty.

National Cupcake week - an update.

2009-09-25T13:56:00.007+01:00

Thank you to the people who bought cupcakes for the national cupcake week promotion - orders are still coming. I decided to donate money to The British Heart Foundation and to Cancer Research.

I've had quite a few orders and it's been successful so I'll be doing it again in November. However, please feel free to order whenever you like...

For Petee - coffee cake/choc frosting, cookies and cream and the good ol' butterfly

For Mark - lemon, double choc and butterfly

For Aunty Vi - lemon, butterfly, cookies and cream, double choc, choc cake/peanut butter frosting and coffee cake/choc frosting

For Jon - Choc cake/vanilla frosting, butterfly, double choc, lemon, cookies and cream and coffee cake/choc frosting

For Big Mike - coffee cake/choc frosting, vanilla cake/choc frosting, choc cake/vanilla frosting, cookies and cream and lemon

For Jane - I tried out the Hummingbird Bakery ginger cupcakes. I didn't like the recipe but the cupcakes were absolutely delicious, if a little expensive. I was disappointed to only get 10 small cupcakes out of the recipe instead of the suggested 12 though.

Another Christening...

2009-09-20T16:07:00.005+01:00

1oo cupcakes for a little boy called Oscar. All vanilla, 50 with white buttercream and blue Os and 50 with blue buttercream and white Os.

The blue didn't come out too badly but it wasn't as pale as I wanted it to be. I must remeber that butter is yellow and adding blue to yellow just makes green. Hmmm... must keep practicing

Red birthday

2009-09-12T10:34:00.003+01:00

I have red hands. Last night I baked a 13th birthday cake with cupcakes to match. I was really nervous about it. I don't make big cakes - there's too much to go wrong. Like getting the red dye all over my hands! Well I'll have to see how the birthday boy likes it. Fingers crossed! Haziq did ask for a Liverpool Football Club cake but red and white is the closest I could get. I tried to get a Steven Gerrard football figure yesterday to put on the cake but I came up with a blank. It's hard to buy Liverpool themed stuff in Manchester!

It's vanilla sponge with white chocolate chips, a layer of vanilla and white chocolate frosting in the middle and red frosting on the top and sides. The cupcakes are either vanilla or chocolate with white chocolate chips and red or white vanilla frosting.

The smaller cupcakes with the yellow cases are lemon diabetic cupcakes. Wish I could get hold of some diabetic/artificial icing sugar. Then I could make better frosting. I used Candarel for the sugar substitute in the cake and frosting, I found it quite weird to cook with - I use the same recipe for all my cupcakes but the texture came out different, slightly heavier. This is the second batch of diabetic cupcakes - the first were a bit scone like. I think I'll try Splenda as a sugar substitute next time and see how that goes.

Bought to you today by the letter C...

2009-09-07T15:04:00.003+01:00

Sunny days, sweeping our cares away,
On our way to where the air is clear,
Can you tell me how to get,
How to get to Sesame Street?

There comes a time in every bakers life when they have to do character cakes.
It's not a chore but seems to be a rite of passage!
Well so far we've got:

Cookie monster - check out the googly eyes!

Elmo loves you!

They look a little strange. I mean you can recognise the characters but they look like muppet imposters. I'm going to try this again. I ideally wanted to use choc-chip cookies but I thought the oreos would look ok. I really hope the young child that I made them for likes them.

There's a national cupcake week?

2009-09-02T14:08:00.005+01:00

National cupcake week is the holiday that I want to celebrate the most. A whole week devoted to cupcakes, it's too good to be true! Cupcake week this year begins on the 14th September - seven days of cupcake fun.

During cupcake week a box of nine cupcakes will cost £10.00 and each individual cupcake will cost £1.50. Please contact me if you would like to make an order. Oh! and by the way each box/individual cupcake sold will include a donation to charity.

Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla and chocolate frosting with red and white icing roses and glitter.

Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and Reese's Pieces.

Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla, chocolate and peanut butter frosting with M &Ms.

Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter cupcakes and slices of Snickers.

Congratulations! to Nadia and Andy Gubba

2009-08-15T16:19:00.001+01:00

So remember all those un-iced cakes? Well...

Chocolate and vanilla cakes with contrasting buttercream. The roses were supplied by Richard's Cakes in Urmston. The mini cupcakes are the same but they have contrasting colour M & Ms on. Check out the American M & Ms website for different colours.

Check out the glitter on these bad boys!

The day of many cakes...

2009-08-13T16:15:00.000+01:00

This is a small fraction of the cakes for my friend's wedding.
Four double quantities of buttercream and 246 cupcakes.

Butterfly cakes

2009-07-24T17:08:00.000+01:00

Here is my nephew Jack on his 1st birthday.

Plain old butterfly cakes, actually they're a family favourite. Vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream and a little something extra in the middle.

I don't think Jack is emjoying that as much as we thought. Jack was the only one to get a plain one.

The filling is black cherry conserve.
I also made some with rhubarb and ginger jam, lime curd and then Nutella in the middle.

Vanilla Confetti Cupcakes

2009-06-05T15:51:00.002+01:00

Plain old vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. Look carefully and you'll see the sugar confetti just hiding under the buttercream. These cakes are multicoloured inside. Yet another time when I should've made a cross section view photo of the cupcake.

1-up

2009-05-31T15:25:00.001+01:00

I've not been baking as much recently but it's my bro's birthday so I had to. JJ loves computer games, especially Mario. In my head these cupcakes looked amazing. They didn't come out too bad but not as good as I hoped. They tasted really nice though! In case you're wondering they're supposed to be the mushrooms from the Super Mario games.

1-up mushroom cupcakes

There's a not-quite-right Elmo creeping in there amongst the mushrooms.

And then because I had so much buttercream left over...

Easter Bunnies etc

2009-04-10T15:12:00.001+01:00

Easter is chocolate and bunnies.

Bless Lindt for their adorable gold wrapped Easter bunnies.

Chocolate egg filled with chocolates.

Easter egg nest cupcakes.

Chocolate cupcakes covered in milk chocolate with a Cadbury's creme egg in the middle (I should have taken a cross section picture of these).

Jack's Christening

2009-03-30T14:48:00.004+01:00

Not much to say really. It was my nephew Jack's christening. My sister Daniella asked for some cupcakes. There were 18 chocolate and 18 vanilla cakes all topped with BLUE buttercream and a white J. They are blue not green. Ok slight problem with the fact that buttercream is essentially cream coloured not white and when you add liquid blue food colouring it goes greeney. I've ordered some gel blue food colouring so I hope that will rectify this.

My other nephew Kaius was very happy to model a cupcake.

60th Birthday Cupcakes

2009-03-28T13:18:00.001Z

One of the ladies at work is on a really strict diet. When it was time to order the comic relief cupcakes she asked me if I could make some for her dad's 60th birthday party instead. All of them would be chocolate but some of them would have to be very low fat.
First I tried a non-fat sponge recipe but it made really rubbery cakes. In the end I thought that the best thing to would be to make a low fat muffin instead. They didn't work out very well as I forgot to add the sugar - a D'OH! moment if ever there was one!

She'd asked me to make chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, an adult chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and the low fat chocolate with chocolate frosting. I used a lower fat butter for all the chocolate buttercream but because it wasn't as firm, I ended up having to use more icing sugar to get it to a piping consistency. I think I'm going back to normal butter.

It was the adult chocolate cakes that I was most impressed with. Does the picture give you a clue?
I found a recipe for Jack Daniels chocolate velvet cake. They made really squidgy cupcakes. Despite having 3 shots of Jack Daniels in the recipe, they didn't really taste of it but you could definitely smell the alcohol in the cakes.

Networking Cupcakes.

2009-03-24T12:45:00.001Z

My friend Nadia is obsessed with my peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes. When I open my own bakery I'm naming them after her! Nadia's time as the co-ordinator for her network-business-breakfast-type-thing is coming to an end so she asked me to make up some of her favourites to take in to the meeting.

Chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and Slattery's strawberry chocolate buttons.

Chocolate cake and peanut butter frosting with Hersey's swirled peanut butter and chocolate chips.

There is a cupcakery in the same town that we both live in. I was both absolutely gutted and delighted in equal measure when it opened. Gutted because I still dreamed of being the first cupcakery in the area and delighted because a cupcakery had opened up near us. I can recommend their raspberry cupcake topped with mascapone frosting.

Nadia would say "I went to the cupcakery today - I was weak!" It was always for one of the chocolate peanut butter ones. Then she would say "They're not as good as yours though!" It never fails to make me happy and now that they've changed the frosting my friend has given them up altogether. Yay! It just means that my mobile has turned into the chocolate peanut butter cupcake hotline... How can I not name this cupcake after her?

Cupcakes for Comedy!

2009-03-01T13:24:00.000Z

Comic Relief is coming.
Please buy some cupcakes from me.
All profit will be donated to Comic Relief.
Choose from:
Chocolate
Vanilla
Lemon
Cookies and cream

All cakes topped with vanilla buttercream and a red" nose".

Please contact me for an order form.

I shall also be answering your telephone calls in a Comic Relief call centre when you ring up to donate on the night of Comic Relief on the 13th of March. Please give generously!

edit (27th March 2009)
WOW! I raised a massive £140 for comic relief on cupcakes alone!
My final total on the telephone was in the region of £1850.

Thank you to everyone who bought cupcakes and for those people who donated through the phone - thank you too!

Vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream and a red strawberry nose

Valentine's Day 2009

2009-02-14T20:38:00.001Z

Valentine's day was a busy one for me this year. I made some Cupcakes to sell at a friend's bakery. I think I went a little overboard. I made a lot of cupcakes but ended up giving most of them away. I sent some to the bakery but they didn't go down all that well. They did however sell them at a gym because there was quite a few left over. They seemed to be a lot more successful at the gym. Hold on a minute, I thought healthy gym bunnies would shun a cupcake, obviously not! I should make some with little dumbbells on and see how successful they are.

Vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting and a "creative" use of candy letters and love hearts.

Vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting - I love these little hearts. I had to pick them out of a white hearts and pink stars mix. There are loads of those little pink stars left.

My favourite - chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and a chocolate heart. I made the hearts myself!

A box of cupcakes for the bakery.

Valentine's Day for two

2009-02-14T13:52:00.002Z

Cupcakes are selfish and lonely. They're a single serving dessert for one. Valentine's Day is about sharing and not being lonely. So here we go: an extra large cupcake for two people!

A normal sized cupcake next to an extra large one. It's actually just double the size of a normal sized cupcake.

And if you're all alone you can have more dessert to console yourself with (that's what I did - sob)!

Red and Gold Suprise

2009-01-25T13:31:00.004Z

Happy Chinese New Year.

Vanilla cupcake with red vanilla buttercream and gold decorations.

Yes, this "Ox" is humping a cupcake! I couldn't find an Ox so I nicked this bull from my nephew's farm play set.

These cupcakes were a suprise for a friend of mine called Lisa. She was really happy when I delivered them to her in the staff restaurant at work. It really cheered her up - she was having a rubbish day so they came at the right time then.

Hello! Pleased to meet you...

2009-01-01T12:49:00.002Z

Welcome to the blog of the Sugarbomb Bakery.

Allow me to introduce myself...
I'm Beks and I've been baking for a long time. I think it's safe to say that I'd rather be baking than doing almost anything else.
For me the best thing about baking is suprising someone with a freshly baked and decorated cupcake. They are always met with delight.
What is it about cupcakes and in fact other home baked products that can reduce people to giddiness? I always write "made with love from the Sugarbomb Bakery" on the packaging so may it could be the love...?

I love cakes, cookies, brownies, well in fact I like most baked goodies.
My favourite cupcake is a chocolate one with chocolate or coffee frosting.

I have to say that despite going through gallons of vanilla extract a year, I hate vanilla. Vanilla buttercream and vanilla cake are a nightmare for me. That is definately one cupcake I can refuse. Unless I'm making them into mini Victoria sponges or cherry butterfly cakes.
I have no problems with making vanilla cake - it seems to be the most popular flavour and lets face it, it is an easy cake to make. It's a good thing for me though, I'm not tempted to nibble. It is so hard to be a baker on a diet!

I'm not a photography buff, most of the pictures taken of cupcakes are on my mobile phone. I try and remember to use my Nikon but my mobile is usually closer to hand.