National Cupcake week 2010

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...

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

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...

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!

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

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?

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.