Hen Night Cupcakes

As Easter approaches it seemed like a good time to post these cupcakes. As the title suggests I made them for a hen night but I think they also look quite Easter-y. These are for a reasonably sophisticated hen night – if I get any requests I can post what I make for a more rowdy hen night...

The cupcakes are made from a devil’s food cake recipe and hens are made from chocolate plastic. I shaped them to have very thin beaks and then dipped them in a little bit of white chocolate*. I also coloured a small amount of white chocolate red and then piped little combs and wattles (yup, that’s what the red bits are called). I put the hens here with smartie eggs but that’s because it wasn’t near Easter and I couldn’t find any mini eggs, but they would obviously be better.

Note the comb and wattles!

* when I am only melting a very little bit  of chocolate I do this in a metal measuring spoon (like these ones pictured) over boiling water, I have some spoons for measuring cups and ½ and ¼ cups which are just the right size for this.

Savoury Cake (Ham, Parmesan and Olive)

I had an unexpected day at home this week and so decided it was time to make a savoury cake having come across a recipe in a weekend paper.  I suspect this idea may have been around for a while if it has made it into a Sunday paper and has just past me by so far, but it was new to me. The recipe is by Hugh F-W. As I wasn’t terrible confident I made half the amount suggested and put it in a small loaf tin – it didn’t rise much. I also had to modify the recipe because I had black olives instead of green and no thyme.

The result? Not bad,  like a less dense savoury scone.  It is nicely flavoured  I think enhanced by the use of some baked Christmas ham which I had in the freezer.  Good with bit of salad for lunch.



The Recipe
Liquid ingredients
150ml olive oil
150ml milk
4 eggs lightly beaten

Dry Ingredients

250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp paprika
1tsp fresh thyme
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
100g parmesan – grated
180g cooked ham chopped
130g green olives stoned and chopped.

Directions

1.       Heat oven to 200^oc
2.       Grease a 1.5 litre loaf tin and line with paper
3.       Sift flour, baking powder and paprika. Add the remaining dry ingredients.
4.       Whisk the liquid ingredients together and combine with dry ingredients. Stir until just combined and put in the tin.
5.       Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden and a skewer comes out clean.
6.       Leave in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out to cool.

Chocolate Plastic and Roses

Chocolate plastic is just a more interesting (American) name for chocolate modelling icing. For my wedding cake I used ready-made ‘cocoform’ from Squires (http://www.squires-shop.com ) to make the roses. However it is possible to make your own using chocolate and glucose. I used to get the glucose from Boots but I discovered you can get it in a tube made by Silver Spoon from Sainsburys.

You can make it with white chocolate you and if you do this you can colour it (see right). Here is the recipe, you really need to make it the day before you want to use it, but as it is only made from chocolate and glucose you can keep it for ages in the fridge.

Ingredients:

8 oz white (or milk) chocolate, finely chopped

¼ cup (4 tbsp) glucose

For Dark chocolate you need more glucose, about 5 tablespoons

1. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. When it is fully melted add the glucose and stir the mixture will thicken and come away from the side of the bowl.

2. Then put the mixture in a re-sealable plastic bag and squash until it is a thin layer. Alternative wrap in cling film

3. Leave over night in the fridge or at a push put it in the freezer for an hour or so (but this isn’t so good).

4. Before use leave at room temperature for 30 minutes or blitz in the microwave for 10 sec or so. You will need to knead the mixture before you use it. I tend to knead little bits as I go. It does take a bit of kneading to get it smooth but when you have done this it will be like plasticine.

Below is a milk chocolate rose and leaf and here is a link to an American site which shows how to make more professional roses

Sunflowers and Icing

Today’s post is mainly about icing, specifically chocolate ganache, a versatile icing that can be poured on a cake while runny as a glossy covering (as I did for my wedding cake) or used when more solid as a piped icing. To illustrate its use here is a picture of some sunflower cupcakes I made the impressionists garden party I previously made gingerbread ladies for.

I dyed flaked almonds yellow with food colouring and left them to dry on greaseproof paper.

Then having put a dollop of chocolate ganache on the cupcakes I put the almonds around the edge.

The recipe

Chocolate Ganache -  Makes 250g mixture enough to fill and cover a 8 inch cake

175g / 6 oz           Plain Chocolate broken into pieces

4 tablespoons    Single Cream

50g / 2oz              Butter  in cubes

2                            Egg yolks

1 tablespoon      Rum

I adapt this as given my very fecund friends I don’t like to add the egg yolks in case I am feeding pregnant women ditto for the rum. Also if I haven’t got single cream in the fridge I milk instead but a bit less volume. Apart from that you can see I follow the recipe closely...

Instructions

1. Beat the chocolate with the cream in a small pan over a gentle heat
2. Cool slightly then beat in the butter bit by bit
3. Beat in the egg yolks and rum if using

Either use runny or wait for it to cool and beat for a thick pipe-able icing

Gingerbread Women

No, this isn't about redressing the gender balance but last time I made these I only made gingerbread woman. They were for the impressionist-themed garden party, and were designed to be Gauguin-style Tahitian beauties. While that objective may not have been met, the recipe is a good one I have used for many years.

                      
Ingredients

250g	Plain flour
100g	Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon	Ginger (powder)
100g	Butter or Marg,
2 tablespoons	Orange Juice
1 tablespoon	Golden Syrup
1 tablespoon	Treacle (or another of syrup)

Instructions

1.       Sieve the flour  and the sugar and ginger

2.       Add the butter/ marg. rub to bread crumbs

3.       Add orange juice, syrup and treacle

4.       Kneed to a dough

5.       Roll out, cut to design of your choice and gently move to a baking tray

6.       Cook at 180^oC for around 10 minute until golden

 Compare and contrast...

Devil’s Food Cake

This is my second favourite chocolate cake recipe.  It is less complicated than the "best ever" one, but still very chocolatey. There is quite a lot of cocoa powder in it which makes it a really dark earthy chocolate colour and the texture is quite springy. The lack of density means it is isn’t ideally suited for cutting into novelty cakes but it does make good cupcakes. I realised when I looked at my cook book that I have been making this recipe for 20 years so it must be a good one.

The original recipe

50g / 2 oz                            Cocoa Powder

200ml / 1/3 pint                 Boiling Water

175g / 6oz                           Plain Flour

¼ teaspoon                         Baking Powder

1 teaspoon                          Bicarbonate of Soda

125g / 4 oz                          Butter (or Marg at a push)

300g / 10 oz                        Caster Sugar (Golden is good)

2                                          Eggs, beaten

Makes one 20cm / 8 inch sandwich cake or 24 cupcakes (small paper cases not muffin cases)

Cook at 180 ^oC  45-50 mins for cake ~20-25 mins for cupcakes but check after 15 mins

Instructions

1.       Blend Cocoa with ½ the water then stir in the rest and leave to cool

2.       Sift flour, baking powder and Bicarb

3.       Cream butter, sugar and 3 tblesp of cocoa  & water until light and fluffy

4.       Beat in eggs to butter and sugar

5.       Fold in flour and cocoa alternately, don’t worry if it curdles

6.       Divide into 2 lined sandwich tins or 24 small paper cases

7.       It is done when a skewer comes out clean, but leave in the tins to cool for about 5 mins as it is a bit fragile when hot.

Easy Chocolate Cake Recipe

As an antidote to my favourite but slightly complicated cake recipe, I was sent this easy chocolate cake recipe. I tried it and it is easy (only 3 steps) and tastes nice. I made it into cupcakes and tried to put all the mixture into 12 cupcake cases which was too much, I estimate it will make 15-18 cupcakes.  My only objection is that I don’t often have crème fraiche in the fridge, but that is quite a small quibble. See what you think.

The decoration was for my brother-in-law who is addicted to tea and also likes this MoPed! song 

Ingredients:
    * 8 oz self-raising flour, sieved
    * 3 tbsp cocoa
    * ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
    * 6 oz caster sugar
    * 3 eggs
    * 150ml crème fraiche
    * 150ml sunflower oil
    * 3 tbsp golden syrup

Method:
Tip the dry ingredients into a bowl or food processor and mix to combine.

In a jug, whisk the eggs until pale, then add the crème fraiche, sunflower oil, and golden syrup. Whisk together thoroughly, then tip the mixture into the dry ingredients and beat or blend to combine.

Pour the batter into a 2 greased 8” round tin, and bake at 140 degrees C, for 40 mins-1 hour. Cool on a wire rack.