Bakewell Cupcakes & welcoming in Cupcake Week!

I am stupidly proud of these (the shame of pride) i made these the day i made the Jam of the previous post. I *think* i invented them!? At least i didn't follow any recipe and it felt like a flash of pure inspiration....
The Bakewell Tart - but in a cupcake! These tasted sooo good, i ate so many (the shame of gluttony) Ingredients / Basic cake:
4oz Caster Sugar - mixed into 4oz unsalted Butter.
4oz Plain flour plus 2 t'spoons baking powder.
75g Ground Almonds
Add one egg (with a spoonful of flour) then a second egg (also with flour)
A drop of Vanilla Essence AND a big dollop of full fat (homemade!) yogurt or a splash of milk to give the mixture a little more liquid.

This mixture made enough to fill 12 Muffin cases - the medium sized, not the huge American style ones. If i want these to all be perfect, if they are being put on sale at a craft fair cafe etc... i try and fill the cases evenly. Put a dollop in each and go round filling them each until they all have the same amount in.

When they are cooked and cooled.... use a sharp pointed knife to take out the top of each cake to form a small well. RESIST the temptation to EAT that bit you just cut out!! as it will go on top once you have filled the well with a t'spoon of blackberry / cherry jam.

I used the jam i had just made "Brambley Hedge Jam" as it was sharp and fruity.

The icing is basic Glace Icing. Icing Sugar with the juice of ONE LEMON and a generous splash of ALMOND ESSENCE - that is really 'to taste' but don't over-do it as Almond Essence can be quite powerful. You might need a tiny splash of water with this is there isn't enough liquid to form the gloopy paste.

With the cake tops back on, smother the top of each muffin with the icing.

And pop half a cherry on top to finish...

I also grated some chocolate over the top for a bit of authenticity and a nod to the Mr Kipling variety. I don't even like Glace Cherries! But they didn't look right without one on top.

Cake friends, they tasted luxurious x i will be making these for my 'Craft Cafe' in October and selling them at the Cafe. What a treat!

MrsB... queen of the tarts and the cupcake lover - tell us about cupcakes???

We want to know what you do x

Fish x x x

Choc Chip Loaf with lotsa love x x x

This is definately a cake with love in the ingredients. It is a recipe i first used when i was 17yrs old and the first EVER recipe i wrote down in my new RECIPE BOOK - i had a journal that i was given and decided to fill in with my favourite foods.
So MRS CHRISTY (crazy mum of a school friend) used to make this cake and we'd all sit round her kitchen table and drink tea whilst eating large slabs of this delicious loaf.... Now, i mainly eat it on my own as no-one else round me likes cake!! How could i give birth to a child who doesn't "do" cake?
4oz butter
60z caster sugar
1/2 t'spoon the best vanilla essence
2 eggs
6oz self-raising flour
1/4pt single cream
40z chocolate chips - plain or milk, up to you.

Loaf tin is buttered and floured - ready. Oven is on at 180c.
I didn't have any choc chips in the cupboard (i must have eaten them on some lonely, desperate evening) so i bashed up a bar of quality chocolate. Pop the chunks in a bag and bash them ON A BOARD! till they are small pieces.

Cream together the butter and sugar - as with most cakes. then add the vanilla essence. I think it is worth spending a little more on good quality ingredients... it just increases the taste of your cookery efforts x

Beat in eggs one at a time with spoonfuls of flour to stop any curdling... then add all the flour and mix gently.

Add the cream, gently.

Stir in the choc chips and mix well to distribute.

Pour into your prepared loaf tin.

Make sure there is enough left in the bowl for 'lickage' - and 3 spoons / spatulas.

1=you

1=child

1=dog... (you don't want to share that spoon once the dogs had a slobber on it)

Bake in CENTRE of well warmed oven for 45mins - or still it is risen and firm to touch.

Not teaching grandmothers to suck eggs, promise, but don't go opening oven doors half way through cooking a cake.... the cake drops and will be ruined (something to do with the release of Carbon Dioxide etc...)

It should slip easily out of the loaf tin if you buttered and floured it!?... then cool on a wire rack for a while. Why on a wire rack?... so the bottom doesn't go soggy x (not everybody knows these things)

Dust the top with icing sugar....

EAT.... drink tea...

The world is a better place x