Earl Grey Tea and Fruit Cupcakes

These cupcakes use a fruit cake recipe which includes soaking the fruit in Earl Grey tea. The cupcakes are moist in texture with lots of fruit and a hint of Earl Grey. They are good as they are for those who do not like sweet toppings but would take a good topping of butter cream with a dash of a good malt whisky such as Lagavulin, Ardbeg and Bowmore . I think they would be good as a picnic filler on a day out in the country walking, bird watching and fishing.

This is the recipe for Earl Grey Tea and Fruit Cupcakes.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups sultanas

1 1/4 cups raisins

3/4 pint--425ml hot Earl grey tea

3 cups wholemeal plain flour

2 teaspoons of mixed spice

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/4 cup light brown or muscovado sugar

1 cup chopped dates

3/4 cup moist ready to eat apricots

1/8 cup--1 oz--25 gm butter

2 eggs beaten

Method

1 Soak the sultanas and raisins overnight in the Earl Grey tea

2 Pre heat the oven to Gas 4/5--350F--180C

3 Put all the dry ingredients into a large bowl.

4 Add the soaked fruit with the liquid.

5 Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

6 Put the cupcake cases into the patty tins.

7 Divide the mixture into the cupcake cases. This mixture does not rise very much and has an uneven cooked surface. Less mixture in the cup cases means cook it less, more mixture a longer cooking time.

8 I cooked mine in the middle to top part of a gas oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Test after about 15 minutes with a wooden cocktail stick . Place the stick into the centre of a cupcake. If it comes out dry they are cooked. Do not over cook as they may get to dry.

9 Remove from oven and cool on a wire tray.

Variations

Use a different flavour of tea such as Green tea or Lapsang Souchong

Thanks for reading

Crazycupcakes

Cupcake Waltz

A fun video I found today on youtube. I did not make this video but I appreciate the patience and skill of the person that did and hope you enjoy looking at it and the description of how it was made.
Crazycupcakes.
"I had a batch of cupcakes that didn't turn out so well but i wanted to do something with them before i threw them out. I had recently purchased iStopMotion for my Mac and wanted to try it out. I hooked my computer up to my Nikon S200 to snap the images. You can see the movie jump twice when i had to change the battery. In total there are 1019 still images in this video at 15 fames per second." Link

Year of the Rat

When I was taking photos of these shell cupcakes this cute creature decided to come along and see what was going on and investigate the cupcakes. Perhaps he is related to that gourmet rat Ratatouille! Happy Chinese New Year to everyone. A bit late but better late than never.

Thanks for reading

Crazycupcakes

Sea Side Cupcakes

These cupcakes are again decorated to imitate the seashore. I used a mixture of writing icing and sprinkles in a random way to really show the jewel like effect of the beach and the shiny parts in the sunshine.

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Crazycupcakes

Green Sea Shell Cupcake

These are two more cupcakes on the sea shell theme. I used green writing icing and green , silver and white decorative balls to get the impression of seaweed on the beach with shiny sprinkles.

Thanks for reading

Crazycupcakes

Debenhams Cupcake

I decided to review what cupcakes there are out there in the UK cafes to enjoy. This Lemon Cupcake was purchased in a Debenhams cafe in the Trafford Centre Manchester where they had three types of cupcake to try.

I think presentation wise the white plate does nothing for the cake and it just looks so pale . I would have liked a nicer shaped plate or a better colour. The cupcake looks ok but the proof is in the eating. The sponge was moist but the texture was a bit cloying on the tongue. It had pieces of lemon rind in but they did not taste of true lemon. The topping was creamy and sweet with pieces of sweets that were a bit like I imagine lemon chewing gum would taste like. Altogether the cupcake lacked a real lemon flavour it was a bit synthetic. I think my dream lemon cupcake would be a yellow basic sponge made with butter and real lemon, topped with butter cream with real lemon juice and inside a good helping of homemade lemon curd. So I am glad the cafe is serving cupcakes but as Crumbs and Doilies says you have to use the best quality ingredients to get the best flavours.

Next time I visit I will try one of their chocolate cupcakes.

Has anyone had a really good cupcake in the UK or elsewhere at a cafe or bakery that they can recommend to everyone through comments? All ideas and sources welcome.

Thanks for reading

Crazycupcakes

Crumbs and Doilies Cupcakes

I decided that I would try to contact the Cupcake makers in the UK. There are sites in the USA which feature the best of their cupcakes. So I have decided to go on a mission to show what we can do over here. I contacted the Crumbs and Doilies Cupcakes Bakery and asked if they would let me feature them on this site. They said no problem. So here are some cupcakes from their bakery.

Jemma and Sam run the bakery and they kindly answered these questions from me to share with everyone that visits this blog.

Why did you start making cupcakes?

I love baking and, after a year of working at Rose Bakery in Dover Street Market (Comme des Garcons' swanky London store), felt it was time to do something for myself. I set up a stall at Sunday UpMarket in Brick Lane offering all sorts of things such as chocolate chip cookies, brownies, flapjacks and, of course, cupcakes. After a few months it became quite clear that the things people really wanted were the cupcakes, so Crumbs and Doilies became a cupcake-only affair.
When did you first start and how did it develop into a thriving business?

I set up Crumbs and Doilies in April 2006, firstly with the stall in the East End. Before I had a web site and flyers I used to write my number on doilies and give them out with my cupcakes. People began to ask me to do their weddings and parties, word spread around London and soon the orders were coming in thick and fast!
How did you develop all the recipes?

A lot of trial and error and late nights. You make a lot of friends when you're trying out new things!
Are you able to give us any tips on how to bake a super cupcake?

Just use the best ingredients available to you. We only ever use organic free range eggs and organic flour and our butter is amazing. We think that a big part of what makes our cupcakes so special.
How many of you are involved in C&D and what are the best parts of your time making cupcakes ?
It's a pretty small operation with myself and my boyfriend Sam doing all the baking and decorating and then we have a couple of people on hand to help on the really busy days. And there's Ken, obviously. He's in charge of sprinkle control! Our favourite times are sprinkle delivery days!
How do you get inspiration for all the designs?

I take what people tell me about what colours they like and if they have any themes they want and I just go for it. I never plan the cupcakes, they just develop as I go along. I love playing with colours and contrasts and my favourite kind of order is when someone asks me do do whatever I want.
What is your favourite cupcake recipe and why?

Our last flavour of the month was a chocolate Guinness cupcake with cream cheese icing and as far as tastiness goes this was among the top cupcakes. It was really fudgy and squishy and though you couldn't really taste Guinness, there was this maltiness about it. It reminded me of Oreos!
Have you any tips for would be cupcake makers and how to start selling them?

Just practice until you feel you have the best cupcake you can make. There's no point in offering something mediocre, as there are so many companies out there doing similar things. You need to stand out from the rest.

If you want to take a look at their site click on Crumbs and Doilies . They also have a superb blog featuring all their delightful cupcakes at Crumbs and Doilies Blog .

Also if you are able to get to London you can visit their market stall Crumbs and Doilies Market Stall .

Well this is a start on seeing the cupcake makers of the UK. I hope every one will take a look at Crumbs and Doilies and enjoy.

Thanks for reading and remember there are lots of recipes and decorating ideas in the labels and archives.

Crazycupcakes

Baking Tins for Cupcakes

I had a question recently about the type of cake tin that I use. These are 2 of them. They are both metal with a non stick surface so I can put in cupcake cases or use without after greasing lightly the cupcake tins.
I hope this helps.
Thanks for reading
Crazycupcakes

Sea Shells Cupcakes

This photograph is my natural inspiration for some cupcakes based on the sea shore. I bought some Belgian chocolates in the shape of shells to use as the shells.

This ready made icing is great for rolling out and cutting shapes for cupcake decoration. It is quick and easy to create all types of decoration. I use a rolling pin and pastry cutters.

These icing tubes are good for a shiny look. I brushed these over the yellow icing to get a shiny surface.

These are two shell cupcakes with chocolate sprinkles and chocolate shells.

More to follow but hope these give you some ideas. The cupcake mixture would be good for a chocolate cupcake or a vanilla flavour recipe.

Thanks for reading

Crazycupcakes.