CHRISTMAS CUPCAKES BECOME CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS

This is a Christmas cupcake recipe for a much lighter version of a Christmas pudding which is traditional in England. However, the pudding can be so heavy and filling that I have created a cupcake recipe for a much lighter alternative.
Use cupcake recipe 1, 2, 3 or 4. This is the basic cupcake mixture or batter and to this add 1/2 cup--110gm--4oz of sweet mince meat. Add it to the mixture after you have beaten in the 2 eggs. The mixture looks like in the photograph below. I then used paper cases of a larger size which I normally would use for a muffin.
As it is larger I would cook this longer at 375F, 190C or gas 5 for 15 to 20 minutes. Do as usual and watch the cupcakes progress and remove when it is springy to the touch. The time will sometimes depend on where the cupcake tray is. I find that the centre of the oven gives a good even cupcake

When the cupcakes are cooked you can store to serve cold or serve hot. I make a 1 pint--1/2 litre of custard. I use the powdered type or make my own egg custard. Get out a plate for each person and cover with custard as below.

Take the cupcakes out of their cases and place one upside down in the centre of each plate of custard, as below.

In a pan place some sweet mince meat and warm gently, I also add brandy or sherry or port to make it taste really special. Put about 2 teaspoons on the top of each cupcake of this warm sweet mincemeat. I then decorated with some fresh fruit. Sprinkle some icing sugar over to finish off. My son said that these were superb. So hope you enjoy these as much as we have.





Remember to check out the archives. Chutney recipes has a superb recipe for cranberry sauce which makes a great filling for chocolate cupcakes recipe. There are some good soups for cold winter days. My favourite upto now is Catalan and Sweet Potato. Enjoy and have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. Crazycupcakes

CHRISTMAS CANDLE CUPCAKES

I decided to make a cupcake that would be great to hold a candle. Lots could be made and they could be used for Christmas to create a great ambiance and then most importantly eaten and enjoyed.

I made some chocolate cupcakes flavoured with dark chocolate and dates added to the mixture. I used some ready made icing to speed up the process. I rolled out the icing and cut out the base circle shapes with a cutter the same size as the top of the cupcakes. I then cut a paper triangular shape and used this for my pattern. I cut out 5 triangles for each cupcake.
I coated the tops of the cupcakes with warm apricot jam and spread this on the top of each cupcake. It became like a type og edible glue. I put the cicles on top of the cupcakes. I then used a small brush to dampen the edges of the triangles and placed them on top of the circle of icing, to form a 3D star. When the triangles had gone hard, I used pink writing icing to decorate the cupcakes and added pink balls to the cupcakes stars. In some of the star cupcakes I did not put a central decoration instead I added the candles and candle holders to the cupcakes.







I am really pleased with the result. Remember to take care with candles.

Enjoy

Remember to look at the archives and cupcake store for more ideas. There are also some great soup, casserole and chutney recipes to try out.

CHRISTMAS REINDEERS CUPCAKE

Remember to look at the cake store and the archives for more recipes and decorating ideas.

In this Christmas idea I have taken one of the painted cupcakes and added lots of the reindeer cupcakes on to it using photoshop. It is like a vast herd of reindeer cupcakes on a planet.

POINTSETTIA CHRISTMAS CUPCAKES

Remember to get more ideas from the Cake Store and the Archives. Crazycupcakes.

Christmas cupcake recipes based on the Christmas Pointsettia plant.
Christmas Cupcakes based on the beautiful shapes, patterns and colours of the pointsettia plant.
This Christmas cupcake recipe is made from the chocolate cupcake recipe with fresh cranberries added to the mixture. I iced it white and then used bought chocolate shapes as the leaves. I then filled in the pointsettia details with writing icing.
This Christmas cupcake is made from the chocolate cupcake recipe with raisins added that have been soaked whisky. Brandy is also good. The cupcakes are iced white and the leaves are made from ready to roll icing. I rolled it out with a rolling pin and cut out the diamond shapes. I finished off with writing icing detail.
This Christmas cupcake is the chocolate cupcake recipe with fresh cranberries added to the mixture. It is iced white and the leaves made from ready to roll icing. The detail is with coloured writing icing. The Cranberry cupcake recipe.
This Christmas cupcake is based on the pointsettia drawing in black and white. I iced the cupcake white and made the leaves from black icing rolled into a rectangle and then cut into diamond shapes. I put in detail with writing icing
This cupcake is based on the bright red leaves of the pointsettia. I iced the cupcake white. I used rolled out red icing for the leaves and writing icing for the details.
The cupcake was the chocolate recipe with grated orange rind added and orange juice. I love the combination of chocolate and orange

The pointsettia plant is also called the flame leaf, Christmas star, Winter rose, Noche Buena or Pascua. It is a sub-tropical plant known for its striking red colour at Christmas time. It's often used as a floral Christmas decoration because of its festive colours. The red flowers are really large bunches of coloured leaves. In the U.K. these are very popular to bring colour to the home or for use as table decorations at Christmas. The shops are now filling up with them.
In South American folklore, Pointsettias are central to the creation myth story of the Mayan Indians. It is believed that Pointsettias are powerful creatures from another world. The plants are native to South America but are now cultivated all over the world .

I hope you get lots of ideas for cupcake recipes and decoration.

Remember to check out the cake store and archives for lots more ideas .

Enjoy. Happy Christmas.

CHRISTMAS STAR CUPCAKES

Go to the Archives and Cupcake Store for more ideas and recipes. Do not miss them!

CHRISTMAS STAR CUPCAKES
More cupcake recipes and ideas in the cupcake store and archives

These are some cupcakes decorated for Christmas with stars. I am collecting different shaped cutters so if I need to I can make a lot of a similar design. I made some icing and added green food colouring. I then rolled out some white icing and used my Star cutter to create the shapes. I then used writing icing to decorate and added the shiny balls. Not bad to start with but could develop this idea of decoration in lots more ways. I liked the reindeer cupcakes so I could now combine the cupcake recipe ideas for those with the cut out shapes and more colour ways. I could also think about making the stars look three dimensional.

For the cupcake recipe I used the basic cupcake recipe but I added sultanas that had been soaked in Port. I could also have added sultanas or raisins soaked overnight in whisky, brandy and cherry brandy. It would also be good to add some spices to the cupcake mixture such as ground ginger, ground cloves, grated nutmeg and ground cinnamon. One teaspoon could be added with the sieved flour.

Next post to feature cupcake recipes for Cranberry Cupcakes and Chocolate Orange Cupcakes for Christmas with more ideas on how to decorate cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup--6oz--175gm butter or margarine

3/4 cup--6oz--175gm castor sugar

1 1/2 cups--6oz--175gm self-raising flour

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

3 eggs

1 tablespoon of warm water

METHOD

Cream butter or margarine with the castor sugar in a large bowl. Add the vanilla extract. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift in the flour. Fold in. Add the water. Place the mixture in individual cupcake cases in a baking tray. Cook at gas 5--190C--375F for 12 t0 15 minutes.

REINDEER CHRISTMAS CUPCAKES

These pictures show some art created in Lapland. I collected these on a visit to Finland. I like the black drawings which show reindeer, people and the environment. I decided to use these for a cupcakes design.
I iced the cupcakes white. I then took a small painting brush and painted the cupcakes using food colouring. I put a small amount of red, blue, yellow and black on a plate. I had water to dilute the colour and rinse the brush.

The colours remind me of watercolour paintings. They look like planets and landscapes.
When the colours had gone dry I used black writing icing to draw the images from the pictures onto the cupcakes. I think these are interesting and a new way of showing the Christmas Lapland reindeers and their environment.

CHRISTMAS SHOP CUPCAKES

CHRISTMAS SHOP CUPCAKES
This Christmas display was seen in Southport, U.K. I thought they looked really good and would give me ideas for my own cupcakes. I like the tree designs on the display as well. It is a great idea to always have a camera to get some photos to help you develop ways to decorate cupcakes. The icing methods are always good to look at and copy or just get ideas on how to decorate cupcakes.