Harvey Nichols Cupcakes

This is the display of cupcakes that I found in Harvey Nichols in Manchester. I think it shows the Brits can do the real deal in cupcakes. They had a great selection of flavours and the look. They said it was to celebrate the Sex in the City film which opened here recently and which featured new York cupcake bakeries. So if you are near a Harvey Ni cs go and get a cupcake as well as looking at that designer fashion wonderland favoured by the WAGS.

Has anyone found any really good outlets for cupcakes in the UK? I did a feature on Crumbs and Doilies and I hope to do a trawl of all UK bakeries that are on line and do a feature on them.

Thanks for reading

Crazycupcakes

Cakes in York

A cute cupcake from the Betty's website. In my opinion a very simple decoration for any cupcake. I expect it is with ready to roll icing. They will make their own . The base is cut out with a cookie cutter and the others with cute cut outs with cake decorating gadgets.

These great cakes are in Betty's cake shop in York. I took the photo from their window display. It is a great iconic place to take afternoon tea. This is a selection of their cakes for that occasion. They have a good selection of tea to drink and needless to say there was a queue to take tea.

This is the link to their site BETTY'S

I think these are good ideas for making and decorating cupcakes.

Thanks for reading

Crazycupcakes

French Market Cakes

This French market was held in our local town. I thought that these give some good ideas fro cupcakes. I like the cream with fresh strawberries above. The cakes with orange, almonds and custard would be an interesting cake to design. The eclairs with choux pastry are a good type of cake to design a cupcake on. I love sweet and savoury choux pastry.

These coconut macaroons would be good on top of a cupcake sponge base with pineapples , rum and caramel. The baklava cakes start me off thinking about cupcakes with filo pastry, pistachios,almonds, sugar syrup and Greek food.

These are pastry with hazelnut filling. Could a cupcake be invented that rolls up and has these flavours?

Enjoy. Thanks for reading.

CUPCAKES IN SPACE

These are some of my most photogenic cupcakes upto date. I iced the cupcakes in various shades of blue. I then added a chocolate drop covered with tiny coloured balls. I then put on shiny balls and lilac sprinkles in edible glitter. I then used glitter writing icing and spread this out with a stick to get the effect I required


These are some postcards that I bought on a holiday to Iceland, they show the Aurora Borealis. That is the fantastic phenomenon that occurs during winter in the night sky at Northern latitudes. I also bought a dvd taken of them to show the fantastic movement in the sky.

I think these are really cupcake art. What do you think?

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

CUPCAKES WITH A MASK

I found this fantastic picture in my paper in the UK, The Times. I saved it in my scrap book of ideas which I keep to help me design cupcakes and cupcake recipes. I really like the images on the face. I had some small cupcakes in the freezer so I decided to do them in this style. It would be great to do this with the kids. They could collect face pictures from the paper and then have a go at making them on a cupcake.

First of all I iced the cupcakes in plain white icing made from icing sugar and a drop of warm water. I then got out the ready made icing in red, yellow and black. I thought that the eyes really stood out so I made three coloured circles and cut these in half and put them on the cupcakes. I then added more features using small bits of ready made icing which I shaped with my fingers. I then added more details with writing icing tubes in the same three colours.





I then decide to just make a face and put on a pair of shades. I made the hair by pressing some ready made icing through a metal sieve. I could do lots more of these and make all types of shades, children would love to do this.

Why not have a go and let me know how you get on.

Enjoy, Crazycupcakes

HAPPY NEW YEAR CUPCAKES RECIPES

A present for Christmas was a new food mixer by Dualit . It has got some useful attachments and is ideal for lots of cupcakes recipes. The photograph shows it in action on my first cupcakes of the new year 2007. I like to do things by hand but this does make things quicker.

This is a selection of the different types of cupcake cases that are available for different occasions and different cupcake recipes. The small foil cupcake cases can be used for mini-cupcakes. The white cupcake case is for the small fairy cake size and the larger cupcake case can be used for muffins and the larger cupcakes. It means that the case will take twice as much mixture or batter so I have doubled the recipe mixture. The cupcakes have more depth and will allow more opportunity for fillings and decoration.

I decided to make my first cupcakes to celebrate the new year. The recipe is as follows;
Ingredients
2 cups--8oz self-raising flour
1 cup--8oz butter or margarine
1 cup--8oz castor sugar (fine ground)
4 eggs
1 lemon--grate off the rind and squeeze out the juice
1 tablespoon of milk
16 large cupcake or muffin cases

Method
Cream the sugar and butter-margarine together. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well. Add the grated lemon rind, lemon juice and milk. Add the flour and beat gently. Divide the mixture into 16 cupcake cases, They must be the large ones. This mixture would make 32 cupcakes in the small fairy cake cases. Cook at gas 5, 190C or 375F for 20 minutes. Do not open the oven whilst they cook as they will not rise.
Decorate in the style of your choice.



These cupcakes are double the depth and allow for bigger decoration. I am going to use this size this year to create cupcake recipes with delicious fruit fillings and creams. These are tasty Lemon Cupcakes and I have decorated them to say Happy New Year 2007 to everyone who has been to my sites and also for my family to enjoy.

The cupcakes have been decorated with icing on the base , small sweets to show the words and then they are defined with writing icing tubes.

Remember to check out all my archives for cupcake recipes and decorating ideas.

I am hoping to start adding new recipes for cupcakes each week this year along with lots more decorating ideas.

If you have any comments please share these or if you want me to do a certain recipe again please comment.

Crazycupcakes.

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.

ST ANDREW'S DAY CUPCAKES

These cupcakes are to celebrate St Andrew's Day which is the 30.November. He is the patron saint of Scotland. So there may be a lot of cupcake enthusiasts in other parts of the world who can trace back their ancestry to Scotland. I created designs which show the Scottish flag, designs which are a modern cupcake version of tartan fabric, usually seen on kilts and one cupcake that shows that elusive Scottish creature The Haggis. Who is seen on Burns night served with neeps and tatties.




The Flag Cupcake
The Haggis Cupcake

Tartan Cupcakes
ST ANDREW'S DAY CUPCAKES

BUTTER CREAM ICING CUPCAKES RECIPE

Chocolate cupcakes with Butter Icing.
The recipe is below for the cupcakes and the butter icing

These cupcakes use the recipe for chocolate cupcakes which is really moist and delicious.
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup--6oz--175gm butter or margarine
3/4 cup--6oz--175gm castor sugar
1 cup--4oz--115gm self-raising flour
1/2 cup--2oz--60gm cocoa
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 and the cocoa. 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.

I then decided to make a butter cream decoration and use a piping method. The Butter cream was made the following ways,

INGREDIENTS

In the U.K. we have a wide choice of spreads. You can use benecol and flora proactive if you are wanting to reduce cholesterol. I decide to use benecol to see what it was like. I found it quite good but it does not have the same taste as butter.

3 oz--75gm butter or margarine or benecol spread

6 oz--150gm icing sugar

1 tablespoon of milk or water

METHOD

Mix the butter and icing sugar together in a bowl. If using butter it is a good idea to let it soften if taking it straight from the fridge. Add the liquid and mix well. I then placed the icing into a tool I use for piping. I prefer this for small quantities but I would use a large icing bag for a large amount of butter icing. This tool has 4 different nozzles so practice with it until you get control and the designs that you want. It is really quite easy to do . You could have a few prepared with different colours of icing.

Icing Tube and 4 nozzles for the piping to decorate the cupcakes

Volcano chocolate cupcake
Swirl chocolate butter cream cupcake
The '99' chocolate cupcake
Lattice chocolate cupcake

I hope you enjoy making these cupcakes from the cupcake recipes.

CHOCOLATE BUTTERFLY CUPCAKE RECIPE

Butterfly Cupcakes
Jelly Butterfly Cupcake
White Chocolate Drop Butterfly Cupcake
Dragonfly Chocolate Cupcake

Chocolate Lace Butterfly Cupcake

Chocolate Cupcakes just coming out of the oven

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup--6oz--175gm butter or margarine
3/4 cup--6oz--175gm castor sugar
1 cup--4oz--115gm self-raising flour
1/2 cup--2oz--60gm cocoa
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 and the cocoa. 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.

Decorating Cupcakes

To create the butterfly decoration. First cover with chocolate icing, place chocolate drops on the top, add sprinkles and define parts with writing icing.You can use bought chocolate shapes as wings, silver balls and sprinkles. Get the kids invoved and have fun.

CHOCOLATE ICING
3/4 cup--4oz--110gm dark cooking chocolate, the type you like
1/2 cup--4oz--110gm butter
2 1/2 cups--10oz--290gm icing sugar
warm water or strong black coffee(choose which you like)
METHOD
Put a pan on the stove with a small amount of boiling water. Place a bowl over the top. Put the chocolate in here to melt. In another bowl cream the butter. Add the melted chocolate to the butter, mix. Gradually add the icing sugar and mix well, add the water or coffee in teaspoons to keep the mixture runny and creamy enough to use as icing. I like it quite firm. when the cupcakes have cooled ice each one. I keep a mug of hot water at the side to moisten my spreading knife.
CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
Remember to check out all the previous posts on the right

Designing and Decorating Firework Cupcakes

To design the cupcakes for bonfire night I first collected pictures of fireworks and did drawings of these in my scrap book.

I then looked at all the decorating icings that I had and started to plan how I would do the cupcakes. For some I chose dark icing as a background to represent the night sky. I wanted to use shiny balls to represent the firework explosion.


I used the basic cupcake recipe of;

6 oz--175gm self-raising flour

4oz--110gm butter or margarine

4oz-110gm castor sugar

2 tablespoons of milk

Method

Beat the butter and sugar together, add the eggs and beat in each one fully, add the flour using a sieve and add the milk. Place in cupcake cases and bake in the oven gas 5, 190C or 375F for 12 to 15 mins. Cool

FIREWORK CUPCAKES

It is now the time in England when on November 5th we celebrate Bonfire night. This came about In 1605, thirteen young men planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Among them was Guy Fawkes, Britain's most notorious traitor. Guy Fawkes (April 13, 1570 – January 31, 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes, born in York, was an English soldier and member of a group of Roman Catholics who attempted to carry out the Gunpowder Plot on 5 November 1605.
The plot was an attempt to assassinate the Protestant King James I (James VI of Scotland) and the members of both houses of the Parliament of England, by blowing up Westminster Palace during the formal opening session of the 1605 Parliament, in which the king would address a joint assembly of both the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Guy Fawkes was in large part responsible for the later stages of the plan's execution. His activities were detected, however, before the plan's completion. Following a severe interrogation involving the use of torture, and a trial in Westminster Hall by Judge John Popham, Fawkes and his conspirators were executed for treason and attempted murder. Guy Fawkes' failure is remembered with Guy Fawkes Night also known as Bonfire Night or Fireworks Night on November 5.
I decided to design a selection of crazy cupcakes that use the patterns of fireworks as their theme.

This is the Catherine Wheel Cupcake which has a red icing base, sweets to make the curve, shiny edible balls and writing icing for the details.

This is the Rocket Trail Cupcake, with a purple base, silver balls and writing icing.
Rocket Shower cupcake, has a dark purple layer of icing, red writing icing and cake decorations to make the shower.
In the U.K. we have traffic lights in red, green and yellow. This is the Traffic Lights Roman Candle Cupcake. Yellow icing base with three sweets, writing icing and shiny green balls.
The Rocket Trail Cupcake with a white base, sweets and writing icing.
The Green Star Cupcake with red icing base,writing icing and shiny balls.
The Yellow Comet Cupcake with a red icing base, writing icing and shiny balls.

I had great fun making these cupcakes and they tasted great as I used the tangy Lemon Cupcake mixture.

ENJOY

DECORATING INGREDIENTS

Decorating Ingredients


To do really good decorating it is essential to collect as many items as possible which you can see potential in. Go to the supermarket and go through the baking section and collect the things you like. These below show a sample of what is on offer in the U.K. The sweet department with its pick and mix section can provide all sorts of edible goodies which can be placed on top of icing. I also buy ready made icing in lumps ready to roll, tubes of coloured icing with thick, thin and fancy nozzles ready to pipe designs and patterns. Using chocolate such as Flakes to create "99" cupcakes and hair on faces is also a good idea.