Sweet Peanut Cupcakes

A touch of nostalgia today. Who remembers Sweet Peanuts, the crunchy peanut sweets that you can buy from traditional sweet shops by the quarter...or 113g in new money! These delicious cupcakes recreate the taste of times gone by...a lovely light sponge with a touch of peanut flavour, fluffy frosting with crunchy peanut butter running through it and some peanut brittle to finish. This all sounds extremely peanut-y but it's actually rather subtle.

The recipe comes from The Hummingbird Bakery's Home Sweet Home Book which you can check out in my book reviews section. The original recipe has chopped Sweet Peanuts on top but I decided to add a bit of pizazz by using shards of peanut brittle. The brittle is extremely easy to make, all you need is caster sugar and some peanuts, see the recipe below. You can see what the Sweet Peanut version looks like below. Personally, I think the chopped Sweet Peanuts are the least attractive option but they do have the added benefit of being bite size so they can easily be eaten with a mouthful of cupcake and they are very tasty this way, so it's a trade off between style and taste per bite!

Believe it or not this is the first time I've used peanut butter in baking. I know other bakers and bloggers are big fans and I have to say I'm a convert...the flavour as mentioned was very subtle and I loved the crunch, it certainly added an extra dimension to the cupcake!

You may be aware that last week was National Cupcake Week which celebrates these enormously popular treats. I hope you've been baking up a storm!

To celebrate National Cupcake Week the theme for this month's Calendar Cakes is...Cupcakes! We've had lots of lovely entries so far and we'd love to see your creations. You can still enter your cupcakes here until 30th September. Calendar Cakes is a monthly baking challenge which is hosted  here at Laura Loves Cakes on alternate months with Rachel at Dolly Bakes. These Sweet Peanut Cupcakes are my entry for September.

Ingredients

70g unsalted butter
210g plain flour
250g caster sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
210ml whole milk
2 large eggs
40g crunchy peanut butter

Icing

500g icing sugar
160g unsalted butter
50ml whole milk
30g crunchy peanut butter

12 sweet peanuts, chopped for decoration

Peanut brittle

175g caster sugar
50g peanuts

To make the cupcakes, start by preheating the oven to 170c/150c fan/gas 3. Also prepare the muffin tin by lining with cupcake cases.

Making the sponge is nice and easy, you just need to combine the flour, sugar, butter and baking powder and salt in a large bowl, mixing until it forms a bread crumb-like texture. Then mix the eggs and milk in a jug. Once mix add half of this egg/milk mixture to the flour mixture. Combine on a low speed until smooth. You can then add the rest of the milk and egg and you should end up with a smooth batter with no lumps. Finally, add the 40g of peanut butter and thoroughly mix through.

Use an ice cream scoop if you have one and fill each cupcake case two thirds full. This recipe should make between 12-16 cupcakes. Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden and the cake bounces back when lightly pressed. Once done remove from the oven and leave in the tin for around 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

To make the frosting, mix the icing sugar and butter together until they are thoroughly combined. Gradually add the milk and mix on a low speed. Finally, turn up the mixer speed and beat until the frosting is really fluffy, it can't be overbeaten! Then add the peanut butter and mix well.

For the finishing touches, pipe the frosting on top of the cool cupcakes. I used a 9mm round nozzle. You can then finish with either a whole sweet peanut, roughly chopped sweet peanut or some peanut brittle.

If you want to make peanut brittle. Put the caster sugar into a heavy based saucepan and heat gently without stirring until the sugar has melted. You can then turn the heat up slightly and the sugar should start to caramelise. You are looking for a light amber colour, any darker and your sugar may have burnt. When it is ready, add the peanuts and stir briefly before pouring out the brittle onto a piece of greaseproof paper on a baking tray. Leave to harden and set and then when completely cool you can break the brittle into pieces. Please be extremely careful as the sugar can easily burn and it is also extremely hot and can cause injury if it comes in contact with skin!

* Recipe adapted from Home Sweet Home by the Hummingbird Bakery

Chocolate & Coconut Bounty Cupcakes

I seem to have gone a bit crazy making cupcakes recently, I think it's since I purchased the new Hummingbird Bakery book, Home Sweet Home where you can find lots of different delicious recipes. I was talking to someone the other day who suggested making every single recipe from one cookery book as on average people usually make about 3 or 4 per book. I think the Hummingbird Bakery book could be a good one for carrying out this challenge as all the recipes look great!

I made these cupcakes specifically for a charity bake sale, along with some vanilla cupcakes and the Cherry Bakewell muffins that I made a few weeks ago. To make them, I made a chocolate batter using Green and Blacks Cocoa Powder. Once made the cases were filled to about two-thirds full and then about a third of a small Bounty bar was gently pushed down into each case as you can see above. The mixture covered the Bounty and the cakes were then put in to bake.

To finish the cakes I made a buttercream icing which also contained coconut milk. There is a technique to applying the icing to the cake with a palette knife to give it a professional swirl but I have to say, I have definitely not mastered the technique. However, the icing was lovely and creamy and it doesn't really matter if you don't master the swirl as the final touch was to sprinkle each cake with desiccated coconut, so you can't really see it anyway. Lastly, another third of a mini Bounty bar was added on top.

Not everyone is a fan of Bounty bars but for anyone who does like them or anyone who is a fan of chocolate and coconut, then these cupcakes are a real treat with the Bounty baked inside and the gorgeous creamy icing on top. They were well received at our cake sale and along with the other lovely ladies who baked we managed to raise 357 pounds for a local Women's Aid Shelter.

If you want to give these a go yourself, you can find the recipe in the Home Sweet Home recipe book, or alternatively, just push a piece of Bounty into your favourite chocolate cupcake batter before you bake it and then make a regular buttercream, adding some coconut milk, before finishing with desiccated coconut and a bit of Bounty on top.

Apple & Almond Bear Claw Pastries

When I decided to make these bear claw pastries from the Hummingbird Bakery 'Home Sweet Home' cookbook I didn't really check the recipe that closely and just assumed they would be fairly easy to make. However, when it actually came down to it, they were a little more tricky than first anticipated.

When thinking of pastry, I was thinking of the Danish kind but that turned out to be incorrect. The pastry here is made with milk, sugar, butter, salt, yeast, egg and flour. The mixture also had to be left to prove which was not what I was expecting.

When the dough had proved, the recipe requires it to be rolled out into quite precise rectangles. I did have to wrangle with it a bit as the dough kept springing back when I rolled it which I don't think is quite right. I also found it quite difficult to shape and seal the pastries and as a result they were all slightly different sizes. Given all this I was quite expecting a disaster when they came out of the oven but they actually looked rather better than expected, puffing up nicely and browing on top with the egg wash. 

Inside the pastry is a filling of apples, butter, sultanas, light brown sugar, cinnamon and cornflour. On top is a sprinkling of sugar and some flaked almonds which were added before baking. The finishing touch is a drizzle of icing over the top when cool. And how did they taste?...much better than expected! Kind of a bready/pastry outer with a sweet filling. Apparently these are found in traditional bakeries in America and are often eaten for breakfast with coffee. I think I could quite happily consume these for breakfast on a regular basis...but probably only if they didn't take quite so long to make! However, the bear claw finish is very cute and was achieved by cutting into the pastry along a short edge. I used scissors and cut in about a centimetre.

These pastries are my entry into this month's Alpha Bakes, hosted by Ros over at the More than Occassional Baker and Caroline at Caroline Makes. Ros is hosting this month and the letter is 'A', so this is a double whammy with apples and almonds!

Earl Grey Cupcakes

Anyone for a cuppa? It was a friend's birthday this week and a few weeks ago she happened to mention how much she loved Earl Grey tea. So when I came across these cupcakes they were the ideal choice as a birthday treat!

The recipe is from the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days recipe book. The cupcakes themselves were light and moist with subtle hints of Bergamot. To get the flavour a couple of tablespoons of steeped Earl Grey tea was added, and then to the frosting tea infused milk was added.

Adding tea is a good way to add a twist to a conventional cupcake, for example the same recipe could be used but with peppermint or fruit teabags instead.

To continue with the tea theme, I accessorised with some cute red teapot toppers on top. I also tried out some silicone teacup baking moulds which you can present the cupcakes in, as above...and if that wasn't enough I couldn't resist the teapot cupcake display stands below from 'Talking Tables'...I may have got a bit carried away!

Ingredients

3 Earl Grey teabags
3 tbsp boiling water
80g unsalted butter
280g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
200ml whole milk
2 large eggs

Frosting

50ml whole milk
500g icing sugar
160g unsalted butter

Half an hour before you want to start making your cake, place the 3 teabags in the 50ml of boiling water. These should then be left to infuse for 30 minutes. During this time the oven can be preheated to 190c/170c fan/ gas 5 and prepare a muffin tin with cases.

Mix together the flour, sugar, butter, baking powder and salt, preferably with an electric whisk or mixer. You should start on a low speed, this will result in a breadcrumb like mixture. Then mix the eggs, brewed tea and milk together in a jug by hand. Squeeze the teabags out fully. You will then need to keep the teabags for the frosting.

Finally, add three quarters of the egg/milk mixture to the dry ingredients and combine on a low speed, before turning up to medium to give a smooth batter. Then add the remaining milk and beat thoroughly. Divide between the cases, filling to about two thirds full. These should then be baked for 18-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Whilst the cakes are baking, place the reserved tea bags from earlier into the milk and leave for another 30 minutes before removing and squeezing out the teabags. To make the frosting beat the butter and icing sugar together, so the butter disperses but the icing sugar is still powdery. Add the tea infused milk and whisk until nice and fluffy. Finally, pip the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes. Alternatively, the frosting can be swirled on with a knife.

Cute Christmas Cupcakes

These cute cupcakes could be a case in point when it comes to how addictive baking and cake decorating can be. I decided last night that I would whip up a "quick" batch of Christmas pudding cupcakes, but 6 designs and several hours later this was the result! I have to say I was a little cross-eyed by the end!

The cupcakes are vanilla using my new favourite cupcake recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days recipe book. The result is a lovely moist sponge, probably due to the addition of milk:

• 80g unsalted butter
• 280g caster sugar
• 240g plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 240ml whole milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 large eggs

Preheat your oven to 190c/170c fan/gas 5. Then slowly beat the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt together until they form a fine breadcrumb consistency. Next beat together the milk, vanilla essence and eggs. With your whisk on a slow speed, pour three quarters of the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well before adding the remaining milk mixture and beating to a smooth consistency. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

For regular cupcakes the recipe calls for the cases to be two thirds full but for these cupcakes you don't want the cake to rise too far above the top of the case so I filled them a little less. You should be able to make 12-16 cupcakes from this recipe, if not more.

To decorate I buttercreamed the top of each cupcake and cut out circles of sugarpaste using Ateco circle cutters before adding the embellishments. For one or two of the elements, regular sugarpaste would be too soft, so I added some CMC to the paste in advance which causes it to set harder and therefore allows you make things such as the robin's wings and reindeer's antlers! The antlers also have a spaghetti support inside!

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... 12 yummy cupcakes and a partridge in a pear tree!