Black Forest Cupcakes

Black Forrest gateau sounds like it should be an all year round kind of dessert, however, in our house and many other British houses, it's a winter treat. 

As a kid I never cared much for Black Forrest cake, it always had actual cherries in and as I was opposed to real fruit (like a lot of small children) I would avoid it at all cost. It's amazing how your tastes change as you age and now I can't get enough of this chocolatey, cherry goodness. 

I recently found this amazing recipe on BBC Good Food for Black Forrest Muffins and with a little tweaking, it turned out to be delicious! 

Ingredients:

160g unsalted butter

120g icing sugar

3 large eggs

100g plain flour

50g cornflour

25g cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

425g can of cherry pie filling

thick whipped cream

150g dark chocolate

Method: 

1. Preheat oven to 180C and line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin cases.

2. Mix butter and icing sugar together until pale and creamy.

3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. 

4. Fold through the combined flour, cornflower, cocoa and baking powder. Add approx 100g of the dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks.

5. Spoon a 1/4 tbsp of mixture into each of the cases, then add a dollop of pie filling to each one. Cover the pie mixture with another dollop of mixture. 

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the tops bounce back.

7 . Add some of the left over pie filling (without the cherries, just the jam) to a jug and mix with boiling hot water to create a liquid. 

8. Once the cakes are completely cooled, poke holes in each cake and pour over cherry liquid. 

9. Apply some whipped cream to the tops of the cakes and add shavings of the dark chocolate.

Let me know what you think of this tasty recipe and if you want to give the original a go, head over to BBC Good Food now!

Halloween Trilogy: Mummy Cupcakes

As well as makeup, clothes and sleeping, I also have a passion for baking yummy cupcakes. After scouring Pinterest one year for some halloween treat ideas, I came across some awesome looking mummy cupcakes. The thing I love most about these is that they are so simple to make. Icing can get a little tricky but this is a really simple process that gives amazing, spooky results.

Take a look at the video below if you would like a visual guide on how to make these mummy cupcakes. Or, if you prefer to go it alone, you can just follow the instructions below! 

Vanilla Cupcake Ingredients:

150g (5 oz) Butter

150g (5 oz) Caster Sugar

175g (6 oz) Self-Raising Flour or 175g Plain Flour + 1 tsp Baking Powder

3 eggs

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Buttercream Icing:

140g (5 oz) Butter

280g (10 oz) Icing Sugar

2tbsp Milk or Water

Mummy Decoration:

Rollable White Icing

Black Writing Icing or Black Food Dye

Method:

- Set oven to 180°C (356°F)

- Line a muffin tin or baking tray with 12 cupcake cases.

- Whisk sugar, flour, eggs, butter and vanilla extract in a medium sized bowl until smooth and thick.

- Spoon a tbsp sized amount of mixture into each case and pop them in the oven for 15 minutes.

- Once the cakes are cool to the touch, cut off any peaks that may have formed on the cakes to create a smooth, flat surface.

Buttercream Icing:

- Grab a clean bowl and whisk 140g of butter and 280g icing sugar together, adding the icing sugar a bit at a time to prevent a massive amount of mess. Add in 2 tbsp milk or water, to create a smooth but spreadable buttercream icing.

- Spread on a layer of buttercream icing over the top of each cupcake, it doesn't need to be neat.

Mummy Decoration:

- Cut off a small amount of white rollable icing and start to roll into small white balls to use as the eyes, stick 2 onto each cupcake.

- Take your black writing icing or dyed rollable icing and apply black dots to the centre of each 'eye'. 

- Take another chunk of rollable white icing, flatten it out into a thin layer and cut out strips, sticking them onto the cupcake and working around the eyes. The buttercream needs to be completely covered.

- Cut off any over hanging icing so that the icing fills the cupcake cases.

Don't forget to tweet (@lilacghosts1990) or Instagram me (@lilacghosts1990) pictures of your mummy cupcakes!