Vanilla and choc cakes with buttercream icing and chocolate sprinkles

As I have moved home recently I had a house warming party this weekend which, of course, called for lots of cupcakes!

I made three batches of 12 cupcakes; one chocolate batch, one vanilla batch with a big chunk of dark chocolate in each cake (a lot like my white chocolate cakes), and finally a batch of vanilla cakes with chocolate sprinkles added to the mix.

Now, it may seem strange to put the sprinkles actually into the mix but I think it gives a great taste and effect - you get lots of specks of chocolate in the vanilla sponge, yum! You can also try this with brightly coloured sugar sprinkles which will give you lots of rainbow specks in the cake - wow!

I iced the cakes with buttercream (equal parts butter and icing sugar) and piped it out using a zip lock bag with a snipped corner.

I had decided on a chocolate and blue theme for the cakes so you will notice they were all made in blue cases. I also used one of my favourite sprinkles on some of the cakes - a blue sugar from Martha Stewart which I bought in Macy's when I visited in New York last July.

On the remaining cakes I used lots of different chocolate sprinkles on the top; stars, hundreds and thousands in both milk and dark chocolate, choc chips and chocolate covered toffee balls.

And they were all absolutely delicious! :D

Baby hat and blanket

I made this set for someone at work who recently had a baby boy with his wife. Unfortunately there were some complications with the birth which meant the baby was born 11 weeks premature. Thank God everything has worked out ok, mother and baby are absolutely fine and baby is putting on lots of weight! That is why you'll notice there are two hats; one normal size and one teeny tiny one.

I made it using the Seija Set pattern from Debbie Stoller's Happy Hooker book. I made it up with Cashmerino Aran yarn from Debbie Bliss. As the baby was a boy I've used a light blue (018), beige (102) and a creamy-white (002).

The gauge for the blanket was 13 rows and rows of DC = 4", but mine turned out at 3". As the baby is so small at the moment I figured it didn't matter that I had such a difference in gauge and the blanket might turn out just right! I started the hat realising that it probably won't be the intended size for a 6-month old due to my tight tension but it may in fact fit my friend's baby in six months time as he was premature.

However, I wanted the gift to be wearable straight away so I made a smaller version of the hat. In fact, I halved the pattern; half the number of stitches, half the number of rows. Which has worked out great. I'm really pleased with the result! Hopefully the smaller hat will be just the right size!

I have the set all wrapped up for when my friend next pops into the office. It was such a lovely item to make, I hope that he and his wife (and the baby!) enjoy them.

White chocolate cupcakes with pink butter cream icing and pink sprinkles

I wasn't able to make any cupcakes this weekend as I was moving all my belongings from my old flat in Leeds to my new flat in Leicester. But it's been two weeks since I've made any and I missed my cupcake rush so much that I HAD to make some tonight.

These beauties were made with my classic vanilla mixture but once it came to spooning it into the cases I used two teaspoons of mixture instead of one tablespoon and I popped in a chunk of white chocolate between spoons. Small chocolate chips in a cupcake are nice but I love having one big chunk of chocolate in the middle, especially when they are still warm because the chunk is all gooey and yummy.

For the topping I made some butter cream icing (equal parts margarine and icing sugar) with pink natural colouring. I used a zip lock bag with a small hole in one corner to pipe out the butter cream in a swirl. Some of them look a bit gooey because I was cooking dinner at the same time and it was a bit warm in the kitchen!

My friend, Carrie was over so she helped me decorate them with my massive pink sprinkle collection; pink stars, white hearts, pink sparkling sugars and sugar balls :D

Chocolate cupcakes

This is a little advancement on my vanilla cupcakes recipe, and is equally as moist and delicious! This will be plenty to make 12 cupcakes or 6 muffins.

Ingredients

• 1x large egg
• 100g baking margarine
• 100g caster sugar
• 75g self raising flour
• 25g cocoa (Green & Blacks fairtrade is my favourite!)
  

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC or Gas mark 4 or 350ºF
2. In your mixing bowl beat together the margarine and sugar with a spatula until smooth.
   
3. Break the egg and add to the mixing bowl, fold into the mixture.
4. Add the flour and cocoa, mix together until you have a smooth batter - if you want it more chocolate-y then add more cocoa but take out some flour. No matter the ratio, the total weight of the flour and cocoa together should be 100g.
5. If you want to add any thing to the mix (choc chips, sultanas, banana) then this is the time to do it.
   
6. Pour the mixture into a zip lock bag and pipe into cupcake cases (this saves on mess - just throw the bag away, no washing up required!)
7. Put in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes. Once you think the cakes are cooked open the oven and press down on one of the cakes, if it springs back then the cakes are done.

Vanilla cupcakes

This is my favourite recipe for classic, soft and moist vanilla cupcakes. I also find it really easy to remember because it's all the same weights. This will be plenty to make 12 cupcakes or 6 muffins.

Ingredients

• 1x large egg
• 100g baking margarine
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g self raising flour
• 1 cap-ful vanilla essence
  

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC or Gas mark 4 or 350ºF
2. In your mixing bowl beat together the margarine and sugar with a spatula until smooth.
   
3. Add a capful / half a teaspoon of vanilla essence to the batter.
4. Add the egg to the mixing bowl and fold into the mixture.
5. Add the flour and mix together until you have a smooth batter.
6. If you want to add any thing to the mix (choc chips, sultanas, banana) then this is the time to do it.
7. Pour the mixture into a zip lock bag and pipe into cupcake cases (saves on mess and washing up - just throw the bag away, no washing up required!)
   
8. Put in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes. Once you think the cakes are cooked open the oven and press down on one of the cakes, if it springs back then the cakes are done.