Monday, March 8, 2010

 

French Toast cupcakes recipe from Eat Me

Having last week made a rather successful (if not overly pretty) attempt at making one of the recipes from Eat Me: The Stupendous, Self-Raising World of Cupcakes & Bakes According to Cookie Girl by Xanthe Milton, here's the recipe from the book for anyone that may be interested. I would certainly recommend giving it a try; the cupcakes taste absolutely delicious and will be eagerly snapped up by your family and friends...a little too quickly!

French toast cupcakes
When I first invented these cakes my family simply couldn’t get enough of them. They really do taste like the French toast they are named after. I think they look cute with light brown icing and miniature gingerbread men sprinkled on top. Makes 12.

170 g/6 oz plain flour
1 & 1⁄2 tbsp baking powder
1⁄2 tsp ground cinnamon
1⁄4 tsp salt
110 g/4 oz unsalted butter
225 g/8 oz granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp maple syrup
50 ml/2 fl oz milk

For the icing
110 g/4 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
110 g/4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
450 g/1 lb icing sugar, sifted 1⁄4 tsp cinnamon brown food colouring
(optional) sprinkles to decorate

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F/Gas 4. Line a 12-hole non- stick muffin tray with paper cases.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into a bowl. Melt the butter and let it cool slightly.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and eggs together, then add the melted butter. Mix the vanilla, maple syrup and milk in a separate bowl or jug.
4. Now stir the flour mixture into the sugar, eggs and butter, followed by the milk mixture. Beat until everything is well combined.
5. Divide the mixture between the paper cases so that each is about three-quarters full. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Check with a skewer – it should come out clean if the cakes are cooked. Remove the cakes from the oven and place them on a wire rack to cool.
6. Meanwhile, make the icing. Using an electric whisk, mix the butter and cream cheese. Add the icing sugar, a third at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add the cinnamon with the last of the icing sugar. Add a dot or two of food colouring if you like.
7. Using a piping bag with a straight- edged nozzle, pipe icing onto the cakes, working from the outside into a peak in the centre. Decorate with sprinkles – I like to use gingerbread men.

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Wednesday, March 3, 2010

 

Review of Cookie Girl's "Eat Me" book!

Up until a year ago, I wasn't one for cooking. Or rather, I fell into that typical category of "won't cook" rather than "can't cook". I'm ashamed to admit that most of the meals I did attempt were of the easy boil-pasta, fry-sausages, oven-cook-pizza category. But over the past year, I've become (I think, at least!) a dab hand in the kitchen, whipping all sorts of delicious meals from scratch - which I then devour, before complimenting myself vigourously!

One area of cooking that I'm a complete novice in, however, is baking sweet items: cakes, cookies, cupcakes, that sort of thing. I tried making some biscuits a few months ago which ending up being a semi-disaster, with dough that wouldn't stick together and too long a time in the oven.

But in an attempt to review the new book Eat Me: The Stupendous, Self-Raising World of Cupcakes & Bakes According to Cookie Girl (see my earlier post on the book: New book by Notting Hill's Cookie Girl) I thought that there would be no better way than to actually try one of the recipes - regardless of my beginner status in baking desserts.

Flicking through the beautiful book, a number of recipes caught my eye - from the straightforward French Vanilla cupcakes (which are actually recommended as a good place to start) to the exotic, such as Margarita cupcakes (the ingredients of which do actually include tequila, triple sec and salt) and Bollywood cupcakes, to the traditional, such as pastel macaroons and butterscotch cookies. (I'll definitely be giving those Margarita cupcakes a whirl one day!)

But it was the French Toast cupcakes that I decided to give a go - partially because they didn't seem too tricky, partially because I seemed to already have most of the ingredients - and especially because I'm a big fan of French toast.

Following the recipe was very straightforward and I found all the steps just right for someone at my level - it felt a bit like someone was holding my hand, much need for a cake-baking novice such as myself! And after a bit of whisking, sifting, stirring and mixing, plus 20 minutes baking time in the oven, a batch of perfect cupcakes materialised.

At this point, all that was left was to decorate the cakes. Here's where I failed slightly - not because I couldn't adequately decorate, more that my local supermarket failed to supply with appropriate cupcake making items. (Note: the book has a useful guide to where you can buy better cake decoration supplies.) So I had to make do with a rather sickly sweet pink food colouring for the icing, together with some rather basic chocolate sprinkles. And this is what I ended up with:


They may not look especially pretty (or be anywhere near as beautiful as those depicted in the book), but they tasted absolutely delicious! And yes, as I'm sure you're asking, they did actually taste of French toast. A big thumbs up from me and all those I fed the cupcakes to in the taste test.

Overall, Eat Me is a lovely book featuring some truly delicious cupcake recipes. For any baking beginners (such as me) there's a section on baking basics, and all recipes are easy to follow. As I've said in my earlier post, this book is also delightful to read in its own right with its wonderful introductions to each section and its beautiful photographs. Give it a try - with the cupcakes and cookies you end up making, you won't be disappointed!

Stay tuned as I'll be posting the recipe of the French toast cookies I attempted in a couple of days.

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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

 

New book by Notting Hill's Cookie Girl

Those of you who live and work in Notting Hill may have been lucky enough to come across Cookie Girl and her delicious cookies and cupcakes in real life. And now here's your opportunity to further enjoy her wonderful creations!

Australian actress-turned-baking entrepreneur Xanthe Milton came up with the idea of baking cookies and selling them locally as a way of making extra income (not to mention using her baking skills, well-honed since childhood). Her first experience saw her prepare a batch of 100 Belgian chocolate cookies and hit the streets of Notting Hill, selling them door to door to homes and businesses. With all of the cookies snapped up within a few hours, Cookie Girl was born to become an instant success with a legion of fans - including names such as Belinda Carlisle, Will Young and Take That - following.

As Cookie's Girl popularity grew, a regular column in Notting Hill's Grove magazine followed, before TV appearances on Masterchef and Market Kitchen - as well as having her cookies stocked in Selfridges. Today, Cookie Girl - Xanthe - also runs cupcake decorating classes; see her website www.cookiegirl.co.uk for further details, on which you can also order her cookies!

Xanthe's success has now seen her publish her first book - Eat Me: The Stupendous, Self-Raising World of Cupcakes & Bakes According to Cookie Girl. This wonderful book includes 80 amazing recipes of cupcakes and cookies organised according to season and occasion (Halloween, Valentine's Day), interspersed with a some beautiful photographs. This is the kind of book you'll curl up on the sofa with and read - before even trying any of the recipes - which is not something that can be said for many cookbooks!


I'll be giving some of the recipes a go very soon, so do stay tuned for a proper review of the book - personally, I can't wait to try recipes such as "margarita cupcakes", "blueberry clouds" and the absolutely amazing-looking "Bollywood cupcakes".

Eat Me is out on 4th March 2010, priced at £15, and is published by Ebury Press.

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