sister act: cupcakes and butterfly cakes

although there are four of us in this house, it's very rare that we are all in at the same time. we all have different work schedules and social commitments, so when i get to spend some time with my siblings it has become precious (especially as now we see each other less, there is less fighting!)

therefore it was really great to spend some time with my sister the other weekend and have a catch up (mostly moaning about being working girls).

we kept things simple with a basic sponge mix. this is such a good thing to have memorised - you want to work in 2oz measurements and for every 2oz of ingredients you need one egg. i think i made 8oz because i wanted two batches of cakes so it went something like this:

8oz of self raising flour
8oz caster sugar
8oz butter or baking spread (softened)
2 tsps baking powder
4 eggs
splash of vanilla essence

once you've grasped this basic recipe you can work wonders with it. for example if you are making it into a chocolate cake, sub out some of the flour for cocoa powder and add a little more baking powder.

it can be flavoured in different ways too, although vanilla provides a good base for staple sponge.

i always go all in one with this, literally throw it all in a bowl and whisk together! add a splash of milk if it's a little dry. it always comes out moist and spongy, a fail safe result!

 in it all goes, you're looking for the consistency below: nice and smooth, leaving the trails of the whisk

the other great thing about cup/fairy cakes is how quickly they cook (although not that great when you get distracted playing games on your phone and have to run to the oven...) so you can whip up a few batches in no time. the fun part is what you do after this

 pretty cases are a must for cupcakes, these are from tesco

so i had two things i wanted to try out here:

firstly was a beautiful piping set that my friend louise got me for my birthday and i hadn't actually got around to using. i forgot to take a photo so i will put one up when i remember! it's a really professional set and gave great results.

 my piping skills are definitely something i want to work on (as well as my photography, apologies for the out of focus images!) - in particular starting at the edge of the cake, rather than trying to backfill this in!

 

 so much concentration!

 

cheeky baking selfie!

and with that photo i introduce my sister, the widge to my nen (just roll with the weird nicknames). we paired up to make that british tea time classic - butterfly cakes.

instead of using a berry jam, i wanted to use the passionfruit curd i had bought at a national trust property (history nerd forever). this added a zing to the cakes that would have been missing otherwise, and contrasted well with the sweet buttercream. it was a simple yet effective way to update a classic combo.

i'm a sucker for that packaging too

 scooping out the insides to make the wings

 my glamorous assistant whipping up the buttercream

 production line assembled: i was in charge of cutting and wing placement, widge provided the fillings

 just look at the colour on that curd!

 

 and the finished result

these went down a treat in the office. everyone loved the zing from the passionfruit and they were a perfect little mid morning or afternoon pick me up!

i'd love to see what you guys do with your basic sponge recipes! share your pictures on facebook or twitter

love,

nen

back to business & butterfly cakes

now i'm sure you were all very panicked that i was going to miss my one blog post a week goal, but never fear i am here! and i can assure you that it feels so nice to be able to sit down and indulge my procrastinatory tendencies. this week has been absolutely hectic and it feels as if my feet have barely touched the ground. so naturally after a 'slightly' heavy one last night today has been a make-up free onsie day where i have been in bed longer that out! so i am feeling refreshed and ready to go...

part of this week's schedule was the new term bakesoc meeting. armed with vegetable crisps and several bottles of wine we sat down for two hours to plan out the term ahead. i can promise you it is looking very exciting and i have a couple of projects that i am rearing to get my teeth in to - but no spoilers! it was so nice to catch up with the girls and hear all the baking delights people made and received over the festive period.

before the week got underway i managed to squeeze in a therapeutic baking session on sunday afternoon. the bake of the day was chocolate butterfly cakes. these are cakes i completely associate with my mum (both the chocolate and vanilla variety) and the best thing was to come home from school on fridays to a freshly baked batch.

while i can't claim for certain that the chocolate twist is entirely my mum's own invention i will! this replaces the usual jam and butter icing filling with nutella and butter icing! it is soooo indulgent and super scrummy - the hazelnut centre adds something really special.

to make butterfly cakes make a batch of fairy cakes as usual (they work best in muffin sized cases so you have enough cake to scoop out).

WAIT for them to cool before attempting the assembly (we were far too impatient and so they were too crumbly and the results were not all that dainty!)

there are two methods depending on how your cakes have risen. if they have a defined peak then cut this off and then in half to form the wings. however most of the time you need to use a knife (or teaspoon) to cut a well in the centre of the cake, which you then cut in half for the wings.

april and i had a production line going - she was in charge of shaping and i did the filling (excuse the pile of cutlery!)

using a teaspoon place firstly a small amount of nutella in the well and then cover with a layer of butter icing.

one of the most heavenly substances...

finally rest the wings on top. if you have the patience (and there is not a crowd of hungry students gathered, dust the cakes with icing sugar for the ultimate finishing touch).

an example of the finished result (they didn't stay around long enough for me to get a final photo!)

these cakes are a perfect sunday afternoon treat if you are looking for some baking inspiration this weekend!

enjoy your week

love,

nen

x

ps. to keep up with blog posts and for other baking happenings follow this blog on twitter at @NensBakery or like it on facebook www.facebook.com/NensBakery

classic cupcakes.

once again my apologies for the gap in posts - i spent a few days away with a few of my friends from university which was really lovely! however it does mean i've had this post brewing for a while and some photos that need sharing!

possibly my favourite thing to bake are classic vanilla cupcakes. as usual i follow the hummingbird recipe!

my bible!

this involves making a mixture like breadcrumbs with the dry ingredients and butter before slowly adding the milk and egg. my mum has a freestanding mixture so i had the excitement of using that!

i like to create a variety of sizes when making cupcakes - partly as an excuse to use different patterned cases! but i also think it looks nice on a stand or display when there is difference. i especially love making teeny tiny cakes!

these cases are so beautiful!

the best part of making cupcakes is the decorating! i always take a while to decide on my icing colour and decoration combination - of course taking into account the pattern/colours on the cases! (it's a very complex operation...) this time i went for blue and yellow and combined this with raspberry sherbet and hundreds and thousands respectively.

possibly my favourite thing ever - buttercream! 

blue with pink sherbet

yellow with hundreds and thousands

baby cakes with sugar butterflies

experimenting with different designs and looks is so much fun - i hope the girls in my house next year are prepared for becoming my new guinea pigs!

love,
nen
x