Here comes the science.

So I am sat here on the sofa coughing and spluttering with the dreaded oink flu. All my best efforts to avoid being infected by the little angles at work or my colleagues came to naught. Yesterday I just lay in the dark, shivering and seeing pretty colours when I closed my eyes. Feeling a little better today, and I have discovered a new BBC science program through BBC iPlayer called "Bang Goes the Theory" (I missed it on telly earlier this year somehow).

Any way from their website www.bbc.co.uk/bang I found this butter and cream related gem. I think I am going to have to use this teaching about emulsions for GCSE science. I thought I would share it on my blog as I am not fit to bake anything other than germ cake just now.

Walnut and Maple Cupcakes

I felt in need of some autumn flavours this week. Walnuts are in season and I had stumbled upon a bottle of really good maple syrup at the shops (it can be hard to find in the UK).

The Cakes (makes 2 dozen)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and line 2 muffin tins with cupcake papers.

Take 3 large eggs and measure their mass, it will be approx 200g. Measure out an equal mass of; Caster Sugar, Butter, Self Raising Flour and half the same mass of walnuts. You will also need 1 tsp high quality vanilla essence, 1 1/2 tablespoons of canola oil, 1/4 tsp baking powder and 12 teaspoons of coffee liqueur.

Beat together the butter and sugar until they go light in colour and fluffy.
Then add the eggs and vanilla and beat hard until smooth and frothy.
Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold into the mix, then stir in the oil.
Finally chop the walnuts into small pieces and stir in until evenly distributed through the mix. Divide evenly between the cupcake cases and bake in the middle of the oven for approximately 15-20 minutes.

Allow them to cool on a wire rack, then prick the tops a few times with a skewer. Drizzle 1/2 a teaspoon of coffee liqueur onto each cupcake.

The Cream Cheese Maple Icing

57g - 1/4 cup of butter
28g - 1/8 cup of vegetable shortening (Trex)
114g - 4oz cream cheese
400g - 14 oz Icing sugar
3 Tablespoons of Maple syrup.

Beat all these ingredients together until smooth. Cover tightly and refrigerate for about an hour before piping. This is necessary as the icing is a little softer than most cream cheese icing.

Vanilla and Nutmeg Biscuits

I have been searching far and wide for a biscuit/cookie recipe that holds it's shape really well and has the crunchiness of a proper English Biscuit. This weekend I found my biscuit nirvana! These are yummy, and to my taste buds, Vanilla and Nutmeg are a match made in heaven.

I also learned a few things about helping them stay in shape.

Numero Uno: In the past I have been rolling the dough too thin. I have found a thickness of 2-3 x £1 coin stacked gave me much better results.

Numero erm 2: When re rolling the uncut cookie dough bits, kneed them back together really well, and then chill again for 10 minutes before re rolling. I found this got rid of bubbling on the surface.

Here I have decorated them with Regal Ice Fondant and a touch of edible lustre. However they are also great with Royal Icing. Sweet and simple for tea at my Mother in Law's.

227 grams(1 cup)Butter, room temperature
300 grams (1 1/2 cups) White Caster Sugar
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
2 large Eggs
2 teaspoons high quality pure Vanilla Extract
460 grams (3 1/2 cups) Plain Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of freshly grated Nutmeg (2 tsp if you really like nutmeg)

1. In a bowl, or your mixer, mix the butter and sugar until light coloured and fluffy.
2. Now beat in the eggs and Vanilla until smooth.
3. Sift in the Flour, Baking Powder and Nutmeg.
4. Now mix until the whole thing comes together into a dough(If using a mixer switch to the dough hook).
5. Wrap well and place in the fridge OVER NIGHT!

6. Next day heat the oven to 175 degrees C.
7. Roll out your dough to a thickness between 2-3 £1 coins stacked.
8. Cut into the desired shapes and place on a baking tray in the middle of the oven.
9. Bake for around 10 mins (depending on cookie size). They are ready when the edges are just starting to brown.
10. Cool on a wire rack before icing.

Sencha Cakes with Cardamom Frosting.

Sencha is a kind of Japanese Green Tea. It has a very delicate and fragrant flavour, and is full of anti oxidants (so you could even claim these cakes are healthy... ...err if you ate only celery for the rest of the day). They are not very sweet compared to most european cakes, but I find this balanced well with a sweet Cardamom Cream Cheese frosting. Note: The frosting recipe makes enough to pipe swirls on 12 cupcakes.

The Cakes

3 large eggs
130g - 2/3 cup caster sugar
80ml - 1/3 cup boiled water
2 tbsp sencha green tea leaves + 1 tsp
80ml - 1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used Canola oil)
160g - 1 1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
(A little mint green food colouring - optional)

Preheat oven in 360F / 180C

Brew 2 tbsps of sencha green tea in 1/3 cup of freshly boiled water. Cool the green tea then strain. Add the food colouring to the brewed tea if it is being used.

Whisk eggs in a bowl or your mixer.

Add sugar to the bowl. Then sift in the flour, baking powder, and 1 tsp of green tea leaves into the mixer and mix quickly.

Whilst mixing add the oil and green tea and mix the batter well.

Divide between 12 cupcake cases in a muffin tray.

Bake the cake for 25-35 minutes in the oven. Until they are risen, the tops are firm and a skewer will come out cleanly.

The Cream Cheese Cardamom Frosting

57g - 1/4 cup of butter

28g - 1/8 cup of vegetable shortening (Trex)
114g - 4oz cream cheese
400g - 14 oz Icing sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Beat all the ingredients together until smooth.

Blueberry and Lime Torte

I must thank my friend Ellen Carrington, who first
introduced me to this cake. I worked out the recipe after tasting hers when she brought it into school one day. I have, I confess, tweaked the concept slightly to make it into a torte rather than a cake. I hope you enjoy this, I certainly did.

6oz (170g) Butter
6oz (170g) sugar

Cream them together until light and fluffy. Then add

6oz (170g) well sifted Self Raising Flour
3 large eggs
1tsp Vanilla extract

Mix until smooth and well combined.
Grease and flour 2 round 6-7 in sandwich tins
Divide the cake batter between them and bake at 170 degrees in the middle of the oven, with an ovenproof bowl of water placed on the shelf below. Bake until a skewer comes out clean and the top springs back when pressed lightly (30-45 mins)

Turn out and allow to cool, then trim each half level using a bread knife, and then cut each half in half horizontally to make the pieces for the four layers.

1/4 (57g) cup of butter
1/8 (28g) cup of vegetable shortening (Trex)
4oz (114g) cream cheese
14 oz (400g) Icing sugar
Tiny pinch of salt
Zest of 2 limes
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 tsp of Lemon or Lime extract.

Cream all the ingredients together until smooth and fluffy.

Sandwich the layers of the cake with this filling, then coat the cake with the remainder of this filling. Go steady, the quanities above give you just enough. Once covered chill the cake.

Take a punnet of blueberries (200g) and wash thoroughly and alow to drain dry. Take 1/4 (50g) of the blueberries and place them in a small saucepan with 25g of caster sugar. Heat them gently until they become jammy and syrupy. Allow to cool.

Press the fresh blueberries into the top of the chilled cake. Now pour over the cooled blueberry syrup.

Serve with a nice cup of tea.

The Harry Potter Sorting Hat Cake

The Sorting Hat Cake was made for my friend's daughter's 10th Birthday. She is off to the opening day of Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince for her Birthday. Several people on flickr asked me how I did it. So here goes the explaination.

1. Make a vanilla sponge with 1 1/2 lb each of Butter, Caster Sugar, Self Raising Four, 1 dozen large eggs, 6 teaspoons of vanilla extract and 1 tsp of baking powder. Divide between 2x 6 inch tins, 1x 7 inch tins, 2x 9 inch tins. Bake at 180 degrees C. Once cooked, turn out onto a wire rack upside down and allow to cool completely before turning them over onto a flat surface and trimming them flat.

2. Kneed 10g of Gum Traganath powder into 2kg of Regal Ice fondant. Then colour with a mixture of chestnut and dark brown gel colours. Aim for an old tan leather colour. Wrap and allow to stand.

3. Make butter cream with 750g butter, 1.5kg icing sugar, 3 tabelspoons of cream (or more if it is too thick), and 3 teaspoons of vanilla extract.

4. On a 9 inch temporary cake board stack the cakes into a tapering tower, sandwiching them with buttercream. Chill them for around 30 minutes.

5. Carve the cake into a truncated cone shape. Feed the trimming to a handy husband. Use a small knife to cut a wedge out for the mouth and carve out slanted eye sockets. Now crumb coat the cake with butter cream, making sure to get it into the mouth and eye sockets.

6. Take some uncoloured fondant and roll into different thickness sausage shapes. Press them into the buttercream to make the features of the hat. The brow and lips need to be thickest. Make a tetrahedral shape for the nose. Use thinner sausages of fodant to create ridges like creases.

7. Chill the cake for around 30 mins, till the buttercream crusts.

8. Take around 1/4 of the coloured fondant and shape into a cone, the base of which is the same size as the top of the cake. Bend the top of the cone over slightly, and use a ball tool to create creases on the inside of the bent tip. Use the dowel you will use to support the cake to make a hole in the bottom of the cone. Allow to dry, supported if necessary.

9. Take 4 sheets of kitchen towel. Roll each one up separately and wrap in cling film to make sausages. Arrage these randomly around the edge of a 14 inch cake board, pointing inwards like clock hands. Alternate them with chopstics. Brush a little tylose glue onto the board inbetween where you have arranged the kitchen towel rolls and chopsticks.

10. Roll out 1/4 (500g) of your fondant and use it to cover the 14 inch cake board, carefully folding it inbetween the supports you have made to give a shaped brim. Trim the edge, then work round tucking the edge of the fondant under. Now run a PME stitching wheel around 1/4 inch in from the edge. Allow to dry.

11. Now remove the cake from the fridge, and moisten the surface with a very little water. Roll out the remaining fondant into a rough trapezium, and use it to wrap around and cover the cake. I didn't manage it in 1 piece, I did it in 2. Carefully smooth the fondant into the features and folds. Use a ball tool to shape it into the eye sockets and mouth, and to add extra small creases. Keep the trimmings. Use the stitching tool to create a seam 1/4 inch in from the fondant joins. Dont worry if the surface cracks slightly, it actually increases the effect of old leather.

12. Now's the tricky part. Place a little buttercream in the centre of the fondant covered board. Slide the cake off it's temporary board into the centre of the fondant covered board.

13. Collect your fondant trimmings and colour a little darker with more dark brown gel. Roll out to a size larger than 12 x 4 ins. Now take a clean net bag (or fruit net), and place on the fondant, run the rolling pin over it to make an impression. Cut into two 12x2 strips (pointed at one end, curved at the other) and a few square patches of between 2x2 and 3x3. Run around the edge of each piece with the stitching wheel.

14. Moisten where the cake joins the covered board with a little water. Drape the textured strips of fondant around the cake to make a har band. Overlap the pointed ends at the front and cross the curved ends at the back.

15. Moisten the backs of the small patches and apply to the back and sides of the cake where desired.

16. Take a dowel and push through the top of the cake. Cut it so around 2 inches of dowel protrude. Take the dry fondant hat tip and push it onto the dowel. Use a little spare fondant to make a thin sausage and use it to fill in the join.

17. Finally with a soft brush work "Charcoal" colour Lustre dust dry into the creases, eyes and mouth to create shadows. Use "Champagne" lustre dust dry to create highlights and dusty smudges. Don't overload the brush, build the lustre up gradually to get a soft airbrushed effect. Now dust a little dry gold lustre dust along the hatband to pick out the texture.

Black Forest Cupcakes

Black Forest Gateaux is a sin I never can resist, especially when the sponge is rich in cocoa powder and moistened with good kirsch. The cup cakes in the photo were made for my Father in Law, who loved cherry brandy, and Chocolate Cherry Liqueurs. They are moderately complex to make, but so worth it. You will need to start the night before, and you may want to consider making the Ganache a day in advance as well. You will need about a 1/4 bottle of kirsch in all. I am going to apologize right now for using horrible old ounces, the base recipe is an old one, and it doesn't seem to work as well when converted for some reason.

Golden Cherry Toppers

24 pairs of fresh cherries on the stalk
Enough Kirsch to cover them (about 1/4 bottle or 20cl)
150 grams Dark Chocolate
Edible Gold Luster Dust

1.Wash the cherries, lightly prick each one two or three times.
2.Soak the cherries overnight in the brandy, make sure they are covered.
3.Next day remove the cherries and pat them dry. Make sure you hang onto the Kirsch, you'll need it later.
4.Melt the chocolate in a bain marie or microwave.
5.Dip the cherries in the chocolate, coating them thoroughly, then place on some greaseproof paper. Set them in the fridge.
6.Finally, once set, dust them with the edible gold luster.

Sponge Ingredients

6 oz Butter
6oz Caster Sugar
4oz Self Raising Flour
2oz Cocoa Powder
1tsp Baking Powder
3 large eggs
4oz Fresh Black Cherries, stoned and chopped
2 tablespoons of Kirsch
Kirsch left from soaking the cherries

1.Preheat the oven to 1800C
2.Cream together the butter and sugar.
3.Sift in the flour, cocoa and baking powder.
4.Add the eggs and Kirsch and beat into a smooth batter.
5.Now fold in the chopped fresh cherries.
6.Line 2x12 muffin tins with paper liners, half fill each liner with batter.
7.Bake for 15-20 minutes until the top springs back when lightly pressed, and a metal skewer poked in comes out cleanly.
8.Turn them out and cool them on a wire rack.
9.Once cool, cut a well in the centre of each cupcake.
10.Pour 1 teaspoon of the left over Kirsch from soaking the cherries into each well.

Cherry Filling

4oz Fresh Black Cherries
Remaining Left over Kirsch
3oz Caster Sugar

1.De stone and half the cherries.
2.Place them in a small pan with the sugar and 2 tablespoons of the remaining Kirsch.
3.Heat quickly, stirring only until the sugar has dissolved, then simmer for around 3 minutes to make an almost jammy syrup.
4.Allow to cool (check it has become syrupy and thick), then fill the well in each cupcake with this cherry filling.

Fluffy Ganache Topping

200g Dark Chocolate
½ Pint Double Cream
1 tablespoon of the Left over Kirsch
2 Tablespoons of Icing Sugar

1.Heat the cream in a heavy pan
2.Melt the chocolate in the microwave or bain marie.
3.Remove the cream from the heat and stir the molten chocolate into the hot cream.
4.Allow to cool a little, then add the liqueur and sugar.
5.I usually allow to cool to room temperature, then I whisk the Ganache to make it fluffy and lighter.
6.Refrigerate for an hour or so, then pipe onto your cupcakes. For the ones in the picture I used a Large Polycarbonate Star Nozzle.
Now all that is left to do is place the golden chocolate cherries onto your cupcakes. I finished each one with a drizzle of a little of the left over cherry filling syrup.

The Mocharula

Definately not one for the kids!

The Marula fruit, native of South Africa, is used to make Amarula Liqueur. This is a cream liqueur, similar to Baileys but with a fruity flavour. In this cupcake recipe I have combined this flavour with Mocha, as Amarula goes particularly well with chocolate - coffee flavours. This cupcake tastes wonderfully exotic, your friends will be trying to place what that decicious fruity flavour is.

The ammount of coffee granules you need to use will depend on how strong and dark your favourite brand is. This recipe makes around 16 cupcakes.

Ingredients

Cake

6oz Butter
6oz Caster Sugar
5oz Self Raising Flour
1oz Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
2-3 tsp. Good quality instant coffee (I used Kenco Red) dissolved in a little warmed milk
3 large eggs

Syrup

6 Tablespoons Icing Sugar
4 rounded tsp. Cocoa Powder
A little coffee liqueur

Icing

250g Butter
500g Icing sugar
2 fl.oz. Amarula Liqueur

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (for a fan oven)

2. Beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy

3. Sift in the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder, then add the dissolved coffee and eggs.

4. Beat the batter with the mixer until smooth.

5. Spoon into a bun tray lined with your favorite cupcake cases, using a well heaped dessert
spoonful of batter per cake.

6. Bake for around 20 minutes until a skewer stabbed in comes out cleanly and the top springs
back when pressed lightly. Cool on a wire rack.

7. Mix the cocoa and icing sugar for the syrup together. Make into a thick syrupy consistency
with a little coffee liqueur.

8. Once they have cooles, cut a small well in each cupcake, pour around 1/2 tsp of the syrup into
each cake.

9. Now beat together all the butter icing ingredients until smooth, light and fluffy. Add food
colouring if desired.

10. Now all that is left to do is to pipe or spread your frosting onto the cakes, and decorate as
desired.

Pear, Ginger and Caramel Cupcakes

One of my favourite dishes from the 15th Century is whole pears stewed in spiced wine. A variation on this I love to make is stewing the pears in ginger wine. I have tried to recreate the flavours in a cupcake. The origional recipe is sweatened with honey, but here I used caramel to flavour the icing instead.

I was very pleased with the results. The pears take on a gently poached texture, and the ginger comes through as a gently warming flavour.

One thing to note is that these cupcakes will not have nice rounded tops as the fruit inside tends to make the rising slightly unevenly, but once they are iced you cannot tell.

This recipe makes 18-20 cupcakes.


Ingredients

Cake

1 1/2 - 2 woody pears
A little lemon juice 240g
Plain Flour 200g
Caster Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger 175g
Butter at room temperature
2 Large Eggs
10 Tablespoons of Sour Cream

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C

2. Peel, core and dice the pears into approximate 5mm cubes, sprinkle a little
lemon juice over them to stop browning and set aside.

3. Place all the other ingredients into your mixing bowl (sifting the dry
ingredients) and beat together until smooth and fluffy, this takes about five
minutes.

4. Now, using a spatula, gently fold in the diced pears.

5. Line a cupcake pan with paper cases, place 1 well heaped dessert spoon of mix
into each cupcake case.

6. Bake for around 20 - 25 mins, until a skewer stuck in comes out cleanly, and the
top springs back when pressed lightly. Lift out onto a rack to cool.

Icing

200g Caster Sugar
120ml Double (Heavy) Cream

90g Butter
230g Cream Cheese
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
175g Icing (Confectioners) Sugar

1. In a pan heat the caster sugar until molten and golden in colour, do this gently
and take care not to burn it.

2. Whisk in the cream gradually taking care not to splash and burn yourself.

3. Keep whisking until you have a smooth caramel mixture, then remove from the
heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

4. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth.

5. Now add 2/3 of the caramel to the bowl along with the vanilla and beat into
the cream cheese and butter.

6. Still beating, add the icing sugar a little at a time until it is all smoothly
combined.

7. Chill for 30 minutes before piping or spreading on your cupcakes.

8. Chill the iced cup cakes, then drizzle the caramel over them. If the caramel has become too
stiff, warm it slightly.

The Husband's Verdict:

"Very nice cake. Although the taste of the caramel was quite a lot stronger than the pear. Very good cake though. Mmmmm nom nom."

Braken Bread

This is a traditional British fruit cake, which is moist, delicious, relatively low in fat, and keeps extremely well. Known in Wales as "Bara Brith" (lit. Speckled Bread) and along the Welsh Marches as "Braken Bread". This cake was a great favourite of mine as a child, Mum always used to make one to take away on holiday.

I use this cake whenever I am asked for a non-alcoholic fruit cake. The picture above shows one I have decorated with dried fruit and nuts as a Christmas Cake. It is firm and takes stacking and decorating in either fondant, or royal icing really well. However, this cake is traditionally served with a smear of butter, so it is also good with buttercream.

The basis of the recipe is good strong tea. Avoid heavily scented varieties of tea such as Earl Grey as they give the cake a strage taste. Green Tea tends to be too delicate in flavour. Good old bog-standard Co op 99 or PG Tips is the best in my opinion. My recipe differs from the traditional recipe in that I have added a wider range of dried fruit.

This recipe makes a 7 - 8 inch cake, your pan must be at least 5 inches deep.
For a 12 inch cake - treble the quantities, you will need a BIG bowl.
IMPORTANT: You will need to soak the fruit from the night before you intend to bake (a minimum of 8 hours).

Ingredients

400g Mixed Dried Fruit (I use a mix which includes candied peel) 75g pack chopped Glace Cherries 1 mug (300ml) hot strong black tea 100g butter , plus extra for greasing 2 heaped tbsp good quality orange marmalade 2 Large eggs 450g self-raising flour 175g light soft brown sugar (Muscavado) 1 tsp each ground cinnamon, allspice and ground ginger 4 tbsp milk

1. Make your tea and allow to steep for 5 minutes, then to cool for a further 10 minutes.

2. Weigh out the fruit and cherries into a large bowl, pour the tea over them. Cover the soaking
fruit with a clean towel, lid or clingfilm and leave overnight.

3. Line your cake tin with a double layer of buttered greaseproof paper, cut out an extra disc of
the paper ready to cover the cake half way through cooking.

4. Pre Heat the oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees C for a fan oven) or Gas Mark 4.

5. Either in a saucepan or in the microwave, heat the butter and marmalade together until
melted. Set this aside to cool slightly whilst you follow the next step.

6. Weigh all the dry ingredients and sift into a large mixing bowl.

7. Now beat the eggs and milk into the cooled butter and marmalade.

8. Beat this wet ingredient mixture into the sifted dry ingredients to make a smooth batter.

9. Gently fold in the soaked fruit. Don't worry about any unabsorbed tea, it will stir into the batter.

10. Spoon into your prepared cake tin and place in the oven on a mid-low shelf.

11. Cook for 30-45 minutes, by this time the top should be golden. Now cover the cake with the prepared disc of greaseproof paper. Return it to the oven (if making a larger cake, reduce the oven temperature by 20 degrees at this time). The cake will take around 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours in total to cook (up to 3 1/2 hours for a 12 inch cake), keep an eye on it during cooking to avoid scorching, if the cake starts to burn on top turn down the heat a little. Check the cake with a skewer. It will come out cleanly when the cake is cooked.

12. This cake is best after at least 24 hours to rest. I always bake this cake a day ahead of decorating.

Hope you all have much fruity fun with this one.

Welcome to The Quirky Confectioner

Hello and welcome to my new blog.

I love to bake, and to turn my baking into art.

I am currently doing baking an sugarcraft as a hobby, but am planning to turn professional some time in the next 2 years. I love making cakes, cupcakes, cookies, sweets and edible sculptures. I aim to make my work beautiful and delicious, with an origional and creative twist.

I am learning the craft at the moment, making strictly for family and friends at present. I have been learning for about 6 months, mostly self taught. The aim of this blog is to chart my progress and share ideas and tips I come across. I hope you will enjoy following me as I progress.

My name is Hannah and I am from Yorkshire UK. This is me above.