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.