And being in a Christmassy mood its got me thinking of all the things I want to bake over the next couple of months and no doubt they will involve allot of Christmassy ingredients so I best stock up on Ginger, Nutmeg, Cinnamon and dried fruit etc. I'm already licking my lips at the thought of all the mince pies, gingerbread men and fruit cake I will no doubt make to many off. I'm also thinking about snow men cake pops and about making a gingerbread house as I made a huge one a few years back (complete with boiled sweet stained glass windows) It was a big project but looked great finished. It almost makes me feel the season should be longer to allow for more baking! The food is definitely my favourite part of Christmas.
Let me know what your favourite Christmas treat is, give me some ideas.
Any way so enough of me getting carried away with Christmas cheer, this week I've been baking more cupcakes. Chocolate and Amaretto cupcakes to be exact. I've been meaning to use Amaretto in a cupcake for a while but I have to admit, these ones came about by accident. Boyfriend sudenly decided late one night that he needed cake and I was in the mood to bake (as usual) so before checking all my ingredients I hurriedly threw together all the dry ingredients before realising I was out of milk, at which point I improvised! And here they are!
If I would have planned this cake more ahead I definitely would have made the butter cream better and probably topped it with crushed Amaretti biscuits!
Here's how they're made:
Makes 12.
120g Plain flour
25g Cocoa Powder
150g Caster Sugar
1 Tsp Baking Powder
50g Unsalted Butter
2 Eggs
big glug of Amaretto (About 100ml or until you have a nice consistency)
Few drops of Vanilla extract
Few drops of Almond extract
Preheat the oven to 170 deg . Mix all the dry ingredients together and rub in the butter until you have a sandy consistency.
Whisk the Eggs, Vanilla and almond together in a jug and pour about into the dry mix and beat to combine.Then add the Amaretto gradually until the mixture is smooth, free of lumps and off a good consistency.
Spoon the mixture into paper cases two thirds full and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the cake springs back when lightly pressed.
For the Amaretto butter cream.
250g Icing Sugar
80g Unsalted Butter
2-3 Tbs Milk
3-4 Tbs Amaretto
Blitz all ingredients together until you get the right consistency - add more Icing sugar, and Amaretto as needed.
And that's it!
I have to make a few cupcakes for a Christening this weekend too so I've also been practicing getting the right colour pink butter cream. It looks more peach on the pic but it was more of a bubblegum pink, in fact it looked like I'd piped bubblegum right onto the cake.
That's it for now any way! Have a fun weekend and let me know if you bake any thing yummy!
Bye for now
Cupcake Kris
2 comments:
Chocolate Ameretto cupcakes have been on my list virtually since I started my blog and I still haven't got around to making them. They would be good for Christmas, so thanks for giving me a nudge in the right direction.
Thanks for reading. I'd been meaning to make them for a while too but the Amaretto kept getting acidently drunk hehehe.
I think next time Ill try and spruce them up!
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