Christmas Pudding Truffles - A Christmas eve treat.

So last night I had a few friends round for a little Christmas party, Food was ate, secret Santa's were exchanged, Christmas songs were played and mulled wine was drunk, and I'm feeling a little delicate this morning (well, afternoon) But I'm happy as I had a lovely time and I'm feeling very festive.

Any way after all the savoury food was eaten I brought out all the sweet treats I had made and their was a lot of cake to be had! 

Of to the left in the little cases are my Christmas pudding truffles The original recipe is a Nigella one for her Christmas Puddini Bon Bons however I altered the recipe slightly omitting some things and using milk chocolate and Brandy and then coating my truffles in Chocolate.
Any way here's how they're made:

Christmas Pudding Truffles 

 125g Milk Chocolate, melted in a bowl over a pan of boiling water.
 350g leftover, or freshly cooked and cooled, Christmas pudding
 60ml Brandy
 1 tablespoon golden syrup

To decorate: 150g Milk Chocolate, melted
Icing sugar (or alternatively melted white chocolate)


First crumble the pudding into a bowl and pour over the brandy. once the Brandy has mostly soaked into the pudding blend together. Add the meted chocolate and syrup and mix together. Then the messy part is rolling the truffles, I found dusting my hands with a little icing sugar or using cling film to roll them helped.

Once all the truffles are rolled coat each one in melted chocolate and place on a tray covered in cling film and place in the fridge to set.

Once set the truffles can be decorated to look like mini Christmas puddings using a little icing sugar blended with water to a thick paste or using melted white chocolate and then to top i used a little coloured sugar paste or you can used chopped glace cherries and angelica.

And that's it! I will upload a better picture once I get hold of the photos from last night. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and new year. I'm off to play Santa and give some pressies out!

Merry Christmas

Cupcake Kris xxx

Christmas Pudding Ice Cream and lots of Christmas baking.

I can't believe I haven't posted in 2 weeks! Well actually I can as I have been so busy with Christmas preparations, present buying, wrapping, present making (mainly jewelry) and even though I haven't blogged there has been a lot of baking.

I've had a few orders for cupcakes and last Monday I had 3 orders for one day that included Chocolate orange cupcakes Special toffee cupcakes  (however this time I stirred a little Dulche de leche into the batter) and as it's nearly Christmas Christmas spice cupcakes with mini gingerbread men  and here they all are :

 I also finished my Christmas cake! I'm not very good at making models out of sugar paste and I don't have many cutters so I just had to work with what I had which was a mini holly cookie cutter, so I went with the holly and berries theme and here it is:

But that's not all! I am having a Christmas party tomorrow for a few close friends so I've been a busy bunny in the kitchen baking savoury treats, sausage rolls, pigs in blankets, bacon twists as well as many more. and lots and lots of sweet treats, more Christmas spice cupcakes, Gingerbread men, mince pies, Chocolate candy cane cupcakes a gingerbread house and Christmas pudding truffles (to be posted here Christmas eve) and also a great quick dessert idea I saw the other day in Christmas Pudding Ice Cream.

Christmas Pudding Ice Cream is a great way to use up any extra or left over Christmas pud or just to have as an alternative dessert. I can't wait to have a scoop with a hot mince pie.
It's a really quick and easy recipe that can be thrown together in 5 minutes and left in the freezer to set while you get on with other things. I saw the idea on television the other day and I can't for the life of me remember which show but it was an Anthony Worral Thompson idea. They used different Cherries to me but I already had Glace cherries in the cupboard so opted to use them. Any way here it is:

You can't really get the idea from the picture but I will take a better picture once I take it out the tub and serve.

I used the tub that the Christmas pudding came in to store the ice cream so depending on what size pudding you are using depends on the amount of ice cream you need. but it's all down to preference with the pudding and cherry to ice cream ratio

Any way you will need

approx 1/2 left over and cooled Christmas pudding, crumbled. 
Few big scoops of ice cream, I used about 400ml
approx 30 g glace cherries, chopped 

In a bowl simply blend together all ingredients until the cherries and pudding are evenly dispersed and the ice cream has turned to liquid, beat together.
Then simply line your left over pudding dish, or any other bowl with cling film and pour the mixture in and wrap the top in cling film (or a lid if you have one) before returning to the freezer to re-freeze the ice cream.

Once frozen lift out of the bowl using the cling film and serve. 

And that's it a really simple idea for anyone in need of a last minute fix for a alternative Christmas dessert.If you are using a whole Christmas pudding make sure to save the remains and you can make another quick dessert and perfect last minute gift in Christmas pudding truffles (coming soon)

Any way back to the kitchen for me! I'll be sure to take pictures of the rest of the treats I make for the party and post them before Christmas.

Bye for now and be good (Santa's watching)

Cupcake Kris xxx

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes.

I am feeling very Christmassy today, I went out for turkey carvery yesterday with some lovely friend and today I have decorated my house, put my tree up and when I finish writing this I'm going to wrap a few presents. I'm definitely getting in the Christmas mood. I've already made 2 batches of mince pies (All of which have already been eaten).  

So last week I was asked to make 36 cupcakes for an Irish themed night at my friends work and it was a perfect opportunity to make a cake flavour I've been wanting to try for ages. So I made 18 Vanilla cupcakes with Green Vanilla frosting and 18 Chocolate Guinness cupcakes with cream cheese icing.

As I'd said I wanted to make chocolate Guinness cake for a long time now and they didn't disappoint They were really rich with a dense chocolaty taste and just the perfect hint of Guinness, and the frosting perfectly compliments them. Now I don't like Guinness so if that's what you thinking don't let that put you off this recipe as this has fast become my new favourite chocolate cake recipe, because of the rich indulgent flavours.

any way here they are:

 I apologise for the terrible photographs, I was in a rush.

Or just spread the icing on top like the top of a pint of Guinness.

Just look at the dark, dense colour of the cakes (I had to cut this in half, and subsequently eat for photo purposes, oh well haha)

Any way here's how they're made

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes:

Makes about 24 (can be easily halved)

250ml Guinness
250g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
75g cocoa
400g caster sugar
142ml sour cream
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
275g plain flour
2 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 180˚C.
Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan and add the butter; heat until the butter's melted, then whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with eggs and vanilla and then pour into the pan of buttery beer and finally whisk in the flour and bicarbonate of soda.

Pour the batter into a tin lined with cake cases ¾ of the way up and bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until risen and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 20 minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack.

Once the cakes are completely cool ice with the cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting: enough for 12 cakes

300g Icing Sugar
50g Unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g Cream cheese. 

Beat together the icing sugar and butter with an electric whisk and then beat in the cream cheese until smooth.

Ice the cakes as desired. I wanted to then top mine with a little green shamrock however I couldn't get hold of  a decent cutter in time.

And that's it! This week I am going to ice my Christmas cake and start on my list of other treat I plan to make for Christmas as well as fill a few cupcake orders I have.

Until next time

Cupcake Kris xxx

Linked up to sweet as sugar cookies

Christmas Cake Leftover Blondies.

This week I have been doing a lot of decorating and for once it's not cakes, it's my living room. I decided to paint one big wall in the room a deep red colour, so cue lots of red paint everywhere, including a ton in my hair and just the right amount on the walls. The end result makes the room look warmer and the colour gets me in the mood for Christmas, and cuddling up watching Christmas films on the couch with hot chocolate and cakes.

however I have also been baking and about 7 weeks ago now I started the first of my Christmas baking by soaking all the fruit for my Christmas cake and last week it was time to bake the cake. Both the boozy fruit and the cake recipe was taken from the pink whisk  and as she explains if you are late starting it can still work with just soaking the fruit for a week. Any way here is my completed cake.

 Just have to feed it with brandy regularly before decorating ready for Christmas.

I also mentioned in my last blog how there had been quite a few birthdays recently and the latest ones where my boyfriend's and my friend Mandie, they fall just a day apart and we went for tepenyaki and then on to a tiki themed bar with cocktails served  in treasure chests  and pineapples. any way the day before we went out everyone was coming round to my house to give the birthday girl and boy their presents and I decided way to late to make 2 little cakes, one each. So they really were a rush job but hey they still tasted like cake and hey that's all that counts. Any way Mandie thankfully took a few photos on her phone as I didn't think to so here they are, not the best photos or decorating but here you go:

Any way Amanda's cake was a small cupcake shaped cake decorated with leftover Icing from my bazinga cake in the last blog. And Neil's cake was a heart shaped chocolate cake iced to look like a box of chocolates and topped with chocolates, this cake is a shoddy thrown together copy of a cake I saw on Bakerella.com a while back.

Anyway onto this weeks baking, After soaking my fruit for my Christmas cake I was left with little bits of this and little bits of that, but not enough of one thing to make anything so I decided to combine all the leftovers with a little spice to make a easy traybake that uses all my leftovers but still tastes good. I first followed a basic recipe for Blondie's and amended it to fit my flavours. The result I was a soft yummy cake that could easily be sliced into bars. It had warming flavours perfect for the winter and ensured my leftovers didn't go to waste. The Blondie's themselves turned out a little more cakey than I had expected, soft and light rather than gooey but that was fine. Also even though I used all my leftovers this recipe definitely could have fitted more fruit in if you wanted to pack your blondie's. Any way here they are:

And here's how they're made:

125g Butter
220g Light brown sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
125g Flour
(Little bit of milk if needed)
1tsp Treacle
2 tsps Golden Syrup
About 10 Cherries  (As I said before with the fruit use as much as you want or have left)
25g Dried Cranberries
25g Flaked almonds, broken up.
50g Dried Mixed fruit (Raisins, sultanas, mixed peel)
2 Tbs Brandy (Optional) 
1 Tsp Mixed Spice
A good grating (1/4 tsp) of fresh nutmeg


First of all I soaked the dried mixed fruit in the brandy (this I think made the fruit sink lower in the cake so can be left out or added separately)
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and creamy, beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla extract and fold in the flour, mixed spice and nutmeg, If the mixture is a little dry/ thick add a touch of milk if needed.
Stir in the treacle, syrup and all your left over fruit and nuts, including the brandy if your using that. To stop any dry fruit from sinking to the bottom, try tossing it in a little flour first.
Pour the prepared mixture into a brownie tin and bake at 180 degC until the Blondie's are baked through. As usual I forgot to time this but it was between 15- 20 minutes.

And that's it, these definitely got me ready for the build up to Christmas.

I've entered this to the The Pink Whisk November Challenge

Bye for now

Cupcake Kris xxx

Linked up to  Sweets for Saturday

A Big Bang Birthday Bash!

I feel I have abandoned my poor blog of late, however that doesn't mean I haven't been baking, in fact I have had to bake a lot recently as there have been some birthdays the past few weeks. I have been baking plenty of tried and tested recipes and also decorating birthday cakes which is something I don't do very often and still need a lot of practice at. I have also been soaking fruit for a few weeks now and will be baking my Christmas cake this weekend. I Love Christmas cake with a capital L so making one then having to wait so long before eating is torture for me, only with a tasty reward at the end.

Any way onto the Birthday's in question recently it has been 2 of my best friends Birthdays (Jen and Mandie's) as well as the boyfriends birthday so there have been much celebrations, drinking, present giving, trifle (courtesy of my fabulous friend Alex, who makes yummy trifle) and of course, cake!

Today I'm blogging to tell you about Jens Birthday (well what I can remember of it) and the cake. The Birthday itself involved, pre meal cocktails, a meal at a restaurant called Damons which serve the tastiest ribs that just fall of the bone, during meal cocktails and then many, many post meal cocktails and tasty dessert back at Jens house followed by yet more cocktails (can you see where this is going?) 

Any way I had planned this cake for a few weeks before and already got approval from her fiancee that she would love it. So (last minute as usual) I bought the alphabet cutters I needed and set to work. 

You see one of Jens favourite television shows is The Big Bang Theory and her favourite character in said show is Sheldon, so I decided to incorporate a slogan of his onto the cake. I copied the design form a t-shirt her Fiancee had with it on. Any way if you aren't a fan of the show you probably wont really get the cake but that's what made it so great as I knew Jen in particular would love it. any way here it is: 

I haven't iced a big cake for around 8 years or so and was a very disappointed with parts of this and learned a lot along the way, I definitely need more practice but none of that mattered as long as the Birthday girl was happy, which she was and she loved her cakey surprise! 

The cake itself was plain vanilla with a strawberry buttercream filling. 

any way that's it for today next week I'll make sure to post all about the other Birthdays and the progression of my Christmas cake. 

Until then 

Bazinga! 

Cupcake Kris xxx

Oreo cupcakes with fresh cream frosting

I went Go Karting with my friends last week and was far too busy making all of them eat my dust to blog. I was surprised as anyone that I actually did really well and won especially considering I'm the non-driver of the group.

So any way this blog is a little delayed as I made these cupcakes a few weeks back when I was popping round to visit a friend. Have I mentioned how cupcakes are demanded by my friends at every gathering even just going to someones house. I was requested to make the raspberry and white chocolate cupcakes for go karting, and this time I topped each one with a raspberry as well as a square of white chocolate. Well for this gathering at my fabulous friends Jen and Chris's house I made a cupcake that has been on my to do list for months, Oreo cupcakes. And here they are:

If your wondering why the two in the middle don't have Oreo's on well that's because they were made for two of my friends each with a special message written on top one says screw work and the other says don't crash as one friend had just passed her driving test (I have an odd sense of humor) I do love my new letter sprinkles.

and here's how they're made, recipe adapted from one by 'Baking Made Easy' author Lorraine Pascale.

Oreo cupcakes

150g Butter
150g Caster sugar
3 Eggs
150g Plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
3/4 to 1 Pack of Oreo biscuits

Preheat the oven to 180 degC. Line a 12 hole cupcake tray with cases. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add the eggs one by one, beating together after each addition.

Add the flour baking powder and salt and mix. Crush up the Oreos and fold these into the mixture.

Divide between 12 cases and bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes until risen, golden and baked trough.

And that's it for the cakes. I really love this recipe, the cakes are light and you get a really nice taste of the cookies coming though and I love way they look all speckled with crushed up cookie. Most of the recipes I found for Oreo cookies just involved a plain chocolate cupcake with a whole Oreo baked inside so this one seemed a little different. Here they are out of the oven without frosting:

And now for the frosting, the Lorraine Pascale recipe called for butter cream however I wanted more of a cookies and cream taste so I went for fresh cream frosting, recipe adapted via Bakergirl's Blog

1 3/4 cups whipping cream
4 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons Oreo cookies, finely crushed

Whip all the ingredients together until the cream stiffens, pipe onto cakes and then decorate with Oreos. These are definitely my new favorite I could just eat the cream alone and really do prefer that to the Butter icing on these cakes.

And that's it!

Any way that's all for now but before I go just one more think, I said before how I love me some alphabet sprinkles, now I know they are just meant to be sprinkled over cakes but I just cant help spelling things out on my cupcakes, like so:

Any way until next time

Cupcake Kris xx

Coconut Jam Sandwich Bars

Hello, I've totally had the holiday blues last week and have been cheering myself up with lots of baking and all the lovely blogs I read as well as going out with friends and generally keeping busy.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Hope Street Feast festival where I stocked up on yummy food and enjoyed some delish Thai red curry from my new favorite restaurant in Liverpool Host . I also got the funniest picture of the boyfriend and my friend Jen tucking into some chocolate fountain dipped treats. (although I'd be in trouble if I posted it here)

There were loads of cake stand there but as I had a myriad of cakes at home I mostly stuck to buying savory treats such as champagne and strawberry cheese, homemade calzone's and sourdough bread, although I did indulge and bought some home made fudge.

Speaking of fudge I was kindly emailed a recipe by a friend that comes all the way from his family in Australia, I cant wait to try these tried and trusted recipes  but I've been sworn to keep them a secret hehehe.

Any way onto recent baking. The other week I was going out to visit a friend leaving boyfriend by himself to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet for once. I decided to make him some tasty snacks for his night in and it also gave me the opportunity to try a recipe I had been looking at for a while. Coconut jam sandwiches. When I first saw the recipe it struck me as something that boyfriend would choose however they never really appealed to me, so this provided the perfect opportunity to make them. the first layer is sort of like a biscuit then this is topped with a layer of jam and then finished of with a coconut mixture for a lovely taste and texture on top. Here they are: 

I made quite a few of these so even though boyfriend scoffed loads of them I still got to try a couple, and I have to say I enjoyed them much more than expected, perfect for after lunch with a cup of tea.

I used way more jam than the recipe called for as I wanted a proper layer of jam and not just a little scraping. I also upped all the other ingredients just a little as my pan was slightly bigger than advised.

any way here's how they're made:

Coconut Jam Sandwich Bars (Via Hummingbird Bakery, Cake Days)

For the base:
30g Unsalted Butter
175g Plain Flour
1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
50g Caster Sugar
2 Large Egg Yolks

For the topping:

175g Desiccated Coconut
175g Caster Sugar
4 Egg Whites
50g Plain Flour
150g Strawberry Jam (I used around 300g)

(9 x 12 inch Baking tray)

Preheat oven to 170deg C and line a tray with greaseproof paper.
Mix together the butter, flour and baking powder until you have a crumb like consistency. Add the sugar and stir in. Tip the egg yolks into a jug and stir with 2 Tbsp of water, pour into the dry ingredients and mix well.
Press the mixture into the tin and bake for 12-15 mins or until a light golden colour. Leave to cool completely (leave the oven on)  

In a saucepan mix together the coconut, sugar and one egg white with 2 Tbsps of water. Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and the ingredients form a thick paste. Add the flour and cook for a further 1 minute whilst stirring. Tip into a bowl and set aside to cool slightly.

Whip the remaining 3 egg whites until stiff stir one third into the coconut mix then fold in the remaining egg whites with  a metal spoon.

Spread the jam over the base then top with the coconut mix and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

And that's it.

And that's it for today, I'm looking forward to my next blog as it involves cupcakes I've been meaning to make for ages, and their my new favorite.

Bye for now

Cupcake Kris xxx