Custard Creams & Strawberry Milkshake Creams

Although I try, as a rule I'm not one for aesthetic neatness and elegance when baking. Despite numerous attempts, my piping is never up to scratch and my cookies, though tasty, are always sloppy and uneven (in fact, this is the primary reason I have still not yet plucked up the courage to have a go at posh French macarons despite having bought a packet of ground almonds for this purpose over a month ago). But I impressed myself with these lovely little biscuits which were a bit of a labour of love. The secret of their prettiness is that the dough barely puffs up at all during baking which means the biscuits keep their beautiful even shape.

Although it took me a while to lovingly craft each button using a round scone cutter, a tiny espresso cup and a straw, these colourful treats certainly aren't complicated to make. And they were certainly worth the extra time as they received an abundance of compliments on both taste and appearance - in fact, Edd Kimber himself (whose recipe I used for the custard creams) saw them on Twitter and said they were fantastic! Praise indeed :)

The pink strawberry milkshake creams were an original invention of mine which I'm rather proud of though I say so myself - I simply followed the same recipe as I did for the custard creams but substituted the custard powder and vanilla extract for strawberry milkshake powder and strawberry extract respectively. The result was utterly delicious and I will definitely be making them again!

If you don't have the time or patience to make buttons, just use your favourite cookie cutters like I did for the mini stars and hearts below. To make a Bourbon cream-esque variation, you could substitute the custard/strawberry milkshake powder for chocolate milkshake powder or cocoa.

The yellow custard creams were made using Edd Kimber's fab recipe which can be found here - http://theboywhobakes.co.uk/2011/06/custard-creams/ - so I'm just going to post the recipe for my strawberry milkshake cream version.

Strawberry Milkshake Creams

INGREDIENTS - yield depends on the size and shape of cookie cutter used but the below quantities resulted in the number of pink biscuits seen in the photo above

For the biscuits:

• 230g plain flour
• 50g icing sugar
• 50g strawberry milkshake powder (I used Hello Kitty brand but any will do!)
• 180g margarine/butter
• 1 tsp strawberry extract
• Splash of red food colouring
  
  + cookies cutters of your choice or a round cutter, an espresso cup & a plastic straw if you want to make buttons like in the photo

For the filling:

• 100g icing sugar
• 25g butter (unsalted if preferred)
• 1.5 tbsp strawberry milkshake powder
• Splash of milk
• 0.5 tsp strawberry extract
• Drop of red food colouring

METHOD

For the biscuits:

1. Line two large rectangular baking trays with parchment.
2. Place the flour, icing sugar and strawberry milkshake powder into a large mixing bowl then add the margarine/butter and strawberry extract.
3. Rub the fat into the dry ingredients so that crumbs form and then squish together into a large ball of dough. If it's too sticky, add a little more flour. If it's too dry and crumbly, add a little milk.
4. Add the red food colouring, a tiny splash at a time, and knead the dough in the bowl until it turns your desired shade of pink.
5. Take the dough out of the bowl, wrap tightly in clingfilm and leave in the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes to half an hour.
6. Sprinkle flour over your work surface to prevent sticking then roll the pink dough out until it's roughly 1cm in thickness (remember you'll be sandwiching them together two at a time so you don't want them too thick or they won't be pleasant to eat unless you have an extremely massive gob!)
7. Cut out as many circles as possible using the round cookie cutter and stamp each circle with the espresso cup, firmly enough that it makes a definite indent but not so hard that it cuts through the dough. Then use the end of a plastic straw to stamp out four tiny circles in the middle of each biscuit to make a button, transferring each one onto the baking trays as you go.
8. Squish all the off-cuts together then re-roll the dough and repeat the process. If you're lazy like me, cut out other small simple shapes such as hearts or stars once you've made 20 buttons.
9. Pop in the oven and bake at about 180 degrees C for 10-12 minutes until the bottoms have started to colour very slightly at the edges then transfer onto a wire rack and leave to cool.

For the filling:

1. Place the butter and strawberry extract into a bowl then add the icing sugar and strawberry milkshake powder gradually while stirring/whisking. Add a splash of milk and continue to stir/whisk until a smooth, spreadable mixture has formed.
2. Add the red food colouring a tiny drop at a time and stir until the mixture turns your desired shade of pink (you'll only need a very tiny bit).
3. Spread a small blob of the icing onto the back of one of the pink biscuits using a palette knife then sandwich together with another biscuit of the same shape and repeat until they've all been paired up.

Edit: I also used Edd's custard cream recipe to make these cute jammy heart biscuits - just make imprints in the dough with your thumb then fill with raspberry or strawberry jam :)

Lemon Sunflower Cupcakes

I made these lovely summery cupcakes for Sunday Baking Club's (@SundayBakeClub on Twitter - go follow them for fabulous baking fun!) 'Citrus Zing' themed competition and they received a lot of compliments from other entrants :) The pretty sunflower design also provoked much cooing in admiration when I took them into work! I'd never used lemon extract before but my mum and I were given a free bottle when we went to the Good Food show back in November and I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised by the delicate citrus flavour it gave to the buttercream without making it taste at all synthetic. Both my dad and brother said that they were not fans of lemon but that these cakes were delicious and not too overwhelmingly 'citrussy'.

The icing technique is a heck of a lot simpler and quicker than it looks - in fact, I personally find it much easier to do than regular swirly piping. Chocolate buttons are a simple and yummy way of creating the centre of the sunflower but you could also add black/chocolate icing using the same piping technique as the petals for a more textured look. The ladybirds were a last minute addition but they make a nice colourful finishing touch and are so easy to create!

When I bake batches of cupcakes to share, I've recently started to include some mini ones because a) they're a bit more diet-friendly to those who are reluctant to splurge and b) I think they're just so cute! So I've included these as part of the recipe but obviously you can just stick to normal sized cupcakes if you don't have the required equipment.

INGREDIENTS - makes approx. 12 cupcakes + 12 mini cupcakes or 18 standard cupcakes

For the cakes:

• 6 oz self-raising flour
• 6 oz caster sugar
• 6 oz margarine/butter
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp lemon extract

For the icing/flower centres/ladybirds:

• 10 oz icing sugar
• 5 oz butter (unsalted if preferred)
• 1 tsp lemon extract
• 2 tsp yellow food colouring*
• 12 large milk chocolate buttons + 12 small milk chocolate buttons
• A few red Smarties or M&Ms
• Small tube dark chocolate or black writing icing

METHOD

For the cakes:

1. Line one baking tray with 12 standard paper cake cases and another smaller muffin tray with 12 mini paper cupcake/muffin cases.^
2. Whisk the margarine/butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until pale then whisk in the eggs.
3. Fold in the flour, baking powder and lemon extract until a batter of a soft dropping consistency has formed.
4. Drop the mixture into all of the cake cases until they're each about two thirds full.
5. Pop the larger cupcakes into the oven at 180 degrees C for about 12-15 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted into the sponge comes out clean, then do the same with the mini cupcakes for about 10-12 minutes.
6. When baked, place on a wire rack and leave to cool. At this stage the cakes can be frozen for decorating at a later stage if you wish.

For the icing/flower centres/ladybirds:

1. Place the butter and lemon extract into a bowl and stir/whisk while gradually adding the icing sugar until a thick, fluffy mixture has formed.
2. Spoon the icing into a piping bag with a rope or star nozzle attached and pipe little rosettes in circles around each cake, working from the outside then moving inwards to the centre, then firmly push a large chocolate button into the middle. Do the same for the mini cupcakes but using small chocolate buttons.
3. Use the dark chocolate/black writing icing tube to pipe a 'T' shape onto each Smartie/M&M then add two dots either side of each line to create the ladybirds' eyes and spots, as per the photo. Place randomly onto your chosen cakes.

* As a rule, less is more when it comes to colouring icing but I used Asda's standard liquid yellow food dye and found I needed quite a lot just to create a pale yellow shade. These measurements may vary depending on which type/brand of colouring you use and how pale or dark you want the end result to be so I'd advise adding a little at a time until you get the desired hue.

^ I'm not sure what the correct type of ovenware would be for these so I used a silicone baking tray with 12 holes designed for mini scones placed on top of a flat metal baking tray for support. This gave the mini cakes a nice even shape as they couldn't expand too much. For added structure and support, a good tip is to double layer the mini muffin cases (i.e. two per cake) - the extra ones can then be removed after baking and re-used.

Edit: I used this recipe to create my stepgrandad's birthday cake - he absolutely loved it! :)

Cheer-Me-Up Angel Cake

Of all the cakes I've made this is certainly not one of the most elegant - I even overcooked the sponges (although I seem to have mastered the art of nice even cupcakes my large round cakes always come out abysmally) - but after a horrible week of suffering from a severe chest infection and generally feeling rubbish, by the weekend I had a serious craving for a massive dose of unapologetically sinful sweet, spongey, jammy, melt-in-the-mouth, no-frills CAKE. CAKE just for me!! And the result was blissfully delicious, though unfortunately so much so that my family managed to devour the majority of it! I used my favourite vanilla buttercream icing and, being a sucker for girly prettiness, I made pink and yellow angel cake sponges topped off with rainbow sprinkles for added cheeriness. As I said, this is by no means the most sophisticated of cakes but it's super easy and certainly won't fail to raise a smile!

INGREDIENTS - makes 2 sponge layers of 8in/10cm diameter

For the cake:

• 8 oz self-raising flour
• 8 oz caster sugar
• 8 oz margarine/butter
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Few drops red food colouring

For the filling/icing:

• 2 tbsp (approx.) jam of your choice (I used strawberry)
• 10 oz icing sugar
• 2 oz cream cheese (at room temperature, full-fat works best)
• 2 oz butter (unsalted if preferred)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Coloured sprinkles, to decorate

METHOD

For the cake:

1. Grease two round cake pans of around 8in/10cm in diameter or line with baking parchment.
2. Whisk the margarine/butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until pale then whisk in the eggs.
3. Fold in the flour, baking powder and vanilla extract until a batter of a soft dropping consistency has formed.
4. Pour half of the mixture into one of the cake pans - it shouldn't be any more than two thirds full.
5. Add a few drops of red food colouring to the remaining batter until it has turned a pale pink colour. Don't worry too much if it doesn't look the perfect shade, it will look different when baked.
6. Pour the mixture into the second cake pan - again, it shouldn't be any more than two thirds full (if you have any leftover batter at this stage why not fill a few cupcake cases? :)
7. Pop in the oven and bake at 180 degrees C for about 15-18 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted into the sponge comes out clean.
8. When baked, remove the cakes from the pans (I still haven't mastered the art of this!!) and leave to cool on a wire rack. At this stage the sponges can be frozen for assembling and decorating at a later date if you wish.

For the filling & icing:

1. Whisk the butter, cream cheese and vanilla extract together in a bowl and then gradually add the icing sugar until a pale spreadable mixture has formed. If too stiff, add a little milk and if too runny, add some more icing sugar.
2. If the sponges have risen up too much in the middle, saw off the tops using a sharp serated knife so that they're nice and flat, otherwise they'll be horribly wobbly when stacked together. See below for an idea of what to do with the offcuts!
3. Place the yellow sponge on something flat that it will not need to be moved from when completed, e.g. a cake board, tray or tin lid (moving the finished cake is best avoided if possible!), then spread a thin layer of jam all over the top of the yellow sponge followed by a thin layer of the buttercream icing. If any bits of the sponges have fallen off these can be 'glued' back on with jam :)
4. Firmly place the pink sponge on top then spread the buttercream icing all over the assembled cake with a palette knife, smoothing out the top and sides as you go, while attempting to resist repeatedly sampling its fluffy, vanilla-y deliciousness.
5. Decorate with rainbow sprinkles for some extra colour.

Leftover sponge and icing...?

Simply layer torn up chunks of pink and yellow sponge and jam in small individual containers (e.g. ramekins or teacups) then top with icing and sprinkles to make some cute little trifle-style angelic desserts!