Little Owl Cakes

I had so so soooo much fun doing these! I got the idea online and, as my sister is a little obsessed with owls at the moment, couldn't wait to give these a go. They took me absolutely ages though. Once again they are marble cakes and I am still struggling to get the amount right in the case, how is this possible? I started with cutting circles in roll-on icing and then proceeded to cut out an array of shapes for the owls etc. The owls themselves were hard to cut and I ended up using the bottom of a snowman cutter which was perfect for size! Once again I didn't really leave myself enough time and ended up going waaaay into the night doing these but it was so worth it! They're awesome!
Lesson number 20: Get some more cutters (for when you're back at uni!)

Bike Cupcakes!

So Friday was my Dad and my sister's birthday - so excited to make cakes!! I'd been concentrating so much on what to make for Georgie that I didn't really think about Dad's. So I decided to go simple and use my new piping bags to do some bikes. Now I thought this would be easy but I had to practise on a duff cake and find a picture on the internet to copy. I got carried away and ended up doing them quite fast as it was difficult to stop. They aren't amazing but they ended up being quite cute and he liked them so mission accomplished! Plus the cakes were marble cakes which were fun to make.
Lesson number 19: Pracctise with the piping bags more and slow down!! CONCENTRATE!!!

British Cupcakes!

My friends and I decided to get into the Biritsh spirit today by decorating some very patriotic cupcakes. Now, because it was a team effort I will admit that they are not how I'd pictured them - me being all perfectionist and what not! However, they were fun to make and it doesn't really matter what they look like because they were delicious! One of the cakes not in the photo was Ed's 'multicultural' cupcake which was created when he forgot that the theme was red, white and blue!
Lesson number 18: Bake more with your friends - but they do not like it if you're too controlling!

Summer Birthday Cupcakes

I made these for my friend Amy's birthday (which was in fact yesterday, but she doesn't need to know that). I went into Lakeland to find some cake decorations and ended up buying half the shop! But anyway, I bought these daisies, which I thought were gorgeous. Only they ended up being difficult to stick onto the cakes, falling all over the place, and are somewhat wonky. This makes them look as though they were made by 5 year olds! Never mind. Hopefully they will taste nice!
Lesson number 17: Think more about your decorations!

Apple and Cinnamon Flapjack

So I've made a few things that technically aren't cupcakes. But flapjack has got to be my most favourite food on Earth so I'd rather make these than cakes any day! I decided to push the boat out and make some different flapjack though by adding cinnamon and some chopped up apple. For some reason the apple made the flapjack extra gooey and we had huge amount of problems getting it out of an already greased tin! Perhaps I needed to have added more oats to make up for extra ingredients. Who knows! But I will most definately be making them again as they were DELICIOUS! I even got my flatmate, who doesn't like flapjack, to try and she was asking for more.
Lesson number 16: Add more dry ingredients, else you can't get it out the tin!

Jubilee Scones

This post is a little late, seeing as the jubilee was a couple of weeks ago now! But I thought I'd upload a picture of the scones I made as a contribution to our house tea party. We had rolls, cupcakes, biscuits, tea and even sandwiches without the crusts! My scones went down a treat and were gobbled up quickly. However, an argument quickly ensued over whether the jam or the cream comes first! They are so easy to make that I will have to make them more!
Lesson number 15: Jam first, then cream!

Lovely Summer Cupcakes

Tonight our house is having a BBQ and although I won't be eating any of the food I wanted to contribute something! So I made some cute little summer cupcakes. They are your normal mix with chocolate chips in and buttercream on top. Again, I didn't really have the energy to use a piping bag so I used a fork to create a pattern in the icing. They are topped with raspberries (which make them look somewhat like nipples) and various butterflies and hearts. Trying to get the silver balls to stay was fun as the icing had dried up and they were rolling all over the place!

Lesson number 14: Don't let the icing dry, or decorate them quicker!

Chocolate Tart

The other day my flatmate and I bought some chocolate tarts and I was inspired to give it a go myself! I'll admit I cheated, a great deal. I bought the base from Tesco... But I'm a student on a budget and it was only 70p I couldn't help it! But I did make up for this by making the filling without really knowing what I was doing. This is made up of melted plain chocolate, egg, milk and whipped cream (thoroughly whipped!). And despite the base being quite clearly a fake, it is rather yummy. It took a long time in the oven but apart from that it was pretty straight forward. Licking the bowl out after was a bonus!
Lesson number 13: You can cheat, but it always tastes better if you make yourself!
Ps I know it's not a cupcake!!

Cranberry and Blueberry Muffins

Today most of my flat had exams at 9 so I had the place to myself. I wanted to make something a bit different with a more exciting taste so went for some interesting muffins. They were not difficult to make except I mistakenly added some spices as I was reading the wrong recipe! Not cool! I also forgot they wouldn't rise because they don't have self raising in them. And they took longer to cook than I thought they would. And, in the end, I don't particularly like them. A bit of a fail really. They look quite nice but I got my flatmates to try them and nobody was all that keen. They are edible but just don't leave you wanting more. Oh well, not all my baked goods can turn out perfect!
Lesson number 12: Stick stick stick to the recipe!!!! And keep trying new things, it doesn't matter if you don't like them.

New Piping Bags!!

These babies were an experiment...a very successful one! Yesterday I bought some new piping bags at Tesco and couldn't wait to try them out. I googled how to use one as my last attempt was dire! And I am quite pleased with them. Unfortunately I was only able to decorate half the cakes I made as I underestimated how much icing I would need and only made half the amount. Turns out the book wasn't lying and I really did need 12 oz of icing sugar! However, I am pleased with the 6 I did make, even more pleased with the fact that they have malteasers on top! Now all I have to do is decide what to do with the other 6...
Lesson number 11: follow the recipe!

Frustration Cookies!

These cookies were made for me to take my mind off getting angry about being woken up by some really inconsiderate housemates last night. I was so angry I couldn't sleep until maybe 7am! Therefore I have been tired an possibly slightly grumpy today. The way to make myself feel better? Make something delicious. And these certainly didn't disappoint. They are simply chocolate chip, satisfyingly doughy in the middle but crispy on the outside. However, they are very chunky and I would have preferred it if they were flatter - I should have flattened them on the baking tray. Still very yummy!
Lesson number 10: Stop being a perfectionist, it doesn't matter what they look like!

More cake-making, a lot less revision!

These little cakes were the left over mixture from Tuesday's cupcakes. I didn't know quite what to do with them so looked through some baking books for inspiration. In the end I decided to cut the top of and then stick them back on with a spoonful of raspberry jam (there was a lot of spoon licking!). I then added a squirt of whipped cream and some chopped strawberries. They were delicious!! I actually ate about 4 and my flatmate had maybe 5! They were so goooooood! I would say the only problem I really had was that the cakes weren't really big enough for me to cut the tops off and I ended up making a bit of a mess with the cases etc. However, once covered in cream, nobody would have known!
Lesson number 9: Put a little more mixture in the cases so that they rise!

A Hard Day's Work

We are currently in the middle of exam period and with no more lectures or seminars my time at university is now solely for revision. But with a short attention span there is only so long I can spend looking at revision notes so, role on the cupcake making! These are just simple cupcakes that took me moments to make. The majority of time was spent decorating and coming up with ideas of what to put ON them. However, I lack somewhat in food colouring so had to stick to blue, yellow and grey (which was supposed to be silver!). I also needed a rolling pin which was provided kindly by Rachel Green who helped to jam up the decorations. It was fun though and it will be hard for me to get any revision done AT ALL!

Lesson number 8: You do not have enough food colouring!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

I had always been planning on making Rach a cake for her 19th. However, my plans changed when I discovered someone had made her some Welsh cakes, the boyfriend's mum had made her a cake topped with smarties and kitkats and the girls had bought her muffins in town. I was outdone! So I decided to make her something simple in the form of little chocolate cupcakes with oozing dark chocolate in the centre. This was achieved by putting a piece of chocolate in the middle of the mixture in the cases, so easy!! When cooked, they weren't as 'oozy' as I'd have liked (maybe I over-cooked them slightly) but by the reaction of my housemates they tasted good.
Lesson number 7: Get in there first with the cake making!!! (Also you can't compete with Scott's mum!)

Ultimate Procrastination

Today my sister and I decided to make some cupcakes as a break from revision. These are just some simple cupcakes with chocolate icing decorated expertly by Georgie. I really wanted to doing the icing through a piping bag but I have yet to perfect that technique so instead, spooned on the icing and made it look cool with a fork. - the sprinkles hide the pattern though.

Lesson number 6: Learn how to use a piping bag.

Easter Cupcakes!

These were extremely difficult to make as I've still given up chocolate for lent! However, they were fun to make despite me taking them out of the oven a wee bit soon - they deflated slightly, but if anything this was a good thing else we might have had a bit of an overflowing situation! Aaaaanyway, they've got me in the mood for Easter and I cannot WAIT to be eating chocolate again! Also it feels amazing to be back at home for the holidays with a clean kitchen and all the utensils I could possibly want, except for a baking tray to put the cases in, hence the size of the cakes!

Lesson number 5: Use a cupcake tray!

Playing Card Cupcakes

So this morning I woke up in an awful mood. Last night our window had been smashed in by some horrible drunk people and I'd woken up at 4am to my housemate weeing just outside my door, yes weeing! And the only way to cure a mood like this is to bake and decorate.

So, tonight we are going out as playing cards for Kat and Stefan's birthdays so I decided to make some playing card cupcakes. They took me ages to cut out each individual club, heart etc and I got food colouring absolutely EVERYWHERE. But I've had a nice relaxing and enjoyable afternoon. And I am rather pleased with the result. Still haven't quite perfected the amount of mixture to put in each casing, or how runny the icing should be but I'm getting there!

Lesson number 4: Liquid AND powder food colouring is messy!

My Birthday Cake

I just found this beauty of a picture! This is George and Mem who made a chocolate cake for me on my first birthday at university. These two live in the flat opposite and are the main culprits when it comes to eating the things I bake (I reckon they can smell it from across the hall!). This was so lovely of them and they really worked hard on it! Unfortunately I never got to eat any as there were so many people in the kitchen at the time but I don't mind, I just loved that they made a cake for me!!

Ben's Reward

So Sunday afternoon my flatmates and I had a massive roast (mainly to cure our hangovers!) which resulted in an insane amount of washing up. By 9 o'clock and 2 dvds later we had not washed up and we really did not want to. So I posted on our House 7 Facebook page that I was willing to bake anything for anyone who was willing to come and tackle our mountain of washing up. The rush-on in our kitchen was crazy! So many people were willing to clean for cookies! Therefore these cookies were a reward to the lovely Ben, who got there first and washed up expertly. They are triple chocolate and the first batch were slightly burnt (I got distracted reading heat) but the second were just divine. Or so I've heard, I have given up chocolate for lent!

Lesson number 3: anyone will do the washing up for some cookies!

(And yes, this is the photo from the book! I forgot to take a picture before they were all eaten up, but I assure you this is what they looked like!)

The Cake Stand!

As I'm still getting used to this whole blog thing, I thought I'd have some fun getting some posts in and show you my new cupcake stand! I have actually had it since Christmas but I have only used it once. Sad times! I decided not to bring it to uni as most of my stuff gets used and misused by various members of House 7. For example, the last item which I got excited about was my mini christmas tree which ended up covered in ketchup when my flatmate came back from a night out. I couldn't bear it if my cupcake stand got broken or something happened to it. Therefore I occasionally look at this photo. And I cannot WAIT to use it over the summer!!

Lesson number 2: Do not take anything you like THIS much to university, everything you own is at risk of never being the same again!

Dad's Birthday Cupcakes

These were the cakes I made last summer for my Dad's birthday. I saw them on the front of a card in WHSmith and bought it for some inspiration. I then ended up copying the cakes in the picture which took me absolutely aaaaaaages! But I'll admit, they were a little rushed as I managed to leave them until the night before his birthday. I do not cope well with having to do something this creative under pressure! However they were so much fun to make and I miss having the utensils, the time and the patience to make these living in halls at university.

Lesson number 1: Don't make cakes the night before you need them, it stresses you out!