Life of a Rainbow Cake

      I decided today to take a break from the cupcake baking and try something new. Looking up cool ideas for baking, I came across this website: http://whisk-kid.blogspot.com/2009/08/say-it-with-cake.html. I decided to make a rainbow cake. It was so much fun to make and not TOO hard! I was in charge of baking the desert for a friends surprise party and boy this caught her by surprise. I decided not to tell anyone what kind of cake it was. Keeping the cake a surprise was totally worth it when I saw the looks on all of their faces. It was so fun to see how shocked they all were. Here's a bunch of my pictures from baking it! 

Red Velvets from Scratch

Even though I must admit that I love hummingbirds cupcakes the best, their recipe just isn't as good at home than in the store. I think there must be some secret ingredient or magic touch. Working at hummingbirds is my dream - and maybe someday I can find out the secret! But for now, I use the Magnolia recipe for my red velvet cupcakes: 

Photography by the
Cupcake Around the Corner

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups flour (not self-rising)

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 ¼ cups sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

6 tablespoons red food coloring****

2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 ½ cups buttermilk

1 ½ teaspoons cider vinegar

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

How they make it: (all in Magnolias words by the way!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and lightly flour three muffin tins. Place cupcake papers in the tins.

To make the cake: In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.

In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts, alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overheat.

In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.

Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake each tray for 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 1 hour. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

*** The last time I used these I used one small container of red food coloring powder.  The powder really made the cupcakes turn out red as opposed to a sort of burnt red color.

You can find tons more great cupcake recipes on Magnolias site: 
http://www.foodnetwork.com/search/delegate.do?fnSearchString=cupcakes&fnSearchType=site

The Social Cupcake

Fun idea: get together and make cupcakes with a group of friends. If you are looking to do with your friends this weekend this is the perfect idea.  Its the perfect activity - its fun, its creative, and you get to eat delicious cupcakes in the end. If you also want to make friends with anyone just invite them over to bake....it's almost 100% guaranteed that you will become great friends - especially if you both love cupcakes!

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

Fluffy Frosting/Best Frosting in the World

This frosting is literally my favourite. I use it on almost all of the cupcakes I make. I think that it has the perfect consistency, taste, and texture. Its great. And its very simple to do so you should all try it out!

You will need: 

- 500g confectioners sugar

- 250g butter

- dash of vanilla

- milk

Leave the butter out to soften and you can judge when its ready. Then mix the confectioners sugar, butter, and a teensy bit of vanilla to add some flavour together. Add small portions of milk as you go until your frosting is the right consistency. And thats all there is to it!!! (for best results, frost soon after you mix this so that the frosting doesn't dry up before even getting on a cupcake)

 This is the frosting I use - you can just pour in the whole thing! You can find it at Tesco, Sainsbury's, and I'm pretty sure Waitrose too!!! 


http://www.dinkydrinksminiaturefavours.co.uk/silver-spoon-homegrown-sugar-icing-500g-pi-4811.html

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/tesco-value-butter-0-50/798567

This is the butter I use. Once again, you can just use the whole cube. And I got it at Tesco! 

Cheers!

BIG Tips for Using Tips

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The key to magnificently frosted cupcakes is using big tips. You can get them at any baking store, and they're pretty cheap too. If you just want to cover your cupcakes with a mountain of frosting and still have it look good these will definitely do the trick. When I make cupcakes, I usually either make themed ones or genuinely cute cupcakes for fun. You can use these for themed cupcakes (easter, halloween, the royal wedding...etc) but I advise you to for sure use them for your random cupcakes that are for regular events at least a couple times. I love how my cupcakes turn out every time I use my big tips and I'm sure you will too!


Cheers!

Cupcake Anatomy

I just thought this was amazing. 

(Not mine though, I found it on another blog called The Sweetest Occasion. Here's the link If you want to see more of their ideas http://www.thesweetestoccasion.com/page/8/)

Sketches

Do you ever want to draw a cupcake but just can't figure out how to? Do they never turn out cute or accurate enough? Heres how I draw them....this should give you a good idea of how to doodle a pretty cute cupcake...

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

Of course there a better cupcake doodles out there - this is just a starter!!! 

Gotta Love a Royal Wedding

These are the Royal Wedding cupcakes we made...

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Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

It was a shame these didn't turn out exactly how we thought they would but they are crowns for Will and Kate!

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

We also made an amazing royal wedding fondant cake in the shape of a crown!!!

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

What a lovely union jack

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God save the queen! She looked so cute on the wedding day in her little yellow suit. 

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Our cake with the whole royal fam!

Obsession Confession

I have a confession to make. I have a crazy cupcake obsession. I don't know when or how it started - all I know is it will never end! I will forever love cupcakes in every way! I love baking cupcakes, I love buying cupcakes, I love eating cupcakes, I love drawing cupcakes, I love everything CUPCAKE.  

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

This pretty much sums it all up. It is my cupcake shrine - showing my true devotion to cupcakes. 

The shrine includes:

• Keep Calm and Eat a Cupcake journal
• Keep Calm and Eat a Cupcake sign
• Cupcake notepad
• 2 cupcake ornaments
• Cupcake lipgloss
• Cupcake coin purse
• Cupcake jar
• Home made paper cupcake
• Cupcake pillowcase (on the bottom!)

Trip to Portobello Road

Portobello Road as most Londoners know is the CUTEST place in London. The whole area is packed with old antiques, fashionable clothing, random stuff like pocketwatches, and last but not least CUPCAKES!!! To be on Portobello road is great on its own, but to also be able to purchase cupcakes there is beyond my needs. 

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

They let me go behind the counter and pretend I actually worked there. Oh how I wish I could...

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

They always have the cutest window displays...holiday themed! I'm pretty sure this was around Valentines day. 

A Lil' Cupcake Action in Paris

This was my Paris cupcake inspiration...

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Genius! A cupcake in a teacup...so cute!

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How do these relate to cupcakes?? They're tea cups and tea pots - which are both at tea parties and so are cupcakes!

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Cute little cupcake bakery in Mont Mart 

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Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

The best book...EVER!

I got Hello Cupcake for christmas a few years ago and I still use it almost every single day! Its such a cute book with so many great ideas ...who knew that you could rebuild starry night out of cupcakes??? I suggesting getting this book NOW!!!

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

The "Perfect" Swirl

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I always wondered how bakeries managed to make their cupcakes have near to perfect frosting…was it the metal tip they used? the type of frosting they were using? How did they do it!!? Then one day I was experimenting with a batch of cupcakes I had made and think that is when I figured out the trick. Here’s how I suggest you make the perfect swirl on top of your cupcakes…

1)    Squeeze out one big blob of frosting onto the middle of the cupcake

2)    Then start spiraling and swirling around the cupcake

a.    Start on the part of the cupcake that doesn’t have frosting yet

b.    Once you’ve done a whole circle like this you can start to do the same around the blob.

Cheers!

Keep Calm and Eat a Cupcake

This is just a little inspiration for you all! I love London, I love "Keep Calm" quotes, and I love this poster!! It is pretty much my all time favourite quote ever...because you can NEVER go wrong with eating a cupcake!
    
 Cheers!

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

By the way - my sister got this for me in Covent Garden!!! 

Become a Fondant PROfessional

How to Use Fondant:

I’ve always loved using fondant. Not only is it super fun to use and decorate with, but also quite simple, and it ALWAYS will look amazing! Here are my tips on how to use it:

1)     Buy pre-made fondant from a cake or baking store (the brand I use right now is Wilton, but I’m sure any brand would be fine) and bundle it into little balls about the size of a golf ball

2)     Roll the ball out flat so that it is about half a centimeter thick.

3)     Once it is rolled out, pick it up carefully, and place it on top of the cupcake

4)     Cut around the edge of the cupcake, taking away any excess fondant and now you are done!

If you want to add color to the fondant:

1)     Stop everything you are doing once you have rolled the balls of fondant

2)     Add about half a drop of food coloring to the ball

3)     Spread the food coloring out by squeezing the fondant with your hands and fingers until it is solidly the color that you want

4)     If you want it darker, just add more food coloring of course – always start out with a smaller amount of food coloring than you need because once it’s in, you can’t do anything about it, sorry!

Decorating after the layer of fondant:

With the extra fondant you have after covering the tops of each cupcake, you can decorate more on top of the fondant layer. I am not the complete expert at fondant decorating, but my box has some pretty cute ideas with very straightforward instructions as to how to decorate.

This is the fondant brand I use at home... 

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

Cheers!

Frosting by Ziploc

Do you ever find yourself making cupcakes, and see that you’ve run out of frosting bags, or decorating tips? I know I do all the time! The solution I have for this (which in my opinion is actually even better than using the special bags and metal tips) is to use a Ziploc baggie to apply frosting to your cupcake. How do you do this?

1)    Make your frosting

2)    Empty the frosting from the bowl to the Ziploc baggie (probably should be the gallon sized one, but it will depend on the amount of frosting you are making)

3)    Cut off the corner of one of the bottom corners on the baggie

a.    MAKE SURE you know what size you want the frosting to come out.

b.    I would recommend to cut no more than a ½ inch hole (when the bag is laid flat)

4)    Make sure that your bag, now filled with frosting, is securely shut at the top

5)    Now you can start decorating your cupcakes!

a.    Make sure you are squeezing the frosting from the top to the bottom – not from the bottom to the top (that would make the bag burst and all of the frosting fly out!)

Good Luck!! 

Easter Egg-cupcakes

Are you looking for something creative? Try making cupcakes inside real egg shells. I made these yesterday and they turned out to be a big success. Who knew that you could make egg-cupcakes, and in perfect time for easter? 

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

Photography by the Cupcake Around the Corner

...right before they went in the oven

they were such a mess when they came out of the oven, but I just peeled the extra cake off and they were fine. 

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A perfect cupcake egg!

The best cupcakes in London?

Because there are so many different shops where you can buy cupcakes in London, you run into trouble choosing which one to go to. I personally love all of the ones i've been to, but the top three that I've found are "The Hummingbird Bakery", "Lola's", and "The Cupcake Company." 

When I tried to find out which one was liked the best by the people around me, I took a survey. (by the way, my favourite cupcakes are the red velvet ones from hummingbird bakery!!)These were the results...

1. Do you like  cupcakes?
Yes	No
44	0

2. Which flavor of cupcake do you prefer?
Vanilla	Chocolate	Red Velvet	Coconut	Lemon
18	18	15	5	1

3. Which flavor of frosting do you prefer on a cupcake?
Vanilla	Chocolate	Cherry	Butter Cream	Cream Cheese	Lemon	Mint	None
11	19	0	11	14	1	0	2

4. Which cupcake company do you prefer?

Lola's     Hummingbird     Neither

6            16                      24