Cake and Rope

Last night I went to Ping Pong to celebrate Esmay's birthaday. I of course baked a cake. This time I had a my friend Esme helping to bake the cake which was very useful as we were short on time. I went with a chocolate marble cake with chocolate frosting and to top it all of mini cupcakes to decorate. I like the marble effect before it is cooked but it seems to get lost in the cooking process. The main difficultly I came across was carrying the cake. Why do I always make such large cakes? Using Esme's suggestion of putting string under the base and lowering it into the tin (I was very unsure of this idea) we did eventually get to Esmay. 

Lola's Mini Cupcakes

During my quest to find the tinned pumpkin I ventured into Selfridges and of course could not stop myself from sampling some cupcakes that they sell. I bought four mini cupcakes from Lola's Kitchen. I love the size of them as it means you can eat a few and not feel too bad or sick. I selected four of their signature falvours - peanut, Oreo, coconut and chocolate. The decoration of all the cakes was great and I espically loved the ediable glitter on the chocolate one. I shall be putting in an order for some to jazz up my own cakes. The Peanut cake was a really nice flavour but the cake was a bit on the dry side for me. I really liked the coconut flavour. It is not something I would normally go for but it had great subtle flavours. Before consuming the cakes (which my family helped me with) I took some photos, combining my love for photography and cupcakes. I am still learning to use my camera so hopefully the photos will improve as the cakes do.

Inspiration

Having finally tracked down a copy of the October Sainsbury magazine I am now able to try out the some new ideas from the cupcake masterclass. The article which is all pretty and girly (which cupcakes do not always have to be) has some useful tips but nothing ground breaking in it. I do like the idea of cinnamon icing. This lead me the thought of an autumn/Halloween cupcake of pumpkin cake and cinnamon frosting. The only problem with this is that I having difficulty finding tinned pumpkin. I know I could just use a whole pumpkin but it is so much easier and i think will make for a more moist cupcake. Tinned pumpkin is more of an American thing so im hoping to find it in Selfridges and I have been told some Waitrose stock it. A trip to Waitrose for me this weekend.

Here are scanned pages of the article for your reading pleasure.

Hoxton, Cake and Dogs

Last night I went to the Queen of Hoxton bar for a vintage and craft fair with my good friend Amity. I of course brought cakes as a gift. So here we are posing with the cupcakes. They are mint choc with double choc frosting. I have done this flavour a cake a few times and it is a favourite of mine and many of my friends. I am still having problems with the cake sinking. It doesn't make any difference to the cake itself only they don't look as nice. I have been told that the cake sinks because they have not been cooked long enough but I do not think this right. I have tried to cook them longer but the top burns. Hmmmm it's a real mystery and I will find the answer even if I have bake a thousand cakes.

Continuing on my quest of mighty fine cakes and tips for my own, I went to the Chiswick House Dog Show. Stay with me, all a bit random but I thought this might be the place to find cake stalls and I was right. Outsider Tart there showing their amazing cookies and brownies. Not strictly cakes I know but I feel all baking goods should be explored. It would be rude to exclude such amazing brownies. I sampled their Blondie brownie and it was heaven. I have had been very lucky to have eaten many of their brownies in the last few weeks. They are very rich and a major sugar rush. I have to say I do prefer my brownies a little more chewie.