Very Vanilla Cupcakes

The moistest, fluffiest vanilla cupcakes you will ever eat. If you don't have a go-to vanilla cupcake recipe, look no further...

I have had a disastrous baking week this week. I made some delicious blondies that just aren't quite blog ready yet and some absolutely horrendous cookies. Honestly, they were just something else. Don't even know where to start in fixing the recipe just yet!! So these vanilla cupcakes were just an absolute relief when they came out so perfectly and were soooo delicious. 

I like to think my current vanilla recipe is lovely enough, I have never had any complaints and it is super easy to make and alter to make endless different recipes. Nothing is ever perfect so why not tweak it to make it even better? I kept all the quantities the exact same but rather than whisking in the entire eggs, I separated the eggs and whisked in the yolks first. I then whisked the egg yolks until thick and frothy, as you would with meringue and folded them into the batter before baking. It made the cupcakes sooo much lighter. Definitely worth the extra effort (unless you had to hand whisk your egg whites like me... not so sure then). I was also unsure about whether flour and baking powder was better than self raising flour, I mostly use self raising but I have been experimenting with plain flour and baking powder and now realise that it is faaar superior. The cupcakes seem to rise so much higher. So from now on, I will specify PLAIN flour and baking powder in my recipes.

Strawberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

Sweet and fruity strawberry swirled cupcakes topped with luxurious, creamy white chocolate buttercream. Perfect comfort food for the autumn nights!

What a good week this has been! I have successfully finished my first week at my new job (well, it's a year long unpaid placement...), Martin has finally handed in his dissertation so has completed his MSc and tomorrow my best friend is moving back to our flat in Cardiff aaaall the way from London and I am so excited because I haven't seen her in FOUR WHOLE MONTHS!! Meaning of course I had to make some celebratory cupcakes for her to come home to...

Loaded Blondies

These are super blondies: packed with marshmallows, sprinkles and mini smarties, sweet and soft, chewy and decadent. Is this not everything you could want in a baked good?!

I have to apologise again for being slightly AWOL and inconsistent this week. It's not for lack of trying or time, that's for sure. I have been so bored this last week with nothing to do, I've been planning so many great ideas and doing some research into how to make my next few bakes perfect for you. But I realised I was seriously lacking in baking tools!! Not to mention my oven is completely crap and doesn't bake evenly at all as I discovered while baking my not-so-little-anymore sister a big batch of mini cupcakes to take with her when she moved into her university accommodation to start her first year of her nursing degree (because cupcakes so easily buy friends). I don't think I've ever burnt a cupcake, I was devastated!!

But anyway, back to these blondies. How much do you just want to stick your face into that bowl? Let's take a closer look...

Yuuuummyyy

Don't get me wrong, I love chocolate as much as the next person but sweets are my weakness. I love how colourful and sweet and sugary they are, you just can't beat it! So what better way to make use of all my favourite things than jamming them into a beautiful blondie? The recipe is a pretty standard one-bowl recipe (my favourite kind - less cleaning!!) and is perfect for adding anything you're craving into it - think chocolate chips, nuts, oreos, cinnamon-sugar?! It is soft and chewy but not particularly gooey which is just how I like them, nice and sweet and basically just the kind of recipe that leads you and your housemate to eating the whole plate before dinner... 

"Malibu" & Lime Cupcakes

Summery and fresh: A tangy, sweet lime cake topped with a super creamy, sweet coconut buttercream and a lime wedge. My favourite summer cocktail in a cupcake! (NB: no alcohol is actually used in this cupcake!)

Summer is pretty much over now (cry cry) and I am getting back to reality like a slap in the face! I am almost guaranteed to not get another opportunity to sit on a gorgeous beach sipping my favourite summer drink: malibu, lemonade and lime. I was lucky enough to go all inclusive when I went away to Mexico a few weeks ago and that only means two things - getting fat off all the free food and drinking cocktails aaaall day long. Although I did try the other cocktails on offer I always went back to my favourite Malibu. Nothing screams summer like the flavour combination of coconut and lime. Not only it is the perfect amount of sweetness slightly countered by the contrasting sharpness of the lime it is so refreshing. I think the taste will always take me back to summer.

In an attempt to cling onto summer before it leaves us for good and I get to start drinking hot chocolates in bed all the time again, I wanted to share this glorious taste of my summer with you. And what better way to do so than in a cupcake?! Despite it being called "Malibu" and lime cupcakes I did not use any actual Malibu in the recipe (£15 a bottle?! No thanks!) and I did not want to isolate anyone that chooses not to drink alcohol. That is not to say that you couldn't add a drop or two yourself if you wanted to try it?! 

The core flavour of Malibu, for anyone that doesn't know, is coconut and is seriously delicious. So instead of Malibu for the buttercream I used coconut milk in place of some of the butter and some desiccated coconut for a real, authentic coconut taste. The initial sweetness of the buttercream when you first take a bite eventually gives way to a slight tang from the cupcakes: I really feel like it is a flavour combination made in heaven!! The cupcakes themselves were also one of the lightest, fluffiest ones I have ever made, I think because of the extra liquid from the fresh lime juice so I cannot recommend enough that you give these cupcakes a try asap!!

Salted Caramel Vanilla Layer Cake

I am back! Sorry it's taken so long for me to post since getting back from Mexico, it has just been manic these last few days! Aside from the crippling jet lag I have suffered (most annoying thing ever!), I have also moved into a new flat which has taken up a lot of time as it has needed quite a bit of TLC. It's all looking good now though, especially as I have moved up all my cake making/decorating tools - just need to find a special place for them now... I FINALLY have time to dedicate to baking and posting and I honestly cannot wait! 

I'm not going to lie, this is a quick, simple but sweet (very sweet actually, yummy!) cake but it was still delicious and looked so pretty :). My nan's birthday took place while I was away and was gutted I wasn't able to make her a cake because she is my biggest supporter when it comes to baking and she just loves anything I bake. So I made making her a cake my first priority once I got back into the kitchen. As I said, this cake is simple but sometimes simplicity is best! Not to mention this cake can be knocked up in next to no time. What a bonus! My nan was pretty unhappy that she didn't get given any of my Twix cupcakes (woopsies) and she loved the idea of salted caramel buttercream so I decided to make a plain Victoria sponge with a lot of extra vanilla to the mixture and fill it with the buttercream so she could taste how beeeautiful it is! I also gave the cake a crumb coat of the caramel buttercream before I covered it in the sweet, fluffy whipped cream icing. I decided to not use the buttercream for all over coverage or decorating with flowers as it is a very rich, sweet buttercream; perfect for topping a cupcake but perhaps too much for a full cake, but I'll let you be the judge of that! The vanilla cream complimented both the flavour and texture of the cake and buttercream perfectly and it covers a cake beautifully and evenly giving a smooth, polished finish. 

Twix Cupcakes

Rich, chocolatey, piled high with luscious caramel buttercream with a subtle crunch from the biscuit base. Everything good about a Twix in a cupcake!

I love chocolate bars and I love cupcakes so the prospect of emulating the flavours of a much loved chocolate bar in a fluffy, moist cupcake is really about as exciting as it gets!

Especially a chocolate bar like a Twix with all it's different flavours and textures - smooth chocolate, gooey caramel and the crisp biscuit base. I've wanted to make salted caramel buttercream for a while now and the idea of Twix cupcakes came to me when trying to decide how to use this buttercream. I cannot even think of enough adjectives to describe how beautiful this buttercream is, I was eating heaped tablespoons of it while decorating - and this is coming from someone who doesn't like a lot of buttercream on cakes (believe it or not). It is very sweet but the saltiness takes the sickly edge off and the creamy flavour has the perfect sharpness to it to compliment the richness of the very chocolatey cakes. I don't know about you but there is something sooo satisfying about making things like caramel from scratch; it's easy and impressive and delicious. The crunch of the biscuit base also cuts through the softness of the absolute mound of buttercream and gives a real Twix-like feel to the cupcakes.

If you really want to know how good these are: my mother took some into work to share and I have now been asked by her colleague to bake a batch every week for the office. Are you desperate to make these yet?! Don't wait any longer! Here is the recipe...