Start again!

After last weekend's disaster I decided to go back to the start, back to where it all began...to the classic vanilla cupcakes from Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. Ok, so not very exciting, but I needed to go back to a trusty recipe (especially in preparation for some other cupcakes I will be making soon!).

As usual, the recipe didn't let me down, here they are fresh out of the oven.

Time for frosting (I chose buttercream). I've seen some amazing frosting recently, making me very jealous, and again I am determined I will get better. Here are some of the results:

Definately not perfect but perhaps a small improvement. I reallly should fill up the cupcake cases a little more to prevent the paper coming away from the cupcake. Generally i'm happy though :)

I'm currently scoffing away on one while watching Glastonbury and wow they taste yummy!

P.s. they weren't quite meant to go as purple as they did, I got ahead of myself with the new colouring pastes I bought!

Lesson's learnt so far...

So i've been baking since January when I was given the Hummingbird Bakery book and a food processor for Christmas. It's been a long journey since then and i've learnt a lot...with a lot more still to learn. Each time I bake I make some form of mistake, and each time I bake I learn something...progress!

These are some of my adventures so far...

1. Vanilla cupcakes.
The first ones I tried and a firm favourite. I love how dense the sponge is and i've made this recipe several times, trying different frostings/fillings in the process.

Next step: try a different vanilla cupcake recipe.

2. Cream cheese frosting
So I kept reading about cream cheese frosting and I really wasn't sure about it....time to try it! I made strawberry cheesecake cupcakes with a plain cream cheese frosting sprinkled with crushed digestive biscuits. They were so delicious and I really should make them again, but I mixed the frosting too much and it was too runny and make the cake quite messy!

Next step: don't mix frosting too much!

3. Lemon cupcakes
Next up, I made some lemon cupcakes. I loved them, though perhaps they were a bit too lemony! I was really chuffed with them but when I looked at the photos of them I realised my decorations were just not up to scratch, see in the photo below.

Next step: buy some piping tools and some nicer cupcake cases.

4. Vanilla cupcakes with M&M's
After a few more baking sessions, including making Oreo cupcakes and truffles with my friend Gem I decided to make some M&M cupakes. The main aim of these was to improve my decorating skills as well as use my lovely new blue cupcake cases. However, the M&M's sunk and although I didn't get a photo, I was told the bottom of the cakes looked like rabbit droppings. Ooops. However, I was super chuffed with the frosting!

Next step: coat M&M's (and any toppings) in flour before adding them to the mixture.

5. Toblerone cupcakes
Probably my most adventurous cupcakes, I saw the recipe on Gem's blog (they were originally from Red Deer) and as it was my step-Dad's birthday and I knew his favourite chocolate was toberlone, I thought i'd give it a go. The cakes were amazing, they were so golden and the toblerone chunks didn't sink (wohoo!). However, the SMBC was a complete disaster, really runny and I put it in the fridge to help it set but nope, no go. I need to look into this and try again!

Next step: learn how to make SMBC successfuly!

Now that I have Martha and I've found some great online blogs it's time to be more adventurous. I think my next baking day will be Sunday 13th, so watch this space...