Chilli Lime Cupcakes - National Cupcake Week Part 2

How is your National Cupcake Week going?  I hope you have managed to bake or eat at least one cupcake this week, if not you still have time to get baking.  On Monday I shared Salted Caramel Apple Cupcakes with you and showed you the nifty gadget from OXO Good Grips for coring cupcakes, today I invite you to get your teeth into these gloriously festive Chilli Lime Cupcakes.


These cupcakes are also cored and then filled with Chilli Lime and Ginger jam (mild) made by my friend Sheena at Galloway Chillies.  If you haven't tried Galloway Chillies Jams then you don't know what you are missing and you should get some ordered up immediately so you too can 'spread a little wildfire'.


As soon as I saw this flavoured icing sugar from Sugar and Crumbs I knew I had to have some and that it would pair perfectly with the Galloway Chillies jam.


Chilli Lime Cupcakes

For the cupcakes
125g caster sugar
125g soft butter
2 eggs
grated zest of a lime
2 tsp squeezed lime juice
150g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

For the filling
1 tsp Galloway Chillies, Chilli Lime Ginger Jam (mild)

For the Icing
75g soft butter
150g Sugar and Crumbs Chilli Lime Icing Sugar
grated zest of  1/2 lime
1tbsp lime juice

To decorate
grated zest of 1/2 lime
Red cake sprinkles (or if you are really into chilli, finely chopped fresh chilli)

Using a stand mixer beat the sugar and butter together, then add the eggs one at a time, finally add the lime juice and beat the mixture for about 3 minutes until it is light and fluffy.  Sift the flour and baking powder into the butter mixture and beat until incorporated, fold in the grated lime zest.   Spoon the mixture into eight paper case.  Heat the oven to 180C, bake for 20 -25 minutes until golden and when pressed on the top they feel firm.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Once cooled, core the cupcakes and fill with a teaspoon of the Chilli Lime and Ginger Jam. Cut the core in half and replace in the hole to cover the jam.

For the Icing
Beat the butter for a few minutes until light and fluffy, sift in the icing sugar, add the lime juice and zest and beat for a further few minutes until the sugar and butter is combined.  Spread the icing over the top of the cupcakes.

Decorate with grated zest of lime and red sprinkles or finely chopped chilli.

These cupcakes are such a treat, the lime cuts through the sweetness of the jam and icing making the cupcakes taste really fresh and delicious.



I'm entering them for Treat Petite the baking challenge for individual sweet treats run by Mr Cakeyboi and The Baking Explorer - the theme is 'Anything Goes'.


I was provided with the cupcake corer and icing spatula by OXO Good Grips and the Flavoured Icing Sugar by Sugar and Crumbs.  I was not paid for this review and all opinions are my own.

Labels: chilli, cupcakes, lime, National Cupcake Week, OXO Good Grips, Sugar and Crumbs

posted by Janice @ 06:30 5 Comments

Birthday Cake with Edible Flowers

I don't often make decorated cakes, but with my mother's 80th birthday coming I knew that something special would be expected.  Let me just say that my mother is a superb baker and cake decorator and has won competitions through the ScottishWomen's Rural Institutes (the Scottish equivalent of the WI). 

I picked up a copy of  March, Making Cakes and Bakes for a bit of inspiration and, not only found the Easter Cake by Izzy Pink which inspired the design of the cake, but also a little feature article on Meadowsweet Flowers.  Meadowsweet Flowers sell crystallised flowers for cake decoration and as my Mum loves adding edible flowers to salads and is particularly fond of the little 'faces' of pansies and violas, I ordered a mixed box of violas to decorate the cake.

The flowers come beautifully and carefully packaged, in fact they are double boxed and all arrived intact.  I dare say if I had had more time I could have made my own, but it was lovely to be able to get them like this.

I made the cake last weekend and froze it so I could get straight to decorating today.  I used the Vanilla Birthday Cake from Jo Wheatley's book 'A Passion for Baking'.  As you can see one of the sponges had a little bit of damage, but you would never know by the time I had finished!  I sieved some of my mixed berry jam and spread it onto one of the sponges.


I covered the other sponge with white chocolate buttercream (recipe also in March Making Cakes and Bakes) and placed it on top of the sponge with jam.  Then covered the top and sides with the buttercream.  You will see that I have managed to resurrect my mother-in-law's Kenwood Chef.  I got it checked out and it technically it is absolutely fine, I was told that it just needed to be used regularly!  So I'm doing my best.



I warmed my palette knife in hot water to smooth off the buttercream ready for the fondant.

I was amazed at the difference it made to have proper 'icing smoothers' borrowed from my friend Rachel of Rachel's Cakes.  I'll definitely be getting my own now.




I am not well practiced at piping and writing in icing.  I had a little practice and then decided to go for it!  When I had finished I was quite shaky, I just didn't want to mess up after all that work.

Aren't those flowers just gorgeous?  I made the leaves from green fondant last weekend and left them to dry out during the week, that worked well.  The leaves and flowers were fixed with royal icing made from the ready made mix from Sugar and Crumbs which makes it easy to make up small amounts. 

Now all I have to do it transport it to my mother and wish her happy birthday.

Labels: A Passion for Baking, birthday cake, cake decorating, fondant icing, Jo Wheatley, Making Cakes and Bakes., Meadowsweet Flowers, Sugar and Crumbs

posted by Janice @ 11:00 20 Comments

Chocolate Cherry Energy Bars for Breakfast Week

I know that lots of people find it difficult to find time for breakfast and grab a cereal bar in preference to sitting down to eat.  There's nothing wrong with that especially if you make your own so you know exactly what you are getting.  These particular energy bars were created to meet the rather exacting requirements of this month's We Should Cocoa challenge over at Chocolate Log Blog.  We should Cocoa is hosted alternately by Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog and Chele at Chocolate Teapot.



Choclette has challenged us to make something, using chocolate of course, but without any cane sugar.  Honey and other sweeteners are allowed.  It also gave me a chance to use some of the Sugar and Crumbs cherry flavoured cocoa powder which has really natural cherry flavour and really enhanced the energy bars.

Chocolate Cherry Energy Bars

100g butter
200g clear honey
150g rolled oats
50g cocoa powder (I used Sugar and Crumbs, Cherry flavoured cocoa powder)
130g mixed seeds
10g Chia Bia Powder (optional)*
10g Baobab Superfruit powder (optional)*
100g chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
100g dried cherries (alternatively sultanas or cranberries)
50g ground almonds

*If not using the Chia or Bilbao powders then add an additional 20g mixed seeds.



1. Heat the oven to 180C
2. Melt the butter and honey in a saucepan


3. Stir in the remaining ingredients and press into a 22cm square baking tin

4. Bake for 15 minutes
5. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into bars
6. Leave to cool completely before removing.


This is also another recipe for Breakfast Club 'Cooked or Baked' open until 24th February.

And fits nicely with the 'Healthy' bakes theme for Calendar Cakes hosted this month by Laura Loves Bakes and in alternate months by Dolly Bakes

Labels: Baobab Superfruit Powder, Breakfast Club, Calendar Cakes, Chia seeds, Farmhouse Breakfast Week, Sugar and Crumbs, We should Cocoa

posted by Janice @ 06:00 10 Comments

Chocolate and Pistaschio Sourdough Cake

I was first given a starter for a 'Friendship Cake' by a friend when my eldest son was at playgroup.  That wasn't yesterday as he is now a father himself!  I'm not sure if this type of sourdough cake is around all the time or if it just pops up every now and again.   I was given some in the autumn and then again just before Christmas, although now it is known as 'Herman the German' .  It also has many websites dedicated to it and now there are variations on the finished recipe, something I had not really considered before. This website even tells you how to start your own and I learned that you can freeze the batter which is great when you run out of friends who like to bake!

So there I am, with a Herman the German sourdough mix ready to be made into cake, I also have a couple of overripe bananas and some lovely samples of Sugar and Crumbs flavoured cocoa powder.  Sugar and Crumbs supply high quality products and are shortly to launch a range of different flavoured cocoa powders.

The Sugar and Crumbs range of cocoa powders will include Mint Moments, Natural Orange, Chocolate Chilli,  Morello Cherry and Pistachio, the flavourings added to the cocoa powder are all natural. I chose to use the Pistachio flavour and add some pistachio nuts to the 'Chocolate Banana' Herman recipe. 

I did use both bananas, even though it specifies only one and I replaced a third of the chopped chocolate with pistachio nuts, I also sprinkled pistachios on the top of the cake.  I baked it in a roasting tin as I find it bakes through well this way and is easy to cut into pieces.

The Pistachio cocoa powder has a very subtle, almost almondy flavour which didn't overpower the cocoa.  We ate some of the cake as dessert with some left over brandy sauce, that was a winning combination if ever I tasted one.  There are lots of new and exciting products being developed at Sugar and Crumbs and I'll keep you updated on any that come my way for testing!

Sugar and Crumbs supplied me with flavoured cocoa powder samples for trial. All opinions are my own.

Labels: banana, chocolate, cocoa powder, Friendship cake, Herman the German, pistachio nuts, Sugar and Crumbs

posted by Janice @ 19:57 6 Comments

A Woodland Dell Christmas Cake

My Christmas cake for 2012 has a woodland theme, with some little toadstools and a miniature deer.  Yes I know it's not in proportion, I really wanted a fairy, but had to make do with this teeny little deer!  Although I covered the cake with fondant icing,  I needed to stick the toadstools together with something and also make sure they would stand up on the cake.



What I needed was some Royal Icing, but I only needed a little bit.  That's where Sugar and Crumbs Royal Icing mix is ideal.  I only needed to mix up as much as I needed as this Royal Icing has been developed using the best quality fine particle icing sugar available on the UK market together with a fully pasteurised "high whip" egg white powder.  High whip basically allows the egg white to create peaks/get firmer much quicker and it can also be used for run out icing because of the quality of the egg white. It's not yet available to purchase, but I can certainly recommend it for ease of use and performance.
I added some colour to the icing I had left after using the Sugar and Crumbs Royal Icing to fix the toadstools and leaves, then added some food colouring and piped Merry Christmas onto the cake.  My piping skills are not so great, but at least I didn't mis-spell it!

You can see the cake and the recipe by Paul Hollywood in my review of  'How to Bake'

I was supplied by Sugar and Crumbs with a number of products for trial, including Royal Icing.  I was not required to provide a positive review, all views are my own.

Labels: Christmas Cake, Royal Icing, Sugar and Crumbs

posted by Janice @ 21:16 7 Comments