Sunday 15 January 2012

Caramel Cupcakes

Did everyone enjoy the sport relief bake off? I certainly did. 

I sat on the edge of my seat when Anita couldn't get the millionaires short bread of out the tin. 5 mins before I was shouting "line the tin, line the tin!" at the screen.

I chuckled as Angela went slightly manic and started speaking really fast, then breathed a sigh of relief that all her fondant diasys all lined up.

AND I loved seeing last years gbbo contestants in the first episode!

Well done to the winner Anita, her mad hatter cake was fab.


I've been baking mad this week for three reasons. One because of sport relief bake off, two because I had a long hard week at work and needed some baking to cheer me up and three I got a new free standing mixer. 


Whoop, no more hand mixer for me. You can turn it on and walk away!

I baked up a storm on Friday with these caramel cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery Book Cake Days. I am so pleased with these cupcakes! The cake is fluffy yet moist with a mild yet consistent caramel taste. The buttercream is airy and not too rich. Perfect with a cup of tea or for dessert.

Caramel Cupcakes

80g unsalted butter (much be soft!)
280g golden sugar
240g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
pinch of salt
240ml milk
1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 eggs
160g carnation caramel

1. Preheat your oven to 190C and out a shelf in the middle of the oven. Line your muffin tin with muffin cases.
2. Using an electric whisk, whisk up the butter then add flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. When this has been whisked it should resemble bread crumbs.
3. Whisk up your eggs, milk and vanilla bean paste and our in to the "breadcrumb" mixture.
4. Whisk until combined then add the caramel and again whisk until combined. Try not to over whisk as you won't get rounded tops.
5. Fill your muffin cases up two thirds. I use a jug for this as the mixture is fairly runny.
6. Bake for 18 mins or until a skewer come out clean.


Caramel Buttercream 

500g icing sugar (sounds like a lot but it does work!)
160 butter (must be soft too)
50ml milk
100g carnation caramel

1. Using an electric whisk, whisk together the icing sugar and butter until it again reaches a breadcrumb consistency.
2. Whisk in the milk and caramel. Whisk for ages until it's beautifully fluffy.



Definitely a recipe to be repeated, Delicious.

You can see a sneak preview of my "stained glass windows stars" on top too. Happy Baking!

8 comments:

  1. I too really enjoyed GSRBO last week- infact I even postponed meeting a friend on Friday to stay in for the final! It was such a fun show. These cupcakes looks really delicious- I'm going through a bit of a patch of cupcake baking at the moment (mainly after sorting through my baking cupboard and finding loads of cases, sprinklers etc I forgot I had).

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  2. haha I had a quiet night in just so I could watch the final! I'm feeling in a cupcake mood too, maybe it's going around!

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  3. I loved the GBBO this week too and found myself desperately wanting to make scones, loaves, tarts and celebration cakes for the rest of the week!

    I tried the same recipe a couple of months ago and was a bit disappointed with the results. The tops of the cupcakes went quite hard/crisp (from the high sugar content I presumed?) and they didn't rise as well as I had hoped. Yours look beautiful though so maybe I did something wrong!

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  4. I too was shouting "line the tin!" but am glad she won - she had the right mix of humour and ability!

    A stand mixer will change your life - enjoy!!!

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  5. This looks delicious!
    I just found your blog and loved it!
    Visit me at: my-greek-cooking.blogspot.com

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  6. Beautiful creations. I am a fun of cupcakes. It is such a treat to be able to eat homemade cakes like yours which are so much better than anything you find in supermarkets! Your decorations are really good. Well done! I will follow you

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  7. I would love a free standing mixer! Lovely cupcakes, they sound good. I had to iplayer some of it, but yep, I too watched bake off the other week! I thought she was a very well deserved winner.

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  8. Cake crusader - I am loving my stand mixer!

    Elpiniki - Thank you!

    Alida - Thank you. You're right homemade treats are the best!

    Lottie - I've still got one episode to i player but stayedin the the final. Keep hinting to your friends and family about a stand mixer, that's how I got mine!

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