Christmas Cupcakes

So after the inspiring visit to the Hummingbird bakery, I decided to create my own Christmas cupcakes.

For the cupcakes I used a basic vanilla sponge cake (CLICK HERE to see recipe) and to decorate I used a basic butter cream icing (CLICK HERE to see recipe).  This meant that I could therefore focus on decorations.

Christmas Tree Cupcakes

To make these I died the butter cream a deep green colour, to  imitate the colour of a Christmas tree. I then used a large piping nozzle to pipe the butter cream in a swirl on top of the cupcake. To decorate I put a white chocolate star on the top of the 'tree' and then sprinkled with baubles and sugar crystals. If you don't have a mold to make the white chocolate stars then you could easily make them at home. Have a look at step 12 of this blog post for directions.

It's warm inside!

Snowmen Cupcakes

Firstly cover the cupcake with white butter cream icing to make a flat surface for the snowmen to sit on. For the hat I used a minstrel. To make the snowmen use two marshmallows - cut the top off one and squish it to make it smaller. Then using butter cream stick the two marshmallows together. To make the face on the marshmallow I used the small piping icing from the supermarket to pipe on a face.

Bow Cupcakes

Spread the white frosting over the cupcake in a swirl design using an offset spatula. Tye a ribbon or stick a picture onto a toothpick and then pierce this into the top of the cupcake. Sprinkle with sugar crystals.

Humingbird Bakery

Humingbird Bakery

Today I went into London. I saw the Christmas lights along Oxford street, the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, the beautiful window displays in Selfridges and best of all I visited the Hummingbird Bakery, as I am hoping Santa might bring me their cookbook!

The window was filled with a grid of boxes hanging from the ceiling and each box had a different cupcake inside. Most importantly everything inside the shop looked delicious! Apon entering the bakery it was like heaven with cakes, cupcakes, whoopie pies and rocky roads on display. The walls of the shop are painted brown with bright pink cupboards. The displays were very simple, with cakes on elegant glass cake stands and the cupcakes displayed on baking trays. But the window display was a different story.

I was though a little disappointed with the flavours of the cupcakes, as they were very simplistic and there was nothing that I thought was special or exclusive to the hummingbird bakery. They had cakes such as red velvet, vanilla, chocolate and some plain vanilla cakes with Christmas decorations. I was expecting a few more eccentric flavours or christmassy flavours such as a mince pie cupcake.

From the array of delicious treats I choose the red velvet cupcake. The store packaged the cupcake in a cute Chinese takeaway sought of box and stuck a hummingbird bakery sticker on top. I thought that this was a brilliant idea, as putting a cupcake with frosting in a paper bag wouldn't work well!

Even though the cake was simple it still tasted pretty good! After my lovely visit I was inspired to create my own christmassy creations. I thought that I would stick with the vanilla cupcake and focus on the decorations.

Citrus Poppyseed Cake

This is one of my all time favourite recipes! The light and fluffy cake combined with the tangy citrus flavours and the nutty texture created by the addition of the poppy seeds. For a twist the cake uses lime as well as lemon to create the citrus flavours.

The recipe for this cake uses the basic sponge cake recipe with a few alterations. For one there is one less egg, but to help make the mixture wet enough yogurt is used. The exclusion of another egg makes the cake more light and fluffy. Also extra flour is used (to bind the cake together better) and there is the addition of the poppy seeds, lemon rind and lime rind.

Citrus Poppy Seed Cake
Makes 1 20cm cake or 16 small cakes.

Mini Citrus Poppy
Seed Cakes

Ingredients:

175g butter, softened

175g castor sugar

3 eggs

250g self-raising flour

50g poppy seeds

grated rind of 2 lemons

grated rind of 2 limes

4 rounded tablespoon natural yogurt

Cream Cheese Frosting:

100g unsalted butter
100g cream cheese
300g icing sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to C150. Butter and line a 20cm tin.
2. Place all ingredients into a bowl of an electric mixer and mix until smooth.
3. Poor the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40 - 45 minutes for a large cake or 20 minutes for small cakes.
4. Take cakes out of the oven when they are cooked. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
5. To make the icing; put all the ingredients into a food mixer and whisk until smooth and creamy.
6. Spread the icing over the cooled cake and decorate with the rinds of a lemon and lime.