Hoorah for Bank Holidays!

Congratulations to the Prince and Princess, and may we all have a jolly good weekend!

PS: To enjoy some of your own Royal Wedding Cake, check out this post.

For the recipe, see Celebration Cupcake

Easter Birthday Cake

My niece's birthday practically coincided with Easter this year so she requested a mash-up Chocolate Fairy Easter Birthday Cake!  We've been DIYing* all week so to save time I cheated and used this Devil's Food Cake with chocolate fudge icing.

To decorate I used:

• A Fairy Topper from her last birthday cake
• Some official Fairy glitter-dust
• Dotted sugar flowers
• A few chocolate cornflake nests
• And teeny-tiny eggs and chicks from Tescos. Too cute!

*Disclaimer: Due to DIY projects this cake may/may not taste of paint!

Icing

Forget a cherry on top, there's only one way to finish off a cake or a cupcake and that's with even more sugar! Here is a quick run through of some of my favourite icing.

Buttercream (as seen here)
Mix together 115g of softened butter with 170g of icing sugar.
Use a wooden spoon to beat well together for a thick, rich butter cream.
With an electric whisk you can create a much lighter icing - in texture and in colour. This is what I use to pipe onto cupcakes, add a drop of food colouring to suit.

Glacé Icing (for example)
Difficult for me to describe the quantities you might need for a batch of cupcakes - I've just gotten to the stage where I add it into a bowl and make it up as I go along.
Start with about 3 tablespoons of water in a bowl, and add a tablespoon of icing sugar at a time - stirring thoroughly. Keep going (with lots and lots and even more icing sugar) till you get the texture you desire, and add more water if it looks like you need a bit more quantity.
This is very easy to make with lemon juice instead of water for lemon flavoured icing, orange juice for... You get the idea!

Sugar Crush
Glacé icing will get you a lovely smooth topping. If you wanted something with a bit more crunch and crumble, like you would find on top of a lemon loaf - you need to change the sugar. Try a combination of caster sugar and granulated sugar. When you make it, it appears quite watery - but it will dry out and granulate again.
I saw a recipe the other day for a raspberry and orange crush cupcake. Make a batch of cupcakes with some crushed raspberries folded through., and when cooked top with an orange sugar crush... Definitely the next one on my list!

Chocolate Fudge (pictured at top, with Barbie Sprinkles)
OK, guilty secret alert, but ever since I tried Betty Crocker's Chocolate Fudge Icing I've stopped trying to make my own. It tastes divine! It's a wee bit expensive so I do intend to find a home-made version, but I keep saying "Next time!"


See Also: Cupcakes; Cakes