Sunday, 15 November 2009

DUSKY ROSE CUPCAKES



These were Autumn cupcakes I was inspired to make after purchasing these lovely brown spotty cases.
I love pink and brown together!
A friends' mum very kindly gave me a cupcake stand so I made these as a thankyou, it was also her birthday.
To be honest though I don't need much of an excuse to make cupcakes!
 

Saturday, 14 November 2009

My true love gave to me...


I love this Christmas picture by PlanetCoco. It is so simple and easy on the eye but when you see the thought that has gone into it, it is so clever.
Each font relates in someway to the word, for example the first font is called partridge. Ten Lords a leaping is represented by 'Little Lord Fonteroy' . Have alook at her blog for a full list of fonts and more gorgeous Christmassy ideas.

Wednesday, 11 November 2009

MTAM GIVEAWAY!



Yes our first official giveaway!  Many thanks to the talented Marie of Heartfelthandmade for parting with one of her wonderful tooth monsters.


To be in with a chance of winning one of these cutie-pies visit the More Than a Mama blogspot.  Good Luck!

Thursday, 5 November 2009

PUMPKIN CUPCAKES




This is the recipe for pumkin cupcakes that I made with my kids to get rid of our pumpkin scrappings.  They rejected the pumpkin soup as did Mr Mr Lemon Drizzle, and I didn't even dare mention a stew so I thought better go for the sweet option!
We made spiced pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.


INGREDIENTS
125g butter
125g sugar
2 large eggs
grated orange peel and juice
125g self raising flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
200g pumpkin flesh
milk

Preheat oven to 200 or 175 for fan oven.
Line cupcake tray with inserts.
Beat together butter and sugar for about two minutes until pale and creamy.  Add eggs one at a time, add the grated orange peel.  Sift together the flour and spices and add to the mixture.  Fold gently together.  Then fold in the pumkin and orange juice.  The cake mixture should have a soft consistency and drop easily off a spoon.
Using a dessert spoon distribute the mixture evenly into the cupcake cases.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until pale golden





 

We used the scrapings from our pumpkin heads so I used my fabulous Pampered Chef chopper to chop up the flesh.  If you are not creating a spooky masterpiece and just fancy some pumpkin cupcakes you could just grate it.




Ready to go into the oven!



And just out, filling the house with the smell of pumpkiny goodness.


FROSTING
 250g unsalted butter
250g icing sugar
100g cream cheese
1 teaspoon of lemon juice.

Beat all the ingredients together until light and fluffly.

Put a heaped teaspoon of the frosting on the top of each cake and with an
offset spatula (or back of a knife) level it off.

I decorated ours with gingerbread leaves and gold fondant leaves to make them really autumnal.





As I mentioned earlier I did make these with the kidlets.  However I have attempted to spare you the horror of all this entails in my pictures, ( half an hours making for two hours clearing up!) but I couldn't resist showing off my three year olds effort.  Not bad hey?