Mr Lovely’s 100 cupcake birthday
So this week, Mr Lovely (D next door’s brother in law – it’s all so incestuous round these parts) turned 40. Mrs L has been, somewhat reluctantly it has to be said, planning a big party and we had a little brainstorming evening to sort out the finer details. Seeing as Mr L is a fireman, it made sense for someone to bake a fire engine cake. Mrs Lovely didn’t volunteer. Neither did I. It turned into a bit of a staring contest and then we decided that we’d pursue other avenues – both of us being severely cack-handed in the cake decorating department. We were chatting about cupcake towers and the like and looking on the internerd when it dawned: cupcakes…loads and loads of little cupcakes each decorated with a teeny fire engine. Mrs Lovely vowed to have a crack at a fire engine cake too. The nutter.
Saturday morning dawned, then, and I started on the cupcakes. While I baked batches of 24, passing children were enlisted to help melt chocolate and whisk ganache and stick on the little rice paper/icing cake-toppers that Mrs L ordered and had delivered to her sister in the UK, along with a big list of other baking stuff that’s hard to find here (she got stopped coming through customs with a big block of royal icing – ‘no officer, it’s not semtex – honest’). We decided to stick to vanilla cupcakes with white chocolate ganache, and chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate. But honestly, after a while, it all kind of got a bit confused and anyone that happened to have made a bowl of ganache dolloped it on the nearest available cakes.
So for the vanilla cupcakes, then, you need
125g butter
125g caster sugar (vanilla sugar if you have it)
1 tsp vanilla extract (leave out for the chocolate ones)
2 large eggs
125g self raising flour (replace a heaped tbsp with cocoa for chocolate ones)
Couple of tbsp milk
Firstly, try to make sure everything is at room temperature. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add the vanilla extract and then the eggs, beating well after each addition. Don’t worry if it curdles – that’s such an old wives tale – just add some of the flour and carry on. Then gently fold in the flour (if you beat the hell out of it you won’t get a lovely light sponge) and lastly the milk – just enough to make the batter plop softly off a tablespoon into the cupcake paper. Bake at 180/gas 4 for about 18 minutes until golden – they should spring back when lightly pressed. Cool on a wire rack. This amount will make about 12 cupcakes. Remember you don’t want them too high, or the ganache won’t completely cover them.
For the ganache:
200g bar white chocolate
2 tbsp icing sugar
About 100ml double cream
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water (don’t let it spit everywhere as you risk getting water in the chocolate, in fact, once it’s boiled just turn it off – the chocolate will still melt). When just melted, take it off the heat and sieve in the icing sugar. Gently start to whisk that in, then while you’re whisking, pour in the cream until you have a thick, glossy bowlful – about the same consistency as melted chocolate. Pour a generous tablespoon of it over each cupcake – ideally so that it just about reaches the top of the paper case. Then just leave them naked or decorate with whatever you like: mad, printed cake toppers…grated chocolate… a big swirl of whipped cream… jelly beans… whatever.
Multiply that recipe by about 8, blow up your food mixer, scoff any disasters, make a few more and there you have it. A 100 cupcake birthday extravaganza. Happy birthday, Mr Lovely! Oh, and she never did make that fire engine cake, y’know. Great party though.
19 Responses to “Mr Lovely’s 100 cupcake birthday”
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Now, ‘fess up. How many did Bert find/steal/have made especially for him. Hmmm?
http://www.marksandspencer.com/gp/product/B0019D38II/sr=1-1/qid=1231685460/ref=sr_1_1/275-6132326-1302219?ie=UTF8&node=72556031&m=A2BO0OYVBKIQJM&keywords=&mnSBrand=core&size=9&rh=&page=
Are you coming down to join in the piss up that is the blog awards?
Queenie: I LOVE Ace of Cakes! I’ve watched every single one. Erm I’m not sure – it’s in Cork isn’t it? The furthest possible place from Cavan in the whole of Ireland! You going?
Tara: Thanks, and you’re right, it’s a must-do. Maybe he’ll make me a little something for our wedding blessing? Ace of Cakes that is, not Obama x
If you fancy meeting up it would be lovely to get together….I haven’t got two heads have you?
Baino: Yeh, I suppose it’s not ‘pure’ ganache as I added a bit of icing sugar, but still – lovely stuff. I love those croquembouche things – there’s a recipe in my Rachel Allen book. One for a rainy day, maybe… x
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