Bubblegum Cupcakes

I made these for Cupcake Camp London 2010 and they were my second most popular flavor on the day. The kids really loved them. They’re just so fun who could resist! I was really proud they came in as a runner up in the most unique ingredient contest.
My popcorn cupcakes would make good companions to these as well.
They were made with white chocolate chip cake, filled with bubblegum pudding and then topped with Bubblegum buttercream. The pudding was bubblegum flavored Snack Packs that are typically sold in any US grocery store.
They look really cute all together.
All my varieties for Cupcake Camp. Click here for round up.
White Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
adapted from Martha Stewart (makes 24)
Ingredients
3 1/4 cups self rising flour, sifted
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tbs milk
1/2 cup plus 6 tbs unsalted butter at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
5 large egg whites at room temperature
2 cups white chocolate chips
bubblegum snack packs (4 filled all the cupcakes)
I got these from Bake it Pretty
1. Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C. Line muffin tin with cases (these popcorn buckets stand on their own). Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir the vanilla into the milk to combine.
2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter until smooth. Add the sugar in a steady stream, beat until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add flour, mixture in three batches, alternating with the two additions of milk mixture, and beating until just combined after each.
3. In another bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold one-third of the egg whites into the batter to lighten. Gently fold in the remaining whites until just combined. Toss the chocolate chips in one tablespoon of flour and gently fold into batter.
4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three quarters full (I usually do 2 cookie scoops worth of batter for each cup). Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean about 22 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
5. When completely cool cut out the center of the cupcake in a cone shape and scoop in two teaspoons of pudding. Place a small piece of the cut out section back on top.
Bubblegum Buttercream
Ingredients
3 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
2 pounds icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pink food coloring
2 vials bubblegum flavoring
gumballs for decoration
I got these at the $1 Store in the US. They also have them at Cyber Candy in London
1. With an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium-high until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.
2. Reduce speed to medium. Add the icing sugar ½ cup at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed; after every two additions, raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate the frosting, then return to medium. This should take about 5 minutes. Frosting will be pale and fluffy.
3. Add vanilla, and beat until frosting is smooth, add small amount of pink food coloring to achieve a pink color, and beat until color shows through. Add both vials of bubblegum flavor and beat until combined.
To Decorate
Pipe frosting in big swirls and add the sprinkles you want first before the icing becomes stiff.
Or pour some sprinkles into a bowl and roll the edges of the cupcake in. Or pipe the bottom swirl, roll in the sprinkles and then continue and pipe on the top swirl.
More details and photos about decorating and sprinkle techniques can be found here.

Masterchef Live 2010

I love food shows. I try to get to all the ones that come to London each year. I love looking for new, different and interesting food. I took lots of photos while at Masterchef. Click here to see them all.
Juan Sheet is Plenty (what happened to Brenda and Audry?)
I watched the invention test first. I thought about signing up but I don’t think I could think so quickly and cook without any recipes in front of me.
Jon and Gregg getting ready to judge the entries
I got Gregg’s Pudding book. I thought if I ever move back to the US I can impress at dinner parties with an English dessert. Can’t believe that they didn’t look up! Oh well…
I bought a few bars of Seed & Bean chocolate. The Lemon & Poppy seed was excellent.
Therapeutic Chocolate. Weird.
Giant Italian Sandwiches.
They have at least 3 different kinds of Toffee Vodka at every food show I’ve ever been too. I think it’s vile!
Bramley & Gage were selling mini bottles of liquor which I thought would be perfect for cupcakes.
I tried a sample of an African Yam. Interesting. Tastes a lot like a potato.
There were a few cupcake things but nothing that shouted out at me really. Holly Cupcakes had some good extracts imported from the US. I bought a bottle of Pineapple.
Powdered vanilla?
I liked these Glorious Soups.
This Harp & Lyre Tea was really nice. It will be on sale over the Internet soon.
I love this Revolution Tea! I’ve bought it at several different shows.
I bought some caramel, coconut & cinnamon popcorn from Joe & Seph’s.
I bought some restaurant tokens with my tickets. I loved this chocolate cake from Theo Randall
Slow Roast Pork from…Roast
Platter from Ming Jiang
Blueberry Cheesecake with Lemon Curd from The Luxe. It was only OK nothing special.
Chicken Satay from Bintang. Very good.
Lisa Faulkner’s Rhubarb & Custard Crumble
I had a really good time and went home completely exhausted and stuffed! I can’t wait for Taste of Christmas already!

M&M Cookies

m&m cookies were always a staple at our house during Christmas. My mom always made them in addition to snickerdoodles and those peanut butter cookies with the Hershey kiss on top.
They just this Christmas season started having the red and green only m&m’s in the UK. Only about 20 years behind the rest of the planet! I couldn’t find an exact date they were released but the first TV advert where the m&m “spokes candy” put out a bowl of green and red m&m’s for Santa was 1990.
I could only find peanut green and red ones at Waitrose and they were packaged in a special tube. I couldn’t find regular red and green ones in just a regular bag!
I had to settle for the regular colors instead this time
I had a check on the net and there are a minimum of 11 different kinds of m&m in the US (not including the “premium”, minis or ice cream). There are 3 in the UK: plain, peanut butter and crispy. The crispy ones are apparently the most profitable and strangely aren’t sold in the US any more. What’s your favorite kind? I’m partial to peanut and the new pretzel ones which I had when I went home in August. I hope they come to the UK soon!
M&M Cookies
adapted from Martha Stewart makes 3 dozen
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups plain m&m’s
1. Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C. Whisk together the flour and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside. Put the butter and sugars into a large bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes.
2. Reduce speed to low and add the eggs, vanilla and salt. Mix well until blended.
3. Mix in the flour and then fold in the m&m’s with a spoon or spatula.
4. Drop a tablespoon of dough onto a non stick baking sheet, spacing each 2 inches apart and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Let cool for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
my sister sent me this cute cookie scoop.

Cupcake Camp Bournemouth

I attended Cupcake Camp Bournemouth recently. The event successfully raised over £1,800 pounds for Macmillan Cancer Support. I took a lot of photos on the day, click here to see them all. A lot of hard work into organizing the event.

I donated Chocolate Pretzel Man Cakes. There aren’t any cupcake shops in Bournemouth (as far as I know) but there are plenty of home businesses in the area. Nearly all of the cakes donated were from professional bakers. I really wanted to take a picture of each kind donated but it was too busy and the cupcakes dissapeared really quickly!

Here are some of my favorites from the day (if anyone knows who made these let me know and I’ll update each photo).

Bournemouth Beach Hut by Lucy’s Sugar Shack

Fish n’ Chips also by Lucy’s Sugar Shack

Mother’s Day Cupcakes

This was the best tasting cupcake of the day I think! It was a nut and spice combination.

On the whole I left the event feeling a little disappointed. When I left the last cupcake camp I attended, I left on such a high (not just a sugar high). This event had a different vibe.

I felt it was over before it even started. The event was advertised to start at 2pm and run until 5pm. When I arrived at 1:40pm to set up my stand people were already taking cupcakes. I wasn’t pleased when people kept trying to take them before I’d finished getting my display ready! The judging competition was also finished before the start and by 3pm all the cupcakes were gone and it was over. The good news is that people seemed to enjoy themselves and there were lots of kids having fun.

As a baker, in my opinion, I was disappointed that the businesses gave themselves a big profile and I thought the charity seemed to take second place. The event was organized with good intentions however.

I am excited for the next cupcake camp and I’m already thinking about some mind blowing creations!

Willie’s Easter Egg Factory

Willie Harcourt-Cooze “transported” his chocolate factory from Devon to The Tabernacle in London for the day shortly before Easter. He gave a Bean to Bar talk, let everyone make their own Easter egg and hosted a reception with drinks and canapes from his new book ‘Willie’s Chocolate Bible’. Click here to see all the photos I took.
There were loads of people at the event. It was free and open to the public.
Willie started with his “Bean to Bar” talk. He is very passionate! He is the UK’s only independent grower and producer of cacao.
Raw Cacao
The talk consisted of him simultaneously telling us how he got into producing chocolate, the process of how it’s made and making a chocolate mousse cake all at the same time!
Roasted Beans
Beans grown in different regions will have different under tones. Just like with wine. Grapes grown in different regions will taste different.
100% Cacao
We were tasting the different stages as Willie discussed them, which was fun. The raw cacao bean was not very tasty!
Willie made a chocolate mousse inside a chocolate case. He lined the tin with parchment paper and spread the chocolate all up and around so when it was removed it had a bit of a ruffled look.
We got to taste a sample. Willie bought the molds for the mousse from the old Terry’s of York factory after it closed.
And a hot chocolate sample
After that the Easter egg making, chocolate tasting and book signing began.
I bought a copy of the book and look forward to making the chocolate and porcini risotto.
There was a row of chocolate fountains with different types of chocolate to taste. Of the 6 there were two that I really loved!
The Indonesian 69 Javan Light Breaking – Sourced from the Island of Java, these bars are made from a highly prized strain of cacao. The beans are visually striking as they are exceptionally light in color and they have a slightly higher cacao butter content than usual. The beans produce a surprisingly light dark chocolate with soft caramel notes.
The Peruvian 70 San Martin – The beans are sourced from the Departmento de San Martin in Northern Peru in the foothills of the Andes in the lush Amazonian rainforest’s. The beans are grown by small farmers, who are part of a cooperative who provide them with technical and marketing assistance and credit to help increase productivity and profitability. The beans from this region are naturally fruity with tropical fruit flavor notes.
Giant Easter Egg for Great Ormond Street
The staff spent over five hours helping everyone make Easter eggs! They were still going when I left at 8.30pm. Chocolate is poured into the mould. The two halves of the mould are put together and closed with some pins and shaken vigorously. It was then popped into the freezer to set quickly.
It’s a little dark but you can see how the foil is applied to the egg.
Chili and Cacao Nib Tea while we waited for all kids to finish making their Easter eggs.
Malambo provided the entertainment by playing South American music.
Then came the cocktails! Chocolate Sloe Vodka.
The guy sitting next to me thought drinking 8 in one go was a good idea.
It’s not a party without some bubbly.
Willie’s Bloody Mary. I’ve never actually had one before and I loved it.
Cacao and Olive Bread with Smoked Salmon
Wild Mushroom Stew (this was fantastic)
Roe Deer with Chocolate Gravy and Spiced Red Cabbage
Mole Negro with Chicken Breast. The moistest chicken I have ever tasted I think.
Chocolate Cake
This might have been White Chocolate and Orange Blossom filled chocolates.
Willie’s Walnut Whip
Completely stuffed and happy I left and took my Easter egg home!
During Willie’s demonstration he also while making the mousse whipped up his favorite South American breakfast. I made it at home and it was pretty good!
Willie’s South American Breakfast
1 serving
Ingredients
1 egg
half an avocado
1 piece of bread
chili oil
1. Toast the piece of bread and spread the avocado on top (it’s a healthier replacement for butter).
2. Fry the egg and place on top of the avocado and sprinkle with some chili oil. I used some chili infused olive oil from Waitrose.

Enjoy Your Coffee Time

Coffee may be the most pop beverage in the world. Recent statistics indicate that over 50% of the American universe ar coffee drinkers and this number would more than likely hold true in many other countries as well. This more than any thing else helps to excuse why there is such a wide range of coffee makers available for purchase today.
With such a diverse range of coffee machines, there is more choice for the coffee drinking populace than ever before. Main stream popular styles include the Automatic and Manual Drip, Pod, Automatic Espresso, French Press, Percolator, Stovetop Espresso and the Vacuum. Each one of these styles has some unique characteristic that are sure to appeal to a certain segment of the coffee drinking public.

Automatic and Manual Drip Coffee Machines
The most democratic style of coffee maker continues to be the automatic drip coffee maker. The basic design is very simple and efficient. Add fresh water to the built-in reservoir, insert a filter in to the handy filter holder, measure your favorite coffee grounds and pour into the filter and then press the start button. Within transactions your senses are excited by the smell of freshly brewed hot coffee! Most models also have a built-in timer and a pot warmer included so that you can set your coffee to brew and be ready at any hour of the day or night, and kept constantly warm as well.
Manual drip coffee brewers do take a bit more work since you need to boil the water using another heat source, but after that it is fundamentally the same coffee making process of putting coffee grounds in the filter and gushing the hot water through the filter so that the coffee liquid is collected in the pot or container below. One great reward of the manual drip coffee machine is that is can go most any where with you as it is not dependent upon having electricity to operate so it is great for camping and other outdoor activities.