Strawberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe- Homemade Father's Day Gift

 It's English strawberry season and each year I love to experiment with new recipes and ways of using my favourite berry. I've also been thinking about handmade Father's Day gift ideas and as my Dad loves white chocolate and strawberries too, I hope he will love a gift of these little cakes! Filled with fresh strawberries and topped with white chocolate buttercream, they are a real treat (I'm enjoying one with a cup of tea as I type). Here's the recipe...

Makes 16 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

• 150g butter
• 150g Self Raising Flour
• 125g caster sugar
• 3 medium free range eggs
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 200g fresh strawberries

For the buttercream icing

• 150g icing sugar
• 150g butter
• 150g white chocolate
• Milk chocolate sprinkles
• 8 strawberries

For the cake

Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees and add paper cake cases to cupcake trays

1) Cream the butter and sugar together using a large metal spoon or an electric mixer until smooth

2) Beat the eggs and add them to the butter and sugar mixture a little at a time, ensuring the egg is fully combined in the mixture

3) Sift in the flour, then add the vanilla extract and beat until combined

4) Chop the strawberries into small pieces and add these to the cake mixture, mixing until combined

5) Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases and bake for aprox 15-25 minutes. The cakes are ready when a skewer or cocktail stick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely

6) To make the white chocolate buttercream, first cream together the butter and icing sugar together using a large metal spoon or electric beater

7) Melt the white chocolate and allow to cool slightly before beating it into the buttercream mixture 

8) If the buttercream looks a little runny, leave in in the fridge for a while to firm up a bit

9) Ice the cakes using a piping bag or add the icing with a knife if you prefer. Top with chocolate sprinkles and half a strawberry

Happy baking!

How To... Transform a Vintage Metal Tray Charity Shop Find

Today I'm sharing a really quick and simple How To... using the metal trays you often find in charity shops. I spotted this one whilst charity shop thrifting recently and knew it would be perfect to use to serve drinks or for tea in the garden, but I wanted to give it a bit of a modern makeover. So... I gave it a colourful  transformation with spray paint! Here's the How To..!

1) You will need

Metal tray, small can of spray paint of your chosen colour, dust mask, cardboard or newspaper to protect your work surface

Note on using spray paint

Always wear a mask when using the spray paint, work in a well ventilated area and protect your work surface. I find it best to spray outside on a sunny day

2) Spray away!

Hand wash your tray in warm water and dry thoroughly

Following the instructions for best usage on your can of spray paint, give your tray a light coating of paint and leave to dry fully before giving a second coat. I have found that you get a better, smoother result if you spray two or three light layers of paint rather than one heavy one

3) And you're done!

It's as simple as that, one old fashioned tray transformed into a stylish and colourful way to serve your tea, cakes and drinks! I love how the spray paint highlights the edging details around the tray and you can find these trays in all sorts of shapes and sizes so you could spray them all different colours!

Washing your tray

I'd recommend gently hand washing your tray in warm water and avoiding putting it in the dishwasher

Tomorrow I'll be sharing the recipe for my Blackberry and Marshmallow cake, perfect for serving on your lovely colourful tray!

Sunday Adventures with New Yarn and Ice Lolly Making!

I work three Saturdays in four at my day job so I like to cram lots into my Sunday "weekend!"  I'm generally to be found, like most days, working on my jewellery, but I like to fit some extra curricular Sunday Adventures in too. I thought I'd share with you my latest Sunday Adventures!

I've recently been asked by friends to make them a tea cosy for their newly acquired tea pot and I've chosen some new yarn to make it- lovely soft Peter Pan DK in rainbow colours

The stripey tea cosy pattern calls for you to use 50g of each colour but with the yarn held double, so I borrowed the wool winder from work and set to work spinning two separate 25g balls of each colour

Here are the lovely neat little balls of yarn ready to start using in the week- much quicker and easier than winding them by hand!

As well as catching up on non-work craft projects, I often like to make cakes or some sort of treat on a Sunday (I honestly enjoy the therapy of making of them as much as the eating of them) and this week it was ice lollies! I came across this recipe for strawberry ice lollies online- they are a bit like a take on a Fab and are made with fresh strawberries, yoghurt, white chocolate and hundreds and thousands! Here is Mr Writer with his. Find the recipe for these here and find the ice lolly molds at Lakeland- looking forward to using these lots over the summer!

Hope you all had a happy Sunday- what were your Sunday Adventures?

Recipe: Rosewater, White Chocolate and Pistachio Cupcakes

I hope you all had a lovely Easter. As is traditional in my household, this Easter Sunday I made cakes! I love to bake and I especially enjoy trying out new flavour combinations.

 I bought a large bottle of Rosewater in a Deli last year and I've been experimenting with different ways of cooking with it. These Rosewater, White Chocolate and Pistachio Cupcakes have a subtle Rosewater flavour- add more or less to taste. I also think these would be lovely with the addition of chopped chunks of white chocolate added to the cake mix- it all depends on how sweet you like your cupcakes. If you make these I hope you enjoy them and let me know what you think!

Makes 16

Ingredients:

• 150g Self-Raising Flour
• 150g Butter
• 125g Caster Sugar
• 3 medium Free Range Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

For the icing:

• 150g Icing Sugar
• 150g Butter
• 50g White Chocolate
• 1.5 tsp Rosewater
• A handful of chopped Pistachios

For the cakes:

Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees and line cupcake tins with paper cases

1). Beat together the butter and sugar with a spoon or hand mixer until smooth

2) Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition

3) Sift in your flour and fold the mixture together until all of the flour is incorporated, taking care not to over mix. Add the Vanilla Extract whilst folding

4) Spoon the cake mixture into cupcake cases

5) Bake for 15-20 minutes at 190 degrees. Check the cakes after 15 minutes- they are ready when a skewer or cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean

6) Leave to cool

For the icing:

1) Melt 50g White Chocolate in a bowl in the microwave, or in a glass bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Allow to cool

2) Beat together the icing sugar and butter until all of the icing sugar is incorporated 

3) Add 1.5 tsp Rosewater and the cooled White Chocolate and mix until incorporated

4) Pipe or spread the icing onto the cakes and top with chopped Pistachios. Add shavings of White Chocolate

5) Enjoy with a nice cup of tea and a sit down!

Find out how to make these lacy coasters in my How To

Happy making!