A Weekend of Baking...Red Velvet Cupcakes and Oreo Cupcakes

When we returned from our fantastic holiday in Rome I decided to do some baking to cheer myself up as I was so sad to leave. It was my fourth trip and every time I go it just gets better and better, it really is my favourite place in the world!

I decided to try red velvet cupcakes and also experiment with some cupcakes i've seen pictures of but never a complete recipe, Oreo cupcakes! Who doesn't love an Oreo! The red velvet recipe I found was in The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook (which can be found here) Their speciality is red velvet cake, so I though what better place to start.

As the name suggests, the cakes should be red, so I experimented with Dr Oetker bright red gel food colour which can be found in supermarkets. I used the whole tube, however when mixed with the cocoa powder and into the sponge mix, the cake was more maroon than red which was a shame, so I will have to keep looking for a richer red substitute. 

Once the red velvet cupcakes were baked, I started on the Oreo cakes. I placed an Oreo in the bottom of each cupcake case and then made up a chocolate sponge that I know is always delicious, and filled the cupcake cases up and baked them. When I pushed a cake tester in to the cakes to check, the cookies at the bottom had gone completely soft, however when left to cool they did firm up again.

The frosting for both cakes was quite different. The red velvet cakes called for a cream cheese frosting, whilst for the Oreo cupcakes I experimented again. I blitzed up some of the broken Oreo biscuits in the blender and had bought some mini cookies for the decoration. I made up a basic vanilla butter icing and then tipped in the broken Oreos, which gave a lovely mottled colour and a different and tasty texture to that of normal buttercream. 

The cream cheese icing had a looser consistency than I expected, so I decided to use a palette knife to smooth it on intend. I then added gold stars and shards of red glitter to the tops to make them sparkle. The Oreo buttercream had the same texture that I had expected, so I used a star nozzle to pipe a swirl on top of each cupcake and then top with a mini Oreo

Red Velvet Verdict: If you have never tried one before you might be in for a bit of a shock. Nowhere near as sweet as a normal cupcakes, with vinegar in the batter and cream cheese on top, the taste is closer to a cheesecake than that of a cake. I actually found the taste improved with a couple of days, but still as delicious fresh.

Oreo Verdict: People couldn't get enough! The popularity of the Oreo biscuit is undeniable, but people really loved them! The surprise cookie at the bottom gave everyone a surprise and they loved the chocolatey sponge with the slight crunch in the buttercream icing. The cookie on top will go a little soft if you keep the cakes in an airtight tin, but I think this is a small price to pay for something so yummy!

30th Birthday Chocolate Fudge Cake

For my boyfriend's birthday he requested a chocolate fudge cake, of which I was more than happy to make as we both have an undeniable love of chocolate. He debated a novelty character cake, but in the end decided to stick to something simple but completely delicious, and who do you turn to for that, why Nigella of course! 

I found a recipe on Nigellas fantastic website that is always packed with delicious and delectable treats (never look if you're hungry!) and found the perfect one. If you want to have a go you can find the recipe here.

It's a wonderfully rich cake and the added sour cream in the sponge gives it a moist kick, so you're not overcome with a sickly sweet flavour. The recipe does call for corn oil but I couldn't find this so I substituted Sunflower oil instead. If you cannot find an oil specified in a recipe, generally an unflavoured vegetable oil or sunflower oil will work fine, and you know that you can use it up for other things. I hate having a buy a large pack or bottle of something for a recipe that I know i'm going to struggle to use before it goes off. 

The cakes will rise like nobody's business in the oven, so make sure that when you line the tins you leave 3 - 4cm overlap from the top of the tin. This will make sure that none of the yummy mixture escapes and ends up burnt to the bottom of your oven. When it came to icing I gently levelled the tops, spread a quarter of the icing into the middle to sandwich the cakes and inverted the top cake to give a lovely flat surface to work on. I was excited to use my new turntable as I hoped it would make icing the cake easier, and it most certainly did! I dolloped the icing on top and spread it over the sides using a large palette knife, smoothing it back and forth over the top to give a bit of a pattern.

Unfortunately I had developed a pretty bad cold a couple of days befre my boyfriend's birthday, and had to box up the cake and give it to him to take over to his parents and friends whilst I crawled into bed. Luckily they saved me a bit and I was able to sample a sizeable slice curled up in a blanket. 

Chocolate is most definitely medicinal, did you know that ?