An American Cupcake in London

{Book Review} Baked Alaska

Cupcake Kelly — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:00:38 +0000

Baked Alaska is the latest foodie themed novel that I have devoured (haha couldn’t resist that pun). Baked Alaska is part of a mystery series. This is the first book that I’ve read in this series and it’s not necessary to have read the other books to enjoy it.

The book follows Sadie and her two adoptive children on a family cruise to Alaska. While on the cruise Sadie’s son Sean is accused of attempted murder. Sadie hunts down the real killer to clear her son’s name. To complicate things further Sean’s birth mother shows up.

I didn’t think that I would enjoy a book with a middle aged mother as the main character, I first thought that Sadie was annoying but then by the middle of the book she grew on me. I felt the family relationships and dynamics to be realistic. Sadie’s daughter lives in London. The struggles of a transatlantic family is definitely something I can relate to! The added element of adoption also gives the book an interesting direction.

The mystery of “who done it” kept me intrigued until the end and the book is peppered with practical and easy recipes throughout ( Jell-O popcorn, bread pudding, salmon chowder). I couldn’t resist making a Baked Alaska after I finished! I would definitely read the other books in this series.

I received a copy to review.

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Vanilla Bean Latte Cupcakes {Cupcake Couture Blog Party}

Cupcake Kelly — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:00:24 +0000

It’s a cupcake party today! That is my favorite kind of party. The post is a little long so make sure to scroll all the way through so you don’t miss anything. The links for all 21 cupcakes are below, the giveway widget is in the middle and the recipe for my cupcakes is at the very bottom.

An American Cupcake in London

Bella Cupcake Couture

Chronicles of a Foodie

Crazy for Crust

Creative Food

Cupcakes Take the Cake

Diary of a Mad Hausfrau

Sugar Swings! Serve Some

The Baked Equation

The Baking Cup

The Decorated Cookie

I was sent some cupcake wrappers from Bella Couture and asked to style a cupcake table to match. My wrappers are a pretty pastel pink, blue and brown. I decided to use the brown and make a latte themed table. I’m pretty obsessed with coffee so I made Vanilla Bean Latte Cupcakes and Coffee Glazed Madelines coordinated with the pink cutlery from Laguiole I got several years ago for Christmas and mismatched English china.

Thanks to our amazing Prize Pack sponsors for their generous donations! Please, visit their websites to see more of their fabulous products!

Bella Cupcake Couture

Cupcake Stand

Java Cupcake

Lil’ Punkin Creations

Sweets & Treats Boutique

To enter to WIN this Prize Pack, simply fill out the entry form below.

Contest opens 21 May13 at 0700 PST and closes 27 May13 at 2359 PST. One winner will be chosen and announced within 24 hours of the contest ending. Winner will be contacted via email to claim their prize.

This contest is open to residents of the USA and Europe only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
It’s very easy to make a stunning table! I made a very simple table using items that I already had at home. I buy most of my style plates at knick knack shops in London and Bournemouth for £1 or £2 each. I used white cake stands and display plates so I could color coordinate napkins with the cupcake cases. I don’t actually own a tablecloth so I used a brown style picnic blanket as the backdrop and served everything on our coffee table.

Make sure to check out the other bloggers great cupcakes and the recipe for my matching Coffee Glazed Madelines was posted earlier today.

Vanilla Bean Latte Cupcakes

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/8 cups light brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 vanilla pod, seeds scraped

Frosting

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 vanilla pod, seeds scraped

1 tbs espresso powder (dissolved in 1 tbs boiling water)

2-3 tbs milk

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 F/160 C and line a muffin tray with paper cases. In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and brown sugar together for 5 minutes until fluffy, Add in the eggs one at a time. Add in the vanilla.
Add the butter milk and flour mixture in three additions until fully combined, starting and ending with the buttermilk. Fill each case 3/4 full and bake for 20-25 minutes until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Make the frosting. Beat the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla seeds and espresso for 5 minutes until fluffy. Add in the milk as necessary. Pipe a swirl on top of each cupcake.

http://www.americancupcakeabroad.com/cupcakes/vanilla-bean-latte-cupcakes

Cupcakes adapted from Martha Stewart (frosting from An American Cupcake in London)

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Coffee Glazed Madelines

Cupcake Kelly — Tue, 21 May 2013 05:00:41 +0000

I work in the City of London and my office is right above Liverpool Street Station which means it’s always a very busy place with people coming and going. Not only do I have a lovely view of a Swatch shop from my desk but on my way to lunch I have to walk through the station concourse.

Being a very busy station there is always companies handing out free samples of their products. I’ve managed to snag bottles of juice, chapstick, flavored water and the other week they were handing out a certain chewy sour candy.

I snagged a few bags for the 3pm doldrums at my desk but I guess my age is starting to catch up with me. After I ate them I felt an immediate pain in one of my teeth. I had not visited the dentist for 4 years, 4 years! I was terrified. I figured after three years of non stop consumption of coffee and cake for, er, research for the blog I must be due one whopping cavity.

I made an emergency appointment with the dentist for the very next day and with palms sweating I opened wide. All that worry for nothing though! Much to my delight Dr. Mark said I had a beautiful set of teeth :) How did that happen? I guess I have my parents to thank for taking me to the dentist twice a year when I was a kid. As soon as I got back to work I threw the rest of the candy straight in the bin! I’m not taking any more chances like that but immediately celebrated by also having a giant cup of coffee :-p

To celebrate my love of coffee and cake I made a whole table of coffee desserts for a Cupcake Couture Party.

Coffee Glazed Madelines

Yield: 16 Madelines

Ingredients

Madelines

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup flour

10 tbs unsalted butter, melted

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp espresso powder

1 tsp boiling water

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375F/190 C and spray a madeline mold with cooking spray.
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the eggs and sugar for two minutes until pale. Add in the vanilla. Slowly add in the flour and salt until combined. Pour in the butter while the mixer is running on low.
Place two teaspoons of batter in each madeline mold and bake for 8-9 minutes until the edges start turning golden brown.
While the madelines cool make the glaze. In a small bowl whisk together the espresso powder and water. Whisk in the powdered sugar. Brush a little glaze over each madeline.
Best eaten straight away.

http://www.americancupcakeabroad.com/cookies/coffee-glazed-madelines

adapted from Style at Home

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Cupcake Book Club #10

Cupcake Kelly — Mon, 20 May 2013 05:00:16 +0000

Since Hot Cakes left so many people feeling cold I’ve chosen Leftovers (US and UK). Susie’s big plan is to quit her job in 307 days and begin her dream career in food. The reading time will be two months to help accommodate summer vacation schedules.

Refresher to those that want to join in this month. The concept is simple. Each month I’ll chose a novel with a cupcake (or baking/food theme) and post my review here. In addition, I’m going to bake something delicious inspired by the book.

I would also like to invite everyone to read, discuss and bake along with me. I also want to share! I’ll post a round up of any entries I receive. There are only a few loose guidelines stated below.

Guidelines
1. Make a good faith effort to start reading the chosen novel
2. Bake (or create) anything inspired by the chosen novel
3. Link to this post. Feel free to use the book club logo.
3. Email me your name, link to your blog post (if you have a blog) and photo (1MB or less in size) of your creation, where you’re from, and 1-2 sentences of what you thought of the book or what in the book inspired your creation by the stated deadline.
4. No spoilers please

Start reading now and join the discussion (#cupcakebookclub, facebook or comments on this post)! Send your inspired treat to me by July 20th and I’ll write a blog post featuring all submissions.

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Cupcake Bookclub #9 Creations

Cupcake Kelly — Thu, 16 May 2013 05:00:00 +0000

Thanks to everyone for reading Hot Cakes! The book got mixed reviews but definitely got us all talking and thinking. I’m looking forward to the next book club installment. For the summer edition I’ll stretch the due date to an extra few weeks to help accommodate summer vacations.

Fiona wasn’t sure about the book or the characters but she liked the sound of the cupcakes so much that she made two recipes. The Marmalade Cupcakes and the Toffee Bakewell Cupcakes.

I made a riff on The Marmalade Cupcakes and turned them into a Chocolate Almond Orange Cupcake instead. Unlike the others I really liked the book.

Lisa from United Cakedom also made Toffee Bakewell cupcakes. Lisa had mixed feelings about the book and didn’t really warm to the characters.

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Marble Bundt Cake

Cupcake Kelly — Wed, 15 May 2013 05:00:54 +0000

I know a cake is a winner when I get one slice and the rest mysteriously disappears! I made this cake in a pinch for a Saturday night after I had an epic fail with a pumpkin coffee cake. Such a simple cake but It’s one of my new favorite recipes.

This is the second cake I made from Bake It Like You Mean It. I love this book. The cakes are like pieces of art. My rainbow cake is a masterpiece and this cake tastes like a dream. It looks super tiny because I made half of the recipe, which was perfect for two people.

I love the way the cake looks when it’s finished. I think it looks like a giant sugared cake donut. I recommend serving the cake warm. It’s a beautiful warm sugared fluffy cloud.

Marble Bundt Cake

1 large bundt

Ingredients

Cake

2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 tbs cocoa powder

1/4 cup coffee, hot

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

6 eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup creme fraiche (I used yogurt)

1 tbs vanilla bean paste

2 cups plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Coating

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C and spray a 10 cup bundt pan with baking spray. Place the chopped chocolate and cocoa powder in a microwave safe bowl and pour the hot coffee over top. Leave for 5 minutes and then stir. If not completely melted than microwave at 50% power.
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for 10 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape the the sides and bottom of the bowl and add the eggs one at a time.
In a small bowl mix together the creme fraiche and vanilla bean paste. Add into the egg mixture until fully combined.
In another bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour 1/2 cup at a time. Pour half of the batter into another bowl and stir in the chocolate mixture.
pour half the vanilla batter into the prepared pan. Spoon all of the chocolate batter over top. Spread the remaining vanilla batter on top. Run a knife in a swirling pattern through the batter to create a marble effect. Bake for 1 hour until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
When the cake is still warm invert the pan over your serving platter. Brush the butter all over and immediately sprinkle with the granulated sugar.

Notes

I made half the recipe and baked for 30 minutes.

http://www.americancupcakeabroad.com/cake/marble-bundt-cake

adapted from Bake It Like You Mean It

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Sideways Rainbow Cake

Cupcake Kelly — Tue, 14 May 2013 05:00:40 +0000

This is probably the most beautiful cake I’ve ever made and I didn’t want to serve it. I had to fight the urge to keep it hidden in the back of the refrigerator. I just like looking at it. It instantly makes me happy, I mean who doesn’t love rainbows?

The recipe and idea for this cake is from Bake It Like You Mean It. I have such a girl crush on Gesine! I love all of her books. The recipes are hard but worth the effort. I didn’t make this cake for a special occasion just a regular Saturday. I took it to work on a Monday because it is one whopping cake. I even halved the recipe in the book.

Below is how I made the cake. If you’re interested in the full size cake and Gesine’s method check out the book. You won’t be disappointed. This cake will take a few hours to make so make sure you give yourself enough time or make the cake layers one day in advance.

Sideways Rainbow Cake

Yield: 1 big cake

Ingredients

Cake

1/2 pound (227g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

5 eggs

1 tsp lemon extract

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Gel Colors: Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple

Frosting

2 cups icing sugar

1 pack (225g) cream cheese, at room temperature

1/4 cup (57g)unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C and grease 3 9x9 inch pans. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add in the eggs one at a time beating after each addition. Add in the lemon extract.
In a separate bowl sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. With the mixer running on low add the flour mixture and buttermilk in three alternating batches starting with the flour and ending with the buttermilk. Don't over mix the batter.
Divide the batter evenly between 6 different bowls (just under 300g in each). Use the food coloring so there is one bowl of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.
Use a pastry bag for each color or very carefully spoon the batter one one half of the 9x9 pans. Red and yellow in the first pan, orange and green in the second and blue and purple in the last. The colors must stay separate and not run into each other (I used a spoon and had no problems.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until the tops of the cakes spring back lightly. Set aside to cool completely.
Make the frosting. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the cream cheese, icing sugar, butter, vanilla until smooth. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Once the cakes are cool using a sharp knife carefully cut each 9x9 down the center. Trim the cake so each color is exactly the same size (trim off the ends as well) save the trimmings. Line a clean baking tray with cling film (saran wrap). Place the red layer on top of the tray. Spread a thin layer of frosting on top. Stack the orange layer on top and gently press. Continue doing the same with the orange, yellow, green, blue and purple (in that order).
Bring up the sides of the cling film to wrap the cake and place in the freezer for 30 minutes. Remove from the freezer and trim off the ends and sides of the cake so they are completely level (I honestly didn't do this step but probably should have).
Spread a thin coat of frosting on all sides of the cake and freeze again for 30 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter. Turn the cake on it's side so the layers are vertical. Apply a thin layer of frosting to the exposed side and freeze for 10 minutes.
Apply one more coat of frosting to the cake. I used some of the red trimmings and a heart shaped cookie cookie to make a heart on the top of my cake. I kept the cake in the refrigerator and on the day it was served let it come to room temperature for a few hours.

Notes

This is half the recipe from the book with my own adaptations. For the original check out Bake It Like You Mean It.

http://www.americancupcakeabroad.com/cake/sideways-rainbow-cake

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{Book Review} Bake It Like You Mean It

Cupcake Kelly — Mon, 13 May 2013 05:00:15 +0000

Bake It Like You Mean It is the latest book from Gesine Bullock Prado. I love how her books are so incredibly focused. Sugar Baby was all about sugar and candy making, Pie it Forward was only about Pies and Bake It Like You Mean It is about cake, cake and more cake!

I was really excited for this book to be released. Like all of her other books it’s absolutely beautiful. The cakes inside are more works of art than dessert. There is an enermous amount of information and detail throughout but it’s presented in a useful way. The wordy bits are funny and it’s fairly easy to follow.

The book has detail on equipment, ingredients and some useful tips that you’ll need to follow if you want to try and attempt some of these cakes. They are far more elaborate than the cakes you’ll find in an average cookbook.

There are five chapters in the book that cover meringues, sponge cakes, pound cakes, cheesecakes and yeasted bakes. I have the e-book version and I can say that it’s the best that I’ve come across so far. The table of contents shows up with all the chapters and recipes and is easily clickable. When I bookmarked a recipe the name of the recipe is saved in my list. I have a lot of e-books and it’s impossible to find the page you’re looking for sometimes. All of the recipes are listed in American cups, ounces and metric.

This book while beautiful is not for the beginner. I would recommend an intermediate level and knowledge of baking. A lot of the cakes in here were intimidating even to me. A few of the recipes had ingredients that I’d never heard of before, like guanabana (still have no idea what kind of fruit that is). I made 3 recipes from the book. Two of them came out brilliant. The Sideways Rainbow Cake was too beautiful to eat and the Marble Swirl Bundt was fluffy as a cloud (I’m not exaggerating). The third was a pumpkin coffee cake. I’m not sure but I think I made a mistake while mixing it up and it ended up in the trash.

If you’re not afraid of a challenge than this book is for you!

*I received a copy to review

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Almond Orange Cupcakes

Cupcake Kelly — Thu, 09 May 2013 05:00:54 +0000

Cheese and crackers, peanut butter and jelly, milk and cereal, some things just go together so well that you can’t think of them apart. When you think of chocolate many different things come to mind, fruit, milk, peanut butter even wine but coffee? Chocolate and coffee make an excellent cake combination but I’ve never been to a chocolate and coffee pairing.

It was coffee week in London last month and Lindt and Delonghi held a chocolate and coffee pairing evening. I love both of these ingredients and was in heaven all night. I drank 6 cups of coffee and ate several bars of chocolate and I still managed to sleep like a baby when I got home!

My favorite pairing of the evening was Lindt Excellence Orange Intense paired with a Bolivia Copacabana bean made into a long black. Top tips on chocolate tasting from one of Lindt’s chocolate masters, smell the chocolate and savor the aroma before listening to the snap of tbe chocolate when breaking off a square. Let a piece melt in your mouth slowly. When you have finally swallowed the chocolate immediately take a slurp of coffee and note how the flavors combine with the chocolate you just tasted.

Good news you can find information about chocolate and coffee pairing as well and chocolate and wine pairing on Lindt’s website.

As mentioned my favorite Excellence bar was chocolate orange. I’m not usually a fan of chocolate orange but it had such a fresh orange flavor and the almonds gave the bar a nice crunch. I decided to use the combination in my cupcake creation for book club. In Hot Cakes, Bex makes a marmalade cake for the Eco Conscious Cupcake Company. I didn’t use the recipe from the book but I think my combo is more indulgent than her classic version.

I’m going to confess that I cheated and used a french vanilla cake mix on these. I was running short on time and I also had one box left to use up before it expired. I made a chocolate almond butter cream frosting from What Katie’s Baked. I filled the center with an orange marmalade.

I was invited to a chocolate tasting by Lindt and Delonghi and received a few a sample bars to try (Alex ate them all and I had to go out and by more).

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Lemon Tea Shortbread Cookies

Cupcake Kelly — Wed, 08 May 2013 05:00:39 +0000

Are you a dunker? I’ve always dunked my cookies. I like my Oreos dunked in milk and my cookies dunked in tea or coffee, I’m not picky. I do not however like to drink the last sip that has all the crumbs at the bottom, now that’s just gross!

My sister and I went to a very eccentric tea room in Brighton a few years ago. It’s definitely one of those places that you have to see because I don’t think my words will accurately describe it! It’s stuffed to the brim with tea pots each covered with a crazy cosy, the menu all has royal names and the tea room is covered by CCTV so the host can enforce the afternoon tea “rules”. Breaking the rules will get you a telling off by microphone in front of the whole tea room. One of the rules is no dunking biscuits!

I used these lovely lemon tea bags from Whittard. Luckily I made these cookies right after the package arrived because I managed to drink all the tea in the span of about three weeks. Lemon and black tea are one of my favorite tea combinations followed by lemon honey.

Lemon Tea Shortbread Cookies

Yield: 36 cookies

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour

2 Whittard's black lemon tea bags

1 cup icing sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup craisins

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter until pale and fluffy. Add in the icing sugar and dried contents of the tea bags. Sift in the flour and salt and beat until combined. Stir in the cranberries.
Roll the dough into two logs around 12 inches long. Wrap in cling film. Freeze for 30 minutes until firm. Slice 1/3 inch thick and bake for 17-20 minutes until golden brown.

http://www.americancupcakeabroad.com/cookies/lemon-tea-shortbread-cookies

adapted from Dixie Crystal Sugar. I received a box of lemon tea bags from Whittard to bake with. If you’re interested in tea products for baking check out my caramel coffee baked donuts.

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