Honestly, I could look at cupcakes all day. Pretty, dainty and tempting, they are such wonderful creations. I could also eat one ( or more) everyday! But guess what? I have always been rather nervous about making them. Having bought the gorgeous Hummingbird Bakery recipe book on a frankly drool worthy trip to their shop in Notting Hill, i did attempt the lemon cupcakes. Suffice to say, they did not turn out well. I won't lie to you, it was all my fault of course. I overbaked them, I did not use a muffin tray ( lunacy right?). They came out oval shaped crunchy things.
However, I have since invested in these fantastic silicone cupcake cases and also a muffin tray. Thus equipped, I decided to make The Hummingbird Bakery's banana cupcakes with chocolate frosting. And this time, they turned out perfect!
They were moist and yummy! However, I have to admit that I tweaked the frosting recipe. It called for 300 grams of icing sugar, but i only used half of that amount. That quantity was great for me and for my guests. I guess using the 300 grams would have made it just sickly sweet. But maybe that's just me.
BUT, the best part of all this? i got to use my brand new icing tips and bag :) I bought them recently with the wish of decorating cakes, cookies and yes cupcakes. Having never iced anything before with an icing bag, I checked out a couple of video tutorials on youtube and had a go. It was great fun and my lovely cupcakes turned out even more lovely with beautiful swirls of chocolate frosting on top. As you'll see from my photos ( sorry about the quality, took them from my phone), I tried various designs, and topped them up with little edible silver balls.
There were compliments all round, on the look and more importantly the taste of these little babies.
So, yes, from now on, I do dare! If you want to admire more beautiful cupcakes or bake some, you can have a look at The Hummingbird Bakery's website here http://hummingbirdbakery.com/cupcakes/ or for more inspiration, one of my favourites http://www.savethedate4cupcakes.com/
A.
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