laurasaur

I kind of ran out of time to decorate these guys but I was going for flavour over looks in this case anyway.

Base cupcake: Almond cupcakes
Filling: Caramel (1 tin of condensed milk, 2 tbsp golden syrup, 30g butter – heat until thick then cool)
Icing: Basic Buttercream
Topping: Crispy M&M’s speckled eggs and coconut.

Frosted with mocha buttercream and garnished with a rose (ok, a crappy rose) from my course tonight. Perfect light moist rich chocolate cupcakes, you can’t go wrong with this recipe.

The original recipe calls them “Old Fashioned” and they are just that. Perfect base recipe.

They also bake lovely and flat so perfect for decorating! Because of this, you need to be careful to not overfill the cases or they will actually sink. 2/3′s full is the magic number.

113 grams / 1/2 cup  / 1 stick butter, room temp
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs, room temp
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk or water
1 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit/190 degrees centigrade.
2. Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
4. Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine.
5. Measure out the milk or water and vanilla and stir to combine
6. Add all the dry ingredients and mix till just combined.
7. Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 2/3’s full. Turn oven down to 350 degrees F/180 degrees centigrade and bake cupcakes for about 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

This is not my favourite, I don’t like butter/spongey cake.. and to be honest I don’t really love LOVE nutella, and next time I would definately increase the nutella to cake ratio.

Original Recipe from [BakingBites], adapted from Donna Hay

10 tbsp(140 grams) butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups (200 grams) sifted all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Preheat oven to 325F/160F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners. Or 2 small heart tins and 4 cupcakes.
Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until smooth.

Fill each muffin liner with batter. They should be 3/4 full. Top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 12.

These cookies are really good. Very chocolatey, not much batter, but soft and chewy and just yum.

Recipe adapted from [Smitten Kitchen]

100 grams caster sugar
120 grams brown sugar
115 grams butter, cold, cubed
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
175 grams flour
200 grams chocolate, chopped
130 grams roasted almonds, chopped

Adjust the oven rack to the top third of the oven and preheat to 300F (150C). Line three baking sheets with baking paper.

Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda.

Mix flour into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon (5cm) balls and place 8 balls, spaced 4 inches (10cm) apart, on each of the baking sheets.

Bake for 18 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Recipe here. Just line mini cheesecake pans (with the removable bottom – mine are “Bakers Secret”) with a round of baking paper and grease sides.