Recipe: Simple Halloween Cupcakes

Welcome back to another Halloween inspired recipe. Today's post was supposed to be a Frankenstein inspired cupcake recipe but several factors didn't turn out the way I had hoped they would and instead of wasting all my work and the ingredients I'd put together I changed it to a simple Halloween themed cupcake that any novice or amateur baker could put together.

Ingredients
For The Cake
100g Caster Sugar
100g Stork, softened
100g Self Raising Flour
2 Eggs
200g Nutella, melted

For The Buttercream
140g Butter, softened
280g Icing Sugar
1 Tblsp Milk
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Several Drops Of Food Colouring
Rice Paper Spiderwebs

Method 
1- Pre heat the oven to 180C. Line a twelve hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2- Place the nutella in a bain marie and melt gently over a low heat. It may be tempting to crank the heat up but slow and steady is the best way to melt it to the right consistency. Once it's melted, place to one side and allow to cool to room temperature.
3- In a bowl place the softened stork and caster sugar. Beat until pale and creamy, taking time to scrape the edges of the bowl to make sure nothing is missed and everything is fully incorporated.
4- Add one egg and a tablespoon of flour to the mixture and then beat again. Once it's combined, repeat with a second egg and second spoon of flour. Beat until everything is combined, taking care to scrape the edges of the bowl repeatedly.
5- Fold in the rest of the flour, taking care to be gentle so you don't knock out any air that your mixture may have. I advise either doing this by hand or on a very slow setting on a stand mixer.
6- By now the nutella should have cooled to room temperature. Fold gently in the mixture, again using a slow speed to combine the two. It's tempting to just up the speed but it'll knock out any air in your mixture and will leave you with a flat, heavy cake.
7- Spoon the mixture evenly into the paper cases and bake for 15-20mins or until a cake tester comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for five minutes then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
8- Now it's time for the buttercream. Place the softened butter into a bowl and beat until soft, pale and creamy in texture.
9- Add half the icing sugar and beat until everything is smooth and completely combined. A lot of people say that you should sieve the icing sugar but I find just adding it in as it is works just fine.
10- Add the other half the icing sugar, alongside the tablespoon of milk and a teaspoon of vanilla extract then beat until everything is fully incorporated. The milk helps create the perfect piping consistency whilst the vanilla extract gives it a slightly sweeter taste without being too sickly.
11- Add in your colouring of choice. I used a green colouring as these were originally designed to be Frankenstein inspired but this turned out more yellow toned than I liked. However you can use any colour you like to give them a spooky theme.
12- Pipe your completed icing onto your now cooled cupcakes, mine came out messier than I'd have liked which is why I haven't photographed the whole batch but it's not always appearence that matters, especially in baking.
13- Once all your cakes are iced, add the cobweb rice wafer and leave to set. Or if your family is like mine, finish decorating your cupcakes and then share them around for everyone to enjoy. 

Recipe: Monster Cupcakes

Way back in the Summer I brought a couple of packs of edible eye cake decorations and initially I didn't know what to do with them but then one day as I was scrolling through Pinterest I was found the perfect use for them. Monster Cupcakes were not only the best way to use my edible eyes but were a great excuse to play with different coloured and flavoured icings and make a great Halloween treat.

Ingredients 
For The Cake
100g Caster Sugar
100g Stork, softened
100g Self Raising Flour
2 Eggs
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

For The Buttercream
200g Butter, softened
320g Icing Sugar
1 Tblsp Milk
3 Food Colourings Of Your Choice
3 Flavourings Of Your Choice
1 Pack Of Edible Eye Decorations

Method 
1- Pre heat oven to 180C. Line a twelve hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2- In a bowl place the caster sugar and softened stork. Beat until creamy, pale and light in texture.
3- Add one egg in at a time followed by a tablespoon of flour. Beat until everything is combined, making sure to scrape repeatedly around the sides to make sure everything gets included in the mixture.
4- Once both eggs have been added, gently fold in the rest of the flour alongside the two teaspoons of vanilla extract. I used to add the vanilla extract after I;d folded the flour in but found that continously mixing the batter caused it to lose any air the folding of the flour had built.
5- Once everything is combined, spoon into the paper cases and bake in the oven for 15-20mins or until a skewer/cake tester comes out clean. Leave to cool for five minutes in the tin then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
6- As the cakes are cooling, place the softened butter into a bowl and beat until creamy. I find this does take a while but patience certainly pays off once it's complete.
7- Add half the icing sugar and a tablespoon of milk, then beat until smooth. I used to think that icing sugar had to be sieved to make a good consistency buttercream but it actually doesn't. I just throw it in and let my mixer work it's magic.
8- Once the mixture is smooth, add the rest of your icing sugar and beat again until everything is completely smooth. You can also add another spoonful of milk if you feel that your buttercream isn't the right piping consistency.
9- Seperate the buttercream between three small bowls. Into each bowl add each of your desired flavourings and colourings. For mine I went with Orange, Coconut and Lemon flavourings and I chose blue, purple and yellow for my colourings. The blue is coconut, the purple is orange and the yellow is lemon. I haven't given a measurement for how much you need to add to the buttercream as it's all about the way you want it to taste and the colour you wanted it to be.
10- When your happy with the colour and flavour of each buttercream, spoon each one into a piping bag with a nozzle of your choice and decorate your cakes. I thought that the blue monsters were going to be the best but the purple actually turned out to be my favourite with it's unique and intricate pattern.
11- Once all your cakes are iced, take your edible eyes and place them however you want on your cakes. I liked the idea of having a cyclops as well as a multi-eyed monster but you can do whatever you want and could even add more decorations to them if that's what you felt they needed.
12- Now all that's left for you to do is store them in an a airtight container and enjoy whenever you want.

Review:Revolution Conceal And Define Foundation

If you've heard of the brand Revolution then you've probably heard of their Conceal And Define Concealer. And again if you've heard of it, then you've probably brought it and love it, like myself. So when I heard they releasing it in a foundation, I knew I just had to try it.

Available in 24 shades, the Conceal and Define Foundation is advertised as a full coverage, long wear foundation feels light weight on the skin and is aimed at every skin tone and skin type. I did the worst thing someone could do, I brought a foundation without trying it out first. I brought the shade F1 as it looks exactly the same as the shade C1 in the concealer and luckily for me, it's the exact same shade. I paired the concealer and the foundation side by side and there is absolutely no difference between the two of them. So if you know what shade you are in the concealer, you'll have a good idea of what shade will work with your skin.

I absolutely adore this foundation. I haven't edited or added a filtered to this picture. I took it in front of my window when I got home from a nine hour shift at work. Nine hours and my foundation still look flawless. I didn't touch it up, I didn't add any powder at all and it still looked this good after being on my skin for a good nine hours. There was no fading, oxidisation or cake face to be seen. I can honestly not get over how good this foundation it is. It's full coverage but not heavy or clogging on the skin, in fact it feels like you're wearing nothing on your skin. It definitely lives up to it's lightweight claims and it's oil free formula means I can get away with not setting this with powder, just a light spritz of setting spray. Throughout the day I didn't find my face shiny and there was absolutely no wear in any of the normal places where other foundations wear away on me.

My only bug bear with this product is the applicator. It has an oversized doe foot applicator which is great for precision and quick application but it only holds so much product and I find myself dipping back in two or three times to make sure I have enough foundation to do my whole face. It's not the biggest issue as a product and I can happily live with it as the giant applicator means I don't have to pump it out onto the back of my hand and waste any product. At only £9 a bottle, this foundation in my opinion is a game changer. It's shade range, coverage and longevity puts that of other, larger, more well known brands to shame. I've tried an array of high street budget foundations but none of them have impressed me as much or as quickly as this one has. If you're a fan of the Conceal and Define Concealer, I highly recommend you check out the foundation. The same stands if you're looking for a budget friendly long wear, full coverage foundation that'll actually live up to it's claims.

Recipe: Halloween Shaped Cookies

Happy Wednesday. Today I'm back with the first of six Halloween themed recipes. Yes I know it's only the third of October but I've had these planned out since the middle of August and I'm honestly excited to share them all with you. I thought I'd start off with some simple and work up to the more complex recipes as Halloween draws nearer.

Ingredients 
115g Unsalted Butter, softened
50g Caster Sugar
175g Plain Flour
A Pinch Of Salt
1/2 Tsp Of Vanilla Extract
100g Chocolate Chips
Various shaped Halloween Themed Cookie Cutters

Method
1- Pre heat your oven to 180C. Line two to three baking trays/sheets with parchment paper. You may not need all of them but it depends on the size of your cutters and it's always best to be over prepared than under prepared.
2- In a bowl beat the softened butter and sugar together until soft, pale in colour and creamy. You can do this either by hand or with an electric mixer/stand mixer. By hand will take longer but you'll end up with the same result as if you'd used a stand mixer.
3- Sieve the flour and salt into the mixture, then add your vanilla extract and chocolate chips. I used milk chocolate chips but you could easily use white or dark chocolate chips in their place, depending on what flavour you were looking for.
4- Now mix together until everything is combined and you have created a firm dough. The important thing to note here is that no spatula, wooden spoon or stand mixer attachment will work as well as your hands. I made the mistake of trying to use my mixer and ended up giving myself twice as much work to do. Hands is the best way of mixing this together into a dough. Also a touch of milk/flour  doesn't hurt if your dough is crumbling or not forming how it should be.
5- Once your dough if formed, lightly sprinkle your worktop with flour. Place your dough on the worktop and gently knead it until it's smooth. Take your time, don't rush it. Rushing it will create a short dough that'll crack and crumble when you attempt to roll it out.
6- Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out your dough until it's 1/2 inch thick. Take your chosen cutter shapes and cut out as many cookies as you can, remembering to keep rerolling the dough to maxmise the batch.
7- Once you've cut out your cookies, arrange them on your baking trays making sure to leave them slightly apart from each other in case they spread whilst they're in the oven.
8- Prick the top of each cookie with a fork and leave to chill for half an hour. I didn't have room in the fridge so I placed them along the windowsill in my bathroom. Not the most hygenic place I know but it's the coldest room in my house and I covered each tray with a tea towel to try and keep it as hygenic as possible.
9- Once that half an hour is up, cook them in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Cool for five minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
10- Then all that's left is to enjoy them. I do advise enjoying these warm as the chocolate chips just melt in your mouth. I displayed them in my adorable Frankenstein treat dish from Primark and enjoyed them with a mug of milk in the matching Frankentstein cup as me and the family watched the Strictly results on Sunday night.

Recipe: S'mores Cupcakes

Pinch punch first of the month. Happy October everyone! October is a month that sets my soul on fire. I think it's a mixture of it finally being Autumn paired with being closer to my birthday as well Halloween fast approaching. And before I start barraging you with Halloween content, I thought I'd share with you a recipe I wanted to post in September but life got in the way and I had to push it back a month. Today I'll be sharing with you my simple recipe for S'mores inspired cupcakes.

A moist chocolate sponge topped with crush cookie pieces, marshmallow buttercream and even more crushed cookie pieces, this is a cupcake take on the popular American camping snack which never fails to make me think of Autumn when mentioned.

Ingredients
100g Caster Sugar
100g Stork/Margarine, softened
100g Self Raising Flour
2 Eggs
25g Cocoa Powder
1 Teaspoon of Liquid Cocoa Extract
Marshmallow Buttercream
3 Chocolate Chip Cookies, crumbled
 
Method 
1- Pre heat oven to 180C. Line a twelve hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2- In a bowl place the softened butter and caster sugar. Beat until soft and creamy in texture and pale in colour. I always advise scraping around the sides to make sure all the sugar and butter is beaten together and you don't end up with lumps of unbeaten butter and sugar in your mixture.
3- Add one egg at a time followed by a tablespoon of flour and beat until fully incorporated into the mixture. I tend to scrape repeatedly around the edges of the bowl during this stage as the flour usually ends up stuck to the sides of the bowl, especially with a stand mixer.
4- Once both eggs have been beaten into the mixture, gently fold the rest of the flour into the mixture. Take your time with this step. It's easy to get carried away with increasing the speed but it does nothing but knock all the air out of your mixture and will leave you with a dry, tough cake.
5- When the flour is completly folded in, fold the cocoa powder and the liquid cocoa extract into the mixture. Again take your time with this but don't forget to scrap gently around the edges so nothing is left sitting at the edges.
6- Once everything is fully incorporated, spoon your mixture into your cases. Then take your crumbled cookies and sprinkle a small amount of the top of your cupcakes. This adds an extra crunch to the cupcake and gives you more in a mouthful than a plain sponge would.
7- Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. I used to cook my cakes for longer but found that they were drier than I'd like in texture, especially those with cocoa powder in them. Less cooking time is what gives them that moist texture that doesn't stick to the roof of your mouth, essenitally making eating it a hard job.
8- Once cooked, leave to cool in the tin for five minutes before transfering to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
9- Now it's on to the buttercream. I made a batch last week to decorate my Hot Chocolate inspired cupcakes and found I still had tons left over once I'd iced all twelve cupcakes. So I popped it in a tub and froze it to use at a later date. I had no idea if it could be frozen or if it would even taste the same defrosted but it was worth the try. And it worked. I defrosted the buttercream whilst I took a quick (and expensive) trip to Homesense and when I got home, it had defrosted lovely. All that was needed was a little mix to loosen it up to a piping consistency again and I was ready to go. Give my Hot Chocolate Cupcake recipe a read for the recipe for Marshmallow Buttercream.
10- Once the icing is at piping consistency, gently pipe it across the tops of all twelve cooled cupcakes. Don't worry if it's not perfect, my piping skills are terrible but practice always makes perfect.
11- When each cupcake is iced, take the remainder of your crumbled cookies and sprinkle over the top before leaving to set. Then all that's left to do is enjoy them.