Recipe: Simple Valentine's Cupcakes

Happy Friday! Today I'm bringing you the final of my three Valentine's themed recipes I've been sharing with you all week. I started the week with Raspberry Shortbread Hearts and followed it up on Wednesday with Strawberry Centred Valentine's Brownies. And today I'm sharing with you the easiest of the three, for those who want to bake their loved one something but don't have the confidence to make anything ridiculously complex or complicated. These cupcakes are so quick and easy to make and taste absolutely divine. A moist vanilla cupcake topped with a strawberry buttercream, makes for an adorable and tasty Valentine bake.

Ingredients
For The Cupcakes
- 100g Caster Sugar
- 100g Stork/Margarine
- 100g Self Raising Flour
- 2 Eggs
- 2Tsp Vanilla Extract

For The Buttercream
- 200g Butter, softened
- 320g Icing Sugar
- 2Tsp Strawberry Extract
- 1 Tube Of Dr Oetker Pink Gel Food Colouring

Method
1- Pre heat oven to 180C. Line a twelve hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2- In a bowl place the butter and caster sugar. Beat until creamy in consistency and pale in colour.
3- Add one egg and a tablespoon of flour. Beat until fully combined, scraping around the edge of the bowl so that there's nothing left sitting on the sides.
4- Repeat with the second egg and a second tablespoon of flour. Again beat until fully incoporated.
5- Fold in the rest of your flour. Take your time with this, you don't want to knock any air of your mixture.
6- Once your flour has been folded into the mix, add your vanilla extract and fold the mixture together. Now would be a great time to scrape around the bowl again so that every thing is fully incoporated and you don't have pockets of flour sitting at the bottom of the bowl.
7- Spoon your mixture into the paper cases and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
8- Leave to cool in their tin for five minutes then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
9- Whilst they're cooling, place your softened butter into a bowl and beat until it's creamy and smooth.
10- Sieve in half of your icing sugar and beat until fully combined. I highly recommend sieving your icing sugar and it'll stop you getting pockets of icing sugar in your buttercream.
11- Add the other half of your icing sugar and beat until fully combined. If the buttercream looks a little too stiff to pipe, add a splash of milk to the mixture to just loosen it slightly.
12- Beat in your strawberry extract and food colouring. You can make the buttercream as bright as you'd like but I personally decided on a paler pink. Remember to scrape the edges of the bowl so there's nothing sitting on the side and everything has been fully incorporated.
13- Once you're happy with your buttercream, spoon it into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle of your choice. Ice your now cooled cupcakes in any pattern you like. You can even add a few sugar decorations to the top when your finished if you wanted to. I was going to add some sugar roses to mine but it turned out I didn't have enough to do the whole batch so I left it at the buttercream.
14- Leave them to set and then share them with your loved ones, or enjoy them all to yourself if that's what you want.

Recipe: Strawberry Centred Valentine's Brownies

On Monday I shared with you the first of three Valentine's based recipes and today I'm back with my second. I had played with the idea of making a Valentine's themed sandwich biscuit but me and sandwich biscuits aren't friends at the moment. So I took another look at what I could create that would look like you've the effort yet are still adorable and tasty. Then on Pinterest I saw that someone had sandwiched together brownies to create twist on the classic Victoria sandwich sponge. So I thought that instead of letting my new heart shaped cutters go to waste after only one use, I knuckled down and brought to you a recipe that is a little more complex than I'm used to but turned out great and I'm quite proud of, if I say so myself.

Ingredients
For The Brownies
- 200g Unsalted Butter
- 200g Dark Chocolate
- 275g Caster Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 35g Cocoa Powder
- 90g Plain Flour
- 100g Chocolate Chips

For The Buttercream
- 200g Butter, softened
- 320g Icing Sugar
- 2 Tsp Strawberry Extract
- 1 Tube Of Dr Oetker Pink Gel Food Colouring

Method 
1- Pre heat oven to 180C. Line a thin baking tray with baking paper.
2- In a bain marie melt the dark chocolate and unsalted butter. I always prefer to melt my chocolate over a bain marie rather than in a microwave as it's lessens it's chances of burning.
3- Once everything has melted together, place to one side and leave to cool until it's room temperature.
4- In a bowl place your sugar and eggs. Whisk until they're double in size, pale in colour and have a mousse like consistency. I find it best to do it with either an electric whisk or in a stand mixer as it can take a little while to get it to the right consistency.
5- Once your chocolate mizture is cool enough, add to the eggs and sugar. Fold in gently as to not knock any of the air you've just created.
6- Sift in your cocoa powder and flour and fold gently again. I like to use this step to scrape around the bowl to make sure there is nothing clinging to the sides and everything is being fully incoporated.
7- Fold in your chocolate chips and then pour into your prepared tin. If you're wondering why you need to use a thinner baking tin, it's so the brownies don't come out too thick and can be easily cut later once they've cooled. I used a swiss roll tin for mine and they came out the perfect thickness.
8- Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
9- When they're out of the oven, leave to one side to cool and start on the butter cream. Place you softened butter in a bowl and beat until soft and smooth in consistency.
10- Sift half your icing sugar into the mix and beat until it's combined, remembering to scrape the edges of the bowl so everything gets incorporated.
11- Add the rest of your icing sugar and beat until completely combined. If your buttercream looks a little stiff, you can a teaspoon of milk to just soften it to an easier piping consistency.
12- Add your strawberry extract and pink food colouring. Beat until it's combined, adding more colour where necessary. Once you're happy with your buttercream, place to one side.
13- When your brownies have completely cooled, take your heart shaped cutter and start cutting out matching pairs, using a smaller cutter where necessary to get the most out of your brownies.
14- Lay them out on a cooling rack and spoon your buttercream into a piping bag.
15- Depending on the size of your piping nozzle and the steadiness of your hand, gently pipe around the outline of the heart, working your way in until one half is completely covered in buttercream.
16- When you have half your brownies hearts covered in buttercream, take the remaining plain halves and sandwich them on top of the iced hearts. Try not to press too hard or the icing will ooze out the side.
17- Once all your hearts have been sandwiched together, leave to set on the cooling rack, then share with your bae or loved ones.

Recipe: Raspberry Shortbread Hearts

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and whilst it's not my favourite holiday in the calendar, I can't deny that baking Valentine's themed is quite appealing. So this week, I will be sharing with you three Valentine's themed bakes that I thought would be a nice idea for those of you who plan on baking for your loved one.

Ingredients 
- 115g Butter
- 55g Caster Sugar
- A Pinch Of Salt
- 10g Freeze Dried Raspberries
- 175g Plain Flour

Method
1- Pre heat oven to 180C. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
2- In a bowl place your flour, sugar and salt.
3- Add your butter and rub together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. This doesn't take as long as you expect but if you want to make it quicker, you can easily put this all together in a food processor and blitz it together.
4- Add your freeze dried raspberries and continue to rub together until it forms a dough. This won't take long but if you do find your dough breaking or not coming together at all, add a little water or milk as a binding agent. However don't add too much or your dough will be wet and again won't come together easily. 
5- Once you have your dough, place it on a lightly floured surface and roll it out until it's a 1/2 inch thick. Take care to flour your rolling pin as well as it might stick to the dough and you'll end up tearing a hole out of it as your rolling it out.
6- When you're happy with the thickness of your dough, take your heart shaped cutters and cut out as many shapes as you can, rerolling your dough when necessary to get the most out of it.
7- Place your shapes onto your prepared baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes or until they're golden brown. When you take them out, you want the edges to be firm but the inside to still be a little soft, they'll soon firm up as they cool and you'll end up with delicious melt in the mouth shortbread.