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Oh, my. Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate. And cookies! This was a new recipe I tried out just over the weekend, and it’s pretty safe to say I’ll be making these cupcakes again, especially if my kids have any say in it… ~Mandy Wrangles

 

 

What you’ll need:

About 24 cupcake cases

200g of chopped butter

160g dark cooking chocolate. I used Cadbury melts brand.

A quarter of a cup of water

2 tbs cocoa powder

1 tbs instant coffee

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup caster (superfine) sugar

3 eggs (best if they’re room temperature)

Three-quarters of a cup of sifted, Self Raising flour

 

How it’s done:

Pre heat your oven to 150 C, and set out the cupcake cases.

In a small saucepan, over low heat, melt together the butter, chocolate, cocoa, coffee and vanilla. Use a whisk to bring it together until it’s smooth. Don’t let the mixture boil. Remove from heat and let it cool for 15 minutes.

While your chocolate mix is cooling, use electric beaters to mix together the sugar and eggs until they’re pale and creamy. Then add the chocolate mixture, a little at a time. Once it’s all combined, add the flour slowly and mix.

Pour the mixture to fill the cupcake cases to just over halfway and bake for aprox. 30 minutes. This will vary from oven to oven. The best way to tell if your mudcakes are done is to insert a skewer into the middle of one of the cakes. If it comes out clean – you’re done.

Remove from the oven and let cupcakes cool completely before decorating.

 

To decorate, you’ll need:

Vanilla buttercream mixture

Chocolate buttercream mixture (yes, you can make your own, but the commercial brands are delicious and make life SO much easier. I use the Betty Crocker brand. Whoever said it wasn’t okay to cheat in the kitchen?)

Pack of miniature ‘Oreo’ cookies.

Piping bag and large ‘star’ nozzle.

 

Bring vanilla buttercream to room temperature.

Put aside two Oreo cookies for each cake, and add the left overs to a small snap-lock plastic bag. Seal the bag and smash the cookies with a rolling pin until they’re a fine grain. You can use a blender to do this, but it’s way more fun to smash stuff! Make sure the grains of cookie are small enough that they won’t clog your piping nozzle. Mix the cookie grains through the vanilla buttercream and pop in the fridge for 5 or 10 mins.

 

While the vanilla and cookie buttercream chills, add the chocolate buttercream to your icing bag and pipe a ‘base’ of chocolate over the entire cake. Once they’re all done, remove the vanilla/cookie flavour from the fridge and pipe a small swirl on top, adding the saved Oreo cookies for garnish.

 

 

 

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‘These waffles are quick and easy to make. So, no waking up super-early and standing around to make your loved ones a delicious breakfast! Quick, easy and delicious!’ ~Lisa Smith

 

 

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups buttermilk or plain yogurt

½ teaspoon apple cider

Additionally butter for cooking

 

Instructions:

1. Preheat stove to medium temperature.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar.
3. In a separate bowl mix together the eggs, vanilla, butter milk and vinegar. Then pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir gently, until fully combined.
4. Brush or spray your pan with butter or cooking spray, pour some batter into the middle of the pan; if you want larger waffles, pour more dough! Let cook for about four or five minutes, until crispy, then flip. Cook another two minutes and you’re done!
5. Enjoy!

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Super cute and super sweet, these vanilla and raspberry cupcakes are topped with a home-made marshmallow that’s ridiculously easy to make (and soooo yummy!). Perfect for a girly afternoon tea or Sweet 16^th Birthday Party, they look fantastic grouped together on the table or a cupcake stand. ~Mandy Wrangles

 

 

First up, we’ll start with the marshmallows.

What you’ll need:

3 cups of sugar

2 tablespoons of gelatine

1 and a half cups of boiling water.

Vanilla essence

Food colouring

 

 

How it’s done:

Dissolve the gelatine into a bowl with the boiling water. You might have to help it melt by squishing with the back of a spoon.

 

In a large bowl, place the three cups of sugar. Add the water/gelatine mix to it and beat with an electric mixer until the mix is thick and creamy and the sugar is dissolved. 

 And after about 5 minutes, looks like this! Magic! 

 

It’s at this stage that you can add flavourings and colour. For this recipe, I used vanilla and a few drops of pink colouring to half the mix. Working fairly fast, spoon mixture into a piping bag with a wide round nozzle – be careful because it sets quickly and can be a bit sticky and messy! Onto a tray lined with baking paper, pipe coils of marshmallow.

Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours, or until cupcakes are baked and cooled.

 

Now, onto the cupcakes. This recipe makes around 24 cakes.

 

 What you’ll need:

200g softened, unsalted butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

1 cup of caster (superfine) sugar

2 and a half cups of self-raising flour

1 cup of milk

3 eggs

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries, mashed with the back of a spoon (I used frozen)

Vanilla buttercream icing. (You can make your own, but I’m all for cheating, so used a commercial brand – Betty Crocker)

 

How it’s done:

Preheat your oven to 175 degrees C. Line a muffin or cupcake tin with cases, or, you can use the self-structured ones shown in the pics. I like these because you can bake lots more at a time. My trays fit 25 cases.

 

With an electric mixer, whip the butter, sugar and vanilla until its light and fluffy. Then add your eggs, one at a time. The mixture can go a bit curdly at this stage, but don’t worry, it’ll all come back together. Then add half the flour, half the milk. Then more flour, more milk and keep mixing until it’s all combined. Add a couple of spoons of the mashed raspberries and give another quick mix – but only enough to swirl the raspberries in.

 

Fill your cupcake cases to about halfway. Add some more raspberry chunks if desired. This is a fairly thick and heavy mixture, so give the tops a bit of a smooth over. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until a skewer stuck in the middle comes out clean. Cool completely before decorating. (pic of cooked, undecorated cakes?)

 

Once cakes are cool, pull your marshmallows out of the fridge and roll them in icing sugar, or a mix of icing sugar and coloured decorator sugar. Try not to eat too many before they go on the cakes! With a piping bag and the same large nozzle as used earlier, pipe a round circle of vanilla buttercream around the edge of the cake. Add your marshmallow on top, and you’re done!

 

Hint: When making cupcakes for a special occasion, I find it really effective to use cupcake cases that match your colour theme, or, as you can see in these pics, two slightly different cases. It’ll make all the difference for the table display.

 

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Baking with Mandy Wrangles

 

 

 

Too Easy Carrot Cake

This is a really simple recipe (it’s never failed me yet) but there are a number of ingredients. I find the best way to make sure I don’t forget something is to have all my ingredients organised, measured and on the bench waiting to be thrown into the mixture.

 

What you’ll need:

1 cup of brown sugar tightly packed

1 cup of vegetable oil

3 large eggs

A pinch of salt

Half a teaspoon of Bicarb Soda

2 cups of self-raising flour

2 cups of finely grated carrot – about 4 big carrots

Half a cup of chopped walnuts (optional)

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

 

How it’s done:

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and line two loaf tins with baking paper. Preferably use an electric beater to beat the sugar and oil together until they’re thick. Of course you can use an old-fashioned hand beater, but you might end up with a dead-arm afterwards.

Once the sugar and oil are combined and thick, add the eggs one at a time. Keep beating. Then, add the salt, bicarb, carrots, flour, walnuts and spices and mix together by hand with a wooden spoon – otherwise the carrot and walnuts get all tangled in the beaters.

Divide the mixture evenly between the two loaf tins and bake for about 35 or 40 minutes. The cakes should be a light golden brown colour, and spring back when you touch them in the middle.

 

Icing:

Okay, I have to admit, this Carrot Cake rarely makes it to the icing stage at my place because it gets devoured warm. But, if you can resist temptation, here’s the recipe I use:

 1 cup of icing sugar

100 grams of softened cream cheese

45 grams of softened unsalted butter

1tsp of lemon juice

Finely grated rind of 1 lemon

 

Again, I use an electric beater to combine, but you could use a wooden spoon to mix this. Just make sure the cream cheese and butter are at room temperature before you start.

 

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Baking with Lisa Smith

 

 

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup vegetable oil

13 oz evaporated milk

1/4 cup poppy seeds

1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

 

Directions:

Whisk together confectioner’s sugar and lemon juice in small bowl (or cup) until nice and smooth.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and make sure to butter or grease your loaf pan.

In a large bowl mix together your flour, baking soda, salt and sugar. Once well combined, add eggs, vanilla, oil and milk. Again make sure to mix well! Then fold in the poppy seeds – no over mixing. 

Bake your poppy seed cake, until the toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean!

Take your loafs out of the oven, and drizzle your lemon glaze on top, while it’s still warm.

Enjoy!

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