Whisky flavour cupcakes

Well, I think I have exceeded myself on these ones! The ingredient is a very special one, one that my other half, James does not know I have used! 25 year old Edradour Whisky made in the smallest distillery in the world, and it happens to be Jim's favourite.

I didn't tell him that I put it in, he thought I used a taster bottle of Jack Daniels! LOL He stood licking the bowl of icing, no wonder he likes it so much!!





The cake itself has also been improved, adding baking powder and vanilla essence. Also I cooked them in a cooler oven, 160* instead of the 175ish. They were perfectly cooked in 30 minutes. I will add the update to my recipe along with the Whisky Icing.



And the finished product......


Yummmm.......




Stu, Will you accept these as payment?????

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Apologise

Man my grammer can be bad....I am very sorry! And for my spelling....I must use spell check!

Lots of ideas

Hi all,

I have received a fabulous cupcake book this morning from Amazon. Given me lots of ideas including a meringue topping which sounds fab.

I am not too well this morning, you men really are fortunate! You women out there will know exactly what i mean. I wonder if baking will make me feel better??

I have the dreaded weigh in a week tomorrow so I really must start the dreaded diet especially after all the cupcakes and naughties I've been eating for the last week. oh well, a new year is on the way! :-)

List of Ideas

I have been thinking about flavours for my cupcakes, please can you let me know what you think...

Rum & Raisin
Apple & Toffee
Lemon Curd
Forest Fruits
Blueberry & Chocolate
Strawberry
Coffee


That's all I can think of so far, I am planning over the next few weeks to make a selection of flavours and try and invent some new ones, so all suggestions welcome.

My sister is a wheat free eater, so I thought about doing a wheat free cupcake too, what do you think?

I also want to discuss the new phenomenon in the kitchen...well my kitchen....SILICON. No not boobies, but cooking trays. If you haven't got one yet...GET THEM...They are ace. I will never go back to the old fashion apparently non stick Teflon trays that you always end up scrubbing and eventually go rusty. I love making Yorkshire Puddings and although they come out with a shiny bottom from the silicon tray, they need no greasing or oil and guaranteed to sticking. Long gone of the days of scrapping your Yorkshire out of the tin and allowing it to soak for days before you can get the stuff off.

I am debating if i should disclose my family recipe to you??? Guaranteed to beat Aunt Bessie's! I think I will think about it for a few days.

Oh...and before I go, just want to say Hello to my new follower and any of those that read regularly! 

Okay, so I thought I would give you all a quick update.

With two tins of cupcakes, of we went to my sisters in Barnsley. They live in a snooker club, and once closed to the general public we had the place to ourselves. 16 family members all in one place!

Kids running riot and so are the adults.....playing hide and seek in the top room of the club with no lights on was hilarious, I have never seen it so black!

After such a huge dinner, cupcakes were out of the question. So what on earth do i do with 40 odd cupcakes?? Eating them was a definite no no, too many pro points for me. So inspiration hit.....

SELL THEM to the good people of Barnsley! So my sister has agreed to sell them to the guys that come in before the footy match. Maybe this will be a good judge of how nice they are and if i need to work on them a little more!

I am waiting to hear from her how they have done but will post as soon as I know. Is it okay that I am nervous about my precious cupcakes being sold?

Attempt 3

Yahoooo.....

I am definitely getting better if I do say so myself. Check out the pictures below. In my previous blog, I mentioned that my brother in law, Stuart, would not accept my cakes as payment for a debt. However, after seeing my latest efforts, he has suggested that I sell them, and raise the £16 I owe to pay him back!

I have started a little collection of instruments including a syringe for piping courtesy of my mother who brought it from Iceland for £4. Also collating a nice selection of books, again courtesy of my mother! It has lots of ideas, including lemon cupcakes which I may try next week.

I have been baking all afternoon, and now my feet are killing me and to be honest i am getting a bit sick of the sweet smell of cakes. I forgot to mention at the start of this blog, that yes I am insane but i am also trying to lose weight and have joined Weight Watchers. Oh my life, I am mad. Why on earth did I start baking cakes when on a diet????

I wonder how many Pro-Points are in them??? Hummmm....maybe I shouldn't think about it!

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Location:Attempt 3 with icing!

Success

I think you'll agree that these are looking good! Okay so I may of cheated on the icing courtesy of silver spoon but they are starting to look like cupcakes! My brother in law was especially impressed and ate two even though he would not accept them as payment for £16 I owe him! A bit of a cheek if you ask me.... But I will keep working on it!
I think I may have perfected the cake bit, although I would like to work on the actual amount of mixture in the paper holder thing, what are they called? Anyway, did you know that if your paper thing is lopsided in the tin, it makes the cupcake wonky? I didn't know that cupcake baking would be so scientific! I should of paid more attention in science and maths as I am now discovering that after all these years it would be useful after all. Who'd of known that?

Hopefully is will sleep better tonight, as all I dreamt about last night was giant cupcakes of all shapes and sizes! Big pink ones, blue ones and all sorts. Then jim, the other half, reminded me with a parp (bottom burp!) that I was in fact in normal surroundings and definitely not in cupcake lar lar land!
Not bad going for day two!
Would you buy them so far??


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I think I have it right!


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Looking good so far!!

Is it okay to sit in front of the oven watching them???



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I will concentrate on one thing!

Okay, round one over with....

I have decided I need to perfect my cake recipe before I concentrate on the icing. I am learning one step at a time. I have enrolled on an icing course at the local college, so you should see a marked improvement on the finished product! I don't start till January so have lots of time to practice.

I am off to the kitchen......pics to follow

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1st attempt

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My first attempt

Okay, so i decided today that I will bake. What will I bake? Cupcakes......
So where do cupcakes come from? Definition:- 
A cupcake (British English: fairy cake; Australian English: patty cake or cup cake) is a small cake designed to serve one person, frequently baked in a small, thin paper or aluminum cup. As with larger cakes, frosting and other cake decorations, such as sprinkles, are common on cupcakes. - courtesy of google!
In my attempts to be a good mother and housewife, I need to be able to bake cakes. My husband seemed quite turned on by the fact that I was in my scruffs, flour all over me, green icing on my nose and the house full of the smell of cooking! Can I just remind him, that I cook him dinner everyday. Yes it might be fish and chips but is that really the point? No.
I use to enjoy cooking as a child with my mum, I just seemed to have lost interest over the 8 1/2 years I have been married. I thought I would enjoy cooking with my little girl, but again life seems to hard for all the mess.
So why the blog? Well, confession...i have depression and I am slightly insane. Not to mention the fact that I have rheumatoid arthritis which seems to make the most simple jobs in life difficult. So I have decided that just maybe, turning my kitchen into a bakery will help me and my insanity. Especially as I have decided that I no longer want to take prozac!
So, back to the point....my first attempts.....PANTS. I guessed at the amounts, the same amounts my mum used in the 80's. I checked google on the buttercream frosting, and I didn't have a piping thing, so made one with greaseproof paper which really didn't work that well. I will post pictures from my phone after I have finished this blog. You will see what I mean! However, the cakes were a disaster but my enthusiasm has grown...I really enjoyed myself! So far a good tonic!