Yes, I’ve used the C word. Cupcakes, as these are what I think of as cupcakes due to the prolific swirls of buttercream on the top, though they are more of fairy cake proportions.There has been a slight delay on posting these as they were made for a secret 30th Birthday Party. The person in question reads my blog and follows me on twitter so I had to keep these under wraps. For the party I also made Nigella’s Chocolate Cloud Cake that I topped with fresh strawberries.
For a while I’ve been meaning to buy a “Mr Whippy” style tip for piping icing with and the lovely Julie from Vintage & Cake recommended me the Wilton 1M open star tip along with the disposable piping bags. She also gave me tips on how to make certain patterns with the icing. Usually I’m not a huge fan of throw away things, but these bags I can highly recommend. Not only are they bigger than conventional piping bags but you don’t have the faff of cleaning them afterwards. So much easier to use and you don’t need to worry about a coupler.
These cakes were a bit of an experiment that worked surprisingly well. I used blueberries because I had some blue edible glitter that I decided HAD to be used on the birthday boy’s cake so blueberry was the natural choice. Icing wise I really liked using the 1M tip and the swirls it produces. For fantastic advice on how to pipe buttercream see Ruth’s guest post on A Thrifty Mrs. I need a bit more practice to get the swirls uniform but overall I was pleased with them.
Blueberry & Lime Cupcakes
makes 12 fairycake sized cakes
100g self-raising flour
100g caster sugar
100g butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g (1/2 punnet) of blueberries
zest of 1 lime
Buttercream icing
90g unsalted butter
180g icing sugar
1 tbsp lime juice
75g (1/2 punnet) of blueberries for decoration
blue edible glitter
1) Preheat oven to 180°c and line a bun tin with fairy cake liners.
2) In a bowl beat together the butter and caster sugar until it is light and fluffy then one at a time stir in the eggs. Don’t worry if it begins to look curdled. Mix in the vanilla extract.
3) Carefully fold in the flour then lime zest and blueberries.
4) Fill each liner 2/3 with cake mix.
5) Bake for 15-20 min until risen and golden. Allow to cool before icing.
6) In a bowl beat together the butter, icing sugar and lime juice until light and fluffy. Pipe icing onto cakes.
7) Place the blueberries and a small pinch of edible glitter into a bowl then roll the blueberries around to coat them in the glitter. Then decorate the cakes with the glittered up blueberries.
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Louise
September 23, 2010 at 2:59 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Hello,
These look lovely, and definitely worthy of the name Cupcake! I have been looking out for that Wilton nozzle. Where did you buy yours from as not seen it anywhere in Staffordshire, was it online??
Many thanks, Louise
Jules
September 23, 2010 at 3:44 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Hi Louise, I got both the disposable piping bags and the 1M tip from the Livsstil shop on High Street, Burton on Trent. They apparently have a store in Birmingham so may sell them there too.
Louise
September 24, 2010 at 6:40 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Thanks Jules, that’s brilliant. Burton is about 20 mins drive from me. I’ll go and explore! x
Lucy
September 23, 2010 at 3:54 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Oh my these look good!! I think I will give them a god this weekend. Thanks Jules, Nigella had better watch out.
x
Jules
September 24, 2010 at 4:32 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Let me know how they go Lucy. x
Whimsical Wife
September 23, 2010 at 7:43 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Oh they just look so beautiful!
Holly B
September 23, 2010 at 8:03 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
These are just beautiful and my son LOVES blueberries. I may ahve to give them a go for his birthday!
Tiffiny Felix
September 24, 2010 at 5:29 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
I found you on FoodGawker. These are so cute–love the glitter :)
Petit Filoux
September 24, 2010 at 8:41 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Love the glitter!!
Stella
September 24, 2010 at 2:52 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Lovely berries! Do you have a good online source for the edible glitter? I’m afraid I live in a part of the world (Kentucky, haha) where such things can’t be purchased first hand. Yay for the internet! The berries look totally magical, I love them!
Jules
September 24, 2010 at 4:29 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
I haven’t found a good online source of edible glitter and brought this glitter off a local cupcake supplier. Ebay may be a good place to start. Good luck with the glitter hunt!
The Curious Cat
September 27, 2010 at 8:09 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
They look gorgeous! Really professional too! I want one! xxx
Tracey
September 27, 2010 at 4:51 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
These look absolutely scrummy! The icing swirl looks really professional too!
Antonia
September 29, 2010 at 1:17 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Love your Mr Whippy swirls and interesting tip about the piping thing – I hate the messy cleaning job that results from the usual method. Bet your friend was thrilled with these!
A Thrifty Mrs
October 29, 2010 at 10:27 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
These look and sound delicious and thanks for including a link to Ruth’s terrific guest post on my blog.
Sylvia D'Souza
March 2, 2011 at 11:19 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
These look beautiful and absolutely yum. Very professional too!!
Jules
March 8, 2011 at 10:53 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Thank you Judy. Not bad for my first attempt!
Marie
March 27, 2012 at 6:42 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
thanks very much, I love reading your emails and find them very useful and informative.
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September 24, 2010 at 5:13 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
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