Red Velvet Cupcakes: Egg Free Recipe

If you are looking for an easy weekend bake to try with your children, how about some light Red Velvet Cupcakes? The beauty of these is that they are super easy to make, and use no eggs. I find this useful as I frequently run out of the things due to my childrens weekend boiled egg habit. Neeeeed some chickens! 

Also, if you have a child who is allergic to eggs you might enjoy this recipe. In fact, all you need do is swap out the milk for soya milk and you can have an entirely vegan cake. Yay!

INGREDIENTS:

200g self-raising flour
 200g caster sugar
20g cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4tsp bicarb
1/4tsp baking powder
200ml milk
20ml cider vinegar
80ml sunflower oil
1tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp red food colouring, paste/gel 

OVEN: Preheat to 180C/Gas Mark 4

Makes 24 fairy cakes

1. Line two cupcake pans with paper cases
2. Put the vinegar and milk into a jug and set aside for around 10 mins
3. Meanwhile, put into a large bowl the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, bicarb, & baking powder. Mix until combined.
4. Add the milk mixture, oil, vanilla and food colour to the dry ingredients mixing by hand with a metal spoon. This is fine if done by a child, lumpy is just right!
5. Spoon into the cake cases.
 6. Bake for 15 mins, cool in the trays for a little while, then transfer to a wire rack.

ICING: we iced ours with a cream cheese and vanilla icing, but you may want to modify this if you are making them for a special diet.  I completely ballsed up my cake icing and subsequently have NO photos of them because they looked icky - I have a complete blind spot when it comes to icing cakes. I literally cannot make icing, I have no idea why. So enjoy your cakes and this very nice photo of somebody elses red velvet cupcakes.

via Pinterest

Apple and Rosewater Cupcakes - Random Recipe

As previously explained I had a lot of sugared rose petals looking for a raison d'etre this week, so we created this recipe, like a summer frankenstein, out of carrot cakes and neccessity. Also I bought Rosewater in a weak moment last year and it's quite hard to find recipes to use it up in. Try these if you dare......




Ingredients:

100g Brown Sugar
160ml Sunflower Oil
2 eggs
1 tblsp Rosewater
200g Self-Raising Flour
150g Grated (cooking) Apple

Preheat oven to 180 (GM4)

Beat the eggs, then add to the sugar in a large bowl.
Mix in the oil, and rosewater.
Sift in the flour, then finally fold in the grated apple.

Spoon into 12 bun cases and bake for 20 mins until well risen.

Remove to wire rack to cool

We put a little pink coloured water icing on top of ours, with the sugared rose petals.

Make It! Old-fashioned Sugared Rosepetals

After discovering the joys of looking through recipe books, my daughter asked recently if it was possible to eat flowers - after all, here they were decorating salads and cakes in  this book. Although slightly contradictory to my careful messages about 'what is food/what is not food' we went with the suggestion, and tried making sugared rose petals. 

I remembered making these with my mother quite a bit (not sure why!? She is not a fancy cake maker) and they are, as it turns out, quite easy to make. Although, they use uncooked egg white so if egg is a problem in your house, be warned!

You need:

Edible Petals, such as Rose. Choose some nice shapely ones from the middle of the rose.
Egg white
Caster sugar
Two plates/shallow bowls
Lined tray or clean plastic board

Method:

You can wash the petals lightly then shake dry if you need to.
Put the egg white and caster sugar onto two plates/wide shallow bowls .
Holding the petal lightly dip both sides into the egg white, then into the sugar.

Leave on your tray/board to dry for at least an hour. We used to put ours in the airing cupboard but mine dried out fine in the kitchen this time. I guess the key is to dry them somewhere not too humid.

Lovely lovely on top of little cupcakes, not so great just eaten on their own!!

We made some Apple and Rosewater Cakes to put these on, an entirely made up cake recipe derived from my need to use up apples and the existence of the sugared rose petals. They turned out very tasty, and what they hey, I'll post up that recipe if you like.

Foodie Friday: Delicious cakes as easy as ABC

Another favourite recipe here at Dolly Towers is the 'ABC cupcake' which was given to me, by another parent, as a fail-safe variation on Banana Bread. I can't imagine many children will be able to resist these, and they are moist enough to not need any topping, which keeps them healthy enough to be suitable for lunchboxes. Which is of course my thing at the mo'. 

Why ABC? Apple, Banana and Choc Chip, of course!

ABC Cupcakes
Makes 12

110g self-raising flour
75g brown sugar
20g porridge oats
1 egg
60ml milk
60ml apple juice
60ml vegetable oil
100g ripe banana, chopped (about one whole medium banana)
50g milk chocolate chips

Heat the oven to 170 degrees .
Line a muffin pan with paper cases.
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Put the egg, milk, oil and juice in a jug, stir, then add to the dry mixture.
Add the choc chips and banana, mixing in roughly.
Spoon in the mixture to the cases.
Bake for around 20 mins, until well risen and golden.
Stand for 5 mins then transfer to wire rack.


Happy eating x

Foodie Friday: Delicious Sweetcorn and Blackberries!

But not eaten at the same time, no.... Now we are back from our holidays I am having fun times wrangling all three of the kids all day all week. Which as much as we love, is very tiring! Also sooo easy to slip into a kind of a rut eating-wise.

Beans
Soup
Cake
Fishfingers
'Red Pasta' (ie penne with tomato puree squeezed on, ultimate laze meal)

When kids and I are in the kitchen we usually make cake, cake and MORE cake, which although delicious is naughty. So in order to celebrate the wonderfulness of fresh English things, I forced them to make a savoury food this time and we cooked Sweetcorn and Cheddar Scones. If I could have these for lunch OFTEN that would improve life. I think they are going on my Items for a Better Lunchbox list, which is something I will blog more about during term time, methinks. I got the recipe from Abel & Cole, who also supplied the sweetcorn.

Also, the first blackberries of the season are here, so we have been scouring our garden and local hedges. Yum! I love free food. We did not get around to cooking ours, because they are so difficult not to eat starightway, but my friend invited us for lunch last week and served a delicious Blackberry Almond Cake, which I would recommend as a taste combo that just hums happily 'Late Summer'. I think she found her recipe here at Confessions of a Bright Eyed Baker, it looks about right, and lovely photos too.

Buttons, Bows .... and Marshmallows!

After the past few days of floundering around under a massive to-do list I finally feel like I have managed to achieve ... something!

Mainly it's because I have finished the three navy blue satin sashes that have been blighting my life for the past few weeks. Can I just say that - I HATE working in satin. I did not know this before, but I shall try to stay away from it in future. Urg, too slippery. The sashes are for three little bridesmaids, it is a family wedding and so of course I wanted them to be perfect. Making them was perfect hell, but no-one will know that on the day! I can't photograph them yet but hopefully will have an adorable picture of them being worn after the weekend. 

As I was being completely sewing obsessed mummy I had an attack of guilt and let the kids go on a massive (supervised!) baking rampage. Our new favourite recipe is below and might I add it's perfect for all those times you need a sugar hit like a mallet. Mmmmmmm Marshmallow!

Mallow Cakes

25g butter plus extra for greasing.
160g marshmallow (that's a bag of the big pink and white haribo ones)
90g rice crispies
sprinkles

Grease a shallow dish or cake tin. Sprinkle your sprinkles all over the bottom of it.
Melt the butter in a pan, adding the marshmallows until they are melted.
Add the rice crispies and stir until mixed well in.
Turn the mixture out into your greased and sprinkled tin - you may like to use a greased spoon to press it down flat.

Wait for it to cool. Turn out onto a board covered in some grease-proof paper and cut into squares/chunks.

Eat. Hooray!

NB: these don't keep too well. Glory be, you'll have to eat them in 24 -48 hours.

Summer Fete Season

The first summer fete of the season, so time to get baking! Weather was lovely today and the cakes turned out OK too. When I got there everyone else had also brought cakes so there were so many I thought we would never sell them all. Luckily after school, the starving hordes (teenagers) descended upon the cake stall and soon there were none left. Equally empty was my purse after having the children raid it on multiple occasions for tombola, face painting etc.

Actually the chocolate cakes is such a winning recipe and so moist. Must post the recipe for others to try, it's so delicious but far too chocolatey for children (!). I used 75% for the topping! Strictly grown up cupcakes....