Root Beer Float Cupcakes

We were celebrating our friend's birthday this weekend and I wanted to make cupcakes for her. I had a few ideas and wanted something summery as it has been raining pretty much non stop for weeks now! I remembered the cola cupcakes I made last year and thought root beer float cupcakes would be fun and yummy! The cupcake turned out great, very yummy and moist with a subtle root beer flavour. I'm not sure what happened to the frosting this time... I have used this recipe before with no problems but it didn't work this time, it was too runny and I didn't have time to fix it. I made it work it just wasn't as fluffy as usual but still yummy. Everyone loved them, we all had a couple. Now I just need the rain to stop so I can run off the calories!

Recipe inspired by Hummingbird Bakery: Cake Days

Ingredients:
Cake:
80g unsalted butter, softened
280g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp root beer syrup
200ml whole milk
2 large eggs

Frosting:
500g icing sugar
160g unsalted butter, softened
2 tbsp root beer syrup
1 tbsp marshmallow syrup
2 tbsp whole milk

Cherries and straws, to decorate

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Steps:
Preheat oven to 190C/375F and line a muffin tin with muffin cases. In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt on a low speed until the ingredients resemble fine breadcrumbs. Place the root beer syrup, milk, and eggs in a small bowl and whisk together by hand. Add 3/4 of the milk mixture to the dry mix and combine together, then increase the speed and add the remaining milk mixture. Continue to mix until smooth. Divide the batter between the cases, fill them to two-thirds full. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes. Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin, then place them on a wire rack to cool completely. FROSTING: Mix the icing sugar and butter until no lumps of butter remain and the mixture is still powdery. Add in root beer syrup, marshmallow syrup, and milk and mix slowly until combined then increase the speed to high. Continue mixing until the frosting is light and fluffy. Top each cake with a generous spoonful of frosting and smooth with a palette knife or pipe frosting on then decorate with a cherry and straw.

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Easy "Sopapillas" - Tortilla style

We were having a Mexican themed night with friends last night and I wanted to make a quick easy yummy dessert. All I could think of was a sopapilla style dessert, I love them... a mix of cinnamon, sugar, sweet pastry, honey, and cream. I haven't had them for years and I found some pretty cool recipes inspired by the sopapilla dessert. I needed a quick easy recipe and found cinnamon sugar tortilla chips and I thought they would be yummy served with freshly whipped cream and honey to dip them in. Time got away from us and it was late and we were still full from our dinner that I ended up not making the dessert. I still wanted to try out the recipe, so I woke up this morning and got started on this easy recipe. They were fun to make, so simple but very yummy! This recipe might sound strange but try this one it, I think you will like it!

Recipe inspired by Food.com

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
8 flour tortillas
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Serve with:
Freshly whipped cream
Honey

Steps:
Preheat oven to 175C/350F. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon and set aside. Cut tortillas into triangles and brush one side with the melted butter. Dip the tortilla butter side down into the cinnamon sugar and place the tortilla triangles sugar side up on the baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes or until crisp. Serve with freshly whipped cream and a good drizzle of honey. 

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Almond Chai Tea Cookies

These cookies were AMAZING!! I couldn't wait to try out this recipe as I love chai tea and putting them in a cookie... YUM. This recipe is based on one from the fabulous Eric Lanlard, my famous baking mad friend. I can call him a friend right... I did make an appearance on his show and we tweet sometimes. ;-P Anyway, back to the recipe, I changed the recipe slightly by adding in chopped almonds to replace the sultanas (not a huge fan of sultanas) and I didn't have any cardamom seeds at the time when I made these. They turned out great with a nice crunch on the outside and soft on the inside, just the way I like to have cookies. The chai tea and almond bonded and created a great flavor for this cookie. I will be adding these to my list of recipes to make again! Try this one out for yourself and get the book for the original recipe with lots of  other yummy goodies in it!

Recipe inspired by Eric Lanlard: Cox Cookies & Cake

Ingredients:
225g unsalted butter, softened
225g soft brown sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp chai tea, crushed (about 2 tea bags)

1 tsp vanilla extract
225g wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
110g rolled oats
100g almonds, chopped

Steps:
Preheat oven to 200C/395F and line 2 baking sheets with baking paper. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the egg yolks, chai tea, and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Then add in the flour, baking powder, and oats. Once this has combined, fold in the almonds. Place spoonfuls of the mixture on the baking, evenly spaced apart and bake for 15 minutes. Leave to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

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Almost time to Live Below The Line...

... will you be joining me on this challenge? If not, will you sponsor me as I take this challenge starting May 7th? I still need to come up with my meal plan... this is going to be hard. Check out my original post to find out more info.

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Banana Monkey Bread

I love monkey bread!! I haven't made it for quite awhile and I wanted to try out a new recipe, something a bit different from the usual monkey bread. I was searching all over the net but most of the recipes use the canned dough, which they don't sell in the UK, or dough that has yeast and needs time to rise. I knew I wanted to make the dough from scratch and if I found a no yeast dough recipe that would be a bonus as we had friends coming over and wanted this to be baked in time. I found the perfect recipe and couldn't wait to try it out. I really enjoyed making this recipe. It came together so easily and making the banana filled dough parcels and dipping them in the sugar was fun. Once popped in the oven, I started smelling the cinnamon aroma coming from the kitchen. I have an addiction to cinnamon... love it! This monkey bread turned out great. The bread was moist and with the banana filling baked in the center of each little ball it really took this classic recipe to the next level. We all loved it and our friends even took some home with them. Try this recipe out! Now I need to come up with a savory version!

Recipe inspired by a Yahoo! Voices contributor

Ingredients:
Dough:
1 cup plain flour
1 cup stoneground wholemeal flour
1/3 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup milk

Banana Filling:
1 large ripe banana
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp sugar

Coating:
1/2 brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Steps:
Preheat oven to 175C/350F and grease a bundt pan. COATING: In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. BANANA FILLING: In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and mash until combined. DOUGH: In a large bowl, mix together the flours, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt until thoroughly combined. Add in the softened butter and mix until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add in the milk and mix on a higher speed until the dough just comes together. Knead in your stand mixer or on a lightly floured surface and knead for about a minute and the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Shape the dough into an 8inch by 8inch square about 1/2inch thick. Cut into 16 equal squares. Take one square and flatten it slightly with your fingers. Place 1tsp of the banana filling in the middle and seal by grabbing each corner together. Dip the dough ball into the sugar coating and place into the bundt pan. Repeat until the first layer has 8 dough balls and sprinkle with half of the sugar coating. Repeat with the remaining 8 dough squares to create a second layer and sprinkle with the remaining sugar coating. Bake for 35 minutes and remove from oven. Pour melted butter over the top while the bread is still in the bundt pan. Let the bread cool for 5 minutes in the bundt pan. Place a plate of top of the pan and turn over.

I have also submitted this to April's AlphaBakes hosted by
The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes.

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Turkish Apple Tea Cupcakes

I've been wanting to make cupcakes for awhile now as it has been too long since I last made any. I decided to try out another Hummingbird Bakery recipe as it has always given me great results, love this book!

I saw this recipe, they called them Apple Blossom cupcakes, but I had Turkish Apple Tea powder in my cupboard, so called them that but pretty sure they are similar. The powder reminded of the Hot Apple Cider drinks I used to have as a kid in the States, so was quite happy to find something similar in the England. 

These cupcakes turned out wonderfully moist! I loved the strong apple flavor throughout the sponge and frosting, it tasted very refreshing and so yummy. This is a great recipe to enjoy on a warm spring day dreaming of summer!

Recipe by Hummingbird Bakery: Cake Days

Ingredients:
Cake:
4 tbsp Turkish Apple Tea powder
3 tbsp hot water
80g unsalted butter, softened
280g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

200ml milk
2 large eggs

Frosting:
4 tbsp Turkish Apple Tea powder
50ml whole milk
500g icing sugar
160g unsalted butter, softened

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Steps:
Preheat oven to 190C/375F and line a muffin tin with muffin cases. Place the apple tea powder in a small bowl and add the hot water, allow to dissolve completely. In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt on a low speed until the ingredients resemble fine breadcrumbs. Place the milk and eggs in the bowl with the apple tea and whisk together by hand. Add 3/4 of the tea mixture to the dry mix and combine together, then increase the speed and add the remaining milk mixture. Continue to mix until smooth. Divide the batter between the cases, fill them to two-thirds full. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes. Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin, then place them on a wire rack to cool completely. FROSTING: Dissolve the apple tea powder in the milk. Mix the icing sugar and butter until no lumps of butter remain and then gradually add the apple milk. Once this has all been added increase the speed and mix until light and fluffy. Top each cake with a generous spoonful of frosting and smooth with a palette knife or pipe frosting on and decorate.

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