Caramel icing on chocolate cupcakes.....

I had a serious chocolate craving this evening and decided I was going to make some of the wonderful cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes take over the World.  Once they were baked I couldn't work out what kind of icing I wanted.  Hubby voted for mint, which was a good idea but there was no mint extract in the house so that was out.  Instead, I went flipping through my cookbooks for inspiration, and found....Caramel Buttercream Icing!  This got me so excited - its gorgeous and easily made dairy free too.

Caramel Buttercream Icing on Chocolate Cupcakes

So here it is; Caramel Buttercream Icing from The Primrose Bakery Book which is supposed to be for a triple layer cake (it would be amazing on my triple layer cake too) but I reduced the amount and used it to ice my cupcakes.  I've halved the recipe here for you to use on the cupcakes, so if you want to use it on a layer cake, just double it.

Caramel Buttercream Icing

Ingredients

45g butter (I used Pure Spread, vegetable)
4 1/2 tbsp semi-skimmed milk (I used soya milk)
165g light, soft brown sugar
180g icing sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract


Method

1. Combine the butter, milk and brown sugar in a heavy based saucepan and put on a high heat.
 
2.  Stir constantly with a bamboo spoon till melted and boiling. 

3. Boil for one minute, then remove from the heat and stir in half the icing sugar.

4. Allow the mixture to cool then add the rest of the icing sugar and vanilla extract.  Beat until smooth.

5.  Ice the cakes using a small spreader.  If the icing thickens too much as you are spreading it on the cakes, simply warm a little and beat again.

Apparently this keeps in the fridge for up to a week, so put any leftovers into a prep bowl and put a lid on it. (Not in our fridge - I'd have it eaten direct from the bowl well before the week was up.)

To use just warm a little and beat till smooth.

My big cake secret! (dairy free, egg free and vegan cake)

This is my big secret!  Don't tell anyone will you?  I have a basic sponge recipe that is egg free, dairy free and is so simple its ridiculous!  And it doesn't contain any odd egg replacers, which I have a real aversion to.

Plain sponge with choc chips added

Ingredients
90g     Sugar
90g     Dairy free spread (I use Pure Spread)
180g   Self Raising Flour
160ml Soya milk (or other non dairy milk)

Thats it!!

Method

You can use a mixer for this but I don't have one at the moment so its all by hand here! (Good for my right arm though.)


Preheat the oven to 180°C

1. Measure the sugar and Pure spread into a classic batter bowl and mix with a bamboo spoon until nicely fluffy.

2. Add the flour and milk and mix until combined well and looking like a normal cake batter.  If its too solid add a little more soya milk.

3.  Spoon into 12 cupcake liners or leave your stoneware muffin pan naked and bake in the oven for about 12-15 mins till golden brown. (You could use the deluxe mini-muffin pan and make 24 small ones!)

4. Remove to a stackable cooling rack and cool completely before icing.

Tip:  Fancy blueberry muffins or raspberry muffins, or any other fruit for that matter?

Then bung in a good handful of fruit once the cake batter is mixed, stir them through and bake as above - YUM!  I quite often use frozen fruit - chuck them into the batter while still frozen and just increase the cooking time by a couple more minutes.

Or what about choc chip?  Chop up about 80g vegan chocolate into chunks and chuck it in.



Basic cupcakes with added British Flags by my six year old daughter for @sundaybakeclub on twitter

I've also used this to make large birthday cakes such as the Princess castle below!  Just use the above recipe in a 20cm cake tin for each layer, and bake for about 22 minutes. I added muffins and ice cream cones to this one to make the shapes.

Chicken pinwheels (egg and dairy free)

I have been super busy recently and a few weeks ago had a lovely time with visiting friends from Australia.  It meant a little bit of catering on a Monday night for a family gathering and I was determined to be organised ahead of time.  So, inspired by a sausage roll recipe I found in Good Food magazine I came up with these little bites of yummyness.

I used the Pampered Chef Manual Food Processor (or MFP) to do these and loved how easy it was.  However, you could use the Food Chopper, a knife to chop it all finely, if you can be bothered, or an ordinary run of the mill food processor.

The Manual Food Processor

(By the way, the MFP comes highly recommended for caravanning or camping and very quick yummy salsas and guacamole, as it needs only your arm as power. A kitchen tool and work out in one!)

I made mine dairy free by using puff pastry that was made without butter.  Please check your brand, but I like Jusrol's puff pastry which is made with vegetable oil, not butter. No eggs are needed here as the pastry is lovely and crisp anyway.

Chicken Pinwheels
Ingredients

4 chicken thighs (cooked and bones removed)
4 sundried tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
1 slice of bacon
handful of basil leaves
salt and pepper to season

1 pack of ready rolled puff pastry


Method

1. Take the puff pastry out of the fridge to warm a little.

2. Chop the tomatoes and chicken roughly and put into the Manual Food Processor.  Pump the handle to blend until the chicken is becoming flaky.

3.  Squeeze the garlic in the garlic press into the Manual Food Processor. Add in bacon and basil and blend again until everything is mixed and the chicken is well flaked. Season lightly with a little pepper and salt.

4.  Unroll the puff pastry and cut the sheet in half.  On each piece, spread out half the mixture and then roll the pastry into a spiral roll, pressing down at the edge to seal it.

5.  Cut into about 11 pieces for each roll and place on a flat stone (I used my medium round stones), pressing down each slice slightly to make it look a little bit tidier.  Bake for 20 mins till golden brown.

6.  Remove from the stone with a mini serving spatula and cool on a stackable cooling rack, or serve immediately. I made mine in advance and reheated before serving.