What a gorgeous day it was yesterday. I really didn’t want to be stuck in the house as I needed to get the children out of the house and blow the cobwebs away. I finished my baking early and spent the rest of the day with the children. As I seemed to get ahead of myself, I thought I would catch up on some technical stuff today. However, the technical side will have to wait till my husband comes home for his lunch.
Important part now – Keep an eye on Amazon for my books which are going on offer soon and will be available for 99p for an e-book (for one week only) or free from Kindle Unlimited. Go on treat yourself to the [amazon_textlink asin=’1520969627′ text=’Easter Treats’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’b0bab757-8323-11e7-804b-996fa48b0473′] or [amazon_textlink asin=’B071K2YJCN’ text=’Summer Picnics’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’d248ce1c-8323-11e7-ab9b-81637395c862′] books (the latter is perfect for this time of year). Packed full of great recipes and ideas to treat your family and friends with. I have added the links to the books to make it easier to find them.
In the meantime, as it is “Cupcake Day” I am going to add the Icecream Sundae Cupcakes recipe to my blog and a couple of other recipe sites which I am trying my recipes on to see how popular they are. I made these cupcakes a lot for my market stall, especially in the summer months but I made them recently for my daughter’s party in place of a standard birthday cake. They were a great hit. 🙂
[lt_recipe name=”Icecream Sundae Cupcakes” servings=”18″ prep_time=”25M” cook_time=”20M” total_time=”45M” difficulty=”Intermediate” print=”yes” summary=”Nutritionally, one portion contains 253 calories, 13.5g total fat (17% daily total fat), 30.9g total carbohydrate (11% daily total carbohydrate), 0.3g fibre (1% daily fibre) (based on a 2000 calorie diet).” image=”https://www.love-to-bake.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/icesundaes.jpeg” ingredients=”For the cupcakes:;8oz self raising flour;8oz caster sugar;8oz soft spread;4 eggs;1tsp strawberry essence;For the buttercream:;50g soft spread;150g icing sugar;1tsp strawberry essence;For the decoration:;18 flat bottomed icecream cones;6 flakes;2 tsps pink food colouring;sprinkles” ]Preheat the oven to Gas 4.;Wrap the cones in foil to protect them from burning and stand in muffin tins.;In a bowl weigh out the ingredients for the cake batter.;Whisk together using a handheld electric whisk.;Spoon into the cones.;Bake for 15-20 minutes.;Remove the foil immediately to stop the cones turning soggy.;Allow to cool.;For the buttercream:;Mix the icing sugar, soft spread and strawberry essence to form a smooth buttercream.;In a piping bag with star nozzle fitted, spoon the food colouring down the side of the bag.;Add the buttercream carefully to the piping bag.;Pipe onto the top of the cakes to resemble icecream.;Snap the flakes into three pieces each and add to the top of the cake.;Add the sprinkles and enjoy.[/lt_recipe]
Not a lot of equipment is needed to make these cupcakes. All I used was muffin tins, foil, [amazon_textlink asin=’B0016OSC72′ text=’electric whisk,’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’627a3e60-8320-11e7-8ab8-ebc562d1c6db’] piping bag and nozzle. All of these items should be readily available in your kitchen.
Yesterday, I made some Orange Flapjacks and a Banana & Nutella Loaf which I know my husband enjoyed. Also, I prepared the remainder of the plums for the freezer along with some left over pears which I didn’t want to waste. I feel like I had been a very efficient mother yesterday by not wasting any fresh fruit which was on the turn.
My eldest daughter tried the flapjacks and came up with the idea of drizzling orange flavoured icing on the flapjacks to give them a different appearance which I quite liked the idea of but I was unable to try this as when the children found the flapjacks they did not leave many in the tin so I will have to try this idea another time. Children are like vultures sometimes but at the same time the flapjacks must have been good which I am pleased about.
I am just looking at what Food Days I have missed off the food calendar this last few weeks and what is coming up. On my food calendar I have missed “Mustard Day” and “International Beer Day” – oh well there is always next year. 🙁 This week is “National Allotment Week” but I don’t have an allotment. However, I do have a friend who does. Last week, I did have some plums from her but they were from her garden rather than her allotment. With that logic (almost an allotment) I am going to share my Plum Crumble Cake recipe which was a big hit with the family over the last two days. I was surprised that they all tried it and enjoyed it – as they don’t normally eat plums. Just shows you how wrong you can be! I will add the recipe soon. On Sunday it is “Bacon Lover’s Day” but apart from Bacon Butties I don’t tend to use bacon for anything else and I am sure you all know how to make a bacon sandwich. I will get back to you on that one.