Quick Festive Haul.

After Monday's post (if you missed it click here), I just couldn't help going to my local cake decorating supplies shop and getting a few bits and bobs for my cupcakes so here's what I picked up...

I purchased a few packs of icing in the most festive colours I have ever laid eyes on. The brown is for Christmas pudding/Rudolph, then you can probably guess that the red is possibly for a Santa or Santa hat and the green is mainly for some form of Christmas tree (I don't want to give too much away).

I am so pleased with these holly and snowflake cutters. They're quite pricey but I truly think they're worth it when you see how well these cutters work. I'm also really excited that T K Maxx are now selling this brand of cutters, hallelujah! The holly is for the top of Christmas pudding or just holly in general and I'll be looking to use the snowflake on my baubles.

I'm also running out of my pearl lustre spray which is my holy grail item, I literally cannot recommend it enough. There is nothing (that I have yet discovered) that doesn't look even better with a spray of this over. I think it'll be really great for my baubles this year to give them a more shiny look - just like a real bauble. 

21 DAYS TO GO! Cakesfordorothy xoxo

My Favourite Yule Log Recipe.

I absolutely adore this recipe and have been using it to make my yule logs for several years now. It's so delicious and the sponge is pretty much fat free - perfect for this time of year! I smother it in chocolate buttercream and then use a fork to create a bark-like effect before adding a sprinkle of icing sugar just to make it look a little more snowy and festive. The holly and 'Merry Christmas' sign were just odd plastic-y things that I found in the kitchen but I thought completed the whole festive look.

Ingredients: 

3 Eggs

75g Caster sugar

75g Plain flour

25g Cocoa powder

100g Butter

100g Icing sugar

75g Milk chocolate

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Grease and line a swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar together and fold in the flour and cocoa powder. 
3. Bake for 10-12 minutes until it feels springy.
4. When baked, immediately turn the sponge out onto greaseproof paper dusted lightly with caster sugar and trim off the hard edges. 
5. Carefully roll up the cake with the paper still in the middle and leave to cool.
6. Combine the butter and icing sugar together and then stir in the melted chocolate. 
7. Unroll the sponge, spread half of the butter cream inside and up roll again.
8. Use the remaining butter cream to coat the top of the roll.
9. Using a fork, make marks in the butter cream as in the picture to make it look more like a log and sprinkle icing sugar over the top.

22 DAYS TO GO! Cakesfordorothy xoxo

Chrismas Cupcake Inspiration.

This year I'm really looking forward to making some proper Christmas cupcakes with proper icing! I think homemade gifts are the most personal and have the most thought and care put into them. It's easy to go around a shop and pick up presents that you think people might like but when presents are handmade, you can't help loving them (I hope). I wish I could make all of my presents but time is always an issue at such a busy time of the year so I'm hoping to make cupcakes for a few of my friends.

I'm absolutely in love with the idea of Christmas pudding cupcakes, mainly because it's so easy to create the dome shape just like a real Christmas pudding! I think these ones are so simply yet effective and I'd probably use a chocolate cupcake inside.

I also adore these bauble cupcakes. Again, a lovely domed cupcake makes these the perfect shape. I would use a lace embossing mat, some lustre spray and then finish with the hanger (and maybe even a piece of festive thread for authenticity). There are also so many designs and colours you could put on these, the possibilities are almost endless.

If you're not a fan of the modern colours and symbols of Christmas, I'm sure you'll love these snowy blue and white cupcakes. They're so much more sophisticated - perhaps suitable for a more mature friend or family members but nonetheless festive. I particularly love the one in the centre.

Similarly, the lady whose cupcakes courses I go on (Mrs Mac) made these absolutely exquisite Christmas cupcakes. I'm so sad that I can't go to the course to make these ones but I would highly highly recommend her.

And finally, after an overdose of fondant icing, there's The Hummingbird Bakery's festive cupcakes for this year which they have been posting on twitter repeatedly since the start of November which I think has lead to an obsession. I love the signature buttercream swirl on top and I just can't get over how effective they look with such a small amount of effort. I particularly love the gingerbread man with the read crumbs around the edge, I assume this signifies a red velvet cupcake. Yum!

23 DAYS TO GO! Cakesfordorothy xoxo