Peanut Butter and Jam Cupcakes

So staying with the theme of cupcakes I decided to make these American style cupcakes! (The next blog won't be cupcakes I promise!) I love Peanut Butter and Jam together, it's a match made in junk food heaven! I have never baked with Peanut Butter before and thought it might make a nice weekend treat.

I based the cupcake sponge on Jessica's Sweet Addictions  recipe for Peanut Butter and Nutella Cupcakes (which look amazing!) This recipe worked so well! I had crunchy Peanut Butter at home at the time and I think that really added to the cake. To make the icing I made a Jam flavoured Butter Icing using a small amount of butter, icing sugar and a berry Jam.

Peanut Butter and Jam Cupcakes

Peanut Butter and Jam Cupcakes

Cupcake Recipe

Ingredients

(From Jessica's Sweet Addiction )

2oz Butter

8oz Caster Sugar

4oz soft Peanut Butter

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

8oz Self Raising Flour

Half tsp Baking Powder

100ml Semi-Skimmed Milk

Butter Icing

50g Butter

500g Icing Sugar

2 tble spns Jam

Method

• Preheat oven 180C and prepare muffin tin with cases (recipe makes 24 cupcakes)
• Mix together Peanut Butter, Butter and Sugar until combined.
• Add one Egg at a time and then add the Vanilla Extract.
• Fold in the Flour and Baking Powder. Once combined at the Milk gradually and mix.
• Bake until golden brown ( 20 minutes).  
• For the Butter Icing mix the Butter with half the Icing Sugar. Add the Jam and mix before adding the other half of the Icing Sugar. Pipe onto cooled cakes! 

Apologies for the measurements changing! I wanted to put Jessica's Sweet Addictions recipe as it is on her blog, but I work in grams! This is a lovely recipe and made fantastic, fluffy cakes! The Icing Sugar has the potential to become to wet with Jam, so add the Icing Sugar in two parts. Seen as I have gone Cupcake mad I thought I would also put this forward to Calender Cakes (Laura Loves Cakes and Dolly Bakes) and share another Cupcake.

Peanut Butter and Jam Cupcakes were so much better that Peanut Butter and Jam on toast! Enjoy! 

Almond and Raspberry Cupcakes

This is something I have wanted to try for a while, I thought the flavour and sweetness of almonds and the sharpness of raspberries would be a nice combination and using berries was fittingly autumnal. The original point of the blog was to try my hand at new things and to learn new skills... but I just LOVE cupcakes! They are fun and easy to experiment with, also it was cupcake week so my hands were tied! ;) 

For these cupcakes I used the recipe for vanilla cupcakes in the Primrose Bakery Cupcake Cookbook. I find their cupcakes really fluffy which I think is to do with the milk. I replaced the vanilla with Almond Essence and used double the amount. I then made an almond infused butter cream and decorated with raspberries. I didn't want to put raspberries in the sponge as they may have been too wet and I like the idea of biting into a raspberry with the butter icing! Really simple, really sweet and they look cute. 

Almond and Raspberry Cupcake
Cath kidston Crockery 

Almond and Raspberry Cupcakes

Ingredients

Almond Cupcakes

(Adapted recipe from 'Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery' cookbook)

110g Butter

225g Golden Caster Sugar

2 Eggs

150g Self Raising Flour

125g Plain Flour

120ml Semi Skimmed Milk

2 teaspoons Almond Essence

Raspberries to Decorate

Butter Icing 

(Also adapted recipe from 'Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery' cookbook)

110g Butter 

500g Icing Sugar

60ml Semi Skimmed Milk

1 teaspoon Almond Essence

Method

• Preheat oven to 160c and prepare muffin tray with cases. (Makes 12 regular or 36 mini cupcakes).
• Mix Butter and Sugar until pale and smooth and add the Eggs one at a time.
• Combine the two Flours in a separate bowl. Also combine the Milk and Almond Essence in a jug.
• Add one third of the Flour mix and fold followed by one third of the Milk and mix. Repeat until all ingredients are combined.
• Spoon mixture into prepared cases and bake for 25 minutes for regular and 15 minutes for minis. They should be raised and golden.
• Cool on a wire rack!
• Once cooled completely, mix Butter, Milk and Almond Essence with half the Icing Sugar. Once mixed add the remaining half until thick. 
• I decorated with a palette knife and added three Raspberries to each and some with a sprinkle of Almonds. 

Almond and Raspberry Cupcakes

If anybody tries them I hope they turn out as well, let me know via twitter (@josieroberts88) if you have made anything interesting or tasty for cupcake week! I think they are my favourite thing to bake and this is something I am definitely doing again! In the meantime I hope everyone is loving the GBBO as much as me! Glen For the Win! Ruby is also fab! Although I would love to able to bake as well as any of them. 

Another reason for making cupcakes this time was for Calender Cakes, something I have wanted to make a post for for ages! So this month its ... Cupcakes! This fun blogging activity is put on by Laura Loves Cakes and Dolly Bakes. Looking forward to the next month! 

Date and Walnut Tea Bread

This is my first blog for a few months... That doesn't mean to say that I have not been baking, I have tried my hand at a few things over the past weeks, some caramel short bread and made a cake for my a colleagues leaving party which was fun! I was so busy I ended up making the cake, which was a fat less sponge with fresh cream and fruit, at midnight! Something went horribly wrong! The cake was flat and hard! So I did what any baker would do at that time of night... I made a 'posh' Victoria Sponge! HA! It seemed to go down well anyway! If I have learnt anything about baking in the time I have been writing this blog is that time is everything and patience comes in a close second!

Anyway, although I have been doing the odd cake here and there, I have had next to no time to blog! But, that ends here!! The Great British Bake Off has started it's new series and it is all we can talk about!! (as far as the circles I swim in are concerned) Between having a bit more time lately and the added inspiration coming from watching cake telly I am back on the blogging! Also with the weather beginning to cool I can bake with out bursting into flames in my flat!

This is a cake I made fairly recently for a staff picnic, everyone brought something with them, made for a lovely day out. For this I made Date and Walnut Tea Bread. This a lovely autumnal recipe, I saw tea was in the recipe I thought it would be a winner and also ties in with the GBBO and Howard's lovely tea biscuits! this was taking from 'Baking Day' a lovely little baking book from Marks and Sparks! :)

Date and Walnut Tea Bread

Ingredients: 

100g Chopped Dates

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate soda 

Rind of 1/2 a Lemon

100ml Hot Tea

40g Butter

70g Light Muscovado Sugar

1 Egg

125g Self Raising Flour

25g Walnuts

Plus a few more to decorate. 

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180c and line a loaf tin with baking parchment.
• Soak the Dates, Bicarbonate Soda and Lemon in  a bowl with the Tea for 10 minutes.
• Mix the Butter and Sugar then beat in the Egg. 
• Stir in the Date mixture.
• Fold in the Flour and Walnuts and spoon in to prepared tin and top with the decorative walnuts.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool on wire rack and enjoy with Tea!