Sweet Tooth Experiments

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Licorice and Vanilla Cupcakes

Posted on Posted in Cupcakes .

Licorice and Vanilla Cupcakes

Licorice and Vanilla Cupcakes recipe

Originally I made a Licorice cake for this licorice experiment, however it was a real flop so as a ‘take 2’ experiment I decided to use my ‘amazing and always fluffy’ cupcake recipe as the base and substitute the buttermilk with a licorice ‘syrup’.

My cupcake recipe is super quick to make so this attempt was relatively easy and with a little bit of taste testing along the way I was really happy with the end result.

I had quite a bit of the licorice syrup left over from the cupcakes so I decided to turn it into an icing to really make the a licorice flavour explode.

If you love licorice you will love this! The vanilla adds some lovely sweetness that compliments the licorice’s intense aniseed flavour.

Ingredients:

Syrup:

  • 750 ml milk
  • 280g licorice
  • 2 star anise

Cake:

  • 2 eggs
  • 100g brown sugar
  • 100g golden syrup
  • 1 tsn ground star anise
  • 1 tbsn vanilla essence
  • 125ml oil
  • 200g cake flour
  • 1 + ½ tsn baking powder
  • ½ tsn bi carbonate of soda
  • ¼ tsn salt

Frosting:

  • 120ml butter
  • 2 tsn vanilla essence
  • 40g golden syrup

 

Method:

  1. Pre heat the oven to 180c degrees and line an 18 cupcake tray with cupcake patties.
  2. Place the milk, star anise and licorice chopped up in a saucepan and heat on a high heat until boiling.
  3. Turn the heat to low and simmer, whisking with a hand whisk until the mix reduces down to 450ml.
  4. Remove the star anise and place the milk mix into a food processor to remove any undissolved pieces, leave aside to cool.
  5. Using electric beaters whisk the eggs for 2 minutes.
  6. Place 5 star anise into a pestle and mortar and grind until the star anise are to the consistency of flour.
  7. Add the sugar, 120g golden syrup, 1 tsn ground star anise and vanilla essence into the egg mix and beat with electric beaters until light and fluffy.
  8. Add the vegetable oil and beat until well combined.
  9. Add 150ml of the licorice syrup as well as the flour, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt and beat on a low speed until just combine.
  10. Pour the mix into the cupcake patties and bake for 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  11. Set aside on a cooling rack until cool.
  12. To make the icing place the remaining licorice mix into a bowl with the butter, vanilla and golden syrup.
  13. Beat with electric beaters until smooth and creamy.
  14. Place the icing in a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe the icing in the center of the cupcakes.

Note:

  • I have decorated with some extra licorice.

 

Licorice and Vanilla Cupcakes recipe

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Licorice and Vanilla Cupcakes recipe

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Licorice and Vanilla Cupcakes recipe

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Licorice and Vanilla Cupcakes recipe

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Licorice and Vanilla Cupcakes recipe

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Semolina Spiced Mini Cakes

Posted on Posted in Cakes, Cupcakes .

Semolina Spiced Mini Cakes

Semolina Spiced Mini Cakes recipe

Recently I have been playing a lot with syrups for cakes, which has resulted in quite some playing with a variation of spices and essence (some I am familiar with and some not so much).

One of the syrups I made up was so amazing that I decided to create a cake purely based on the key spices and essence.

After thinking about what cake foundations would best hold and complement my new favourite spices and essences I ended up deciding on a semolina (almost polenta) cake.

It did take me 3 tries to get to this final recipe:

Attempt 1 –  was to produce a thin syrup, which just overtook the cake and flooded it.

Attempt 2 – was to make the syrup more of a caramel consistency, almost to a praline level. This just didn’t suit the cake, it needed to have an ‘icing’ element that would work with the strong spices and tone down the sickly sweetness.

Attempt 3 –I gave up on the syrup idea and decided that this cake would be best eaten with ice-cream and cream as it would work wonders with the strong moist richness of the cake. Therefore whipped up some cream and success!

Ingredients:

Cake:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 180g butter
  • 1 tsn vanilla
  • 1 tsn cinnamon
  • 1 tsn cardamom
  • ½ tsn star anise
  • 6 threads of saffron
  •  ½ tsn rosewater essence
  • 240g natural yoghurt
  • 1 cup semolina
  • ½ cup self raising flour
  • ½ tsn baking powder

Topping:

  • 300g cream
  • 2 + ½ tbsn icing sugar

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c degrees and fill 2 x 12 cupcake tin trays with cupcake liners/cases.
  2. Using electric beaters beat the butter, sugar, vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon, rosewater, saffron diced and star anise until light and fluffy.
  3. Add the yoghurt, semolina, flour and baking powder and beat until the mix is just combine.
  4. Spoon the mix into the 24 cupcake patties.
  5. Bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
  6. Remove the cakes from the tin and place on a cooling tray until cold.
  7. Meanwhile to make the topping whip the cream and sugar in a bowl with electric beaters until peaks form.
  8. Using a piping bag and star nozzle pipe the cream on the top of the cold cake.
  9. Remove the cakes from the patty cases and sprinkle with a little cinnamon on top.

 

Notes:

  • I have decorated the cakes with a sugar almond on top.

 

Semolina Spiced Mini Cakes recipe

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Semolina Spiced Mini Cakes recipe

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Kahlua and Butterscotch schnapps Cake

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