Raspberry & Cream butterfly adorned cupcakes

Dr Oetker recently sent me some Wafer Butterflies, which enable bakers of all abilities to instantly make simple cupcakes and desserts more colourful and beautiful. With guests due round for afternoon tea on Saturday I decided on Saturday morning to quickly rustle up some raspberry and cream cupcakes in Jane Means pretty striped cupcake cups and adorn them with the pretty wafer butterflies.

Here's how...

Gluten-free Raspberry & Cream butterfly adorned cupcakes (makes 13 cake cup cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 75g gluten-free self raising flour
• 75g gluten-free plain flour
• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 150g (2/3 cup)caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 60ml(1/4 cup) milk
• 13 frozen raspberries

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat oven to 160-180 deg C.
2. Place baking cups on a baking tray.
3. Beat flour, butter, milk and eggs in a bowl with an electric mixer until the mixture turns a pale colour.
4. Divide mixture between cases.
5. Push one frozen raspberry in to each batter filled case
6. Bake for between 25-30 minutes until cakes bounce back when lightly pressed
7. Place cakes on wire rack to cool.

To decorate (for 13 cake cup sized cakes) Ingredients

• 250ml double cream
• 2 tbsp icing sugar, sifted
• Wafer Butterflies

Instructions

1. Place the cream and icing sugar in a bowl and whisk till light and fluffy
2. Fill piping bag fitted with a star nozzle
3. Pipe a swirl of cream icing on top of the cakes
4. Adorn each cake with a wafer butterfly

Have a sweet day!

Mini gluten free chocolate & raspberry cheesecakes

Raspberry Cheesecake (makes 8 jars)

Ingredients

• 8 gluten free chocolate digestive biscuits
• 100g unsalted (sweet) butter
• 400g cream cheese
• 600ml double (heavy) cream
• 6 tbsp icing sugar
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence
• 200g raspberries
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 gelatine leaf soaked in a bowl of water

What you will need

• Small glass jars

Cooking instructions

1. Place digestives in a bag and crush by rolling a rolling pin back and forth over the bag until you are left with crumbs
2. In a small saucepan, melt the butter, remove from heat and stir in digestive crumbs
3. Divide crumb mixture between the jars and press down lightly with the end of a wooden spoon or teaspoon
4. Whip double cream until stiff peaks form
5. In a separate bowl whisk cream cheese, icing sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract until smooth
6. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mix
7. Fill biscuit based jars with cream cheese mixture
8. Place in fridge
9. Blend raspberries in a blender until you have a puree
10. Place raspberries, water and sugar in a pan and heat on medium heat until sugar has dissolved
11. Remove from heat and add gelatine leaf, stir until dissolved
12. Place in cup to cool
13. Spoon raspberries mix on to individual cheesecakes
14. Leave in fridge until ready to serve

Have a sweet day!

Gluten free raspberry cream sprinkles cake

The lovely peeps at Bombay Duck recently sent me the Icing on the Cake Spotty Cake Slice and Knife Set that comes in a lovely candy pink and white striped gift box. The cake slice and knife are so pretty that it was only fitting that I made a pretty pink cake to use them on!
I decided to make a vanilla cake batter with pink sprinkles in it so my new cake slice and knife would reveal a pretty surprise! The cake was quite a dense cake so it definitely needed a light filling and frosting. So I made a sumptuous whipped fresh cream raspberry frosting and filling that I piped on with a star nozzle. I then decorated the top with white sprinkles, pink candy dots and a light dusting of pink glitter...



Gluten free vanilla cake batter with sprinkles (makes two 9" cakes)

Ingredients

• 225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 395g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs + 2 large egg yolks
• 1 tbsp Vanilla extract
• 330g gluten free self raising flour
• 354ml buttermilk
• 2 tbsp pink sugar strands (sprinkles)

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat oven to 160C (fan assisted)
2. Lightly butter two 9" cake tins and line with greaseproof paper, butter paper
3. In a food mixer on high beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy
4. Beat in eggs and egg yolks one at a time to butter mix, beating well after each addition
5. Beat in vanilla extract
6. Gradually add flour and buttermilk alternating between the two, beating slowly between each addition until just combined. Scrape down bowl as needed.
7. Stir in sprinkles
8. Divide batter between the tins
9. Tap firmly on surface to remove air bubbles, and smooth the tops with the back of a spoon
10. Bake for about 30 mins until cakes are golden and bounce back when lightly pressed
11. Place on rack to cool

Tips...
Butter should be soft enough to hold a thumbprint but still keep its shape.
Eggs should be at room temperature as cold eggs will be harder to keep from curdling.
To check your cake is cooked insert a toothpick/skewer in the center, If it comes up with some wet batter or stickiness on it, the cake needs to bake some more.

Raspberry cream
Ingredients

• Double cream
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• Fresh raspberries

Method

1. Puree raspberries in a blender and set to one side
2. Using an electric mixer whisk cream and icing sugar until the mixture starts to thicken
3. Slowly whisk in raspberries till soft peaks form

Raspberry cream sprinkles cake
You will need

• Two 9" vanilla sprinkles cakes
• Raspberry cream
• White sugar strands (sprinkles)
• Pink candy dots
• Edible pink glitter

To decorate

1. Place one cooled cake on serving plate or cake stand
2. Using a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, pipe stars of raspberry cream so the top of the entire cake is covered
3. Carefully place second cake on top, and gently press down so it lays flat
4. Using a spatula spread a thin layer of raspberry cream on the top of the cake
5. Starting at the base of the tiered cakes, pipe stars of raspberry cream in rows till entire sides of the cake are covered
6. Pipe a row of stars round the edge of top of cake
7. Sprinkle top with white sugar strands,candy dots and pink glitter

Have a sweet day!

Gluten free raspberry & white chocolate tray bake

I am loving tray bakes right now so I am putting my Tala swiss roll tray to the test again! Tala also recently sent me some baking beans which come in a cute pale blue tin, so I decided to make a raspberry and white chocolate tray bake with a shortcrust pastry base. It tastes a little like a cheesecake which has to be one of my favourite desserts so I will be making this again, maybe a nice rich dark chocolate one for the chilly nights ahead!

Gluten free raspberry & white chocolate tray bake (makes one tray, 40 x 28 x 2.5cm)

Ingredients

• 400g gluten free shortcrust pastry
• Gluten free plain flour for dusting
• 500g mascarpone
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 100g ground almonds
• 2 large eggs
• 250g fresh raspberries
• 100g white chocolate chips
• Sieved icing sugar for dusting
• Fresh raspberries cut in half to decorate

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C (160c fan)
2. Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface to about 8mm thick
3. Line tin with rolled out pastry
4. Line pastry with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans
5. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes
6. Remove paper and beans and return to the oven for a further five minutes
7. Meanwhile whisk together the mascapone, almonds and eggs till well combined
8. Fold in the raspberries and white chocolate chips
9. Bake in the oven for 25 mins until the top is lightly golden
10. Leave the tray bake to cool and then place in fridge for further cooling and setting
11. Using a sharp knife cut into slices
12. Sprinkle with sieved icing sugar and decorate with half a raspberry

Have a sweet day!

Raspberries

Source 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Today on Inspirational Pins I bring you another seasonal fruit: raspberries.

There are over 200 different known species of raspberries but only 2 species are grown on a large scale!

To see more raspberry recipes check out my Pinterest board, Raspberries. I want to have a go at the raspberry and rhubarb crumble muffins!

Have a sweet day!

Hello Kitty raspberry jelly candies

This Summer I will be making my niece Molly's third birthday cake. For her first birthday, I made a pastel coloured jungle themed cake to match her gift of a jungle bench I hand-painted in pastels with matching cushion. For her second birthday, I made a cute little house cake to match all the gifts I made and gave her for her playhouse. This year she has asked for a Hello Kitty cake. I'll be making a few other Hello Kitty treats, too. In preparation I have started playing about with ideas...

After a few attempts at making fruit flavoured Hello Kitty jellies, I finally got the taste and texture right. Here's how...

Raspberry jelly candies (makes 24 jellies)

Ingredients

• 1 pack of raspberry jelly (Jello) (135g)
• 4 sheets of gelatine
• 80ml water
• 3 tbsp condensed milk

Tools & equipment

• Hello Kitty mould x2
• Pipette

Cooking instructions

1. Place gelatine sheets in cold water and leave for at least five minutes
2. Place raspberry jelly cubes in a microwaveable jug
3. Add 80ml of water
4. Heat for approx. 1 minute
5. Stir until completely dissolved
6. Remove soaked gelatine sheets from bowl of water and add to dissolved raspberry jelly mix and stir till dissolved
7. Using a pipette, carefully squeeze melted jelly mixture into Hello Kitty bows & noses
8. Place the moulds into the fridge
9. Add the condensed milk to the remaining melted jelly mixture and stir thoroughly till you have an even colour
10. Remove moulds from fridge and pour jelly mixture into moulds
11. Place in fridge overnight to set
12. Carefully turn out Hello Kitty raspberry jellies

Now I want to play with the colour, as I think the pink looks too dark against the red bow!

Have a sweet day!

Gluten free Chocolate Soufflé

This is a super easy chocolate soufflé to make and tastes so good. You can make it in advance and leave it in the fridge until ready to cook. I recently made it for my guests at a dinner party and it went down a storm! I love serving it with fresh raspberries as it is very rich!

Gluten-free Chocolate Soufflé (makes 8 individual servings)

Ingredients

• 150g (2/3 ounces) unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 teaspoon (1/6 ounces) natural vanilla extract
• 175g (1 cup) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• 6 large eggs
• 125g (1/2 cup) Gluten free plain flour
• 200g (7 ounces) Hotel Chocolat 70% dark chocolate drops
• Raspberries to decorate
• Single cream to serve

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180-200 deg C (325-350 deg F)
2. Lightly butter inside of ramekins. (I use a sheet of kitchen roll and a knob of butter)
3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bain marie (or in a bowl over a simmering pan of water)
4. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla essence until very light and fluffy
5. Fold in flour
6. Fold in the chocolate mixture
7. Divide mixture among ramekins
8. Bake for 8-12 minutes, the soufflé should rise and form a crust around the edges, leaving the middle slightly gooey
9. Place on cake stands and decorate with fresh raspberries
10. Serve with lashings of single cream

Have a sweet day!