Going potty for Harry Potter Cupcakes

See what I did there? To celebrate the release of the latest and last Harry Potter, I celebrated in the only way I know how - by making themed cupcakes. Now I don't take credit for the idea as Harry potter cupcakes have been done but I did however dream up the golden snitch one and feel quite proud about them :p















The recipe was from the 'Eat me' book where she made chocolate aster cupcakes - I used the recipe, as my mother in law was staying I replaced the flour with gluten free self raising flour. Then decorated with icing that I had crafted.

Hungover hummingbird cupcakes

So what would you be doing after travelling back home for hours on a Sunday after a long boozey wedding on the Saturday?? Why bake some cupcakes of course?!

So this is from my 'Eat me' book which to be honest I've found pretty hit and miss so far.















In regards to this recipe:

Pro's: had amazing flavours and were unusual (banana, pineapple, pecan, vanilla and cinnamon
Con's: The batter was so watery - I cooked for an extra 15 mins but still thought the sponge was too soft (although others thought fine), i don't think these cakes needed the soft cheese/butter icing that it had listed as the sponge was so moist (like a carrot or banana cake) it would only need a thin layer if any.

However it gave me the opportunity to play with a new nozzle! Introducing the shell one from the icing bag set I got from HoF. And experimenting with new techniques with my wilton :)

Garden Cake for Mother's Day

Tanya's thoughts:















I had an epiphany with this cake. It turns out after research that designing a cake that looks like a garden is not a unique idea however I've yet to see one that has a dark chocolate - earth like sponge! My mum was delighted.

Cake:










 I made Nigella's chocolate guinness cake - as have made this before and remembered what a dark dense colour and texture it was - it worked brilliantly for this cake.





Icing:

 I then used some coloured paste in a cream cheese-butter icing (from Lorraine Pascal's 'baking made easy' book to ice the cake (twice - chilling the cake in the fridge after first coat).








White fence:



The white chocolate fingers was a a brilliant idea - I was looking for trifle sponges to do the trick then I saw these.







Other decorations:


  I used some liquid food dye with dessicated coconut and put that in the oven for a while to dry out - these looked like grass/seedlings.

 The edible flowers were from the cakes, cookies and crafts website and although they took exactly 7 days to deliver (which Im a bit annoyed about as only took a few days last time so must factor in their longer time-scales next time I order)but they looked great.
















The only downside was I probably put too much green food paste into the icing so some people's teeth went green! :p Only until they had a drink so only last a couple of minutes but it caused lots of laughs.

Gingerbread cupcakes

 













Tanya's thoughts:

So I had this brilliant idea to make gingerbread muffins but in cake cases (as i find a whole muffin too filling sometimes) and then added a lovely cream cheese icing on top (and this is the really exciting bit) then added some gingerbread men sprinkles!! they tasted of cinnamon to be honest but looked great. If any of my family are reading this - I may make these again for Heather's buffet.