Summer Grillin' - Cupcake Style!

 

Summer is here and it is most definitely BBQ season!.. More than it usually is in our house anyway!

 

We celebrated our friend's 30th birthday the other day with lots of delicious bbq food and a great evening, topped with a donut tower birthday cake (what a great birthday when it lands on National Donut Day!), cake and then also more cupcakes from me!  Perfect!

 

I went with the BBQ theme seeing as that's what we were going for, and it is the season after all! 

 

 

 

Using the same recipe for Coca-Cola Cupcakes as my New Home Cupcakes over a year ago, I thought it was time to use this recipe again, especially as the birthday boy is a fellow coke lover.  They're a little different to regular "cupcakes", with a super dense cake part, and a delicious glaze - with no swirl of buttercream.  This meant I wanted cupcake toppers that were flat, 2D rather than 3D ones so it would lay flat on the surface of the cupcake glaze.

 

So I got to work creating the BBQ themed fondant cupcake toppers.  First up were the burgers.  These were my first idea, and the one I definitely knew how it should look.  I coloured small amounts of fondant a brown colour for the burger, and then a yellow-brown colour for the bun, and used a sharp end of a cake decorating tool to make little "sesame seed" indents.

 

 

Next was the ketchup and mustard!  A little out of scale compared to the burger, but who wouldn't rather have a big burger!?

 

 

Then the choice was between making a '30' cupcake with some birthday decorations, or doing a third BBQ topper.  I went for a third design on the same theme, tying it all together with some corn!  Green and yellow fondant coloured and then cut out with various parts of cookie cutters to get the shapes and sizes I wanted.  The green part came from a maple leaf cutter, and the corn part from the little finger on a high-five hand cookie cutter.  Just using what I had instead of free-styling the cutting!  Then I used the end of a cake decorating tool that looks like a scalloped shell on the end to create the texture of corn.



 Fondant cupcake toppers all done - giving them a little chance to dry out/harden slightly through the morning.  This was some seriously early cupcake prep - after not getting back to sleep at 5.30am on a Friday where I wasn't working, I decided the only way to be productive that day was to just accept that sleep was done for the day and I might as well start baking!

 

So, with the Coca-Cola cupcakes baked, and cooling, and the glaze deliciously smooth ready to be spread over the cupcakes - see the recipe here - it was time to decorate!

 

The great thing about decorating with cupcake toppers when they are already made is that, once the cupcakes are baked up, everything is ready to go!  Assembly is nice and easy, and in fact, it made the early baking wake up worth it!

As the recipe is already on an old post, all that is left to share are some close ups of the cupcakes, and more photos!

Which is your favourite design of the 3?  I think I still love my original idea of the burger, but I also am really pleased with how the corn turned out!

 

 

Perhaps you'll give them a bake this weekend for Father's Day, or for a BBQ Birthday coming up this Summer!  Have fun with fondant cupcake topper prep - and then enjoy how easy everything is to put it together once you're done baking :)   I'd love to see your BBQ cupcakes if you try them!!

 

Happy BBQ Season!!

1 Year Celebration!

I cannot believe it!  This week marks my blog's 1st birthday... 1st anniversary... Whatever the real term for my blog being public for 1 year now.  I have written a post every week for 52 weeks, occasionally a couple per week!  I have gotten better at taking photos specifically for tutorials on the blog, or for showcasing some of my favourite bakes and makes.  I have built up my Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram followers, and love to share what I've been up to with you all!  I have been lucky enough to be featured on some amazing blogs, and am so happy you have enjoyed the things I have created!

So this week, to say thank you to you my readers and supporters, just for now this is a little post to let you all know I'M HAVING MY FIRST CUPCAKE COMPETITION!  ... I'm excited y'know!

In celebration of my year of blogging, I am doing a 'Cupcakes By The Dozen' giveaway through my Facebook page.  Click here and take a look at how to win.  Like the page, share the photo and tell me your favourite cupcake flavour is all you need to do.  ... Because really, who doesn't like cupcakes?! 

I truly love to bake cake.. did you know?!  The collage shows 12 of my favourite cupcakes I have created over the past year.  You could win a dozen cupcakes in your favourite flavour, if you're a local... Or if not - I'll mail out some fondant cupcake toppers! 

Help me celebrate with this small, but fun giveaway!

And for a true Sew Lah Tea Dough blog post, check back later this week for something delicious I can't disclose just yet! 

Bridal Shower Cupcakes ♥

I am super happy today to be blogging about 52 cupcakes I made this weekend for a special lady's bridal shower yesterday!  I'm a little late with the post, but was busy busy making and decorating these cupcakes, and then of course celebrating at the shower itself ♥

 

 

 But here it is, and I'm so happy with how they all turned out!

 

I was asked by my friend (sister and maid of honour to the bride) to make cupcakes for the brunch which would be a vintage, tea party type brunch at an amazing venue - perfect for this shower.  She and the other bridesmaids did an amazing job putting together all of the decorations, games and food which made it a really, really pretty and fun bridal shower!  I think the bride-to-be had a great time!

  

Mostly I am so happy to be asked to make these for the shower.  It is the first time I have had the chance to bake SO many cupcakes for one event and was given a little inspiration from this picture which the sister and maid-of-honour showed me, giving me the idea of how the event would look and the ideas that they were having!

So of course, I got to work in my brain, planning out lots of different ideas, thinking about how I could make this work - in a Sew Lah Tea Dough way!  I didn't want to fully recreate these cupcakes, but instead, put a personal spin on these as well as matching the bride, the party itself and everything I could to tie in my cupcakes to the shower.

 

The bridesmaids had made some really amazing brown paper invitations with ribbon and button embellishments, so that was a personal inspiration that I knew would be used in the shower itself. 

 

So two different designs were born... 1, a pretty in pink look with similar tags stuck in, with lace and pearl inspirations.  2, a button inspired vintage feel design.

 





At the family Summer bash in July I made this cake - a nautical themed Earl Grey Tea cake with Orange Buttercream.  This flavour was a hit with young and old and so this was the requested flavour for the bridal shower too :)  Super happy to get the chance to make this cake again but I changed it up just a little bit.  But how perfect, a tea flavoured cake for a Sunday Bridal Shower Brunch with pretty tea cups and saucers!  I chose to do a lemon buttercream this time to match the citrus flavours you can taste in Earl Grey tea.  I chose orange buttercream last time to tie the earl grey to the marzipan to the buttercream but this time there would be no marzipan, only the cake, fondant decorations on top of the buttercream, so I chose a slightly different flavour.  (Just happens to be my favourite hehe!).

Now you know the inspiration for the designs, and the flavour it's time for the photos :-)

Fondant day was first!  I wanted to get the cupcake decorations made and ready so that on baking day they would have hardened up, meaning they (hopefully) wouldn't go soft once they were placed on the buttercream.  (*It worked!*) ... and it also meant that they were made and done ahead of time, giving me the afternoon before the party to really work on getting them baked and decorated already knowing what would be placed on top ... all I had to decide was the colour combinations.

Here are my supplies for fondant day!  I was excited to use my new Wilton fabric silicone mould which included great button shapes.  I coloured the fondant with a variety of colours, some bright, some more muted, generally going for blues, teals, browns, purples and pinks trying to match the vintagey-feel.  I also used my heart punch for some little love accents which I used on a few of the cupcakes.

I really LOVE working with fondant, creating new shapes, colours and generally just playing around with it all :-)

And for the other design I had been busy working during the week before to create the tags to go on top of the pretty in pink pearl cupcake. 

I used the 'Love Letter TW' - typewriter font and printed out various text on pink card stock that I would use to cut out with my tag cutter!  I chose to use 'I do', 'bride-to-be', 'love' and 'l&r' (the bride and groom's initials).  I also cut out brown paper tags in the same size that I would back the pink ones with.

I used a toothpick in the middle, and glued the two together.  I also then used stick on pearls to decorate the tags.  I had edible pearls for the cakes so thought this would match well. 

 

Fondant toppers made and drying out... Tags all put together... Doilies cut and made to make the lace-look cupcake wrappers and I was ready to...... BAKE!

52 cupcakes were baked, and I had bought 2 huge cupcake boxes from the amazing Golda's Kitchen which would fit 48 (so I guess that left over a few for the boys happily watching football until clean up time :-P).

I used almost the same recipe as last time I baked these cupcakes and so you can find the step-by-step picture tutorial there, but I've also included the recipe at the end of this post - it is so delicious, hope you get to try it!

I used a 1A large open decorating tip for the button cupcakes which I decorated first.  I wanted to make sure the colour combinations were working and they would sit well on the buttercream before the evening got too late!  I chose to use three buttons on each in complementing colours.  Here they are - feeling happy at least half of the cupcakes had worked out and looked good!

 

 

Next up was a 1M star tip for a swirl of peach coloured buttercream, three edible pearls dropped into the swirl and then the tag stuck in the middle.  I LOVE how the doily cupcake wrap matched the pink pearl feel and can't wait to make more cupcakes that will need a pretty lacey doily wrap :)

 



By the end of the night, I was tired and hungry so there's a lack of pictures here, but I knew I had to wait for daylight to get some good photos of the cupcakes so I packed them away for the night!

Until the morning... photo shoot time ♥

 

 

 



 

Lacey love cupcakes photographed and back in their box...

 

Time for the buttons! 

 

Everything packed up ... 2 huge boxes full of cupcakes!  Time for a quick drive up to the shower keeping fingers crossed that no sudden stops had to be made!  It was the first time transporting so many, so I got scared and sat in the back seat with them... All was good (*phew*) and they arrived at the PRETTY bridal shower!  There were some really beautiful platters to put them on, and they sat beside scones, sandwiches, croissants, yummy quiche, kringel, other sweets and an awesome donut tower!

 

So happy to be a part of this special bridal shower ♥  Can't wait for the big day!

* Keep reading for the recipe below *

 

 

For the cake... I'll give you a recipe that will make 16 normal sized cupcakes.  I don't think everyone making this will always want to do 52!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted buter
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
2 1/4 baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
3 tbsp loose Earl Grey tea

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F and line cupcake tray with cupcake cases.
2.  Grind the loose leaf tea (using coffee grinder, food processor or by hand) until it is in smaller pieces, but not quite a powder. 
3.  In a small saucepan heat the milk and 1 tbsp of the ground tea - warm slightly.
4.  Remove the saucepan from the heat before it simmers and let it cool, allowing the tea to steep.
5.  While the milk cools, cream the butter and sugar together in a mixer until it is light and fluffy.
6.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each one.
7.  In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and rest of the tea.
8.  Add half of the dry mixture to the batter and stir until combined.
9.  Strain the milk from the saucepan (leaving the loose steeped tea) and add to the mixture.
10.  Add the remaining dry mixture and mix until all combined. 
11.  Divide the batter between the cupcake cases - I found that using a small OXO cookie scoop it took 3 scoops to make a perfect size of cupcake, just to a similar height as the edge of the cupcake liner.
12.  Bake for 20 minutes (until light and springy to the touch, and when a cake tester comes out clean).
13.  Leave to cool completely before frosting/decorating.

For the buttercream frosting, with enough to pipe at least 16-24 depending on the type of piping (and the rest will always keep a little while in the fridge if there are leftovers... just another excuse to bake more cupcakes!!)

Ingredients:

18oz icing sugar
12oz unsalted butter
1 tsp lemon extract
2 tbsp whole milk

Method:

1.  Beat sugar with the mixer until it is a little soft.
2.  Add icing sugar, extract and milk.
3.  Beat together until combined, soft and creamy.
4.  Pipe with a tip of your choice and decorate as desired!

 

Enjoy baking these delicious Earl Grey Tea cupcakes ♥

 

Let me know if you have any questions about the recipe :)

Back to School Cupcakes ~ PhD Life!

Happy Back to School week everybody!  If you or your little ones went back this week I hope everything went smoothly and everyone is having fun!  I started back at piano teaching this week, and starting next week it's all back to the usual super craziness that September brings!

This semester is super exciting in our house because my husband gets to teach his first class this year!! He's a psychology grad student halfway through his PhD program and has done a couple of guest lectures in the past but this semester he got the job!  His own class teaching intro psych :-D  SO PROUD!

I wont gush too much, because well, he'll be the one proof reading this post, and mainly it's about the cupcakes... I thought I'd just set the scene, and explain why there is less pencils and apples and more brains and textbooks!  It's a PhD life back to school rather than kids elementary!  Hope you still like them :)

I made a batch of 12 vanilla cupcakes (see the recipe below) before getting to work on the fondant cupcake toppers.  

A textbook for PSY102 - his course!

I first rolled out some brown fondant and made some small rectangles.  About an inch tall.  These would be the pages inside the red fondant cover.  This red fondant was slightly different to the white and coloured one and didn't hold together as well after rolling out and wrapping around the brown pages.  After trying to fix it a couple of times, I left it and looked and was actually more happy with it in the end!  I liked the slightly cracked spine-of-text-book feel to it!

The stamped 'J' was made from a few snips of a paper clip to get the correct size and then pressing into the corner of the text book... just to give it some personalisation!

The PSY102 text was done using an edible black marker pen that I use only occasionally, but for this - was perfect!

BRAINS!  Being a psychological science student a lot of Jonathan's work is based around the brain!  Cognitive neurosciencey kind of stuff.  For me, this means a fun thing to create out of fondant!

I started with a blob of fondant (I think mine were slightly orange, just what I had...it wouldn't be seen!).  I then rolled out some thin sausages of white fondant and starting in the middle at one end started weaving side to side until I got to the other end.  I then did one side, and then the other side of the brain until squiggles were everywhere.  Anatomically incorrect yes, but I think the effect was there :-)

And the final cake topper in the set was to represent Ryerson University with it's colours and logo.

Squares of blue and yellow fondant, with letters created of white fondant tubes - slightly thicker sausages than for the brain.  I glued the letters down with royal icing and left the squares separate so they could be stood next to each other, rather than in a straight line.

So cupcakes were cooled down, and fondant cupcake toppers were prepped.  Time to assemble!

For the buttercream I used something new and exciting that I picked up in good old Sainsbury's when I was back in England in August.  I love going to the baking aisles when I'm home and seeing all the different things they have!  This time I picked up COLA FLAVOURING!  This was an obvious choice seeing as my husband is a HUGE Diet Coke fan!  (Did you see the birthday cake I made him?!).  And this was my first opportunity to use it!

As I hadn't used it before, and there were no real recipes for using it (only so many for coca-cola cake using the actual drink) I didn't want to risk the taste of the cake.  Instead I chose to add it to the buttercream, substituting the vanilla essence or lemon extract I often use.

I was really pleased with how it turned out and the cola flavouring really came through.  I love that it was a classic cola taste - kind of like cola bottles or cola cubes instead of just the drink!

Buttercream piped, photos of the toppers done and it was time to assemble!  

Lots of photos coming up!  I was really happy with these toppers so I went a little snap happy :-)  Keep scrolling through, the recipe is at the end :-P

Ingredients: (Makes 12 cupcakes baked in Wilton pan)

4oz self raising flour

4oz granulated sugar

4oz unsalted butter

2 large eggs

Method:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 375°F/ 190°C and line a 12 cup baking tin with cupcake liners.

2.  Cream together sugar and butter in a mixer.

3.  Beat in eggs gradually.

4.  Sift in flour and mix together.

5.  Divide batter equally between cupcake cases.

\\

For the buttercream, which piped all 12 with just a little leftover! ... 

Ingredients

9oz icing sugar (powdered)

6oz unsalted butter

1.5 tsp cola extract

1 tbsp 1% milk

Method:

1.  Beat butter until soft.

2.  Gradually add icing sugar.  I usually put a teatowel around my mixer when I do this to stop the sugar going EVERYWHERE!

3.  Add milk.  Keep beating until light and fluffy.  The more you beat it the more buttercream it seems to make!!

4.  Add cola extract.  Check the taste as you go!

Fill your piping bag and pipe away!  I used the swirl tip #1M :-)

Super happy with these cupcakes, and even more excited and proud of my husband and his first lecturing post during his PhD ♥  Hope your back to school week has been a lot of fun, enjoy this weekend off!