Sunday 18 September 2011

Celebrating National Cupcake Week

I have to confess that I am probably THE world’s worst cook!!!  Luckily for me, I have an amazing husband who’s a great cook – and who actually enjoys being in the kitchen.  

For me, the kitchen is a scary place, where dangers lurk in every drawer and cupboard!  The last time I attempted to make dinner, for example, I plugged in the blender without realising that the button was switched to ‘on’.  Ooooops!!!!!  My husband heard the blender start up at the same time as my scream of shock and came running in, thinking I’d blended myself.  Luckily, I’d only blended all the blender attachments and lid (that we keep inside the blender when we’re not using it)!

So.....  I tend to avoid the kitchen as much as possible!  But, loving all things pretty, I bought myself the ‘Bake-a-Boo Bakery Cookbook’ (by Zoe Berkeley) a few months ago.  My husband nearly died of shock when he saw what I’d picked up! 


When I realised that this week has been National Cupcake Week (check out www.nationalcuocakeweek.co.uk for some mouth-watering recipes and photos), I thought I’d get out my scrumptious little book and venture back into the kitchen.  This time, thank goodness, there were no disasters!  I decided to use the basic fairy cake recipe (starting off my baking career as simply as possible), and put pink butter cream on top.  This photo from the book was my initial inspiration for icing.....  


..... but I thought I’d give the sugar craft flowers a miss and use hundreds & thousands (along with some cute cocktail sticks I found in the drawer) to decorate my cakes.

Here are all my ingredients, laid out nicely.


And here they are again, all mixed up and ready to go into the oven.  Of course, there was a tiny bit of mixture left in the bowl for me!


While the cakes were in the oven, I mixed up the butter cream.  Mmmmm!!!  I had to fight off the temptation to just stick my head into the bowl and lick away!


And.....  TADA!!!  Here are my finished cupcakes! 


I know they’re absolutely no match for the ones in the book, but they look girly and pretty – and they taste okay!  If I made them again, there are a few things I’d try to change.  The icing could have been thicker and more creamy.  And I think I left the cakes in the oven for a few minutes longer than I should have.  Next time, I might try the recipe for ‘dainty lemon cakes’, though.  They sound (and look) yummy!  But, until National Cupcake Week 2012, that’s it from the Crafted by Carly kitchen.....

Now I’m off to have another cake.....


Carly

x  

5 comments:

  1. They do look good! I hope it gives you the confidence to try out more in the kitchen :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you!!! Your comment made me smile!

    I'm sure I will venture into the world of the unknown more - I'll just avoid sharp things..... and and hot things..... and electrical things..... ;-)

    Just off to check out your cupcake post.....

    Carly
    x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi, thanks for your lovely comment on my blog! Nice to 'meet' you ;)

    Those cupcakes look great - I'm rubbish at baking but quite happy to eat cupcakes all day... Cooking is all about trying things out, you have to have a stab at it to know if you're any good! Go for it, you can only get better!

    (says she with a chef for a husband... !)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Caroline,
    Thanks for your encouraging comments - I really appreciate them! :-)
    Carly
    x

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for stopping by for a visit, and for taking the time to leave me a comment. It's always a pleasure to hear from readers, and it really makes my day!

Carly

x

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...