An Easter Market Cupcake Stall at Bangor Uni & Mini Egg Rocky Roads

So 14 hours of baking, 150 cupcakes later and this is what I had to show for it! This was my cupcake stall at the Easter market my Uni put on.  

The things that couldn't fly off the table quick enough were these assorted boxes of mini's! I'd been saving egg boxes for weeks, along with some very thoughtful friends and sisters who did the same for me! My mom sent me that lovely flowery paper and so I decided to cover each box with it to make it prettier, and in case some people wanted to give the egg boxes as gifts.  That was a time consuming task - who knew that some egg labels are stuck on with such nasty adhesive that takes forever to get off! but I think it was worth it in the end!

People couldn't resist their cuteness and the opportunity to taste every cupcake I was selling without looking like a piggy! I made four varieties of cupcakes, including Cookies and Cream Oreo Cupcakes (I forgot to take a picture of them on the stall but you can see the mini one above)...

I also made Creme Egg Cupcakes...

and Coconut Birdie Nest Cupcakes...

and these Malteser Bunny Cupcakes were definitely the hit of the day and I sold out of these first.

Here's another shot of the mini's all lined up and ready to be bought! 

My mom got me this awesome cake stand from a charity shop! On the second row down you will see some Mini Egg Rocky Roads that I decided to make at midnight the night before the stall! I had finished all the cupcake baking and still had a whole bag of Mini Eggs left and decided I should really whip something up for people who don't like cupcakes (yes, these people really exist - who knows how or why!)

So I'll leave you with the recipe, it's pretty simple and easy to whip together.  They would be fun to make with kids, but make sure they don't get involved with the chopping of the Mini Eggs! I nearly lost two of my thumbs to this process! and that's not even an exaggeration.  I was using a super sharp knife and because they roll around when you try and chop them in half it was a dangerous task! My one thumb still hasn't properly healed and it was 3 weeks ago now that it happened!

Warnings aside, these were absolutely delish and would make the perfect addition to any Easter gathering this weekend!

Mini Egg Rocky Roads:

Makes 12 cupcake sized

From Cupcake Crazy Gem

300g milk chocolate

150g dark chocolate

2 tsp vegetable oil

1 cup Rice Krispies

1 cup Mini Eggs, chopped in halves or quarters

150g mini marshmallows

36 Whole Mini Eggs

Melt both chocolates in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water.

Add the vegetable oil and mix together.

Chop up Mini Eggs, with caution!

Add Mini Eggs, marshmallows and Rice Krispies to the cooled chocolate mixture.  Mix together until combined.

Pour into cupcake cases.  Decorate each one with 3 whole Mini Eggs.  Press them slightly into the chocolate.

Refrigerate overnight or for at least one hour if you need to try them right away!

Cadbury's Creme Egg Cupcakes for Easter

You can probably tell that these were the last cupcakes I made of the night in preparation for the stall because by this time I was just ready to get into bed and so I only managed to snap one quick photo! 

It seems I've been confusing a few of you with my various postings about the stall! It's not something I do weekly - I probably couldn't keep up with 14 hours straight of baking each week! It was a one off Easter market that my Uni was running a few weeks back.  So I baked for 14 hours the day before and then sold my cupcakes at the stall the next day.  I've just been posting the different cupcakes I made with their accompanying recipes in the lead up to Easter and since these are the last cupcakes my next blog post will be about the event itself.  

I have a confession to make...I'm not the biggest fan of creme eggs.  I would probably rather eat any other  flavour of easter egg than this one but I know it's pretty popular among everyone else so I felt I couldn't run an Easter cupcake stall without some creme egg cupcakes featuring, and they were very popular on the day!

I took my inspiration for the cracked eggs from Sticky Pinny, whose creme egg cupcakes helped her to win the chocolate bar challenge at Iron Cupcake Leeds.

I used her recipe for the yellow creme egg filling type frosting and it tasted just like the real deal! so much so that people even asked me if I had melted real creme egg filling and mixed it in to make it taste so life like! I used a basic vanilla frosting for the other half and piped it on two tone to try and create the effect that it was oozing from the mini cracked egg on top! 

Chocolate Cupcakes:

Makes 12 regular and 12 mini

From Cupcakes From the Primrose Bakery

115g good quality chocolate, I used 70% Valrhona 

85g unsalted butter, at room temperature

175g soft light brown sugar

2 large eggs, separated

185g plain flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt

250ml semi-skimmed milk, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C.

Line cupcake tin with cupcake cases.

Melt the chocolate in 30 second intervals in the microwave, or in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water.  Leave to cool slightly.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a free standing mixer until pale and smooth.  In a separate bowl and with clean beaters, beat the egg yolks for several minutes.  Slowly add the egg yolks to the creamed butter and sugar and beat well.  Next, add the chocolate to this mixture and beat well.

Combine the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a separate bowl.  Combine the milk and vanilla together in a measuring jug.  Add the flour mixture to the free standing mixer, alternating with the milk and vanilla.  Beat well after each addition.

In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks start to form.  Carefully fold the egg whites into the main batter using a metal spoon.  Do not beat or you will take the air out of the cake.

Fill the cupcake cases 2/3 full.  Bake for 20-25 minutes for the regular cupcakes and 13-15 minutes for the mini's.  Let the cupcakes cool in pans for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  

Creme Egg Frosting:

Makes enough to frost the above

From Sticky Pinny

170g golden syrup

60g unsalted butter, at room temperature

375g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

Yellow food colouring (next time I'd make mine more orange, as the yellow didn't match up with the colour from inside the creme egg so well)

Mix the butter, syrup and vanilla in the bowl of a free standing mixer.  

Gradually add the icing sugar, then the food colouring and carry on beating until smooth.  

*It is very sweet frosting by itself, originally it was paired with cream cheese frosting which would cut some of the sweetness.  I was leaving mine frosted overnight and didn't want to put them in the fridge so I used regular vanilla frosting instead but if I was making them on the day I would use cream cheese too.

Vanilla Frosting:

Makes enough to frost the above

From Cupcakes From the Primrose Bakery

110g unsalted butter, at room temperature

60ml semi-skimmed milk, at room temperature

1 tsp good quality vanilla extract

500g icing sugar, sifted

In a freestanding mixer, beat the butter, milk, vanilla extract and half the icing sugar until smooth.

Gradually add the remainder of the icing sugar and beat until the buttercream is smooth and creamy.

In a piping bag, put yellow creme egg frosting down one side and the vanilla frosting down the other side.  Pipe a small amount onto a plate until the colours start to come out in equal amounts.

Pipe on to your cupcake.

To decorate:

3 packs of mini Creme Eggs

Cut one mini egg in half per regular sized cupcake.  Arrange them in your frosting so it looks like the Creme Egg filling is spilling out and becoming the frosting.  Use one half on top of each mini cupcake.

Coconut Birdie Nest Cupcakes with Mini Eggs for Easter

I just finished an essay that is due in tomorrow, my reward is blogging this post! I don't want to have to think about verbal operants, listener and speaker responses or mand repertoires for the next little while so let's talk about cupcakes instead! 

These were the next Easter offerings I made for my cupcake stall! Coconut cupcakes with creamy coconut frosting, and a sprinkling of toasted shredded coconut that I arranged to look like a nest and then I filled the nest with Cadbury's Mini Eggs! 

I was even able to use the super cute chick toppers I got free in the Easter issue of my Love Baking Magazine.

As you all know by now coconut is one of my very favourite flavours! but I am aware that for whatever strange reason it is a bit of a love/hate thing for others.

Apparently for the people of North Wales, it's a hate thing! I only sold one of my coconut flavoured cupcakes! and that was to a South African lady.  

Seriously, it's so boring just liking plain vanilla and chocolate cupcakes - people need to be more adventurous with their tastes! At the end of the day though it meant there were lots of coconut cupcakes left over for us to indulge in so it wasn't all bad! 

Coconut Cupcakes:

Makes 12 Regular and 24 Mini

From Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery

165g unsalted butter, at room temperature

270g caster sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp good quality vanilla extract

187g self-raising flour

180g plain flour

187ml coconut milk

40g desiccated coconut

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and the sugar until pale and smooth, which should take about 3-5 minutes using an electric mixer.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing for a few minutes after each addition and adding the vanilla extract at the end.

Combine the two flours in a separate bowl.  Add one-third of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat well.  Pour in one-third of the coconut milk and beat again.  Repeat these steps until all the flour and milk have been added.  Fold in the desiccated coconut using a metal spoon.

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, filling them two-thirds full.  

Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes until slightly raised and golden brown, or when an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and leave in the cake tins to cool for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Coconut Frosting:

Makes enough to frost the above

From The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

560g icing sugar

180g unsalted butter, softened

60ml coconut milk

Beat half the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding mixer on medium speed until the mixture comes together, then add the remaining butter and sugar.

Add coconut milk and beat until incorporated. 

Turn up to high speed and beat for 5 minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy.

To decorate:

Toasted shredded coconut

3 packs of Cadbury's Mini Eggs

I'm sharing these for Cupcake Tuesday over at Hoosier Homemade! 

A Christmas Cupcake Stall at Bangor's Christmas Market

Yesterday was Bangor Uni's Christmas Market, which was run by the students.  We got an email a while back asking if anyone was interested in running a stall so I jumped at the chance, not realising the market was the day after I had an essay due in! In hindsight, it wasn't the best timing! but it turned out pretty well in the end considering how little sleep I got (please excuse the bad pictures - the lighting in the hall was terrible!) Also, I am not claiming responsibility for the purple tablecloth or the tinsel - that was all down to the University setting up! but I must thank my mom for sending me the awesome gold and starry tablecloth and serviettes to make my stall a little bit prettier! Most people didn't worry with their stalls but I like things to look fancy! 

Here's a little run down of everything I made, recipes will be following later in the week...

First up, I made some red velvet cupcakes with peppermint frosting.  I made the frosting two tone to co-ordinate with the candy cane toppers.  

The most popular of the day had to be these hot chocolate cupcakes with swiss meringue buttercream.  If you've never had swiss meringue buttercream before (no one seemed to know what it was who visited my stall!) it's a very silky light frosting made from a combination of heated egg whites, butter and sugar.  It's less sweet then regular buttercream and was the perfect accompaniment to the rich chocolate cupcake.  It also pipes on like a dream and as it's so light it helped to create the whipped cream look I was going for.  I dusted some cocoa, sprinkled some marshmallows on and dipped a wafer in melted chocolate just to finish them off! 

One of my favourite combos, especially for Christmas is gingerbread with cream cheese frosting.  I made these cupcakes for the first time two years ago and then last year in the Caribbean I made them with my sister too, so they're definitely becoming a bit of a tradition!

 Homemade gingerbread men as toppers always go down well.  I'm really not a fan of fondant decorations and I believe cupcake toppings should always look good and be delicious.

My favourite cupcakes of the day were these brownie cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.  They are all round a delicious flavour combo but also I was excited to make them so I could turn them into baubles! I ordered the mini Reese's peanut butter cups from one of my favourite websites - The Stateside Candy Co, and I knew as soon as I saw them that they would be perfect for looking like a bauble! 

So I tried my best to mound my frosting into a circular shape and then did a few zig zag patterns over the frosting with melted chocolate.  I put the reese's cup at the top to act as the hanging part of the bauble.  They were time consuming but I think they were worth the effort! As a random side note, I discovered last year whilst in the Caribbean from my American colleagues that they didn't know what a bauble was! Apparently in America they are known simply as Christmas Ornaments so for all my American followers these were my 'Christmas Ornament' cupcakes! 

I also baked 12 mini's of each flavour because these bite sized treats are always popular.

Did you know egg boxes are made for putting mini's in? I like to give them aways as presents in these by decorating the boxes and tying ribbon around them.  I decorated these with some striped Christmas paper and a gift tag...

and put a random assortment of mini's inside - people fell in love with these and all the boxes were snapped up in the first 20 minutes! I must remember to make more for next time around...

I finished with a few treats for those out there who might not be as cupcake crazy as I am! I made some Christmas shaped gingerbread cookies, and these peppermint brownies.  They were chocolate brownies frosted with chocolate-peppermint swiss meringue buttercream and finished off with some chopped up candy canes and a drizzle of mint chocolate .  I made these in the last hour before we had to leave the house as an afterthought, but I was glad I did as they got some of the best compliments of the day! 

I'm off to do my 25th load of washing up...no really! Baking for the masses without a dishwasher is no fun at all!