Mango Cupcakes With A Slice of Chocolate Ganache

Spring is teasing us at the moment.  One minute it’s shorts and t.shirts (for the eternal optimists out there) and the next it’s winter woolies.  Then when we think the sun is here for keeps, the heavens open in all its glory forcing us to rush for our sturdiest brollies and toughest wellies.  It’s enough to send you fleeing to sunnier climates.  So to bring you some exotic escapism, it's mangoes to the rescue :-).  In short, I can never get enough of the stuff.  Mango desserts, mango lassies, mango milkshakes, mango juices, mango chutneys, mango mango mango :-).  I’m sure you get my drift.  If it has a mango ring to it then I’m totally yours.

I bought an unripe mango from my local supermarket a couple of days ago and it was so green I had to wrap it tightly in a plastic bag to hasten the ripening process.  I’m sorry but crunchy mangoes just don’t cut the mustard for me.  Fortunately, the trick worked a treat and before long my mango was ready for baking and icing.  To be honest, I find ready-to-eat mangoes a little difficult to find in supermarkets before they are thrown out, so you have to be quick off the mark to catch them in the act.  Careful how you play this though; rugby tackle them to the ground and you could wind up with more than you bargained for:-).                                                                                      

The easier option I guess would have been to use tinned mango pulp.  My only problem with that is the overt sweetness and lack of natural mango scent.  I have used tinned mango pulp in a few recipes and have always been disappointed with the outcome, hence the reason I opted for the fresh alternative.  A couple of seconds in the blender and the pureed mango was good to go.  It should have been enough on its own but typically, I wanted an accompaniment to give the mango cupcakes a little je ne sais quoi.  That’s where the chocolates come in.  I didn’t have to look very far before I spotted a bar asking to be used.  As a minimalist I wrestled with the idea of a mango and choco combo but it didn’t last long.  My friend Lara recently introduced me to Montezuma’s organic chocolates and it just so happened that I had a bar lying around.  They even sell kilo bars and quite frankly that's just oh so so very cruel…  Anyway, with the chocolate sitting there still staring at me, a decision had to be made pretty sharpish because it was either going to wind up in a chocolate ganache or my mouth.  I’m glad to say that the chocolate ganache won that standoff:-).     

                                                               

 

Once the mango cupcakes were ready I piled them with chocolate ganache before finally completing the look with a generous mountain of mango buttercream.                   

Thanks again to my colleagues who without fail dished out their thoughts and recommendations. Just as I figured, my enthusiasm to mangofy (if ever there is such a word) the buttercream frosting unfortunately created a runny mess, and resulted in abandoning any fancy piping plans I might have had.  I’ll just have to resist the temptation to go overboard next time.  I have amassed quite a collection of piping bags and nozzles and can’t wait to use them next week.                                                                                                                                                                     

Cupcake Treats London x

Sport Relief Charity Cake Sale

This week has been a bit of a weird one for me.  Firstly, I forgot my keys at work, and realised the time costly mistake just minutes before arriving at my front door.  Having clocked three hours travelling to work and back that day, the thought of accumulating additional three hours to my total journey time almost tipped me over the edge.  I’m sure anyone who has ever been that situation would have sympathised with my plight.  Secondly, my phone was stolen from my satchel (yes a satchel and a very deep one at that!) on a crowded tube journey to work.  I had slept very well the previous night and was very alert that morning.  Seriously, how daring do you have to be to consider putting your hands in someone else’s bag and have a good search under the watchful eye of the potential victim?  Very daring, I think is the answer for the thieving swine who legged it with my phone, and also enjoyed hours of international calls with it might I add.  My phone bill at the end of the month should be a barrel of laughs :-(.

Anyway, with enough excitement to last a month, it is little wonder I almost forgot about the Sport Relief charity cake sale at work which I had volunteered to contribute towards.  With all proceeds going to Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Royal Institute for the Blind, I decided to go for two of my favourite flavours; double chocolate and coconut.  The cakes were nice and soft perhaps as a result of using the McDougalls Supreme Sponge flour mentioned in the Flour Power blog, and they went down an absolute treat :-).  The fine desiccated coconut covered cupcakes looked so cute and surprisingly delicate, while the double chocolate buttercream frosting looked really vibrant with colourful sprinkles, sugar strands and flowers.  We raised more money than we expected, which was fantastic considering the fun we had baking and selling the cakes.  All in all it was a brilliant end to the week.  
    

Cupcake Treats London x

Flour Power

It’s not the most riveting topic so I’ll attempt to garner some interest and promise not to punish you for longer than necessary. I’ve noticed that while some of my cupcakes come out quite nicely, others come out a tad on the chewy side. I’m not talking flapjacks here although they come pretty close. The problem is more apparent in plain cupcakes that are quite light in texture. Initially, I thought it was because I skimped on the ingredients and preparation times when I took my eye off the ball for a couple of seconds, but this turned out not to be either as I later discovered.

While scouring the net for clues, I stumbled across a site which provided some clarity on the confusion. You see, I’ve always assumed that any type of flour will do the job regardless of what I’m baking, but it appears flours suitable for baking cakes are high in starch content, refined and have 5 – 8 % protein composition. The outcome is you wind up with light and fluffy cakes that are less likely to collapse when they come out of the oven. I had a look at the flour packet in my cupboard and was intrigued to discover the protein composition was bordering 12% which is significantly higher than the recommended guide.

Suffice to say that I was down my local supermarket afterwards like a shot examining all the flour packets and trying to establish the best brand for my cupcakes. Eventually, I bought a packet of McDougalls Supreme Sponge Flour with the protein composition of 8% which isn’t too bad. Another tip I discovered floating around the net is to mix all purpose flour with a bit of cornstarch. This is supposed to work a treat when you are out of the real stuff so I might give it a go when the packet I bought runs out.

I can’t wait to get baking to see whether this really does make a difference. See that wasn’t so torturous after all :-). I’ll let you know how I get on.

Cupcake Treats London x

Cupcake Treats London - The Beginning…

 

I love cupcakes and make no bones about my love affair with these delightful fancies. I suspect you would be hard pressed to find cupcake haters out there, and if you do, they might not be keen on the sweet stuff but chances are they’ll be impressed by how pretty they look.

For as long as I can remember, no Sunday brunch with friends and family has gone by without my ritual cupcake and tea. The re-insurgence of cupcakes a couple of years ago coincided with the purchase of my new kitchen, and what better way to put the oven to good use than to get baking pronto. That said, I soon discovered that the idea was going to take longer to materialise than expected.
 

 

 I’m not going to lie; it hasn’t been plain sailing. Firstly, all manner of baking has always been under the close guidance of my mum who is usually patiently waiting in the wings to remedy potential emergencies. She lives abroad and although she’s a couple of digits away by phone if things really hit the fan, it’s just not the same as having her here with me. Secondly, trying to understand my fan oven is like learning another language from scratch, and I’m not talking about reading the manual here (which incidentally happens to be written in English).

What is it about fan ovens that don't allow you to nip away for a couple of minutes without feeling like you might return to find your food burnt to a crisp? Let's just say that my first attempt at baking cupcakes produced less than desirable results. This was my first baking experience in a while and I was disappointed. With a frustrated yelp, the shrivelled rock hard chocolate cupcakes were flung out of the kitchen window quicker than you could say..well.. cupcakes. To my local postman outside going about his business that morning, I apologise profusely for giving you concussion. Thank you for not pressing charges – I owe you one.

 

In retrospect, I couldn’t have been that upset because I found time to take a few pictures before the shock set in. I realised pretty sharpish that I couldn’t afford to rely solely on memory to whip up nice cupcakes. I was going to have put in some serious research, and finding the time was going to be tricky. I work during the week and weekends are strictly for relaxing so this was going to be tough. Anyway, I needn’t have worried because before long, I was surfing the net for recipes galore, reading cupcake blogs and every cupcake book I could get my hands on. It soon became an obsession and my parched kitchen bookshelf quickly expanded with cake and icing books. When my head couldn’t take any more information, I put on my gloves, drummed up some Dutch courage and knuckled down to some..er.. serious baking - and that’s where friends, family and colleagues enter the picture. Initially, they really tried to be uncharacteristically kind which is always a dead giveaway. I don’t do ‘pity’ so I told them not to hold back. I had barely completed my sentence when their kindness came to a screeching halt. Their comments were brutal of gargantuan proportions and it was soul destroying. Their unwavering honesty wasn’t pretty. I remember thinking "that's it just dig the knife in and twist it while you're at why don't you?" But then again, I asked for their "honest" opinion. Outside, I looked cool, calm and collected but inside my veins and arteries were singing songs of their own. I’m surprised no one saw the vein in the middle of my forehead perilously close to bursting.

 

Fast forward almost a year down the line and I'm glad to say that things are now a distant cry from those infamous chocolate cupcakes. It looks like I’m starting to get the hang of things. My faithful samplers are more appreciative of their weekly treats (although they are now blaming me for their expanding waistlines), and their feedback continue to shape my cupcakes. Surprisingly, it has become an enjoyable hobby, and who knows perhaps one day I might start a cupcake business. Stop by to share my experiences and I hope you have fun.

Cupcake Treats London x