Butterfly Cupcakes in Edible Wrappers (Using Chocolate Transfers)

I've not done much baking recently and the blog has got rather out of date. The weather has been really humid and it's been too hot to want to bake out of choice even in the evenings. Saying that, I've still got some backlogged things that were photographed a few weeks ago yet to go on the blog !

This week, we've got a nice selection of chocolate transfer sheets come into stock and of course, I HAD to play with some. The range we have available will be extended in the next couple of months.

You can find them here. Chocolate transfer sheets are such good fun :-)

I decided to make some cupcake wrappers using chocolate transfer sheets.  Chocolate transfer sheets are basically an edible buttercream coating on a plastic backing sheet. Simply spread on your tempered chocolate (see blog post here about tempering)

I used a cupcake wrapper as a template, taped on to a transfer sheet and cut the transfer sheet to size, leaving a few mm extra as an overlap. If you don't have any, use google - stack of printable templates out there.

Have some cupcake wrappers made up ready - as if to accept a cake.Spread your chocolate over the cut out chocolate transfer sheet. As soon as the chocolate is starting to crystalise  - but still soft and flexible - (taking on a slightly matt finish), carefully lift the transfer piece and pop it inside a cupcake wrapper. The cupcake wrapper will hold it in position until it sets. Pop in the fridge for about 15 minutes to properly harden.

When ready to use, remove the plastic backing film. The transfer will now be on the chocolate wrapper. Pop a freshly baked and totally cooled cupcake (without paper case on !) inside your chocolate wrapper, then frost as normal with buttercream.

These chocolate cakes shown are made using my FAVOURITE chocolate cake recipe and you can find it here

The chocolate butterflies were made by piping tempered chocolate over a hand drawn butterfly pattern. I did each wing separate. Once hardened, prop up one wing against the other and join by piping a couple of lines of chocolate between the two. 

Easy and quick decorations that taste great too :-)

Spent a lovely afternoon with my friend Victoria today doing some chocolate making whilst out kids had great fun playing and dressing up and then demolishing what we made.

Here is Emma dressed as a mermaid and Oliver as a ballerina popstar doctor !

The terrible twosome checking the fridge to see if the chocolate dinosaurs are ready yet.....

Did I say DINOSAURS ? Yes - we've got a whole new collection of silicone chocolate moulds about to launch in the next two weeks which have been designed by yours truly. Look out for my next blog entry for some sneak previews.

Have a great weekend

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com   7th July 2012

Chocolate Cupcakes (eggless)

This is a really easy recipe for delicious, moist and fluffy cupcakes. It uses neither butter or eggs and is quick to make.

I've made it a few times now over the last year, but first time blogging the recipe. It is not overly sweet (until you top it with an enormous calorific mountain of chocolate buttercream) ! It's become my first choice recipe for chocolate cupcakes.

Martha Stewart's chocolate cupcake recipe is great too - but makes a massive batch of approx 24, whereas this recipe makes me a perfect 10 (quantity - unfortunately not dress size) and is very easy to scale up or down.

The original recipe was vegan, from the book VEGAN CUPCAKES TAKE OVER THE WORLD and can be found here. Talking of which, I've just ordered a copy :-)

Incase you are wondering where those seriously cute chocolate buttons came from, it's a new mould to our collection. This particular silicone mould is my own design and is now available online. Makes super cupcake toppers - or wonderful buttons simply to munch. They also look awesome packaged as a gift ..... if you can bear to give them away !

There are three sizes of buttons in the mould and 18 cells (six of each size). With the larger cells, you cna use a teaspoon to put the chocolate in the cell - but a piping bag (or food bag) with the tiniest snip out of the corner is needed to fill the tiny baby button cells. The big cells are similar to a coat button and the smallest, baby buttons or shirt buttons.

RECIPE - Adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World

1 cup of milk

1 tsp cider vinegar

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup plain flour

2 tbsp cornflour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

good pinch of salt

Heat oven to 170deg C fan / 180deg C normal / 350deg F

Prepare your muffin mould or tin with paper cases

Put the vinegar into the milk and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. If really cold milk, it won't curdle straight away - so I zap it in the microwave for a few seconds.

Whisk the milk, other wet ingredients and sugar together.

Stir in dry ingredients and whisk until smooth (the odd small lump is ok).

Transfer into a jug and pour into paper cases to 3/4 fill. I found 10 was perfect - left some space at the top below the wrapper rim for frosting base. If you want your cupcakes a little higher (less buttercream), just make 9 instead

See Chocolate Mud Cake blog entry for the frosting recipe

Enjoy ! (PS - you're fighting Oliver for the beaters. I don't rate your chances !!!)

Oliver's quote of the day : "Mummy - don't forget the bit out the concrete mixer is mine!"

Concrete mixer being the beater from my gorgeous red Kitchenaid..... This is so NOT concrete !

Sarah-Jane Nash, August 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com