Banana Bran Breakfast Muffins (RECIPE - Lower Sugar, Low Fat)

Honestly - these banana bran breakfast muffins are better than you could EVER imagine. I'll be honest - I think they're my favourite muffin / small cake of all time..... and what's more, they're good for you !

Read the ingredients and turn up your nose - doesn't sound like something many people would initially want to make. I promise though, one bite and these will have you converted for life. It's funny - if you ask someone "Would you like a bran muffin?" then I can almost guarantee you 8 out of 10 times they'll say no. Offer one of these on a plate without saying what they are, and they disappear at lightning speed and loads of people requesting the recipe.

This low sugar and banana version is a re-vamp of my plain version. With the decorated tops, these look more appealing but still taste every bit as good.

BE WARNED - Bran is an effective and natural laxative effect as does molasses / black treacle, so don't overdose on muffins !?! More than one certainly gets things moving !

RECIPE (makes 10) - EASY

75g wheat bran (normal bran - not breakfast cereal !)

225g plain flour

125ml of skimmed milk

125ml of low fat greek yogurt

1 banana, mashed

1/2 cup of raisins (optional)

1/2 cup of tea (optional)

3 tsp baking powder

60ml treacle

1/2tsp salt

1 egg

 50g sugar

100ml sunflower or vegetable oil

2tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

1tsp ground ginger (optional)

to decorate tops : 

1 tablespoon of porridge oats

small handful of banana chips

2 tablespoons of warmed honey or agave syrup to glaze

First, make a cup of black tea ! Soak 1/2 a cup of raisins or sultanas in 1/2 a cup of hot tea for about 20 mins to plump them up. (makes a total of 1 cup)

Heat the oven to 180deg C Fan and line a 12 hole silicone muffin mould or tin with paper cake cases.

You will need two bowls.

In the first bowl, put the bran, milk, yogurt, mashed banana, oil, egg, sugar and black treacle. Mix well to combine. Drain off about 1/2 the tea and add the raisins to this bowl. Set aside for at least 10 minutes. (note - if not using rasins and tea, add about 100ml extra milk.

In another bowl, mix the flour, spices, salt, baking powder together. Add the bowl of wet ingredients and stir to combine. Stop as soon as dry ingredients can no longer be seen.

Spoon into your prepared muffin mould or tin. This doesn't rise a lot, so the cases will appear rather full.

Place a few banana chips (I used 3 per muffin) on top and scatter on a few oats.

Bake for approx 20 minutes until a cocktail stick comes out clean (mine were done in bang on 20mins).

Remove from the oven and brush the tops with some warm honey or agave syrup to glaze.

Not been doing a huge amount of baking recently. Been on a diet and had a few other things going on ! This teddy is the last "proper" cake I made which was about 2 or 3 weeks ago now.

Kitchen for work has just arrived and sat waiting to go in. Electrician comes today, so finally everything should start getting a move on.

Mincemeat Streusel Muffins (Plain Muffin Recipe Vamped Up)

This was one of last Saturday's bakes that I took to work.

Saturday mornings in the showroom at Natural Heating  can be stupidly busy at this time of year. The other side of our company sells wood burning and multi fuel cast iron stoves. Lets face it, if we weren't busy selling fires and heating in the Autumn and Winter - there really would be something wrong !

Anyway, it can get crazy busy on Saturday mornings. People come along knowing they may need to wait a little while to be seen. During that time, it's a nicety to be able to offer a warm, home baked cake and a hot cup of coffee or tea.

Freshly brewed Italian coffee and home baked muffins and the scent of burning wood in the air just before you come in our door must be some of the best smells on earth.

This is a very basic muffin recipe I've been using for years. It doesn't stop me changing it around and vamping it up. Last Saturday, I actually made 24 muffins. Half of them were the mincemeat streusel and the others had a great dollop of raspberry jam in the middle and the tops had been brushed with butter and then dipped into caster sugar. The muffin equivalent of a jam doughnut.

The recipe for the mincemeat can be found in a previous blog entry here. For this vamped up version, I put a couple of teaspoons of the mincemeat on top of the batter in each paper cake case and them sprinkled some crumble topping over each one.

RECIPE - Makes 10 - or 12 if you vamp them !

240g plain flour
3 > 4 tsp baking powder

175g caster sugar

250mls milk

100mls oil

1 egg

pinch salt

vanilla

Sift dry ingredients into one bowl. Mix wet in another and then combine the two together. It will be lumpy, and you want to mix briefly - only until dry ingredients cannot be seen. Don't worry about the lumps !

Put into paper cake cases in a 12 cell silicone muffin bakeware mould on top of a baking tray.
 Bake at 180deg C for approx 20 mins or until a cocktail stick comes out clean.

October Visit to Oxburgh Hall

 The following day, Steve and I took Oliver out for a wander round Oxburgh Hall and it's stunning gardens. The last time I was at Oxburgh Hall, was just a few weeks before Oliver was born. They were having a re-enactment day, and when the cannons went off - Oliver certainly must have had a bit of a fright (it was very loud)  it as he kicked 10 bells out my insides !

My cheeky monkey got a handful of stones when we were not looking, then threw then in the moat....

14/10/12 - Oliver and Ellie take a break outside Oxburgh Hall

Looking back at Oxburgh Hall from the Woodland Walk

By the huge wooden doors at the entrance to Oxburgh Hall

Coming down the spiral staircase

Unfortunately, photos were not allowed inside the hall - but Oliver thoroughly enjoyed sliding down the old toilet shoot into the hiding place (priests hole) in the middle of the castle wall. Steve went down too, but had a bit of a struggle to get out. If he had a struggle, I think I'd have been wedged tight !

Tending to the bugs in the gardens at Oxburgh Hall

Mummy and Oliver have a game of "Run and Hug"

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - Silicone Bakeware Specialists - October 2012

Carrot Cake Muffins - adored by children and friends !

This recipe can easily be made into one large cake, or bakes just as well as 12 muffins / cupcakes. I think they would be best referred to as muffins since there is no creaming of butter and sugar involved. These have a very high carrot content which adds loads of natural sweetness and also keeps them very moist.

Frosting really is not required - but it's quite nice to plaster some lemon buttercream or cream cheese icing on top.

Oliver and I rattled two batches of these up a fortnight ago before work one Saturday morning. One batch was for colleagues and customers and the other lot were for a friend (Mel), her husband and kids.

You can never make too many of these. They'll keep for a couple of days in the fridge ok, or freeze well.

RECIPE

280g plain flour

2 tsp baking poweder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 tsp ground cinnamon

1egg

90ml fresh orange juice

zest of an orange 

360g carrots (1/2 coarsely grated, 1/2 fine grated)

1 tsp vanilla essence

100ml vegetable oil

Add nuts or raisins if wished.

Add oil and orange juice together and mix in the egg with a fork. To this, add the grated carrot.

Sift all the dry ingredients and add wet ingredients to the bowl. Mix in roughly with a wooden spoon - only until combined. Spoon into a lined tin or paper cupcake cases in a 12 cell muffin mould or tin

For cupcakes, bake at 180deg C fan for approx 20mins,. For a large cake - same temperature in a  http://www.siliconemoulds.com/250mm-blue-round-birthday-cake-mould-p-137.html  (but I forget how long - probably about 50 > 60 mins)

Banana Cornflake Crumble Breakfast Muffins FOODBUZZ #5

Our Crown muffin mould makes large American jumbo sized muffins. The silicone mould has a special rebated head so you can create those great big mushroom like tops that you find in all the well known cafes / coffee shops. It's almost impossible to recreate muffins like these at home without a special mould. If you've tried, you have no doubt experienced muffin mix overflowing the top of normal bakeware / moulds and a very messy end result.

The topping is optional. If used, the muffins are best eaten same day. They make large MAN FOOD sized muffins. Each is the same as two normal muffins (excluding topping) - so either hide in a corner whilst consuming or cut in half and share ! The picture in the foreground is one of these on a side plate. The 3 in the background are on a dinner plate (to give an idea of scale)

This recipe creates a lovely moist muffin. They seem to stay fresh in the fridge for a good 3 days (without topping). The cornflake crumble topping has a lovely crunchy texture.

300g plain (cake) flour

1.1/2tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

100g of white chocolate chips (optional)

400g of mashed bananas

1 beaten egg

100ml milk

100ml vegetable oil

Prepare the crown muffin mould by greasing the inside of the rims at the top and dusting with flour. Tap out any excess. Don't bother this to the lower section of the mould unless you are not using paper liners.

The papers are designed only to stop where the rebated head starts.

Preheat oven to 180deg C fan / 200 deg C electric

Sift dry ingredients together. Add all wet ingredients and mix to combine. Do be careful not to overmix. Don't panic - it's going to be really lumpy, especially with the mashed banana. 

Spoon mix into the cells in your mould. It will overflow the paper cases and partially into the rebated head area.

For the topping

50g salted butter

60g plain flour

50g granulated sugar

25g cornflakes

Rub the butter with your fingers into the flour and sugar. Lightly crush the cornflakes in your hand and add to the mix. 

The mix should just hold together when clamped in your hand. If it is too crumbly, add a little more butter. You don't want a fine crumble. You want to clamp some in your hand and roughly crumble it in lumps over the muffin batter.

Bake for approx 25 mins until a cocktail stick comes out clean. The muffins should be well risen and golden.

My little cake tester approves ! This bit went missing whilst I was still taking the photos....

Sarah-Jane Nash, November 2011 - The joys of baking with Oliver !

Loaded Apple Spice Muffins (low fat content) FOODBUZZ #5 14/11/11

I was totally taken in by the stunning images on Anncoo Journal of some wonderful Italian apple cupcakes. Gosh – they looked so good I visually ate the lot off the screen. The ingredients list was awesome too. There was whacking great amount of butter – bound to make any cake taste good.... but not exactly easy on the waistline. Then again, what cake doesn’t add inches to your waistline. Blimey. I’m sure just thinking about it makes mine expand.

Hmm. My apple trees did well this year. I’ve got a fridge drawer full of Bramleys, a shelf full of Empire Reds and a car load of Jonagolds. Apples are bountiful in England in the autumn and winter months. I’ve been good. I don’t each much cake these days. I’ve got an abundance of apples begging to be used. How many excuses does a fat girl (trying to get thin) need to bake ?

I’ve waited a week.

“Mummy .... I need to bake cake !” a little voice chirps up and a fluffy blond head pops round the door.

One. Just one. That’s all the excuse I need.

Three years ago, I was convinced I was going to have a little girl. I had dreams of riding ponies together and threading daisy chains on the grass. Instead, I was nurturing a little boy that would love mud and cars. I worried as he’s start to grow up, all he would want was to spend all his time with Daddy.

 That may well happen.... buy my little boy loves mud, and cars and BAKING with Mummy.

Sure, this is cake, compared to Ann’s amazing Italian Apple Cakes, it’s much lower in fat. That does NOT mean eat six. Don’t eat cake in excess. You’ll get fat. Don’t sue me – I warned you !

 RECIPE

Makes 12 > 14

255g all purpose flour

3tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

good couple of pinches nutmeg

good pinch of ground cloves

150g granulated sugar

90mls oil

150mls milk

1 beaten egg

350g finely cored and finely sliced apples ( I used some small Empire Reds, peel left on)

agave nectar (or warmed golden syrup) to glaze

Sift dry ingredients together.

In a separate bowl or jug, mix the wet ingredients together. Combine wet and dry ingredients, (taking care not to over mix) folding in the mass of apples in the final few strokes. It will look like mainly apples and not much batter !

Spoon into standard size cupcake / muffin paper cases in a muffin tray or silicone muffin mould. These need filling more or less to the top. There is so little batter in relation to apples that these muffins aren’t going to give a great rise.

Bake for approx 22mins at 180deg C fan oven until tops are golden and a cocktail stick comes out clean.

Glaze the top with some agave syrup brushed onto the tops of the hot muffins. Allow to cool and serve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On leaving the house this morning, I put one of these in these in the fridge for Oliver. We’d made 14, though next time, I’ll use the batter to make just 12. Oliver had already demolished one still a little warm before we left. 

Twelve left.

I put the baking tray with the silicone mould containing the muffins on the back seat of the car. I didn’t box them up, as they were still a little warm. I wanted to take them into work to photograph and figured that the lads that work with me would find resisting these futile. What I didn’t forsee was that only 10 would make it to work.

I know what you are thinking.

The smell of my car was amazing. The wafts of warm spices cheered me up no end. Nothing like the smell of Christmassy spices to lift your soul. It made me hungry too.

The tray bounced and slid as I cursed and hit a pot hole that had escaped my notice. The tray slid and two muffins out and hit the floor. Only 10 lots of temptation remained.

I set my lightbox up on a table in the stove showroom to take a few snaps. I didn’t think it would take long before my colleagues would start coming to look at what I had in there. But it wasn’t Colin that was first (despite the fact he usually is). Nor Richard, or Martin. It was a little boy that came in the door with his mum to buy a fire grate as I was just starting to take some photos.

“I’m hungry!” he piped up.

Not much time for photos – they were a little hurried to say the least. I now wish I'd taken some more.

 The little boy and his mum had a cake. Colin, Richard and Martin had a cake. Another customer coming in had a cake as did I .... and the postman. The last two ? I don’t know where they went !

I didn’t eat them. I SWEAR I didn’t eat them.

Wherever they went, that has to be the most amazing fastest cake disappearance I’ve ever seen. Five minutes max and ...... gone.

The paper muffin / cupcake cases are a new design just in. You can find the RED DOTTY HEARTS paper cases here in standard 50mm size.

Sarah-Jane Nash, November 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com - silicone bakeware moulds.

Thanks for voting for these in the Foodbuzz top 9 !

Smore'd Giant Chocolate (and Beetroot) Muffins

 

I got the inspiration for these Smores type cakes from Indigo Sugar Spectrum and a blog follower - Jaqui Hayes. Jennifurla made some lovely looking Smores with her gorgeous little girl, Indigo. http://indigosugarspectrum.blogspot.com/2011/05/indigo-and-smore.html

The cake recipe is a Chocolate and Beetroot cake and came from Jaqui. I did make it the day she sent it to me - but I'm afraid I've been rather tied up prior to the show (and afterwards) so am a bit behind in blogging.

I'd made chocolate and beetroot cake once before - a few years back now. It's was so chocolatey and lovely and seriously moist. You don't really taste the beetroot but it does add a dark earthiness and enhances the chocolate. These photos were actually from 22/5/11. The same day as Oliver got his big present...

 

Anyway....

What I decided to do with these was make the chocolate and beetroot cake in my crown (American Jumbo) muffin mould. Then I SMORED IT !

Yeah - you'll struggle to find anything so icky sticky as this. I promise. The second you touch it, it welds itself to your skin. Tasted great, hysterically funny to try and eat. Take a bite. Whole cake literally superglues itself to your face....

Getting the paper cake cases off was fun too. :rollseyes:

Once peeled from the cake, try putting the paper it in the bin ! It sticks to your fingers so you pull it off with the other hand. Then it sticks to that hand.

It's handy having a toddler. There are always babywipes around. This time - you'll need them too !

If you prefer something more traditional, they will always be a big hit with some chocolate buttercream on top instead. These are some candy ducks and bunny rabbits that I made as toppers with our new Ducks N Bunnies Chocolate silicone chocolate mold. 

These seriously chocolatey ones were a huge hit with Oliver.

CHOCOLATE AND BEETROOT CAKE RECIPE

Chocolate and Beetroot Cake

75g Cocoa Powder
180g Plain Flour
1tsp Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
250g Caster Sugar
300g Fresh Cooked Beetroot
3 Eggs
200ml Corn Oil / Sunflower oil
1tsp Vanilla Extract

Bake in an oven at 180deg / Gas mark 4. I used 170deg Fan oven.

This recipe is meant to suit a 7" round tin - but I made 4 x Crown (American Jumbo) muffins and 6 regular sized cupcakes. They took about 20 mins to cook the normal sized ones and approx 25mins for the crown

There were no method instructions given, but I treated like muffins. I put the cooked beetroot and all wet ingredients together and blitzed them together until they resembled a summer fruit smoothie !

After that. I mixed in the dry ingredients until just combined and then spooned into paper cases. For the ones in the crown muffin mould. I lightly greased and floured the top inner rims.

 As the intention was to shove a whole heap of marshmallows on top and then flash under the grill, I just filled up to the top of the paper cases and not right into the recessed area.

WARNING - SILICONE MOULDS ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR USE DIRECTLY UNDER A GRILL AND SHOULD NEVER BE PUT DIRECTLY ON TOP OF AN OVEN ELEMENT EITHER !

Ok, so now you know NOT to do this at home, you can see I did....

SMORE'D !

Silicone WILL burn under the grill. Then again, so will marshmallows !

These were only under the grill for a few seconds. You will need to keep a VERY close and watchful eye over them or you could easily burn your cakes or your mould !

I had to leave them for about 15mins or so until the marshmallow started to set a bit again before removing them from the moulds.

Oh what fun :-)

Oliver had been asking for a trampoline for a while, so I cut him a deal (see the 19th May blog entry)

"When you wear big boy pants all the time and keep them dry, you can have a trampoline."

He had to save up stickers every time he kept pants / nappy dry to get a trampoline. We started on the Monday, he was dry and in pant (knickers) by the Thursday. I was expecting it to take weeks !

"Mummy - can we go and buy my trampoline now ?"

We went and bought the trampoline on the Saturday and put it up on the Sunday....

Que one VERY happy and proud little boy.. (and mummy !)

Bribery and corruption even works with two year olds.....

We are still bouncing along daily

Sarah-Jane Nash, http://www.siliconemoulds.com - the silicone cook shop for all your bakeware and cookware

Redcurrant Muffins with Lemon Glaze

I made these a month or so ago and totally forgot I hadn't blogged them.

These redcurrant and lemon muffins are extraordinary. The lemon glaze is sweet but tangy and the redcurrants give a sour tang. You could eat these any time of the day. They taste light and refreshing and are a real burst of summer.

I was astonished Oliver had a go at these. He ate about 1/2 of one - which was good going for him. Right enough, he would have been begging for a second one if chocolate had been involved !

Last summer, I saw punnets upon punnets of redcurrants for sale on a fruit and veg stand by the side of the road. We are in a very rural area, and loads of people sell fruit, veg and eggs outside their door. You literally take what you want and put your money in a jar. Lovely. Fresh produce and usually very cheap. In autumn, EVERYONE seems to have apples and there are stacks of folk giving slightly imperfect ones away by the carrier bag full free. All you need to do is stop and pick some up

Sucked in by the lure of masses of redcurrants - freshly picked and on the vines, I doubled back to get some. I remember at the time getting about 4 or 5 punnets full and at the same time stupidly already realising I'd have no chance to use them over the following couple of days.

Just as well then that they froze so well ! I've had redcurrants there for sauces etc all through winter. Given masses still remained however, I can up with these on a rather damp and dreary winter day and it rather brightened things up.

Line a 12 hole silicone muffin mould (preferably hot pink to cheer up a gloomy day !) with paper cupcake / muffin cases. I like to use liners with delicate batters like this one and also when I am useing icings or glazes as it makes it a much less stick affair to both handle and eat the finished product !

Preheat fan oven to 200deg C

Recipe - makes exactly 12

275g plain flour (sifted)

3 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

160g sugar

1 egg

250ml milk

100ml sunflower or vegetable oil

180g redcurrants

Add all dry ingredients together and combine with a fork

Add all wet ingredients together and combine with a fork

Add wet to dry, and mix with a spoon until it looks lumpy and almost combined. Throw in the frozen redcurrants during the last couple of strokes.

Spoon into the cases. Pop the silicone muffin mould (on top of a baking tray) into the oven and reduce temperature to 180deg C.

Cook for approx 20 > 25 mins until done. Remove from oven.

For the glaze, all I did was mix icing sugar with some lemon juice until a thick paste (tooth paste consistency) formed.  Spoon this on to the hot muffins and it will melt to form a simple glaze



Enjoy !

Sarah-Jane Nash, http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ - silicone bakeware specialists

Saturday's Cake - Apple Crumble & Custard Muffins

Most (but not all) Saturdays I make some sort of cake or treat to take into work. The shop is only open for a couple of hours on a Saturday and many customers that come have traveled a long way. It's nice to be able to offer a nice fresh cup of coffee and a cake....

This one was a bit of a last minute brainwave. So last minute that by the time they came out of the oven, I was running about 20mins late. Thankfully, Colin and Martin were already in the office. No one noticed I was late on arriving - they only noticed hot cakes !

We've got some new 12 cell HOT PINK silicone muffin / cup cake pan moulds in. This colour has been extremely popular over the last year in 24 mini muffin size and customers have been requesting the larger size so they can have a matching set.

Didn't I warn you it was bright ? Takes normal, standard muffin papers.

We also now have a large selection of paper cases in mini, standard and American Jumbo muffin papers in our online shop.

As you can see - the crumble topping worked really well and the hidden custard layer in the inside was really yummy. These are best eatem warm, but are perfectly nice cold too.

 The muffins were very moist and this one kept 36 hours whilst waiting on being photographed (before being demolished this evening by the little cake tester....)

Apple Crumble Muffins

(base muffin recipe adapted from MUFFINS, FAST AND FANTASTIC)

250g plain flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

160g caster sugar

1 egg

190g of chopped eating apple

150ml milk

90ml vegetable oil

ready made custard (omit if you don't fancy it)

crumble topping was soft brown sugar, butter and flour (almost equal amounts) - I didn't weigh any of this... just winged it ! Rub together until it starts to bind and form lumpy crumbs.

Preheat oven to 180deg C. Basically, mix wet ingredients into dry and mix just enough to combine.

Spoon 1/2 of the batter into the paper cases. Spoon on a couple of heaped teaspoons of the custard into each case before adding the rest of the batter. Cover with a generous amount of crumble topping - enough to cover the batter and a bit more for luck :-P

These are mine before baking. Bake for approx 20 > 25 mins until the top is taking on a little colour. Due to the custard, using a cake tester would be pointless. These came out the oven at 23mins.....

Enjoy !

Sarah-Jane Nash, a happy baker - http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ - the silicone bakeware cookshop, Norfolk, UK

Crown Muffin Moulds are HERE and now available - so exciting !

At last - we've had mountains and mountains of new style silicone moulds arrive .... many of which are my own designs. There are more boxes of them than I could possibly have believed and the store is full to bursting ! It will be a little while before we can get them all unpacked - so do bare with me. I'll introduce you to most of the new stuff as soon as I can.

Many of you will remember my earlier blog post about THE SECRET TO MAKING CAFE STYLE MUFFINS

Well - our specialist silicone bakeware mould to make crown ovens in a normal sized oven (non commercial) is now available and can be found IN OUR ONLINE SHOP HERE at an incredible price of £5.99 each. These would make an awesome Christmas gift for any keen baker.

We also ship worldwide for anyone interesed outside of the UK... but last date for overseas orders for delivery by Christmas is today.

Basically - the mould has a special recess head. You put your paper case in and fill the case right to the brim. As the cake mixture rises in the pan, it fills the recess and creates the big mushroom head.

Bingo - you've got massive muffins like those in the big chain coffee houses :-)

A mix for 12 normal muffins makes 6 of these Crown American Jumbo muffins - so take care not to eat too many or you will get very very fat !!!

Have  fun and enjoy....

Sarah-Jane, http://www.siliconemoulds.com/     December 2010

Crown Muffins - The Secret to Making BIG Cafe Style Muffins !

The best bit of a muffin is the crown - a big mushroomy type top which overhangs the stump. All too often the stump part can be a bit boring ... but I'll forgive this for a good crown.

For years I tried to make muffins with the big puffy crown and despite every attempt - they ended up a mess. I thought that you needed to put in just enough mixture into the silicone mould or traditional bakeware tin to fill it to the top. My expectation was for the mix to over-run a little and give the big mushroom top.

Despite trying many different mixes, the batter would volcano over the top and the crowns of my muffins would run and stick together. If I was REALLY lucky, I might get one or two out whole - but more often than not, I'd lose great chunks of the crown.

So - HOW DO THEY DO IT ? I wanted to be able to make those cafe style muffins like you get in Starbucks and Costas but simply could not achieve it at home.

Earlier this year, I finally had a lighbulb moment.

The secret is in the tin !

A bit more digging clarified just that. The big commercial bakeries use a tin with a rebated head. You pop in a paper muffin cake case / liner and fill it to just over the top with the batter. As the mix rises, it flows into the rebated head section of the tin and then rises some more to create the dome.

That bit established - you try finding a crown muffin tin. I've only managed to find one place on the net that stocks ones that will fit in a domestic oven. Those used for the likes of Starbucks and big bakeries are a commercial size that we "normal" people simply cannot use in our kitchens.

Until now that is. Over the last couple of months I have been developing my own. These will be available from 1st December 2010 at http://www.siliconemoulds.com/. Don't forget - you'll find them here first in silicone as I designed them !!!!!

AMERICAN JUMBO CROWN MUFFIN SILICONE BAKEWARE MOULDS

These are large, 6 cell silicone moulds. They take American Jumbo Muffin paper liners which have a BASE diameter of 60mm - a good bit bigger than the standard 50mm base size muffin cases generally available in stores and online. We have had a good selection of the paper cases in various patterns and colours produced too with these moulds. A lot of effort has been put in to keeping these liners / cake cases as low cost as possible..

As cafe style muffins look rather "naked" without their wrappers, we will be including a starter pack of paper cases with every one of our American Jumbo Crown Muffin Moulds.

I decided to opt for a slightly larger than standard stump part of the muffin with our own Crown muffin cake pans / moulds as tests showed that by making the stump a little bigger in diameter, the cake in this part of the form says much more moist and does not tend to have the drier nature that many of the ones from commercial bakeries do.

Being silicone, you do not have to use paper liners at all. You can choose to lightly grease with butter and then flour - tapping out any excess before filling with your desired mix. This will ensure perfect release every time. If using paper cases, it's still worth greasing and flouring the rebated head part of the mould only - or use a tiny dot of Wilton's Cake Release to run round them with the tip of your finger. If your cake mix has a higher sugar content than fat content (as is ofter the case) failure to so this in a non stick tin of any kind generally leads to sticking Cake mixes are renowned for it. This is why you grease and line or grease and flour even non stick traditional tins for cakes. Silicone is no different ! Low sugar content versus high fat content in cakes or bread generally will never stick at all and this step is not required.

These are pretty big muffins - the size and shape (but with a bigger diameter stump) of the ones you will find in the big coffee chain shops. Each mould has 6 cells. To fill all 6 cells, you require the same amount of mix as you would to fill 12 normal muffins or cupcakes. The 6 cell Crown muffin mould is almost the same footprint size as a 12 muffin mould or traditional bakeware tin - though it is about 25% taller. This is because the rebated head section takes up a lot of room !

oops - these are orange and poppy seed muffins pictured that I made tonight. Recipe will follow tomorrow hopefully as it's time for bed now...

AVAILABLE FROM 1ST DECEMBER - order from http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ (international shipping available) or by phone on 01953 452525

Sarah-Jane Nash - SiliconeMoulds.com

Silicone bakeware - specialists in cake pans, soap moulds and chocolate molds. Shipping worldwide.