I think it’s safe to class this week’s bakes theme as colour. The only outcome I wanted from this baking session was for whatever I did to be colourful. I took this opportunity to try different piping techniques and just messed around to see what worked and what I could change next time. I’m absolutely in love with the colour combinations on the cupcakes. The meringues weren’t planned at all when I started but I’m so happy I did.
For the cupcakes, I used my usual recipe of 175g self-raising flour, sugar, butter, 3 eggs and 1 teaspoon of baking powder. I wanted to try adding something other than vanilla flavouring so I added three and a half tablespoons of golden syrup. This made the mixture taste really rich and it is something I would definitely recommend trying. I managed to make 18 cupcakes from this recipe. I baked the cupcakes for 15 minutes at 175 degrees. The use of the golden syrup made the cupcakes a really nice golden colour when they baked. I left them to cool before I decorated them.
Whilst I was waiting for the cupcakes to cool, I was looking for inspiration for how I could decorate them, when I decided let’s make meringues. I’ve made them before but never rainbow coloured like what I tried this time. I separated 2 egg whites and whisked them until they doubled and became frothy. I gradually added 200g caster sugar a tablespoon at a time. This made the meringue thick and glossy. I used a round tip nozzle and put a line of each colour inside the piping bag alternating rainbow colours. I used a toothpick to put lines of colouring on the inside of the piping bag and I used a glass to help make this easier. I used Colour Splash’s food colourings in the shades; Christmas red, orange, sunflower, leaf, blue and violet. I then carefully spooned the meringue into the bag. On a baking tray I covered it in a sheet of baking paper and used a tiny dollop of meringue in each corner to keep the paper down. I then piped small circles of meringue onto the tray, as this happened the rainbow colours took to it in really nice patterns. I hoped when I baked them the colour would stay the way it was. You can pipe your meringues to whatever size you want, I did mine like meringue kisses because I wanted them to be bitesize. I baked them at 100 degrees for one hour. I was so happy with how they came out the oven, I let them cool and took the all-important picture.
Coming back to the cupcakes, I was going to try and make a different sort of buttercream but thought I’d keep that for another time, maybe next week. I whisked 225g unsalted butter until it became pale in colour. I then gradually added 510g of icing sugar and a dash of milk. There was something different about the buttercream this week and the texture for me was perfect. I added a few drops of vanilla flavouring. I separated the buttercream into four bowls and added pink, blue, green and yellow food colouring. Before I started decorating the cakes, I filled the centre with salted caramel. I then just played around with these different nozzles you can see below. I added different colours to the piping bags, my personal favourite is the one with pink, yellow and blue. I also absolutely love the green and blue colour combination! My personal new favourite nozzles are the Wilton 2D and 6B. I also tried making a sunflower type decoration, and filled the middle with some dark sprinkles I had.
This is why I love baking you can literally try what you want and it if doesn’t work try something else. You can experiment with colours, flavours and different piping nozzles. I loved how this bake wasn’t planned as such but I just rolled with the theme of colour. This week’s bake made me so relaxed and I want to try so many ideas with different colours and piping nozzles. I’m so happy with how they pictures turned out and I know for a fact my family can’t wait to try them. I think I might try something a little different next week just to see what happens. When bakes like this happen I just can’t help being happy. These bright colours are perfect for any summer party. I really hoped you enjoyed reading this blog.
Lots of love ,
Hannah x
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