Bake: (Winning) Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

Moist, chocolatey, orangey goodness... these cupcakes are rich enough and perfect for any occasion. I like that they look a little special with the orange segment on top but in reality they are quite easy to make.

These cupcakes have been made on 3 occasions recently: our housewarming, for my dad as a belated fathers day present and for a BBQ that we went to recently. They went down really well each time so I thought it was worth putting up a post. I'm quite proud of these actually because I entered them into a competition with Laura Ashley and won! If you want to have a go at these yourself the recipe is as follows (makes 12):

Ingredients
* 150g margarine
* 150g caster sugar
* 3 eggs
* 125g self raising flour
* 25g cocoa powder
* Terry's Chocolate Orange

For the icing
* 100g butter
* 200g icing sugar
* 75g cocoa powder
* The zest and half the juice of one large orange

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius (fan) and prepare your muffin tin with paper molds.
2. Cream together the margarine and caster sugar until pale and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time and blend into the mixture with a spoonful of the flour with each addition to prevent curdling.
4. Sieve together the flour and cocoa powder in a separate bowl.
5. Fold in the flour and cocoa powder a little at a time until it is evenly incorporated into the mixture.
6. Divide evenly between the cases and pop in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
7. Once cooked leave the cakes to cool for a few minutes in the tin then transfer to a wire cooling rack.
8. Meanwhile make the icing by blending the butter until it is soft and smooth.
9. Slowly sieve in and blend the icing sugar and cocoa powder until the icing is smooth and there are no bubbles of icing sugar/cocoa powder.
10. Add the zest and juice of the orange - you might need to add more or less depending on how runny you want the icing. I like it quite stiff so it doesn't slip off the cakes but soft enough to spread evenly.
11. Once you have iced your cakes with a palette knife or piping bag, use a segment of chocolate orange to place on top of each cake.

Let me know if you try your hand at these and let me know what you think! xxx

Recipe: Homemade Summer Berry Ice Pops

For ages I have stashed away lots of recipes for ice lollies on pinterest, waiting for the moment that we get a tiny bit of sun to not only try out the recipes but also use my Laura Ashley moulds that I got in the sale a year ago! The last couple of weeks have been amazing so I have been making these refreshing and super tasty ice lollies quite regularly. You can find the original recipe here but I have tweaked it a little bit to suit our tastes and also to fit around what we had in our fridge at the time, which of course you are free to do as well. I know ice pops are really easy to make but these take a little more effort and the taste and look of them are definitely worth it.

Ingredients (makes around 8 lollies)

* 1/2 cup of raspberries

* 1/2 cup of blueberries

* 1 cup of sliced strawberries

* 1 cup of frozen summer berries

* 1/3 cup of sugar

* 1/3 cup of water

* 2 tablespoons lemon juice

* 2 tablespoons finely chopped mint

Method

1. Combine all the fruit in a bowl and mash them up with the back of a wooden spoon to release the juices.

2. Add the lemon juice and mint, then stir will to combine everything.

3. Leave to rest in the fridge for about an hour to let the flavours infuse, I sometimes leave mine for longer.

4. After the fruit has rested for the right amount of time, put your sugar and water into a small saucepan and heat gently until all the sugar is dissolved. Do not allow to boil. It is useful to use a saucepan with a lip so you can pour the sugar solution more easily.

5. Leave the syrup to cool for a few minutes and then pour into the fruit mixture. Combine well with the wooden spoon.

5. Using a jug with a lip or spoon, carefully administer equal parts of fruit and syrup into the moulds, making sure not to fill all the way to the top as it will expand when frozen and you need to fit the sticks on top.

6. Put your sticks into the lolly mixture and leave to freeze for at least 6 hours.

And that is all you need to do for a very simple but delicious recipe which should see you through the summer! 

I hope you enjoy it and please let me know if you try this recipe xxx