So
I wouldn’t normally do this, but it is for such a good cause so I am going to!
It’s
the SPCA Cupcake Day soon & it’s all to help fight animal cruelty. So you get to eat cupcakes & help some of
our furry little friends too. To get involved visit www.spcacupcakeday.co.nz.
Fight animal cruelty on August 25, 2014!
By registering, baking and fundraising for
Cupcake Day for the SPCA, you will be part of an exceptional group of
supporters who want to make a difference.
The SPCA receives no government funding so
fundraising initiatives like Cupcake Day are vital to their survival & their
ability to prevent animal cruelty.
Your cupcakes could help give a
surrendered puppy a home, rescue a neglected pony, provide emergency surgery to
an injured kitten & save thousands of lives. So get baking!
How do you get involved?
To host a Cupcake Day party:
·
Wait for your
host kit to arrive in the mail or check out what you can download
here.
·
Personalise
your Cupcake Day supporter page and send it out to the world.
·
Bake cupcakes.
·
Hold a Cupcake
Day party for the SPCA and collect donations.
·
Show off your
creations to the world via Facebook and enter our competitions.
·
Return your
SPCA Cupcake Day donations via your supporter page or click
here.
And for
some inspiration here are some Lemon and Ricotta
Cupcakes with White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.
Lemon and Ricotta Cupcakes with White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients:
Makes 12
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups sugar
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
½ cup part-skim ricotta
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1 lemon, zested & juiced
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups sugar
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
½ cup part-skim ricotta
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1 lemon, zested & juiced
Frosting
3 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tbsp cream
4 oz. (112 gr) white chocolate, melted. I used Whittaker's.
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tbsp cream
4 oz. (112 gr) white chocolate, melted. I used Whittaker's.
1 tsp vanilla extract
Garnish
1 ounce (28 gr) white chocolate, shaved
1 ounce (28 gr) white chocolate, shaved
Directions
Preheat oven to 350F (180C)
In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder & salt. Set aside & in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer beat together the sugar & egg until light & fluffy, about 3 minutes. I even timed myself! With the motor or speed on medium-low add the ricotta, melted butter & buttermilk to the sugar mixture & begin adding the flour mixture to the sugar mixture in thirds, scraping the bowl down after each addition until fully incorporated. Gently fold in the lemon extract, zest & juice & stir gently together.
Line each cup with paper liners & fill each about 2/3 of the way with the batter, to allow them a little space to rise. Place cupcakes in the oven & bake for 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown & a skewer comes out clean.
For the frosting, place the sugar & butter in the bowl of a stand mixer & beat on low speed until just combined. About 2 minutes. Add the cream & turn the speed to medium-high & continue beating the mixture, until smooth. Reduce the speed to medium & slowly drizzle in the melted chocolate & fold in the vanilla until fully incorporated.
Once the cupcakes have cooled, place the frosting
into a piping bag with a star tip & pipe a small amount of frosting onto
each cupcake or a lot! I put on what I would consider quite a lot & I still
had some left over. Top each cupcake with a sprinkle of white chocolate
shavings & serve.
They rose beautifully, even in my old & somewhat
decrepit oven, so I would highly recommend this to any cupcake novices like
myself. I love the texture, light but with an almost doughnut like texture. The
lemon really comes through & plays off against the sweet & rich
frosting. And the frosting, goodness I don't think decadent even begins to do
it justice. I am looking forward to perfecting my frosting technique; there is
something strangely satisfying about using a piping bag full of frosting.
These went down an absolute treat in the office, so
if you haven't made cupcakes before, go on & give them a go. Everyone
deserves a little cupcake of lemony, chocolaty decadence & you can help
animals too!
And for some chocolate inspiration here’s Chelsea’s
Dreamy Double Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
225g
butter, at room temperature, cubed 1 ½ cups caster sugar
3 free-range eggs, at room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla essence or paste
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 cup milk
Icing
125ml cream
200g Whittaker’s 72% cocoa block
125g butter, at room temperature, cubed
4 ½ - 5 cups icing sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 180°c conventional bake. Line 2 x standard 12 pan muffin tins with cupcake liners (24 total – just do them in two batches if you only have one muffin tray).
Sift
the flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl, and stir with a
whisk to combine evenly. Set aside.
Cream
the butter and sugar with an electric beater or cake mixer (or by hand with a
wooden spoon lots of elbow grease – this will take some time!) for about 10
minutes until very pale and very light and fluffy. Scrape the sides half way
through.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating very well after each addition and scraping down the sides with a spatula each time. Beat in the vanilla essence.
In three parts each, alternate adding thirds of the dry ingredients and the milk. With each addition, mix gently (don’t beat) until the ingredients are just incorporated – but at the end, the mixture should be smooth. Again, scrape down the sides as you go.
Use two spoons to scrape the batter into the cupcake liners, ¾ full, and bake in middle of the oven for about 16 minutes, or when no longer wobbly on top. Remove from the oven and repeat with the other half of the mixture.
Cool
the cupcakes in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove and let cool completely on
a wire rack before icing.
For the icing place
the broken up chocolate and cream in a heatproof (i.e. metal, Pyrex or ceramic)
bowl that fits neatly over a saucepan with about an inch water in it (the bowl
shouldn’t touch the water). Simmer until the chocolate melts, stirring gently
at the end to combine. Cool until lukewarm (if it’s too warm it will melt the
butter later).
Beat
the butter and half the sifted icing sugar in a large bowl (or cake mixer)
until light and fluffy. Add a spoonful of the chocolate mixture and beat to
combine. Add the remaining chocolate mixture and beat again to combine. Sift in
most of the remaining icing sugar and continue to beat until smooth. If you
think it’s too wet, add a little more icing sugar until it’s a good piping
consistency. Add cream to thin it out if need be.
Spoon into a piping bag and ice the cooled cupcakes. If you don’t have a piping bag, you can use a resealable Glad bag with a corner snipped off.
Photo
& recipe courtesy of Chelsea Winter.
Was wondering how I could get the bassets to host a cupcake party at my husband's office - I'm sure they'd boost the takings. Work of SPCA is so important. Great promotion Mairi.
ReplyDeleteI know couldn't help but support this one :)
Delete