These delicious cupcakes would be perfect for a lazy summers day.  The creamy topping is what gives this cupcake its ‘cheesecake’ title.  Try it out and let us know how you get on…

Vanilla Cupcakes (makes 12-15 cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 4 medium eggs
• 225g slightly salted spreadable butter, at room temperature
• 225g caster sugar
• 225g self-raising flour
• 1tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180°C and line a 12 hole muffin tin with cupcake cases
2. Crack the eggs into a jug and lightly whisk with a fork then set aside
3. Beat together the butter and the sugar on high speed for 3-4 minutes until it looks like whipped cream. (I thoroughly recommend using an electric mixer for this as it can take a while doing it by hand.  At baking college we had to use only a wooden spoon to get the mixture as white as possible and the baker insisted we keep beating.  This is part makes your cakes light and fluffy)
4. Keep the mixer on medium speed and gradually add the egg, a little at a time.  If you add too much, too quickly, your mixture will curdle.
5. Gently fold in the flour, using a spatula a little at a time.
6. Divide the cake mixture into the cases.  I use an ice-cream scoop to do this!  It means there’s no mixture dripping all over the tray!  Try it, it’s great.
7. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 15minutes, or until the tops feel firm but ‘springy’.  A good way to check is to prick a toothpick into the centre of the cupcake.  If it comes out clean then they are ready!
8. Leave to cool slightly in pan before turning them out onto a wire cooling wrack to cool completely.

Strawberry Cheesecake Frosting

Ingredients

• 100g full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
• 50g soft unsalted butter
• 300g icing sugar, sieved
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 12 fresh strawberries. cut into small pieces.
• 1 or 2 digestive biscuits, crushed

Method

1. Put the cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer and start to beat together.
2. Add the icing sugar one spoonful at a time, making sure that you stop every now and then to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Once all the icing sugar has been added, gently fold in the chopped strawberries using a spatula.
4. Ice your cupcakes with the cheesecake frosting, then when you’re ready to eat them, sprinkle on the biscuit topping.  (I recommend doing this just before you eat them so you get the nice crunchy biscuit texture!)
5. Sit back, relax and enjoy your little taste of summer…

As a super fan of the “Queen of Baking” I decided it was time I share one of my favourite bakes of her’s with you.

Lemon drizzle traybake, it’s a delight of lemony spongy goodness which is only fitting for this time of year.

Ingredients

• 275g self raising flour
• 225g margarine/soft butter (I recommend Stork)
• 225g caster sugar
• 2tsp baking powder
• 4tbsp milk
• 4 eggs (free range)
• grated zest of 2 lemons

For the topping:

• Juice of 2 lemons
• 175g granulated sugar

Prep: 15 mins    Cooking Time:  40mins    Makes: 25-30 squares

1. Lightly grease and line a traybake tin or roasting tin (30 x 23 x 4 cm) and preheat your oven to 160 oC.
2. Put all the ingredients for the traybake into a large bowl and beat well for 2 minutes.  An electric mixer is best for this but you can also do it by hand.
3. Empty all of the mix into the tin and level the top with the back of a wooden spoon or spatula.
4. Bake in the middle of the oven for approximately 40 minutes, until golden and the sponge springs back when pressed lightly.
5. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for a few minutes then remove from the tin using the baking paper.  Carefully remove the paper and allow the cake to cool on a wire rack.
6. For the crunchy topping, mix the ingredients together in a measuring jug/small bowl then spoon it over the cake while it’s still just warm.
7. Then cut into squares once completely cooled.

Now enjoy a square or three with a lovely cuppa tea!

Well we couldn’t let Pancake Day (aka Shrove Tuesday) go by without giving you a good old recipe for some Scotch pancakes.

Apparently, in most traditions the day is known for the eating of pancakes before the start of Lent. Pancakes are eaten because they are made out of the main foods available, sugar, fat, flour and eggs, whose consumption was traditionally restricted during the ritual fastening associated with Lent.  So there you go, in case you didn’t know that’s apparently why we have Pancake Day/Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday.

And now to the pancakes:

Ingredients:

• 175g self raising flour
• 40g caster sugar
• 200ml of milk
• 1 egg
• a little oil/butter for greasing your cooking pan
• butter/golden syrup/maple syrup for serving

Prep: 10 mins    Cooking Time:  2 mins    Serves: 15-20 depending how big you make them

1. Put the flour and sugar into a bowl
2. Stir briefly and make a well in the centre, now crack in your egg and pour in the milk
3. Stir well with a wooden spoon to make a thick creamy batter
4. Now heat a non stick frying pan over a medium heat
5. Add a bit of oil/butter to kitchen roll and spread (be careful now) across the hot pan to grease it slightly
6. Then drop dessert spoonfuls or slightly bigger dollops of the mixture into the pan, spacing well apart
7. When bubbles appear on the surface, turn them over and cook for another 30 seconds
8. Transfer to a wire rack and cook the remaining mixture
9. Serve at once with butter and golden syrup or maple syrup or even jam, anyway you wish!

If you don’t manage to eat all 15 odd pancakes at once you can keep them in an air tight container and reheat very briefly in a microwave or oven (if the latter cover in tin foil).

Enjoy And Happy Pancake Day!!!

The recipe is inspired mostly by Levi Roots’ recipe for ginger cake, but as always I’ve made a few tweaks after baking it several times over the last year while still keeping it easy peasy, my favourite type of baking.

Ingredients

• 125g butter, cut into cubes
• 125g dark soft brown sugar
• 4 tbsp golden syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 200ml milk
• 200g plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp all spice
• 100g raisins

Prep: 10 mins    Cooking Time:  50-55mins    Serves: 6

1. Preheat the oven to 150 oC and grease a 20cm round tin (or 900g loaf tin if you prefer) and line with baking paper
2. Put the butter, sugar, vanilla extract and golden syrup into a small pot and heat gently, stirring until it has all melted
3. Add the milk and remove from the heat, pour into a jug and leave to cool for a few minutes
4. Add your eggs and mix together
5. Sift the flour, spices, bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl
6. Then add the wet ingredients in the jug and fold in together, then gently mix in the raisins
7. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 50-55min (an hour if using a loaf tin)
8. Then turn onto a wire rack and allow to cool before serving

I said it was easy!  I now recommend serving with either home-made custard, ice-cream or whipped cream (with a sprinkling of cinnamon), whichever way you have it, Enjoy!

As some of you know I had the delights of coming up with a recipe for the little beetroots that arrived in my organic veg box recently. Thanks to the help of many of you, you did clarify they were indeed beetroots otherwise this might have been a whole different recipe.  After a little online reading I discovered that the sweetness of beetroot goes remarkably well in baking (and so does zucchini apparently) and so I trialled a muffin recipe, which was inspired from a number of different cake recipes but tailored to one of my favourite muffins – chocolate chip!

Ingredients:

• 180g plain flour
• 180g caster sugar
• 150-200g beetroot (cooked) this is around 6-8 small beetroots
• 75g cocoa powder
• 2tsp baking powder
• 70g chocolate chips
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 200g melted unsalted butter
• icing sugar for sprinkling at the end

Prep: 15mins  Cooking time: 30mins  Serves: 12-14   – wee heads up: to cook the beetroots I roasted them (parceled in tin foil) for 1hr 30mins at 200 degrees C the night before or you can do on the day.

1. Preheat your oven to 180 oC and line your muffin tin with muffin cases (don’t use your fancy ones as I recommend you remove the cases after baking)
2. Slowly melt the unsalted butter in a small pan and allow to cool
3. Into a large bowl sift in the flour, sugar, cocoa and baking powder
4. In the pan of melted butter add in the eggs, one at a time and whisk gently with a hand whisk and also add in the vanilla extract
5. Puree the beetroots in a small bowl using a hand blender and put to the side
6. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and then add the butter, egg & vanilla mix and fold in until fully mixed together
7. Then add the pureed beetroot
8. Sprinkle in the choc chips, mix gently and then scoop the mixture into your muffin cases
9. Bake for 30mins
10. Remove from the oven to cool, then remove the muffin cases and sprinkle with icing sugar

Now serve with a nice cuppa and enjoy the muffin as one of your five a day!

It was a Saturday afternoon and we were off to friends for coffee and I couldn’t possibly go empty handed so I baked this coffee concoction, it’s easy to bake and undoubtedly impresses.

Ingredients

• 250g unsalted butter at room temp (I recommend lurpak)
• 250g of light soft brown sugar
• 4 eggs beaten
• 3-4 tbsp of Kahlua
• 300g self raising flour
• 160 ml of strong coffee (made with instant/filter then cooled slightly)

Frosting

• 500g tub of mascarpone
• 3 tsp of light brown sugar
• 100 ml of the coffee from above
• cocoa for sprinkling

Prep: 20 mins    Cooking Time:  30mins    Serves: 10-12

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and grease and line two 20cm loose bottom cake tins
2. Now beat your sugar and butter together
3. Make you coffee and leave at the side to cool
4. Now add the flour, eggs and about 60mls of the cooled coffee and beat till its a creamy texture then split between your two cake tins and bake for 30mins or until risen and golden
5. While the cake cools you can make the frosting, mix the mascarpone, sugar and remaining coffee until thick and creamy
6. Now, only when the cake is completely cooled (this is very important as I’ve learned the hard way),  use half the frosting for the middle and top with the cake then use the remaining to cover the top of the cake using a palette knife/spatula then sprinkle with cocoa

Now serve a large slice with a giant mug o joe – Enjoy!

In response to a request from a Taste of Glasgow foodie we took it upon ourselves to try out some oaty raisiny cookie concoctions and find a good recipe for these sought after cookies.  So after a few batches I hope we’ve come up with something that works, it has a cakey chewy consistency and works a treat.

Ingredients

• 100g of unsalted butter
• 100g light muscavado sugar
• 1 egg beaten
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 100g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp of golden syrup
• 150g rolled oats
• 100g raisins

Prep: 15 mins    Cooking Time:  11 mins per batch    Serves: 12 or less if you make your cookies bigger

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and line a baking tray with baking paper
2. First beat together the butter and sugar until a creamy mixture
3. Then add in the beaten egg and cinnamon and mix well then put to the side
4. In another bowl mix  together the flour, oats, baking powder and raisins then add to the wet ingredients
5. Now get table spoons and place a good sized “dollop” well space apart on the baking sheet and bake for 11mins or until golden
6. Take out of the oven, leave to sit in the tray for a minute before transferring to a wire cool rack
7. Then repeat until you have cooked your whole batch, or just cook the amount you want to eat and store the cookie mix in the fridge for around 24hrs until you have baked and eaten them all as I have to say they taste best when freshly out the oven.

Now get yourself a glass of the white stuff and tuck into the warm oaty goodness  – Enjoy!

In honour of National Cupcake Week we thought it only fitting to get baking some cupcakes at Taste of Glasgow HQ, so here you go some easy peasy maple syrup squeazy cupcakes.

Ingredients:

• 115g self raising flour, sifted
• 115g of soft butter/margarine (I recommend stork)
• 2 free range eggs
• 160ml of maple syrup
• 50g soft brown sugar

for the frosting

• 140g of butter at room temp
• 280g of icing sugar, sifted
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• a little cocoa powder for sprinkling

Prep: 15-20 mins    Cooking Time:  17 mins    Serves: 12

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and line your muffin tin with paper cases
2. Now beat the butter, sugar together in a bowl (or mixer) until it becomes a creamy mixture then beat in the maple syrup
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time
4. Then add the flour to your mixture and stir until all mixed together, be careful not to over beat the mixture at this point
5. Now add a fill your paper cases – don’t over fill, I’d recommend a large tablespoon and a bit per case
6. Then cook for 17mins in the oven until golden and risen, then place on a wire rack to cool
7. For your frosting beat the butter, icing sugar and maple syrup together until its pale and fluffy and then only when your cupcakes are completely cooled then top with the frosting
8. You can either spread the frosting on the top with a spatula or use a piping back to pipe the frosting on
9. Then finally sprinkle with some cocoa powder and serve with lovely cup of whatever you fancy

Now get tasting your baked delights and Enjoy!

This is a cake recipe that is ideal for when you have friends coming round for a cuppa and you want to impress with little effort! It’s light, fluffy and very very yummy.

Ingredients:

• 150g self raising flour
• 25g cocoa powder (I recommend green & blacks!)
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 large free range eggs
• 175g soft margarine (I use Stork)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2-3 tbsp blackcurrant jam
• 200ml heavy double cream
• a little icing sugar for dusting

Prep: 10 mins    Cooking Time:  25 mins    Serves: 8

1. Preheat your oven to 180 oC/Gas mark 4, butter and line two 20cm cake tins with greaseproof paper
2. In a mixer (or a large bowl with hand held electric mixer) beat together the flour, sugar, margarine, cocoa, eggs & vanilla until mixed and fluffy
3. Spread the mixture between both cake tins evenly and bake for 25mins until the top of the cake is springy to touch
4. Turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to cool
5. Once the cakes are fully cooled, whisk up the cream until you can make soft peaks
6. Spread the jam over one of the cakes and top with the cream. Place the other cake on top and sprinkle the top with icing sugar

Now take a large slice of your chocolate cake along with a lovely cup o cha and Enjoy!

Well it was a sunny day and I had some berries in the fridge, left over from my earlier Pimms indulgence, so what better way to use them up than in some muffins.  This recipe is based on a good old Mary Berry blueberry muffin recipe, which in itself means you are going to get some good tasting muffins at the end of this!

Ingredients

• 275g plain flour
• 75g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 100g melted unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 225ml milk
• 225g of strawberries & raspberries  (I used a mix of fresh strawbs & frozen raspberries. If using frozen just make sure they are defrosted a little before adding to the mixture)

Prep time: 15mins   Cooking time: 25mins   Serves: 12-14

1. Line your muffin tin with muffin cases and preheat your oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6
2. Heat the butter up in a small pan until melted then leave to cool
3. In a large mixing bowl add the flour, sugar, baking powder and stir a little until mixed
4. Now mix in the eggs, vanilla extract, melted butter & milk
5. Don’t over mix all the ingredients, they just need to be combined it doesn’t need to be a smooth mixture
6. Then gently fold in the strawberries & raspberries
7. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases, filling them almost to the top and bake for approx 25 mins
8. Once risen, golden and firm to touch they are ready to remove from the oven. Let them cool in the muffin tin for a few mins first then lift out and allow to cool a little on a wire cooling rack
9. These muffins are lovely served warm so tuck in while they are still cooling and if you can’t manage to eat all of them in the one go I recommend popping them in the oven on a low heat for a few minutes to reheat them……now sit back with a cuppa & enjoy!