Olympics Cupcakes!

I LOVE the Olympics! I could not be more excited that they're starting today! So, in honor of the Olympics, I made Olympics/British cupcakes! This was mainly just regular vanilla cupcakes with marshmallow buttercream, but I think they turned out super cute! (If you want these cupcake decorations, you can find them here)

For the cupcakes I just used a generic vanilla cupcake recipe, but I added a teaspoon of this pralines and cream flavoring. I think it works really well with a plain cupcake. Of course, since these cupcakes are really about the decorations, any flavor cupcake will do!

For the frosting, I used marshmallow creme butter cream. I didn't know that you could do this, but since I had a jar of marshmallow creme lying around, I decided to look it up. This recipe actually turned out so well! The frosting was thick, so it was easy to pipe onto the cupcakes, but not too thick. It was also so easy! I'll for sure be using this recipe again.

Marshmallow buttercream:

(adapted from: here)

1 16-ounce container of marshmallow creme/fluff

3 sticks butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 - 3/4 cup powdered sugar

1. Whip the marshmallow creme in a stand mixer

2. Cut the sticks of butter into 4 pieces each. Add each into the marshmallow creme, incorporating well after piece.

3. Add in the vanilla and almond extract.

4. Add in 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Add in more if you think it'll be a better texture.

Battenberg Cake! A Daring Bakers Challenge

For this month's Daring Bakers Challenge, the recipe was Battenberg Cake! I had never heard of (or seen) Battenberg Cake, so I was pretty excited! It turns out that the cake is a British cake, and so this recipe is in honor of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee! How fun! I used the traditional Battenberg cake recipe supplied in the challenge, but I changed it a bit. SO, here's the recipe I used!

Battenberg Cake

Adapted from Daring Bakers Challenge

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 1/2 sticks butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar (the recipe calls for caster sugar, but I used granulated and it was fine)

1 1/4 cup flour

3 eggs

1/2 cup ground almonds

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (reduce if using self-rising flour)

1 teaspoon salt (omit if using self-rising flour)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 vanilla bean (if you're feeling fancy! Totally optional though)

Food coloring of your choice

Jam

Modeling Chocolate:

7 ounces milk chocolate

3 tablespoons corn syrup (light) 

Inside of the cake

Instructions:

Modeling Chocolate:

1.  Make modeling chocolate first, as it has to sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours

2. To make modeling chocolate, melt chocolate in double broiler or in microwave (heat in increments of 15-30 seconds - don't let it burn!)

3. After the chocolate is thoroughly melted, stir in corn syrup, put in baggie and refrigerate until ready to use

4. When ready to use, knead with powdered sugar until soft and workable

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 8x8 pan with parchment paper (see tutorial here)

2. If you haven't already ground the almonds, grind in food processor until fine (note: this will not be super fine, but it will still work)

3. Mix all ingredients in stand mixer

4. Take out half of the batter and mix your colors in each of the halves

5. Put half the batter in one half of the pan, and half in the other

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes

7. Let cool

8. Cut each half in half (the long way)

9. Arrange in the alternating pattern, putting the jam of your choice in between each slice (this will act as a glue)

10. Roll out modeling chocolate so it will cover the cake

11. Cover the cake and refrigerate until ready to serve!

12. ENJOY!

NOTES:

There are a lot of varieties to this cake - look around online, there are some really fun ones! (Like this Rubik's Cube cake!). Also, don't be discouraged with this one, it's a bit tricky. I sadly forgot to put sugar in until I'd already put the cake in the pan! I had to scoop it out and stir it in by hand - not a total disaster, but not my finest baking moment. Anyways, the point is, this was a super fun cake to make, just don't let the hiccups discourage you!

 I used milk chocolate modeling chocolate, but you can use dark or white, or use fondant or marzipan. I also chose to use purple and green, but any two colors work - have fun with it!

YUM!