Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

17 March 2013

I have 10 weeks left before my final deadlines for my degree, hence why the blog has taken a backseat lately. I've even taken photos for blog posts but just not had chance to write them up! But I've given myself the day off from studies today and took the opportunity to do some therapeutic baking.

I've been perfecting this recipe for a little while now, the frosting has always been a perfect peanutty soft whippyness but the sponge has sometimes been a little bit dry. This time I used a recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery which has quite a bit of milk in it and it's much more moist. Perfection!




 Recipe

Ingredients 

For the Cupcakes (recipe taken from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)

100g plain flour
20g cocoa powder
140g caster sugar
1 1/2tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter, at room temperature
120ml whole milk
1 egg
1/4tsp vanilla extract

For the Frosting

125g butter, at room temperature
125g peanut butter (I used a combination of smooth and crunchy)
250g icing sugar, sifted
drop of vanilla extract
whole milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 170c or Gasmark 3

Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in your mixer and beat on slow speed until everything is combined.

Whisk the milk, egg and vanilla extract together in a jug and add half to the flour mixture, mixing until smooth. Add the other half and mix again but don't over mix.

Spoon the mixture into paper cases and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the sponge bounces back.

Meanwhile to make the frosting, cream the butter and peanut butter together with the vanilla extract. Add the sifted icing sugar (to avoids lumps) and mix until smooth, adding milk to reach the desired consistency (you don't want it too runny if you're going to pipe it).

When they are cooled, spread or pipe the frosting onto the cakes.









Let me know if you try it and enjoy your Sunday. 

My Calorie-Counted WIAW #2

20 February 2013




Breakfast
Naughty Porridge - Oatso Simple made with Almond Milk, PB2 and a splodge of Nutella - 234cals
Innocent Smoothie - 81cals


Lunch
Red Pepper Houmous Wrap with Red Pepper and Baby Leaf Salad - 234 cals



Snack
Nakd Bar - 135cals


Dinner
Chickpea, Apricot and Red Pepper Curry served with Cauliflower Rice, Cucumber and Yoghurt - 337cals


Supper

3 (mini!) Creme Eggs - 150cals


Total Calories - 1171

I'm enjoying photographing everything I eat on a Wednesday - it definitely encourages me to eat better! Yesterday I had a really really good day until 11pm when I destroyed a whole tub of Cookie Dough ice-cream and doubled my calorie intake! Damn you Ben & Jerrys for being so yummy.

If you read my post last week you'll see me giving up chocolate for lent didn't last very long! I've still given up crisps but that's definitely not as hard.

Now I'm going to curl up with those mini eggs and One Born Every Minute - bliss!

Valentines Night

15 February 2013

We decided to beat the crowds last night and simply cook together at home. Never one to pass on an occasion to dress up however I thought I'd share a few photos of my outfit. And of course the food.


Playsuit: Topshop
Faux Fur Gilet: H&M
Boots: New Look

I've wanted a faux fur gilet for ages now but I tried a few black ones and they made me look like a huge hairy gorilla. This one makes me feel like a cuddly sheep instead :)




Home-made 'melt in the middle' Stilton Burgers - Nom Nom


So we cheated with dessert and bought some Vanilla Slices - decorated with hearts of course. 

Alex treated me to Seasons 1-5 of Gossip Girl on DVD and he received a 10 year old bottle of his favourite whiskey <3

Do you celebrate or do you think the whole thing is too cheesy?

My Calorie-Counted WIAW #1

13 February 2013


Breakfast
Oatso Simple with PB2 (Powdered Peanut Butter) and Banana - 255cals
Innocent Smoothie - 94 cals


Lunch
Wholemeal Bagel with Pork Pate, Tomatoes and Cucumber - 332cals 


Snack 1
1 Crunchy Granola Bar - 90cals

 

Snack 2
Go Ahead Apple and Sultana Biscuits - 150cals



Dinner
Home-made Mushroom Risotto - 339cals

Total Calories - 1257
F&V - 6 portions

I thought I'd start doing What I ate Wednesday posts as I find them really interesting, especially when people are trying to eat healthily. As you can see, I like to keep each of my 3 meals around the 350 mark which gives me space for a couple of snacks. I'm trying to stay below 1300 calories at the moment in order to lose around a lb a week.

I've given up chocolate for lent which is quite a big deal for me as, even when I'm eating healthily, I do like to include a little chocolate treat into most of my days. I'm not sure if giving it up will really help my diet that much as I'll probably just reach for non-chocolate snacks instead!

Have you given anything up? Do you like reading WIAW posts?