New Year (kind of)

Despite not having posted yet in 2016, this blog has now been going for two years! Quite possibly this (and baking) is the thing that I've kept going for longest.

Although school means that the exciting nature of my cakes has decreased, baking is still a regular occurrence in my day to day life; be it friend's birthdays, cake Mondays in biology or just because I'm hungry.

New Year's Resolutions seem a thing of the past now we're over half way through February, but perhaps I'll add 'Keep this blog going' to mine in an effort to continue making cakes and expanding from boring cupcakes. 

I thought I'd use this post to write about the Gin and Tonic and Mojito cupcakes that I made in the summer for family birthdays. 

Joe - my brother - is a keen advocate of Gin and Tonic's so I thought that these were the most fitting cakes for his birthday. After researching different recipes, I concluded that the best way to do these was to bake a regular batch of plain cupcakes and then primarily use the buttercream to give them their cocktail twist. 

The recipe for the cakes I used can be found here - http://icingonthecakes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/essential-cake-recipes.html - and this should be just enough for around 24 cupcakes. 

Once the cupcakes were baked, I brushed the top of them with a little Gin and left them to cool completely. 

I just followed a standard buttercream recipe but omitted some of the milk for the juice of half a lime - it's best to add a little at a time and mix in well to get the right taste. For an extra kick, you can also add a splash of gin to the buttercream too but this might require the addition of extra icing sugar. 

(300g softened butter

725g icing sugar 

60ml milk)

Grate a little lime zest over the top and here's the finished product!



For the Mojito cupcakes, I followed the same recipes but just changed the alcohol in use. I brushed the top of the cupcakes with lime juice and dark rum and made the buttercream with a little of both also. Decorate with a mint leaf and they're the perfect addition to a summer garden party!



Happy baking and happy 2016! x