Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

I got my first true feeling that Autumn had arrived this week. I stepped out of my house to pick up my son from school, and the air had that crispness in it that always arrives in September. Even though it was a pleasantly warm afternoon, there was that Autumn 'feeling' that I get around the time school starts.

We have 2 apple and 1 pear tree in our garden. The apples start to fall pretty early on and it's very frustrating when you come out of a morning and find them all around with wasps in them!  That's not to say I don't get a bumper crop out of the ones still on the tree however!

Apples are the fruit of the season so what better time than to share my Apple Cinnamon cupcakes. 

 

They are topped with a very sweet salted caramel frosting. This is the frosting I used to decorate my son's cake. The left over frosting was the perfect complement in taste and colour!

Choc full of apples!

Cinnamon is a must when making apple desserts. In this recipe I have used cinnamon extract. You can of course use ground cinnamon, but I wanted quite an intense flavour, so opted for the extract.

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

Makes 12

Ingredients

1 apple, peeled and finely chopped

1 tbs butter

120g plain flour

70g light brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

40g butter

120 ml milk (I used semi skimmed)

1 egg

1/2 tsp cinnamon extract or 1tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180'C (350'F) and line a cupcake tray with 12 cupcake liners.

2. Peel and chop the apple discarding the core. Take your tablespoon of butter and melt over a low heat in a small pan. Once melted, add the chopped apple and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Give the apples an occasional stir. Take off the heat to cool slightly.

3. Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter until everything is combined. The mixture should look a little sandy.

4. Add the egg and milk and mix until just combined. Then add the extract.

5. Add the apples and fold in to disperse.

6. Fill your liners with the batter (about half way to 3/4) and bake for 20 minutes. The cakes should be golden brown and when tested with a toothpick, it should come out clean. Leave to cool on a rack.

You can frost these with anything from cream cheese, vanilla, brown sugar etc. The caramel frosting I used is incredibly sweet so just a light spread on top is enough.

The frosting was made with a combination of Trex, icing sugar, tinned caramel and sea salt. To frost 12 cupcakes you would need :-

1/2 cup Trex

250g icing sugar

A small tin of caramel

1 tsp of sea salt or more to taste.

This is just an approximate as I was using left over frosting which had been made in a larger quantity.

The apples provide a nice moist texture combined with a light fluffy cake.

I hope you try these and let me know what you think!

Have a great weekend!

Main meal salads for warm days

Ironically I have settled down to write this post while it is pouring with rain outside! Hardly a day I would think of making a salad on!

However, on those days when I just fancy a salad, or it is too hot to cook, a chunky, full of flavour salad is just what the doctor ordered. Here is a round up of my favourite salads. Some I have made again and again, and a couple I have yet to try, though they are definitely on my to make list! There is something for everyone on this list. Some may need add ons, like bread, something grilled on the side etc. Hope you find something you like!

Here is a tasty pasta salad from Fake Ginger. This salad is a side dish but I could see me eating it on it's own due to all that yummy pasta. Find the recipe here.

I cannot wait to try this one! I love the colours and the mix of sweet and savory. Find this Garlic and Lime Barbecue Chicken Salad over at Cafe Delites.

Love hamburgers? Howabout a hamburger salad? I think this will be a big hit in this house! Find the recipe at Can you Stay for Dinner.

This is a must make! Full of flavour, we all loved this one and I'm making it again next week. The dressing was lovely and thick. I suspect it should be more like a light dressing but we enjoyed having large dollops of the stuff over our creation! You can find this recipe here from Averie Cooks.

There is something about savory and sweet that I just love. So naturally this salad caught my eye. Coconut, pineapple and ginger. What's not to love? This recipe from Carls Bad Cravings can be found here.

I've lost count of how many times I have made this salad. I always serve it with some warmed through ciabatta. The main thing I change with this one is to substitute apple for the grapes. I have tried it with grapes but prefer the crunch of apple pieces. This is super easy and the candied pecans are yummy! The recipe comes from Dishing The Divine and can be found here.

This Thai salad makes a ton! Or was it just my portion control?? Anyway it was lovely. The crunch of the nuts and cabbage make this very enjoyable.  Find the recipe here from the Recipe Critic.

Last but not least is another pasta salad. Looks delicious doesn't it? I can see this one being a lovely addition to my autumn cooking with all that pasta. The recipe is from Chelsea's Messy Apron and can be found here.

Which one has your mouth watering?

Have a great weekend!

From left over Frosting to Hydrangea Cupcakes

I always make too mush frosting. I am constantly paranoid of running out while decorating a cake. This results in the top shelf of my fridge being devoted to tubs of different colours and flavours of frosting. Sometimes I get around to using it up and other times it goes too hard and has to be thrown away. Most of the time the latter is the case.

With my recent Chalkboard cake, I had a little left of each colour used along with some white vanilla frosting from a previous project before that.

It had crusted over so a good mix and a little water was needed to bring it back to life. I mixed the white frosting in with the purple and had plenty to make a batch of cupcakes with.

One of my earliest pins was this.

I discovered Glorious Treats from this one pin and I have been a fan ever since! If you haven't already seen Glory's blog, check it out here.

I have wanted to recreate these for a while. Here is my version of Glory's cupcakes.

I didn't blend my colours like Glory, however, I used the same tip for each colour so that there was a little transfer on a couple of the cupcakes. I used Wilton tip 129 and filled my bag half way with frosting. Using a 90' angle (straight up) I began by piping a flower in the middle.

I then piped a couple more either side of the first one, and continued around to the edge.

This can be a very random technique and you can over pipe.

I filled the whole top of the cupcake with flowers to achieve the look of a Hydrangea.

I did the same technique for each cupcake. This is so simple and quick. They would make a lovely gift for a Mum, Grandma or friend. Perfect for birthdays, Mother's Day, or just to say Thank you!

Beautiful and bright!

They look equally nice if they are all the same colour.

I hope you like these and have a go! Have a great weekend!

One Pan Gnocchi with Chorizo and Spinach

Schools out!! Weather is looking yucky for the next few days but we are still determined to have some fun, meeting up with friends and spending long lazy days doing pretty much nothing!

When it comes to dinner I still want to be able to churn out something tasty and delicious though time is a bigger factor for me during the holidays. We can potentially be out all day which leaves me with very little time when we get back to prepare something (or indeed the inclination!).

I have a lot of quick and easy to prepare meals that I use in rotation and they will be used a lot over the summer holidays. It is nice though to discover new recipes and to create a new tasty favourite to add to the mix.

One of the things we all enjoy eating is gnocchi. I must admit I have yet to try and make it myself, but Sainsburys do a very nice fresh gnocchi which means less time making dinner!

This recipe I am about to share came about when we were on holiday in France last year. We had a self catering mobile home, so we popped up to the onsite shop and picked up fresh gnocchi, vegetables, cheese and a large piece of chorizo. I threw it all together in a pan along with some of the items I had brought with us, and created a quick and tasty meal that could be ready in about 15 minutes!

One pan Gnocchi with Chorizo and Spinich

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

500g Gnocchi

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1 red onion chopped

2 cloves garlic (chopped or minced)

1 red pepper

3 large mushrooms or 200g button mushrooms (chopped or sliced)

500g chopped tomatoes (I used Sainsbury's chopped tomatoes with basil)

A handful of fresh basil roughly chopped

A large handful of spinach

Diced chorizo (I use half of the Sainsbury's cooking diced chorizo pictured below)

Salt and Pepper

Method

1. Set a pan with water to boil.

2. In a large pan or skillet warm through the olive oil. Add the chopped onion and cook until the onion starts to go clear, about 2-3 minutes.

3. Add the chopped/minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds.

4. Add all vegetables except spinach and cook until softened and cooked through. Once your water is boiling, add your gnocchi to the pan to cook for 2-3 minutes.

5. Add in the chorizo and continue to cook on a medium/low heat.

6. Add basil, chopped tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. You can add a teaspoon of sugar to the sauce if it tastes a little sharp. Once these are cooked through add your spinach.

7. Once spinach has started to wilt add the cooked gnocchi to the pan. Mix the gnocchi in well so that it gets covered in the sauce.

8. Once mixed, remove from the heat and serve. To make this a more substantial meal for 4, serve with bread and a side salad.

Doesn't that look tasty?

All done in a few minutes and provides a very flavourful dinner.

Have a great weekend!

No churn Ice Cream and yummy Popsicles

So we had the hottest day on record yesterday, and today, it's raining! Talk about a typical British summer! However, the warm weather is set to continue for a little while longer and nothing helps you cool down like some ice cream!

I have a very old fridge/freezer. The freezer compartment is pretty limiting. It has 3 draws, and can't hold anything too large, so an ice cream maker is currently out of the picture. There is no way I could freeze anything of that size! This lead me to set up an Ice Cream board on Pinterest for any receipes that didn't require an Ice Cream maker. I also own a Zuko popsicle maker and plenty of molds, so made myself a Popsicle board too!

From my boards, I'm sharing my favourite recipes which include ones I have actually already made. I plan to make the rest during the summer holidays! We have a nice mix of the healthy and indulgent on this list, so whatever your preference, you should be able to find something to your taste here!

When I go out to eat at an Italian restaurant, I do enjoy a Semi Freddo for dessert. I wanted to try making my own, and found this recipe on the BBC Good Food page.

Coffee Semi Freddo. My mouth is drooling over the picture! Find the recipe here.

For those who like their food to be healthy and 'clean', this banana ice cream is a winner.

One Ingredient Chef shows you how to whip this up along with some tasty flavour combinations. Head over here for all the details.

Another healthy recipe that uses bananas is this Banana and Peanut butter ice cream from BBC Good Food.

Anything with peanut butter is alright with me! Find the recipe here.

Lemons are always refreshing and tasty, and as much as I love chocolate, lemon flavoured desserts always get my vote.

This lovely lemon ice cream features coconut milk and no sugar. Head over to Eat Healthy Eat Happy for all the details.

This gorgeous chocolate ice cream is so easy to make and so delicious.

The only thing I found with this recipe is that it needed a lot more thawing time than stated. However, you can pop it in the microwave for a few seconds and it softens up nicely. Find the recipe here from Bright Eyed Baker.

How about some frozen yogurt instead?

Lovely flavour of mangoes screams summer! Head over to Cookie and Kate for the recipe.

For a truly indulgent treat, this Snickers Ice Cream is perfect!

Bye bye to the diet with this one! Find the recipe at Homemade by You here.

Let's move on to some hand held treats. Revisiting peanut butter and banana but in Popsicle form.

These look rich and indulgent.but are pretty healthy. The recipe can be found at My Fussy Eater.

I also love anything coconut flavoured. There is so much you can make with a can of coconut milk. I seem to always have a can or two in the cupboard!

Simple and healthy. Find the recipe at The Coconut Mama.

Now these homemade Fudge Popsicles are so fudgy and so delicious. These are on rotation in this house!

I strongly urge you to make these! The Brown Eyed Baker has this recipe here.

Do you like cookies? Chocolate Chip cookies?

Don't these look delicious from Got Chocolate? Find the recipe here.

Now of course kids love popsicles, but it's always nice to have something that is just for us adults, am I right?

These ones you don't/can't share with the kids! What a shame! Pimm's Cup Popsicles from Shutterbean. Perfect for Wimbledon fortnight. Find the recipe here.

The main thing that drew me to these popsicles was the rainbow of colour.

They look so inviting with those beautiful colours. Plus they are made with plenty of fruit! Find the recipe here from Skinny Taste.

Back to the bananas and more fruit!

These are healthy, no sugar, just fruit!  These are from Gimme Some Oven, and the recipe can be found here.

Ending on a lovely healthy note with these fruity popsicles.

More bananas help to make these delicious popsicles with the addition of some allspice! This recipe is from Off Beat and Inspired and can be found here.

There are even more recipes to be found on my boards, so head over there if none of these grab your fancy, but I highly doubt it!

Have a great weekend!