Scottish themed cupcakes....

Tomorrow is Burn's Night and although I'm not Scottish, it's that one time of the year where I will have haggis, neeps and tatties for my dinner, washed down with a glass bottle of Irn Bru; it is imperative to this yearly feast that the Irn Bru comes in a glass bottle. I've been daydreaming about what kind of Scottish themed cupcakes I could make. Now, Mr.Geek will pretty much eat anything but when I suggested to him that I might try to make Haggis Cupcakes, I could tell by the look on his face straightaway that I was possibly thinking outside the box a bit too much and I had to reel myself back in. A few months back I made Irn Bru cupcakes with the main components being Irn Bru (surprise surprise....) and a small shaving of raw ginger to give them a bit of a kick.

Recently I've had the desire to incorporate edible rice paper into my baking somehow; there's something about it that brings out the big kid in me..I have memories of being younger and eating colourful sheets of fake money... pretending I was rich and I could eat paper! So, when I discovered edible tartan rice paper online I knew what my next Scottish themed cupcake experiment was to be! These fairy cakes are plain vanilla, topped with a circle of white fondant icing with a round sheet of tartan paper on top. I must admit, it does feel a bit strange when you first bite into the cake but the rice paper just melts away in your mouth. A wee tip to get the paper to stick to the fondant...use a dab of golden syrup, its perfect and it pretty much acts as an edible glue. I was a teeny bit disappointed though because I don't think I used quite enough golden syrup as the edges of the tartan rice paper have started to curl up at the sides :( So, here they are...my Tartan Army Cupcakes -

Oh..and I forgot to mention one thing..

Much the same as Irn Bru, my Tartan Fairy Cakes also contain a secret ingredient!

The Cupcake Geek x

“Some hae meat and canna eat, 

And some wad eat that want it, 

But we hae meat and we can eat, 

And sae the Lord be thankit.” 

― Robert Burns

Happy Birthday Mr.Barlow....

This blog post speaks for itself....

Can't wait to sink my teeth into one!!

The Cupcake Geek x

Well I promised myself I would blog at least once a week, but here we are almost mid January and this is my first post of the year. I don't know where the time goes to! Seems very late but Happy New Year to you all :) I hope your sticking to your New Years Resolutions!!! Mine was to stop dreaming about taking my baking further (which I'll mention later...) and to be a more tolerant person....well what can I say...I'm trying.

I've been baking bits and bobs, here and there over these past few weeks. I've had a baking disaster with an Apple and Cinnamon loaf, and I've had a baking triumph with some Jammie Dodger biscuits! I hope other budding bakers feel the same, when I have a bit of a baking boo-boo I try not to let it get to me. I think, right Ok so that didn't turn out as expected, backtrack, discover where I've gone wrong and try again. I tried to make an Apple and Cinnamon loaf, followed the recipe step-by-step...but no it came out all stogy and bricklike, you could probably even have knocked someone out with it. Before it went into the oven it looked deLISH, and even when it was baking the house smelt like Christmas all over again....

So when it came out of the oven a gooey mess....I was fairly disappointed. Not even a pretty plate and a flickering candle could make this look nice! It's ok to blog your not-so-perfect baking experiments isn't it?Anyways, onwards and upwards and all that. I WILL attempt to make it one of these days, soon, when the time is right....

All week my slightly better half has been leaving me some heavy hints that he would like me to make him some Jammie Dodger biscuits. Being the lovely fiance that I am, I made a batch last night and I'm not one to boast but yes, they were pretty tasty. They look pretty, they smell sweet and they taste delightful so this really did make up for my failure at making a sweet loaf earlier on in the week. They would make a lovely Valentine's treat and hopefully if according to plan, I may be selling some at a Cupcake Geek market stall very soon :) 

I've been busy researching the legalities into selling my home baked goodies and I feel like I am eventually getting somewhere. I have achieved my REHIS food hygiene certificate, I'm up to date and aware of the Safer Food, Better Business practice and all I need to wait for now is my local EHO officer to say "yes you Cupcake Geek you have a clean, hygienic kitchen, you can sell goods to the public". Hopefully that will be in the not too distant future. 

Instead of blogging about all of my past baking quests, I have made a photo album of a lot of goodies that I have made over the past year or so...for you to browse through at your own leisure. This can be found at - 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151157342870094.786288.584370093&type=1

The Cupcake Geek x