I’ve said before that I am not a cupcake kinda girl. I think they look pretty, but the extreme sweetness really puts me off. Living in a household of boys, as I do, there is not much call for pretty when it comes to cake. Taste is what they are after.
I do like prettiness though, and we all like berries in this house. In fact we love them. They rarely last till we get home from the shops. Even when I do the groceries alone, I sneak a few berries as I load up the car.
Lately I have been trying to hide the berries and use them as decorations when I bake. They are so pretty, they put me in a good mood. Plus, the boys eat so much fruit that I don’t feel like a bad mother for hiding it from them.
The other day I made a batch of fluffy, airy,chocolate buns and topped them with whipped cream and berries – simple, not too sweet cupcakes whipped up in no time. You can find the recipe below.
This recipe is a great one for chidren of any age to join in with. A six or seven year old should be able to make these by themselves, with a little guidance and some help with the oven of course. Younger children can help with jobs like mixing, beating and filling the bun cases. As for dolloping whipped cream on each bun and placing the berries on top, those can be the special jobs kept as reward for good little helpers.
Recipe (makes 12 buns)
110g butter at room temperature (or softened in the microwave)
110g sugar
160g self-raising flour
1 egg
3 dsps milk
100g dark chocolate (50% cocoa)
200ml cream
As many berries as you like, but at least 12.
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C. Place 12 paper bun cases into a bun tin.
Beat the butter, sugar, flour, egg and milk together. Melt the chocolate and beat it into the bun mixture.
Divide the mixture among the bun cases and bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Whip the cream. Wash the berries.
When the buns have cooled completely, add a dollop of cream and a berry or two or three to the top of each.
Flap the chidrens hands away while you take some photos, hide one for later and then scoff the rest immediately with the children.
You can also make these without chocolate. Just add a few drops of vanilla essence.
Variatons in decorations are:
– sift icing sugar over the cooled buns and top with a raspberry or blueberry
– top the cooled buns with chocolate ganache and berries.
Now I’m hungry! I can’t stand oversweet icing and neither can DD. So we use cream cheese sweetened with a hint of honey or icing sugar. Mmmm.
It can be sickening, can’t it? I use cream cheese frosting on my carrot cake, but only use half the sugar that is called for in the original recipe. Even at that it is fairly sweet.
Sorry for making you hungry 😉
DD and I just had root beer floats. Might have to do us some baking this weekend. Bank holiday woo!
Mmm, those sound good. Oh do bake. It is such a nice thing to do with kids, even when they are verging on teenhood.
DD loves pottering about the kitchen. She loves chopping veggies. Mixing batters. Making omelettes. I’m lucky to share this with her. As a dancer, good nutrition is a priority and this is an easy way to make it fun for her.
At the end of the day it is berries, cream and sponge, but don’t they look pretty? They were very tasty too.
I love that you call them buns! So do we! Totally in agreement about cupcakes, I do not get the appeal of oversweet and over the top amounts of icing. These look gorgeous x
I’m a call a spade a spade person. Those are buns, just dressed up a bit 🙂 Thanks for your comment Noleen, and for reading of course.