Table of Contents

• The You’re On Your Own, Kid Cupcake: Explained
• Sugar Daisies
• Blackberry Compote
• Gingerbread Cupcakes
• Filling the Cupcakes
• Cream Cheese Icing
• Assembling the Cupcakes
• Recipe

The You’re On Your Own, Kid Cupcake: Explained

The You’re On Your Own, Kid Cupcake has 4 main elements:

• Gingerbread cake
• Blackberry compote
• Cream cheese icing
• Sugar daisies

It took me a little while to work out what kind of flavours I wanted to use for this cupcake. In the end, I decided to focus on one of the song’s major recurring themes: seasons changing, specifically, summer turning to autumn and, eventually, winter. We can see this theme in the very first line: ‘Summer went away’, but it is picked up again (albeit more subtly), in the first line of the chorus, where Swift sings ‘From sprinkler splashes to fireplace ashes’. I wanted this cupcake to encapsulate that late summer/early autumn feeling, when the nights are getting longer and the weather is cooling down. Luckily, here in the UK, we’ve just been living through that period of the year, so I had plenty of inspiration all round me.

Eventually, I decided on a blackberry and gingerbread cupcake. Gingerbread is such a quintessentially autumn/winter thing for me- I associate it so strongly with Halloween, with Bonfire Night and with Christmas. Blackberry season falls in late summer/early autumn, so it felt like a perfect addition to these cakes (also, we have an abundance of blackberries stashed in our freezer from my parent’s blackberry-picking endeavours this year, so it all worked out!). To get the blackberry flavour into the cakes, I made a homemade compote, which I used to both fill and decorate the cupcakes.

I opted to ice these cupcakes with cream cheese icing because I thought that it would compliment both the gingerbread and blackberry flavours best. To add even more blackberry flavour (and an extra bit of decoration), I swirled some more compote into the icing. Coincidentally (and rather grotesquely- sorry!), this also ended up as a bit of an accidental nod to another line in the song: ‘I looked around in a blood-soaked gown’, so there’s that, too.

For decoration, there were two lines from the song that I really wanted to draw on for inspiration: ‘So long, Daisy May’ (random, I know, but I just like it) and ‘So make the friendship bracelets’. The latter line has become a really significant part of Swift’s recent Eras Tour, with fans making their own friendship bracelets to trade with each other, so I felt I absolutely had to include some sort of reference to it with this cupcake. I decided to make edible daisies from sugar florist paste, then arrange them around the iced cupcake in a circle, like a sort-of daisy chain friendship bracelet. I really love how it turned out!

Essentially, then, these are gingerbread cupcakes, filled with homemade blackberry compote, topped with cream cheese icing and more compote, then decorated with an edible daisy ‘friendship bracelet’. I think they look so pretty and I can confirm that they taste DELICIOUS.

Let’s get into some specifics, shall we?

Sugar Daisies

You need to start by making the edible daisy decorations, because they need a while to dry out and harden up. For each You’re On Your Own, Kid Cupcake, you’ll need about 12 daisies. That, of course, is if you plan to decorate your cupcakes like me, with a friendship bracelet of daisies all around the edge of the cupcake. You can absolutely decorate your cupcakes however you please with as many, or as few, daisies as you would like.

To make the daisies, you will need the following ingredients:

• White sugar florist paste (I used this brand).

Ideally, you want to use sugar florist paste to make the flowers. It’s very similar to sugar paste, modelling paste and even fondant, but it has a few unique attributes that make it perfect for this: firstly, unlike fondant and sugar paste it dries completely hard, so your flowers will keep their shape perfectly once they have hardened. Secondly, it dries much more quickly than modelling paste, which will save you some time. Thirdly (and finally), it is quite a stretchy, flexible paste, so it is perfect for making delicate petals.

None of this is to say you can’t use the other options to make these daisies- just be aware that they might not work quite so well as the florist paste. It is a bit of a specialist item, but it is readily available online. I purchased mine from The Cake Decorating Company, which is my current go-to for specialist baking supplies.

• Marzipan

This ingredient isn’t strictly necessary- you could absolutely substitute it with more of the florist paste, or even some fondant, tinted with yellow food colouring, to make the centres of the daisies. I just happened to not have any yellow food colouring to hand, but I did have some marzipan, so I went with it.

Ironically, I actually used white marzipan for this. The brand I buy (Waitrose own) is actually a creamy yellow colour, as opposed to a perfect white, which is kind of weird, but we’ll roll with it. Essentially, you just need some sort of yellow modelling paste that you can roll into teeny-tiny little balls to place in the centre of each daisy.

• Icing sugar

Just a little, to dust your work surface/rolling pin, so that the florist paste does not stick.

• Dried split peas

A rogue inclusion, I know, but don’t worry- you won’t actually be eating these. I just found that they were the perfect size/shape to dry the flowers over, which gives the daisies a more 3D shape. As a bonus, the flat side of the split peas means they don’t roll around, which makes things much easier.

Please do take into account who will be eating your cupcakes though- obviously no one is going to suspect that their cupcake has come into contact with a split pea, so just be careful of allergies/sensitivities. If you don’t want to use split peas, you can either look for something a similar size and shape, or you can dry the flowers directly over the marzipan centres (the flowers will be a little flatter, but that is obviously preferable to accidentally poisoning your friends).

Alongside these ingredients, you will also need some specialist equipment:

• Daisy plunge cutter

I used the 19mm cutter from this pack, but you can use any daisy-shaped cutter. Plunge cutters make it much easier to keep all of the petals in tact with delicate things like this, so I prefer them here.

• A tapered/ball modelling tool

This is entirely optional, but I like to indent the daisies a little before drying them over the split peas, to help them get that 3D shape. I actually used the tapered ‘plunger’ element of one of these plunge cutters, but any small modelling tool will do really. If you don’t have one, try the end of a chopstick, or just skip this step entirely and leave the daisies to set over the split peas- they’ll be slightly less 3D, but will still have some dimension.

You will also need a rolling pin, as well as a large baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper.

Before you start, spread some of the dried split peas onto your baking tray- you’ll need 1 per flower. Position them so the flat sides are sitting against the tray and the rounded side is facing up. This is a little bit time-consuming, but it’s best to get this step out of the way now.

Once you have all of your ingredients/equipment assembled, you can start making the daisies. Knead the florist paste between your hands until it is smooth and pliable. Dust a clean work surface and rolling pin with icing sugar, then roll out the paste very thinly- plunge cutters aren’t really sharp at all, so if your paste is too thick, you won’t get a clean cut on your daisies. Once your paste is rolled out, you can cut the daisies- you’ll need about 12 per cupcake (so 144 in total!).

Once you have cut all of the daisies, place them, one at a time, into the palm of your hand, with the right side facing up. Use the modelling tool (if using) to press into the centre of the daisy, making an indent. Flip the daisy upside down and lay it over one of the split peas on the baking sheet, so that it will dry in the shape you have created. Repeat this for all of the daisies, then leave them to dry out overnight, or until hard (otherwise they won’t keep their shape). Once hard, the daisies will keep for a super long time, as long as they are stored in an airtight container and don’t get wet (if you intend to store the daisies for a long time, I recommend storing them without the marzipan centres, as marzipan contains more moisture than sugar florist paste. The marzipan will be fine for a couple of days, but any longer than that and you might encounter some sweating).

To add the yellow centres to the daisy, just take a tiny pinch of your marzipan (or other yellow modelling paste). Roll it into a ball between your dominant index finger and the palm of your non-dominant hand, then gently press it into the centre of the daisy. Repeat as needed.

Blackberry Compote

Next up, you want to make the blackberry compote, so that it can cool down in time for you to assemble the cakes. You can also make the compote ahead of time- stored in an airtight container in the fridge, it will keep for about a week. This compote only requires three ingredients:

• Frozen blackberries

I like to use frozen blackberries, just because it’s easier to find them year-round, but you can use fresh if you prefer (just be aware that the compote will probably take a little less time than stated- don’t burn it!).

• Caster sugar

You could use granulated sugar, if that’s what you have on hand- just make sure you give it enough time to dissolve fully. I wouldn’t recommend using brown sugar, because it will affect the flavour of the finished compote.

• Lemon juice

You just need a little squeeze of fresh juice, but it makes all the difference- it brings out the flavour of the blackberries, but also livens up the compote with a fresh and zingy tang.

To make the compote, place the frozen berries and the caster sugar into a small saucepan over medium heat.

Stir every now and then until the mixture starts to bubble. At this point, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 35-40 minutes, stirring frequently to make sure it does not catch (if you see any indications of this, turn the heat down a little more). The blackberries should break down by themselves during this time, but you can give them a little mash with a fork/the back of a spatula to help the process along.

Once the fruit has all broken down and the compote is thick and jammy (see reference photo below), take the pan off the heat.

Pass the compote through a heatproof sieve, set over an equally heatproof bowl, and use the back of a spoon to press it through. This will remove the seeds, leaving you with a smooth compote. If your compote is a bit too thin at this stage, you can return it to the saucepan and allow it to simmer gently to reduce it a little more.

The last step is to add a squeeze of lemon juice to the strained compote and mix it in well. Allow the compote to cool before transferring it to an airtight container and placing into the fridge until it’s time to assemble the cupcakes. Stored like this, it should last for about a week.

Gingerbread Cupcakes

These gingerbread cupcakes have all the flavour of a lightly spiced gingerbread, with the texture of a typical cupcake. That is to say- these cupcakes aren’t dark and sticky in the same way that a traditional gingerbread cake is, but are still warm and spicy, just a little more subtly. I like to think of them as gingerbread biscuits in cake form!

These cupcakes are super easy to make- they use my All-In-One Method for cake batter, so they come together super quickly- the hardest part is measuring the treacle!

For the cupcake batter, you will need:

• Stork

As always with my cake batters, I like to use Stork (a brand of baking margarine), because I think it makes for a lighter, fluffier cake. If you don’t want to use Stork, or can’t find it, you can substitute an equal amount of softened unsalted butter.

• Caster sugar

It’s best to use caster sugar (as opposed to granulated sugar) when using the All-In-One Method, because it incorporates into the batter more quickly.

• Self-raising flour

It’s important to use self-raising flour to help the cupcakes rise. If you only have plain flour, you’ll need to add baking powder.

• Bicarbonate of soda

This recipe uses treacle, which is acidic, so it also contains bicarbonate of soda, which is alkaline, to balance out the flavours.

• Spices

The spices are what make these cupcakes so quintessentially gingerbread-y. I use a combination of cinnamon, ginger and cloves for a warm and spicy gingerbread flavour.

• Eggs

As with all of my recipes, I use large eggs.

• Milk

Ideally, you should use whole milk for all baking. I very rarely have whole milk in the house, so I almost always used skimmed milk and I’ve never had any problems, so just use whatever you have.

• Treacle

You don’t need much, but a little bit of treacle helps to lend that iconic gingerbread flavour to these cupcakes. If you don’t have treacle, you could substitute an equal amount of molasses- the flavour may be slightly more intense, but it will still taste delicious.

Once you have all of your ingredients, you can get on with making the cupcakes. Start by lining a 12-hole cupcake tray with paper cases (I used these burgundy cases from Purple Cupcakes– the same ones I used for my Maroon cupcakes, because I thought that they matched the colour of the blackberry compote nicely), and preheat the oven 170°C.

After that, it’s simply a case of putting all of the cake batter ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on a low speed, whisk the batter until it starts to come together, then gradually increase the speed to maximum and beat until the batter is light and fluffy- it will only take about a minute of whisking in total. For a more in-depth walkthrough of this technique, check out my Wimbledon Cake recipe, where I go through the whole thing in much more detail.

Once your batter is ready, divide it between the 12 cupcake cases. I like to use a regular-sized ice cream scoop to do this, but you can use two spoons if you prefer.

Bake the cupcakes in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until they spring back after being touched gently. I like to remove the cupcakes from the tray as soon as they come out of the oven and transfer them to a wire rack to cool, so that the cases do not become greasy, but do be careful if you do this because they will be very hot. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before filling/decorating.

Filling the Cupcakes

When I made these cupcakes, I swirled a little bit of blackberry compote into the batter before baking the cakes. In all honesty: it looked great, but you could barely taste it! When you’ve gone to all the trouble of making the compote, and when the blackberry plays such a big role in the ‘story’ of these cupcakes, that just wouldn’t do!

Because of this, I have written the recipe to include a different method of incorporating the blackberry compote into the cupcakes, which will really help it to live up to its fullest blackberry potential: I recommend filling the cupcakes with some fresh compote after they have baked- think like a Victoria Sponge, filled with jam, only these are Gingerbread cupcakes, filled with compote. Sounds good, right?

Filling cupcakes is super easy to do. Essentially, you just need to remove some of the cake, fill the leftover hole with compote, then add part of the removed cake back on top to seal in the filling. There are a couple of ways you can do this:

• Use an apple corer

Line the apple corer up with the centre, then apply slight pressure, while twisting slowly. The serrated edge will cut through the cupcake. Go down about half way into the cupcake, then remove the corer (along with the cut cylinder of cake). Add some compote to the cavity (you can use a jug, a spoon or even a piping bag to do this). Finally, use a small, serrated knife to trim the bottom off the cylinder of cake you removed, then push the top back into the cupcake, to seal in the filling.

• Use a knife

If you don’t have an apple corer, you can use a small, serrated knife to create the cavity. Hold the knife as close to vertical as possible, and carve out a small circle in the centre of the cupcake. Use the knife to wiggle the cake out of the circle, then fill and seal up as above.

Once all of your cupcakes are filled with compote, you can decorate them.

Cream Cheese Icing

I’ve posted a few recipes that use cream cheese icing here on the blog, so I won’t go into too much detail here. If you would like to read a full walkthrough of how to make perfectly pipeable cream cheese icing, you can find that here. Essentially though, there are two main rules you have to follow if you want a thick and smooth icing, instead of a sloppy mess:

• Use full-fat cream cheese

Trust me, low-fat just won’t work for this- you’ll end up with a super thin icing that just can’t be remedied by adding more icing sugar.

• Don’t overmix the cream cheese

Unlike butter, cream cheese doesn’t really respond well to being whipped up a lot. Try to minimise your mixing once the cream cheese has been added- this will help you to achieve a lovely, thick icing.

Not following one/both of these guidelines will inevitably leave you with soupy cream cheese icing that doesn’t hold up when piped and is kind of… unpleasant to eat? Save yourself the bother and follow my two Cream Cheese Commandments for perfect cream cheese icing, every time.

Assembling the Cupcakes

Finally, we have reached the assembly stage- in the homestretch now!

Start by putting your cream cheese icing into a piping bag, fitted with a large round tip. This time, I tried out attaching a food clip to the top of the filled bag, to prevent the icing from coming out the top and I thought it worked really well- I’ll definitely be using this trick again!

Pipe a big swirl of icing onto each cupcake- I like to start in the middle, applying an even pressure as I slowly move out and draw a circle around the circumference of the cake, then work my way up in a spiral. If you have an ever bigger piping nozzle than me, you could just keep the piping bag in the centre of the cake and lift it up gently as you apply pressure, to achieve one big dome of icing. Either way, the icing is going to be largely obscured by compote, so it doesn’t have to be too perfect.

Next up, you want to add some blackberry compote. I used a teaspoon to drizzle some right on top of the icing but, again, you could use a piping bag for more control, if you prefer.

Using a cocktail stick, or a small, sharp knife, swirl the compote into the icing a little. Don’t overdo this, or you’ll just end up with pink icing, but marbling it slightly will make the cupcakes look super pretty. Embrace the intentionally messy look!

Finally, just press the hardened sugar daisies onto the icing. I did a ring of them all around the base of the icing, to mimic the look of a friendship bracelet, but you can add the flowers wherever you want.

Et voilà! You’ve got yourself 12 blackberry and gingerbread cupcakes, inspired by ‘You’re On Your Own, Kid‘, by Taylor Swift. I hope you’ve enjoyed this 5th instalment of my Taylor Swift Cupcakes Series! Let me know what you think of the latest cupcake in the comments down below!

Gemma

xxx

Recipe

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‘You’re On Your Own, Kid’ Cupcakes

Inspired by Taylor Swift's 'You're On Your Own, Kid', these gingerbread cupcakes are filled with homemade blackberry compote, topped with a blackberry/cream cheese swirled icing and decorated with an edible daisy chain friendship bracelet- perfect for when summer goes away, but the yearning (for cake) stays.

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword Blackberry, Compote, Cream cheese, Cream cheese icing, Gingerbread, Sugarpaste daisy, Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift Cupcakes

Prep Time 2 hours hours

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Drying time 12 hours hours

Servings 12 cupcakes

Equipment

• 1 19mm daisy plunger cutter (see Note 1).
• 1 tapered/ball modelling tool (see Note 2).

Ingredients

For the sugar daisies:

• 60-70 g sugar florist paste (see Note 3).
• 10-15 g marzipan (see Note 4).
• Icing sugar, for dusting.
• Dried split peas (see Note 5).

For the blackberry compote:

• 200 g blackberries (I used frozen, but you can use fresh if you have them).
• 60 g caster sugar
• 1 lemon

For the gingerbread cupcakes:

• 200 g Stork (see Note 6).
• 190 g caster sugar
• 180 g self-raising flour
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp milk
• 3/4 tbsp treacle

For the cream cheese icing:

• 100 g unsalted butter, softened
• 160 g full-fat cream cheese
• 560 g icing sugar, sifted

Instructions

For the sugar daisies:

• Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper. Spread out split peas (1 per cupcake) onto the tray, domed sides up, then set aside.
• Dust a clean work surface and rolling pin with icing sugar. Knead the sugar florist paste between your hands until malleable, then roll out as thinly as possible. Use the daisy-shaped plunge cutter to punch out 144 daisies (maybe a few extra, just in case!). As you make each daisy, push it out of the cutter into the palm of your hand, then use the modelling tool to press the centre of the flower to give it a cupped shape. Place each daisy upside down over a dried split pea on the lined tray and leave to harden for at least 12 hours.
• Once the daisies have hardened, make the marzipan centres. Knead the marzipan between your hands until malleable, then take a tiny pinch of the paste and roll it between the palm of your non-dominant hand and the index finger of your dominant hand, to form a tiny ball. Carefully lift a daisy off its split pea, then press the marzipan ball into the centre, where the pea has made the indent. Repeat for all the daisies and set aside in a cool, dry place until ready to decorate.

For the blackberry compote:

• Place the blackberries and sugar into a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir every now and then, until the mixture starts to bubble, then turn the heat down to low and simmer gently for 35-40 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the compote from sticking and to help break up the berries.
• Once the fruit has all broken down and the compote is thick and jammy, remove the pan from the heat. Pass the compote through a heatproof sieve, pushing it through with the back of a spoon, to remove the seeds.
• Add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to the strained compote and stir it through, then transfer the compote to an airtight container and store in the fridge until ready to use, or up to a week.

For the gingerbread cupcakes:

• Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line a 12-hole cupcake tin with cupcake cases and set aside.
• Place all of the cupcake ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk on low speed to incorporate all of the dry ingredients, then gradually increase the speed to full, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Whisk the batter until it is light and fluffy- this shouldn't take longer than about 1 minute.
• Divide the batter between the 12 cupcake cases (I use an ice cream scoop to do this), then bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until the cakes spring back when touched gently. Immediately transfer the cakes to a wire rack (to prevent any greasy cases), then leave to cool completely before filling/decorating.

For the cream cheese icing:

• In a large bowl, beat the softened butter for 1-2 minutes with an electric mixer, until smooth and noticeably paler.
• Add the cream cheese and mix into the butter by hand until incorporated.
• Sift in the icing sugar and mix by hand until incorporated. Use electric mixer to beat for 10-15 seconds only, until fluffy, but still thick and stiff. Transfer the icing to a piping bag, fitted with a large, round nozzle, ready to pipe onto the cakes.

To fill the cupcakes:

• Once the cakes are completely cool, use an apple corer/sharp knife to remove a small circle of cake from the top of each cupcake. Use a spoon or piping bag to fill the cavity with a small amount of blackberry compote, then trim the bottoms of the removed cake pieces and insert the tops back into the holes, to seal in the filling.

To decorate:

• Pipe a large swirl of cream cheese icing onto each cupcake. Use a spoon or piping bag to drizzle a small amount of blackberry compote on top of the icing, then use a sharp knife/cocktail stick to swirl it in. Press 12 sugar daisies into the icing, all around the base of the swirl, to give the appearance of a daisy chain-inspired friendship bracelet.
• Because of the cream cheese icing, these cupcakes are best served immediately, or within 1 hour of assembling, if kept at (a cool) room temperature. They will keep for about 2 days if stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Notes

1. Daisy plunger cutter: I used the 19mm cutter from this pack, but any daisy cutter will do. I like the plunge ones because the petals can be tricky to get out of normal cutters, but use what you have. 
2. Modelling tool: this is optional- it just helps to give your daisies more dimension. If you don’t have one, try using a chopstick instead. You could even skip this step and just set the daisies over the split peas instead, but the finished daisies will be slightly flatter.
3. Sugar florist paste: Florist paste is different to sugar paste, fondant or modelling paste- it is more flexible and dries harder. That’s not to say you can’t use the other ones to make the daisies, it might just be a little trickier/more time consuming.
4. Marzipan: I used marzipan for the centres of my flowers, because it is what I had, but you could use any sort of modelling paste (even a little sugar florist paste), dyed yellow, if you prefer. 
5. Dried split peas: worry not- you won’t actually be eating the dried split peas, they are just the perfect size/shape to dry the sugar daisies over to give them the right shape when they have hardened. You’ll need one dried split pea for each daisy.
6. Stork: as always, I like to use Stork in place of butter in my cakes, because I think it makes for a lighter, fluffier sponge. If you prefer, you can substitute the Stork for an equal amount of softened, unsalted butter. 

 

The recipes for the gingerbread cupcakes, blackberry compote and cream cheese icing have all been adapted from ‘The Crumbs and Doilies Recipe Book’ by Cupcake Jemma.

Table of Contents

• The Maroon Cupcake: Explained
• Food Colouring 101
• Making the Cupcakes
• Making Pipeable Cream Cheese Icing
• Piping Buttercream Flowers
• Recipe

The Maroon Cupcake: Explained

The Maroon Cupcake is composed of 2 main elements:

• Burgundy velvet cake
• Cream cheese icing, piped into a two-toned carnation/rose hybrid flower

Taste-wise, these cupcakes are essentially just red velvet cakes: tangy vanilla cupcakes with a hint of chocolate flavour, topped with a rich cream cheese icing. The only real difference in the batter, which takes the cakes from red to burgundy velvet, is the cocoa powder.

Black cocoa powder is the secret ingredient for these cupcakes. In the cocoa powder world, there is a process known as ‘Dutching’ (you might see some cocoa powders called ‘Dutch-Processed’). ‘Dutching’ is where the cocoa is treated with an alkaline solution, which neutralises some of the acidity, giving it a smoother flavour and darker colour. Black cocoa powder is cocoa that has been ultra-Dutched, making it super dark and super smooth. It’s not necessarily more chocolate-y, but it is definitely intense and pungent- as if you’ve extracted the underlying notes in a bar of dark chocolate. The ‘Dutching’ process actually prevents the cocoa from being too bitter, so you don’t need to worry about that. Long story short, black cocoa powder is still chocolate-y, just in a slightly more grown-up way than regular cocoa powder. It’s mainly used for the dark colour it imparts. I use it in this recipe, in place of regular cocoa powder, so that, when I add red food colouring, I end up with a deep, burgundy/maroon batter, instead of the vivid red typically achieved in a red velvet cake.

Black cocoa powder can be a little hard to find- I purchased a 100g pot from Purple Cupcakes, a baking supply store here in the UK. You can find the link here. If you can’t find black cocoa powder near you, or just don’t want to use it, you’ll need to use a combination of black and red food colouring to achieve the burgundy colour (but be warned, you’ll need a lot of colouring to achieve the same colour, which might affect the overall taste of your finished bakes!). You could also try substituting some of the flour for a little more cocoa powder, to impart a deeper brown colour, but this will also affect the overall flavour of the cake!

The decoration for these cupcakes is inspired by what might just be my favourite line in the song: ‘Carnations you had thought were roses, that’s us.’ I mean…. Miss Swift, PLEASE. Anyway, I had a vision for these cupcakes: they would be decorated to look like an ambiguous flower, that could be a carnation or a rose, in a nod to that line. It took a bit of practising, but, with the right tools, piping the buttercream flowers on top of the cupcakes ended up being pretty straightforward. To really draw out that ambiguous carnation/rose vibe, while still fitting in with the colour scheme defined by the title of the song, I opted to create white, rose-shaped petals that were edged with burgundy/maroon- like an iconic carnation (I think it’s called a Cream Viana carnation? Don’t quote me on that though!).

The classic topping for a red velvet cake is cream cheese icing- the tanginess of the cream cheese really draws out the tangy flavour of the cake. I wanted to continue that tradition with my burgundy velvet cakes, so I opted to use a standard cream cheese icing to decorate. The only slight problem with using cream cheese icing is that it can be a little runnier than your typical American buttercream- not ideal when you’re piping intricate details like these flowers! Luckily, I’ve done some testing and found a way to get delicious, perfectly pipeable cream cheese icing. More on that later.

Finally, as always, I like to match my cupcake cases to my cupcakes. When I was purchasing the black cocoa powder, I noticed that Purple Cupcakes had some burgundy cupcake cases too, so, obviously, I bought them. Having tried them out with this recipe, I can tell you that I was really impressed! They’re thick and sturdy, with an even, deep burgundy colour on the outside and plain white on the inside. I will definitely be purchasing more cases in different colours from this shop.

Essentially, then, this is a recipe for burgundy velvet cupcakes. Even if you aren’t a Taylor Swift fan, or don’t want to bother with the piping on top, you should definitely try out the cakes and just spread some cream cheese icing on top! They’ll still look (and taste!) great! Anyway, let’s get into some specifics…

Food Colouring 101

It is a truth universally acknowledged that anyone making a red velvet cake for the first time will read the recipe, do a double take and exclaim to themselves: ‘How much?!’ when they see the quantity of red food colouring. It is a lot, yes, but it is the price we pay to honour the tradition of the cake and eat unnaturally red food. You can put less food colouring in (or skip the food colouring altogether, if you want), but your finished cakes will not be Maroon, like the title of the song, which does kind of defeat the point.

If you are willing to use food colouring in your bake, know that not all food colourings are made equal. I talked about this in my Lavender Haze Cupcake post, so you can check out the nitty-gritty of the discussion there, but try to find a food colouring that a) has been specifically formulated for use in high-fat content mixtures and b) won’t be affected by the heat of the oven. I recently discovered Colour Mill colourings and I have been really impressed with my experience of them so far. For this recipe, I used the shade Red. When combined with the black cocoa powder, the red colouring lends a deep, burgundy/maroon hue to the batter, which further deepens during baking.

Making the Cupcakes

My go-to red velvet cupcake recipe is a slightly adapted version of Cupcake Jemma‘s. It gives that classic, tangy, vanilla/chocolate flavour, but isn’t so heavily flavoured that it tastes like it came straight out of a supermarket. It’s also pretty quick and easy to whip up, which is great!

I like to get everything prepared before I start, because, once you start mixing, these cupcakes come together super quickly. Another quick tip here: this recipe (and all of the red food colouring involved) can get pretty messy if you’re not careful. Food colouring washes off eventually, but, just to be safe, opt for bakeware that won’t stain too easily (i.e. keep that white spatula far, far away).

First up, you want to line a 12-hole cupcake tray with your burgundy cupcake cases and preheat the oven to 180°C. Cupcake Jemma’s recipes always use a fan-assisted oven, but I prefer to use a conventional oven where I can, so I have adapted the recipe accordingly. With this recipe, I actually felt the cakes baked in the conventional oven were moister! Win.

Start by mixing the buttermilk, vanilla and red food colouring together in a small jug. Whisk it up until the colour is distributed evenly, then set aside. It will be vivid, but it needs to be that way! The colour will tone down a lot when you add the buttermilk to the rest of the batter.

Sift the flour, black cocoa powder, sugar and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the butter (as always with my cakes, I prefer to use Stork because I think it gives a fluffier, moister cake, but you can use softened, unsalted butter if you prefer) and eggs.

Using the paddle attachment, beat those ingredients together on medium-high speed for about 1 minute. I like to start on a slow speed, just to incorporate the flour, then work up to medium-high- that way, I’m not ambushed by a cloud of flour! When it’s ready, the mixture should be smooth, fluffy and an even, grey shade (from the cocoa powder), just like above.

At this point, you’ll want to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is well-mixed, then add the red buttermilk mixture. Beat the mixture on medium-high for a further 30 seconds, or until the red colour has been distributed evenly. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again, so you don’t end up with any pesky streaks of unincorporated colour later on.

From now on, you have to work quickly (like, not-enough-time-to-take-a-photo quickly). In a small cup, mix together the baking soda and the vinegar. It should fizz up immediately (if it doesn’t, check that your baking soda is in date- this batter relies heavily on the reaction between these ingredients to rise, so it’s important that the reaction occurs properly!). Working fast, tip the whole lot into the cake batter and give it a brief mix, just to incorporate everything.

Divide the batter between the 12 cupcake cases (each case should be about 3/4 full), then place into the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the cakes spring back when touched gently.

I find it’s best to remove the cupcakes from the tray and transfer them to a wire rack to cool as soon as they come out of the oven- this helps to prevent the bottom of the cases from becoming greasy. Obviously, the tray and the cakes will be super hot, so be very careful while doing this.

Making Pipeable Cream Cheese Icing

As I mentioned, cream cheese icing can be a little softer than American buttercream. Because we’ll be using it to pipe flowers on top of our burgundy velvet cupcakes, it’s really important that the icing is firm enough to hold its shape. There are 2 main rules you’ll need to follow in order to get perfectly pipeable cream cheese icing, every time:

1. Use full-fat cream cheese.

It can be tempting to use low-fat cream cheese, but it just won’t work for this recipe- you need the fat to keep the icing firm! Low-fat cream cheese has a looser consistency that just can’t be remedied by adding extra icing sugar (trust me, I’ve tried).

US recipes will tell you to use block cream cheese (from what I can tell, this is basically cream cheese that comes in a block, wrapped in foil/paper, much like butter), and avoid the spreadable stuff at all costs. Here in the UK, block cream cheese is rare- I’ve only ever seen/used the stuff that comes in a tub. Don’t worry- as long as it’s full fat, you’ll be fine!

2. Don’t overmix the cream cheese.

When I make American buttercream, I tend to whip the whole thing for a loooonnnng time to get it really light and fluffy, while helping to prevent it ending up like that cloyingly-sweet, super stiff/thick icing that you can get on some store-bought cakes. However, cream cheese does not like to be whipped to that extent. Over-whipping cream cheese can leave you with a soupy mess- not the vibe. I have specifically formulated the instructions for this recipe to minimise the amount of mixing the cream cheese undergoes, which will leave you with perfectly stiff, yet still soft and fluffy, cream cheese icing- ideal for the piping on these cupcakes.

You want to start with softened butter. You can leave it out at room temperature for a couple of hours, or, if you’re lazy like me, you can pop it in the microwave, on the lowest setting, for about 15-20 seconds. It should be soft enough that you can easily make an indent in it with your finger, but not melted. Once you have your softened butter, you want to whip it until it is completely smooth and noticeably paler. This will take about 1-2 minutes- I like to use an electric hand mixer. Make sure there are no lumps of butter remaining, otherwise your icing won’t be super smooth.

At this point, you can add the cream cheese. I like to mix the cream cheese into the butter by hand, to ensure I don’t overmix it, but you can use an electric mixer if you prefer- just be sure to only mix it until combined- as little time as possible! You’re looking to get the two fats completely incorporated, but that’s it.

Next, you need to add the icing sugar. I prefer to add all of the icing sugar in one and mix it in by hand (to prevent an icing sugar dust cloud!), before giving the whole thing a brief, final mix (literally only 10-15 seconds!) with the electric mixer, just to make sure it’s super smooth and fluffy. If you’re making a big quantity of icing, you might want to add the icing sugar in two stages.

And there you have it! Thick and smooth cream cheese icing, perfect for piping.

Piping Buttercream Flowers

I admit, piping buttercream flowers looks scary. Be encouraged, though, by the fact that, before this week, I had never piped a buttercream flower, and I think these look pretty OK! Truthfully, it’s all in the equipment. For these flowers, you’ll need a #124 tip: this is a large petal tip, with one end slightly thinner than the other. As we just covered, you’ll also want quite stiff icing, so that it holds its shape when piped and maintains the definition of the petals. Finally, while you can use your hand to hold and turn the cupcake as you pipe, I find it easier to place the cupcake on a turntable/Lazy Susan instead, which can do all the spinning for you and leave you free to concentrate on the piping. If you do use a turntable, you’ll want to place the cupcake on a non-stick mat, to prevent it from slipping and sliding as you spin it!

By nature, buttercream flowers take quite a lot of buttercream, which is why this recipe calls for so. Much. Icing. Sorry! If you don’t want to make/use/consume quite so much, you can just pipe smaller flowers on top, rather than covering the whole surface of each cupcake. Having said that, I have a pretty low tolerance when it comes to eating cakes with lots of icing, but I don’t think these cakes have too much icing at all, so make of that what you will!

The two-tone petals are completely optional, I just wanted to a) incorporate more maroon into my Maroon cupcakes and b) really blur the line between carnation and rose. Those darker-tipped petals are very reminiscent of a carnation, but the piping technique for a rose is much easier! In fact, if you’re a bit shaky like me, your rose can end up a bit frilly and carnation-looking anyway, which works out because you can get roses with darker-tipped petals. Overall, I like to think of these flowers as ‘carnoses’ (or ‘rosations’? Unsure).

If you do want to make these two-toned petals, you’ll need to take a heaped teaspoon of your cream cheese icing and place it into a small bowl. To make it that burgundy colour, much like the cake batter, you’ll need to add some black cocoa powder and red food colouring, then mix it well to combine. It will get a lot thinner, as a result of all the extra mixing, but that doesn’t matter for this recipe.

Then, you need to fit your piping bag with the #124 tip. Line it up so each end of the thin tip lines up with one of the side seams of the bag.

If you want to make two-toned petals, you’ll need to add the burgundy icing at this stage. Use a skewer (or other thin implement) to carefully smear the coloured icing all the way down the seam of the piping bag, on the same side as the thinner end of the tip. The thicker this stripe of colour is, the more pigment you will get on each petal. I did a much thicker stripe of colour for the cupcake at the back of the above photo and, as you can see, it definitely makes a difference! If you want a similar effect to the two cupcakes at the front, try to keep the colour right along the seam.

Once you’ve got the coloured stripe, you can fill the piping bag with the white cream cheese icing. Be careful not to smear the burgundy icing at this point- add the white icing down the opposite side of the bag to prevent it dragging any of the pigment. Pipe a little icing back into your bowl, until you see the burgundy stripe emerge. Now you’re ready to pipe onto your cupcakes!

I learned this piping technique from this YouTube video. It is really helpful to see the process in action, so definitely check the video out before you start!

You’ll need to hold the bag horizontally to pipe these flowers, so that the opening of the piping tip is vertical. Make sure that the thicker end of the tip is at the bottom (closest to the cake). The burgundy stripe (if you are using it) should be on top.

Start by piping a cone shape in the centre of the cupcake. Holding the bag so that the tip is vertical, perpendicular to the bottom of the cupcake, apply a small amount of pressure while turning the cake, to get as thin a cone as you can manage, but don’t worry about being too perfect!

Now you can begin to make the individual petals. Keep the thicker end of the tip at the bottom, and press up close to the cone you have just piped. Apply pressure while moving tip around the cone, before stopping the pressure once you’re about 1/3 of the way around, to create a single petal. Wipe off the tip, then repeat the process to make another petal.

Keep making petals in this way, wiping off the tip in between each petal, making the petals larger as you work your way out. You also want to gradually decrease the angle between your piping bag and the surface of your cupcake as you go, so that, when you reach the edge of the cake, the ‘slit’ of the tip is almost horizontal. This will give your flower a fuller look.

And there you have it! A buttercream rosation/carnose. It might look a little tricky, but the great thing about this method (and the two-toned petals!), is that it looks impressive even when it is not perfect, so don’t worry too much! As with all things, practice makes perfect, so just keep trying. If you want, you can fill the piping bag with plain cream cheese icing and practise on clean, upturned ramekins until you get the hang of it. When you’re done, just scrape the icing back into your bowl, cover it with clingfilm and place into the fridge to firm back up for 30 minutes or so before giving it a quick mix and going again. Just don’t practise with the burgundy stripe in the bag, because you won’t be able to mix the icing back together afterwards!

I hope you like my Maroon-inspired cupcakes! Let me know if you give them a try!

Gemma

xxx

Recipe

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Maroon Cupcakes

Burgundy velvet cupcakes, decorated with cream cheese icing flowers. Inspired by Taylor Swift's song, 'Maroon'.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword Burgundy velvet cake, Cake, Cream cheese, Piping

Prep Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 55 minutes minutes

Ingredients

For the burgundy velvet cupcakes:

• 2 1/4 tbsp buttermilk
• 3/4 tsp red food colouring paste (see Note 1)
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 175 g self-raising flour
• 3/4 tbsp black cocoa powder (see Note 2)
• 190 g caster sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 200 g Stork (see Note 3)
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 1/4 tsp white wine vinegar

For the cream cheese icing:

• 150 g unsalted butter, softened
• 240 g full-fat cream cheese
• 840 g icing sugar
• 1/16 tsp black cocoa powder
• 1 drop red food colouring paste

Instructions

For the cupcakes:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 12-hole cupcake tray with burgundy cupcake cases and set aside.
• In a small jug, whisk together the buttermilk, red food colouring and vanilla until the colour is evenly incorporated. Set aside.
• Sift the flour, black cocoa powder, caster sugar and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer, which has been fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the Stork and eggs, then beat on medium-high speed (you may want to start on a slow speed, just to incorporate the flour and prevent a cloud) for about a minute, until the mixture is smooth and fluffy.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the red buttermilk mixture to the batter. Mix for a further 30 seconds, or until the red colour has been evenly distributed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again, to prevent any red streaks.
• In a small cup, whisk the baking soda and vinegar together. The mixture should fizz up immediately. Quickly pour this into the batter and give the whole thing a brief mix to incorporate. Divide the mixture between the 12 cases (each case should be about 3/4 full), then place into the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the cakes spring back when touched. Remove from the tin straight away and allow to cool completely on a wire rack, before decorating.

For the cream cheese icing:

• In a large bowl, beat the softened butter for 1-2 minutes with an electric mixer, until smooth and noticeably paler.
• Add the cream cheese and mix by hand until incorporated.
• Sift in the icing sugar and mix by hand until incorporated. Use electric mixer to beat for 10-15 seconds only, until fluffy, but still thick and stiff.

To decorate:

• Remove 1/2 tsp of the cream cheese icing and place in a small bowl/ramekin. Add the black cocoa powder and red food colouring and stir well to combine.
• Fit the piping bag with the #124 petal tip. Use a skewer (or the blunt edge of a dinner knife) to smear the burgundy icing all the way down the seam of the bag, on the same side as the thinner end of the tip.
• Being careful not to smear the burgundy icing already in the bag, fill the piping bag with the white icing. Pipe a little icing back into your bowl, until you see the burgundy colour come through along the top.
• Hold your cupcake in your non-dominant hand (alternatively, place the cupcake on a non-stick mat, on top of a turntable). Hold the piping bag in your dominant hand, ensuring that the petal tip is vertical, with the thicker end facing the bottom (the line of burgundy icing should be on top).
• Pipe a cone in the centre of the cupcake. Work your way out, adding petals around that centre cone, gradually increasing the size of each petal, while decreasing the angle between the tip and the cake's surface, as you go. Wipe the tip off in between each petal. By the time you reach the edge of the cake, your piping tip should be close to horizontal.
• Repeat the process for all of the cupcakes. Because of the cream cheese icing, these cupcakes will need to be stored in the fridge, where they will stay fresh for 2-3 days.

Notes

1. Make sure the food colouring you use is a) formulated to work in mixtures with a high-fat content and b) won’t be affected by the heat of the oven. I like to use Colour Mill colourings in my bakes. Don’t use a liquid food colouring, as it won’t provide enough pigment/will alter the consistency of the cake batter. 
2. Black cocoa powder is an ultra Dutch-processed form of cocoa powder. This recipe relies on it to achieve a deep, burgundy colour. I purchased mine here, but, if you cannot find it near you, you can substitute regular cocoa powder. You will, however, need to add (quite a bit of!) black food colouring, or replace the red colouring with even more burgundy colouring, to achieve a similar burgundy colour.
3. As always with my cakes, I prefer to use Stork (a baking margarine) in place of butter, because I think it makes for a fluffier, moister cake. If you do not want to use Stork, you can substitute with an equal amount of softened, unsalted butter. 

I feel like carrot cake is one of those very marmite things- you either love it or you hate it. As a child, I just could not understand why anyone would want a) vegetables in their cake???? and b) cheese in their icing???? I was, to be perfectly truthful, all-round very suspicious of it. Now, however, I have grown up. My tastes have developed (barely- I would still eat my bodyweight in chocolate on a daily basis if left to my own devices). I am no longer horrified by the prospect of cheese in icing (in fact, my favourite icing ever is a marscapone icing! Go figure). My dislike for carrot cake, however, persevered. That is, until I tried out this recipe, by Cupcake Jemma (owner of my favourite bakery of all time, Crumbs and Doilies, in London). And it was magic. Moist, nutty, carrot-y but in a delicate, normal, not a why-the-heck-is-there-a-vegetable-in-my-dessert kind of way. Dreamy.

Anyway, long story short, I’m a carrot cake convert. Thank you, Cupcake Jemma.

Today, I’m bringing you my (significantly smaller) version of Cupcake Jemma’s cake. Instead of a 4-layer, 8-inch cake, mine is a 2-layer, 6-inch situation. I may be a convert, but I still have limits. Anyway, I’ve done all the required maths for this adaptation, so you don’t have to!

Oh, also- because it’s Easter soon, and because I think it’s funny when cake is made to look like other things, I made my cake look like the top of a carrot poking out of a bed of soil. Obviously, this is totally optional, but I think it’s cute! It’s also a pretty easy process, so it’d be great for an impressive Easter dessert for beginners.

Let’s get into it, shall we?

Making the cake batter:

First up, the cake itself. I’m convinced that the reason this cake is so good is because of the ground walnuts. You’ll want to grind them in a food processor until they are pretty fine, like in the photo below. They act a little like ground almonds, giving the cake a lovely moist crumb and a toasty, nutty flavour. However, be careful not to overdo it when you grind the nuts- the more you process them, the more oils they will release and the more likely it is that you will be left with a bowl of walnut butter, instead of ground walnuts! Blitz them until they are finely chopped, but don’t worry if there are some bigger pieces- it will just add to the texture.

The other thing you’ll want to get ready before you start are the carrots. You need to peel and grate them- I used a food processor for this, because grating carrots by hand takes quite a bit of elbow grease (definitely not within my capabilities). With the food processor, the whole process took about 2 minutes at most. Big fan.

Along with the carrots and walnuts, the main flavour in this cake is ground cinnamon. It lends a lovely autumnal warmth and colour to the cake. I’ve also heard that fresh or ground ginger can be a nice addition in carrot cake- I’ll have to give that a go one day!

Making the cake batter is a relatively straightforward process. You start by sifting the dry ingredients together and combining with the walnuts (like in my Maple Pecan Cupcake recipe, coating the walnuts in flour will ensure that any larger pieces don’t sink during baking). After setting the dry ingredients aside, you beat the eggs and sugar together in a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, until pale and creamy. You don’t even need to take the egg/sugar mixture as far as you usually would for things like a Genoise sponge, where it’s imperative that the mixture reaches the so-called ‘ribbon stage’, where it is pale, creamy and tripled in volume. For this recipe, just beat the eggs and sugar on high speed for about a minute- the mixture should be pale and creamy, but won’t be overly voluminous. That’s fine! After that, with the mixer on medium speed, you slowly drizzle in the oil, then fold in the carrots and finally, fold in the dry ingredient mixture. That’s it! You just need to divide the batter between the two tins and then you can bake it.

Baking the cakes:

One thing to note about Cupcake Jemma’s recipes is that they all use a fan oven. This cake is baked at 175°C fan. Technically, this should be equivalent to 195°C in a conventional oven, but I have never tried this recipe using this temperature setting. If you do use a conventional oven, you might need to adapt the cooking time slightly and it might change the finished cake a little, so keep this in mind.

On the topic of cooking times, it can be tricky to figure out how long to bake something for when you are decreasing the size of the tins/the volume of the batter. Cupcake Jemma’s original recipe (with 4 8-inch layers) baked the cakes at 175°C fan for 25-28 minutes. While you would expect 2 6-inch layers to take significantly less time to bake, I have found that this often isn’t the case. My layers took the full 28 minutes to bake, despite being smaller! I’d still recommend checking your cake after about 20 minutes, just in case your oven is more powerful than mine.

Making the white chocolate carrot tops:

While your cakes are baking, you can work on the white chocolate carrot tops. To do this, you need to temper your white chocolate (I have a whole post walking you through how to do this, you can check it out here). Once your chocolate is in temper, you want to add a little green food colouring, then spread it out in a thin layer (about 1-2mm thick) on a tray lined with baking paper. Give it a couple of firm taps on the countertop to release any air bubbles, then set it aside at room temperature to harden up completely. Once hard, you can crack it into pointy shards, ready to decorate your cake.

A couple of notes on the carrot tops: first up, working with chocolate, particularly white chocolate, and especially in such small quantities, can be super tricky. Don’t panic if your tempering doesn’t quite work out- if this happens, just use a sharp knife to score out the shards, then place the tray into the fridge for about 30 minutes. When you take it out, the chocolate should be snappy enough to break cleanly along the score lines, giving you the required shards. If you do this, the shards will start to lose their snappiness after about 5 minutes of being out of the fridge- so you’ll need to work quickly when pressing them into the cake. Once they’re in the cake and you’re not putting applying any force to them, you shouldn’t have any problems! The second thing to note is that you need to use either a powdered or oil-based food colouring when colouring chocolate. A liquid colouring will cause the chocolate to seize up, while a non oil-based food colouring will give a speckled, uneven colour.

Carving the cake:

Once your cakes are baked, let them cool for about 5 minutes in their tins, then take them out and put them on a wire rack to cool completely. It’s really important that your cakes are completely cool when you come to assemble the cake for two reasons: 1) when you ice the cake, the icing will melt and run off if your cake is too warm (this is particularly icky when you’re using cream cheese icing) and 2) we’re going to be doing a little bit of cake carving to get that ‘carrot top’ shape- if your cake is warm, carving it without breaking it up/it crumbling apart will be practically impossible!

The carving part of this recipe is completely optional, but I did feel it helped to enhance that carrot top shape that I was looking for. You essentially want to trim off the corners, where the sides of the cake meet the top, at a 45° angle, right around the circumference of one of the cakes, to give a more rounded shape. You can see a picture of this below.

I used a large teacup to mark a smaller circle, about an inch in on all sides, then cut at an angle from there to the sides of the cake. Don’t worry about being too perfect here- the whole thing will be covered in icing in the end anyway! You just want to give it the beginnings of a slightly rounded shape, which can then be perfected during icing. That being said, if you are finding it very difficult to carve the cake without it breaking, even when it is completely cool, try placing it into the fridge for 30 minutes (or the freezer, for about 10), to help it firm up a bit.

Making the chocolate ‘soil’:

In this recipe, I use the offcuts from the carving process as a basis for the soil that surrounds the cake on the plate. Blitz it in the food processor with a few bourbon biscuits (or any other chocolate biscuit), until it resembles soil. If you chose to skip the carving step, just use a couple extra biscuits instead of the additional cake. You’ll get a drier crumb, but it will still be delicious.

Making the cream cheese icing:

With all of the decorations prepared, the only thing left is to make up the cream cheese icing (a staple of a traditional carrot cake). For ages, I really struggled with cream cheese icing- it has an unnerving tendency to get super sloppy when you start adding the icing sugar, before it eventually stiffens up like a proper buttercream. The quantity of icing sugar given in this recipe should be the perfect amount to bring it through that sloppy stage and give a lovely, thick and whippy icing, but, if you find your icing is still too loose for your liking, just add some more sifted icing sugar, a spoonful at a time, until you reach your desired consistency.

Assembling the cake:

Once the icing is made, use a little orange food colouring (or a combination of red and yellow colouring, like I did- ✨colour theory✨ and all that) to dye it a nice carrot-y shade. Then, you can start assembling. Place the uncarved cake layer down first, then use about 1/5th of the icing to cover the top, before adding the second layer on top, carved side facing up. For this cake, because of the sections of exposed cake left over by the carving, I did do a crumb coat. This is essentially a very thin layer of icing across the whole cake that locks in any crumbs, ensuring that you get a neater appearance in the end. You’ll need to put the crumb coat into the fridge to set up for about 15-20 minutes, until the buttercream forms a crust (you should be able to touch it lightly without any buttercream coming off on your finger), before you continue. Once it has set up, You can use the remaining icing to cover the cake all over with a thicker layer, taking care to smooth it out as best you can and rounding out the edges at the top.

Once the cake is iced, you can decorate it! Start by sticking the shards into the top, in the centre. Try to vary shape and sizes, to make it look more ‘natural’. If you’re having trouble inserting the shards without them breaking, use a small serrated knife to make small incisions into the top layer of cake- this will make it easier to push the shards in without putting to much pressure on them. Once your shards are in, fill in the empty spaces between them with any leftover smaller pieces of green chocolate. After that, simply spoon the biscuit ‘soil’ all around the bottom of the cake, pressing it a little way up the sides as you go. And there you have it, a carrot carrot cake (carrot-ception?), perfect for Easter, spring, and people who just really, really like carrots.

Because of the cream cheese icing, you’ll want to store this cake in the fridge, where it will keep for a few days.

I hope you like this fun Easter bake. Let me know if you try it out!

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Carrot Cake

Cinnamon-spiced carrot & walnut cake, decorated with cream cheese icing, white chocolate 'leaves' and chocolate soil to look like a carrot top.

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword Cake, Carrot, Cinnamon, Cream cheese, Icing, Nuts, Walnuts

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Bake time 28 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 28 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Equipment

• Food processor
• 2 6-inch round cake pans

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 140 g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 pinch salt
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 85 g walnuts, finely ground
• 2 eggs
• 160 g caster sugar
• 150 ml sunflower oil (or other flavourless oil)
• 125 g carrot, grated

For the icing:

• 55 g unsalted butter, softened
• 90 g cream cheese
• 310 g icing sugar, sifted
• orange food colouring

To decorate:

• 40 g white chocolate
• green food colouring (powdered or oil-based)
• 3 bourbon biscuits (see Note 1)

Instructions

For the cake:

• Preheat the oven to 175°C fan (see Note 2). Grease and line 2 6-inch tins, then set aside.
• Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon together. Mix in the ground walnuts until evenly distributed within the dry ingredients. Set aside.
• Place the eggs and the sugar into the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on high speed for about 1 minute, until pale and the consistency of double cream (see Note 3).
• With the mixer on a medium-high speed, slowly pour in the oil, allowing the mixture to combine fully.
• Add the grated carrots and, with the mixer on a low speed, fold in gently.
• Keeping the mixer on a low speed, add the dry ingredients, a spoonful at a time, into the mixture. Stop the mixer as soon as the dry ingredients have been incorporated- be careful not to overmix.
• Divide the batter between the two tins and bake in the preheated oven for 25-28 minutes, until cakes spring back when touched. Once cooked, allow to cool for 5 mins, then remove from tins and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the white chocolate 'carrot tops':

• Temper the white chocolate (see Note 4). Add a little green food colouring (see Note 5), mix well to ensure the colour is even, then pour onto a tray lined with baking paper. Using an offset spatula and working quickly before the chocolate sets, spread it out into a thin layer (1-2mm thick). Tap the tray firmly on the work surface to smooth out the surface and get rid of any air bubbles. Set aside at room temperature to set completely.
• Once the chocolate has hardened, snap it into large, pointy shards and set aside.

For the icing:

• Place the softened butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on high for 2-3 minutes, until smooth, light and creamy. Add in the cream cheese and mix briefly on medium to combine.
• With the mixer on a medium speed, add the icing sugar, a spoonful at a time, to the butter/cream cheese mixture, allowing the sugar to incorporate fully after each addition. Do not worry if the icing goes a little sloppy at first, just keep adding the icing sugar and it will come back to a normal buttercream consistency.
• Once the icing sugar has been fully incorporated, add a little orange food colouring to the icing. Beat the icing on high for another 1-2 minutes to distribute the colour evenly and to ensure that the icing is light and smooth.

To assemble:

• Place one of your cooled cakes onto a cutting board. Using a small serrated knife, lightly mark out a smaller circle on top of the cake, about an inch in from the edge on all sides (I used a large tea cup as a guide- a small saucer or 4-inch cake tin would also work well). Once you have the inner circle marked out, use the same serrated knife to carve off a bevelled edge all around the cake (see photo in post and Note 5). The aim here is to mimic the rounded shape of a carrot top, but don't worry about being too precise, because this will be covered in icing later on!
• Place the offcuts of cake from the previous step into the bowl of a food processor, along with the bourbon biscuits (I used a mini processor for this, because it was such a small quantity). Blitz until you have a fine crumb, then set aside.
• Set your uncarved cake on a serving plate. Place 1/5th of the cream cheese icing on top and spread out. Carefully place your carved cake on top, with the flat edge facing down. Taking about 1/3rd of the remaining icing, cover the whole cake in a light crumb coat, following the bevelled edges along the top. Once done, place into the fridge for 15-20 minutes, until the buttercream has formed a crust.
• After the crumb-coated cake has chilled, take it out of the fridge and ice liberally using the remaining icing. Take your time smoothing out the sides and rounding out the bevelled edge. When you are happy with the icing, start positioning your white chocolate shards on top of the cake, in the centre, varying heights and directions. You may want to use a knife to create a small incision for each shard, instead of trying to force the chocolate in, which may break the thin shards. Fill in any gaps with smaller shards and splinters of the chocolate.
• Finally, use a teaspoon to scatter the cake crumb/biscuit 'soil' all around the base of the cake, pressing it up the sides a little as you go.

Notes

1. Feel free to use your favourite chocolate biscuit- I love bourbons, but you could also use Oreos, double chocolate cookies etc. 
2. Cupcake Jemma’s recipes all use a fan oven. The equivalent temperature for a conventional oven is 195°C, but I have not tested this recipe using this setup. 
3. Typically, you would whip eggs and sugar together using a whisk attachment, until thick, pale and fluffy – i.e. the ‘ribbon stage’. You don’t need to take the egg/sugar mix this far for this recipe (indeed, it would be difficult to get it quite as light and aerated with a paddle attachment). When the mixture is smooth and a little paler, it will be perfect!
4. I have a whole post about tempering chocolate! You can check it out here. White chocolate is notoriously difficult to temper- especially with such small amounts! If your tempering doesn’t quite work out, use a sharp knife to score the chocolate into crisp shards, then place into the fridge/freezer for a little while, until ‘snappable’. Your shards won’t stay crisp and snappy, but they will be firm enough to poke into the cake and give the ‘carroty’ impression. 
5. If you’re having trouble carving your cake, place it in the fridge for 30 minutes (or freezer for 10 if you’re in a rush!). This will firm up your cake, making it easier to carve without it crumbling.