apple cinnamon cupcakes

ok, so finally i have made my own creation. these were inspired by the muffins for sale at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf - the apple cinnamon ones. they're my favourite and i wanted to try and re-create them. so i used a regular cupcake batter, then for the topping i basically stewed together sliced apples, cinnamon, water, maple syrup and brown sugar. i let it stew for awhile so that the syrup became thick. then once i'd put the batter in to the holders, i spooned the topping on top. popped them in the oven and wow! hubby went out for a walk and came back and said he could smell them from downstairs! the overall result was fabulous and i think better than those at CB & TL as these taste like mini apple pies...made me realise how much i miss my nana's good ol' fashioned home-baked apple pie! the nice part is that when the syrup baked it soaked down into the cupcake sponge and made it taste scrumptious....hmmm, i said i'd just eat one to taste but....oh dear! they seem to be calling my name from the kitchen so...cheerio for now!

nutella cupcakes

ok, so i've been wanting to try these for awhile...nutella cupcakes...sounds absolutely sinfully divine, right? no particular occasion just really wanted to make them for some of the assistant teachers at school who have a serious LURVE for nutella. so what better way to say thanks to them for always being there in class and taking care of stuff than baking them some of these. the batter was a basic cupcake batter then just topped with the nutella and finally swirled together with a toothpick. i'm pretty pleased with the final result...they taste seriously nutella-ish - so much so that you need to eat these with a nice glass of milk, cup of tea or whatever does it for you in the cake accompaniment department! i tell you something else...the smell of them cooking was just fantabulous! my mouth was watering just waiting for them to come out of the oven and as you can see from the piccies, so was someone else's! WARNING - these are for serious nutella fans ONLY!

tiramisu in a cup!

so, Fiona, decided to invite a gang of us over to her housesitting flat for an evening of food, fun and frolics on Sunday evening. it was a fantastic evening! one of those great kind of evenings where everyone contributes something - either food or drinks. there's a nice chill-out feeling as people get together and hang out. love it! my contribution, of course, was dessert. i offered because i wanted to try out this recipe i had found for tiramisu cupcakes. i'm so thrilled because i think these are my favourite i have made to date. the sponge (which involved the process of separating the eggs and mixing them separately then adding back together - bit of a nightmare but definitely worth it) was so light and airy, it was just divine. the topping (involving mascarpone cheese and cream) was also so fabulously floaty that the whole combo was enough to whisk you away on a soft fluffy cloud! i love it when you make a recipe discovery and it actually turns out to be amazing. there were extras left over, so lucky colleagues at work will get the remainder tomorrow. but this is definitely a keeper and one to be made again - perfect for dinner parties because it is a tad more spohisticated than those brighty coloured LSD inspired cupcakes that look like colour explosions and are far more appropriate for fun birthday parties and such. the next meeting of the 'Sunday Club' is 7th October so I've got time to get my thinking cap on and come up with something for then......hmmmmm