Monday, 20 April 2015

MONDAY MORNING MISERY... ULTIMATE FIX

Coffee Cupcakes
Time taken: 1 ½ hours
Ingredients:
FOR THE CUPCAKES - 140g caster sugar, 140g butter, 3 eggs, 140g self-raising flour, strong espresso (2 tablespoons of instant coffee mixed with 2 tablespoons of water).
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM ICING – 500g icing sugar, 250g butter, 2 tbsp water,  weak espresso (1 tablespoon of instant coffee mixed with 2 tablespoons of water).

Hi readers,
So it’s Monday. Again. And not a great start to the week for me!! How was your Monday morning?? A grind? Bearable? Tolerable? Not bad? Ok? Fabulouso? I hope you had a better Monday morning than me! Readers, you survived and that’s all that counts.
For me, Monday today started with flatmates scrambling about to get dressed for our shocker of an 8-9am Tesco food delivery slot. Not for in the future – this is far too early. Then my Monday morning descended into fraught correspondence with my parents and my student insurance company. Long story short, readers, I dropped my phone in the loo last Wednesday and haven’t had a phone since. That’s 5 whole days now.
And I’m getting nowhere trying to sort out the situation! My insurance took the claim and passed it on to a terrible local company who don’t respond to emails, who keep trying to call me (ON WHAT PHONE??) and who haven’t yet managed to even collect my wee-soaked broken phone. When they eventually do it has to get to them, then be inspected, then a decision made about what to do about it. I’m not going to have a phone for daaaaaaaaaaaays still!
Literally, it’s such a frustrating situation to be in. At first breaking your phone is quite liberating! No apps and no junk emails to keep checking on. No missing half of a TV show, or missing the view on a bus, because the stupid phone in your face is blocking your view. No ringing or pinging or updates. Just… independence and blissful ignorance of what other people are up to.
But then, after so long, I think you get fed up. I certainly have! Being without a phone gets quite lonely, readers. Plus, it’s really awkward and a little unsafe when you’re on-the-go as you’ve no way to contact anyone. And you can’t talk to mum and dad. Which makes me sad.
So, with tragic phone-gate developments going on, I had a pretty shit Monday morning. But I hope that you didn’t!! And you know what? Regardless of the quality of your Monday morning… just bake it out! Always bake. And bake some more!
This evening the Baking Society at Newcastle Uni are having a Bake Off competition which I’m very excited for. Me and my flatmate Dr Davies are entering a batch of Coffee Cupcakes which we’ve baked this lunchtime and we’ve got our fingers crossed that they taste good and we get through to Round 2! Cross your fingers for us!
So this recipe is based upon an online BBC recipe which you can take a look at HERE.
Want to learn how to bake your own Coffee Cupcakes in just ten easy steps? Here’s how…
1. Preheat your oven to 170˚C and line 2 bun trays with 18 little fairy cake cases.
2. Beat the sugar with the butter until light and creamy.
3. Beat in the eggs, one by one, adding 1 tbsp flour at the same time.
4. Beat in the rest of the flour along with the strong espresso.
5. Spoon your mix evenly into the fairy cake cases and bake for 17 minutes.
ChefBeHere Top Tip: Swap the trays around with 5 minutes to go so that your cakes bake evenly!
6. Leave your cupcakes to cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes.
7. To make your buttercream icing, add all of the buttercream ingredients to a bowl.
8. Beat your ingredients well for a few minutes until they come together to form a smooth mix, which is light and fluffy.
9. Either use a knife to spread icing over each cupcake or (if you have one) crack out a piping bag and neatly pipe icing over your cupcakes.
10. Finally, decorate your cupcakes! Coffee beans or chocolate sprinkles make a fitting decoration. Or maybe M&Ms or Magic Stars?? Be creative!
And then you’ll have a wonderful batch of cupcakes.
Just like these…

Readers, Mondays call for baking. And fun! With our Coffee Cupcakes, I baked the buns and then Dr Davies took charge of icing. Dr Davies is a BIG FAN of a piping nozzle. So we shared the fun. :) And so can you! Why not bake with a friend? Or your special someone?? Or someone who definitely needs cheering up? Share the fun!
And let me know what you think of coffee cupcakes. :) In my ChefBeHereing opinion, readers, these babies are cute, tasty and super moreish! What do you think?? Feeling the love for Coffee Cupcakes?
Good luck for the rest of your Monday. Stay strong, readers.
 
And bake safely,
Hayley



 

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