Category Archives: From the Kitchen

How to Pipe Perfect Cupcakes!

Posted in on the 1 Nov 2011, by kim

A while back I made some very pretty rainbow cupcakes (you can see them in my header!), but one thing I just couldn’t get the hang of was piping the frosting. It just looked messy. Sad trombone.

I received an email from a reader a couple of weeks ago who runs a bakery, they’d read the post and wondered if I might like them to do a guest post about how to pipe the perfect cupcake swirl! Awesome! I’m all over that, especially in the run up to Christmas which I’ve decided will incorporate an abundance of cupcakey delights. I can’t wait to give this a try, and hopefully they’ll look more attractive than they did last time!

So, here’s a concise and simple method for making your frosting swirls look awesome…

how to pipe a cupcake How to Pipe Perfect Cupcakes!

What you’ll need…

you will need How to Pipe Perfect Cupcakes!

⁃ Cupcakes
⁃ Piping bag
⁃ Open star nozzle (Our very favourite for swirls is the Wilton 1M)
⁃ Buttercream
⁃ Decorations of your choice (We love colourful sprinkles!)

1. Cut off the end of your piping bag and pop in your nozzle, then fill with a couple of scoops of buttercream, trying to avoid “air pockets” (overfilling will make it harder to pipe)

2. Push down the buttercream into the bag towards the nozzle, then twist your bag at the top until the buttercream is almost coming out on its own and is holding the bag rigid.

3. Holding the bag between your thumb and forefinger at the twist, place the nozzle vertically, upright just above the cupcake. Position it at the back edge, just a little in from the case.

hold the piping bag How to Pipe Perfect Cupcakes!

4. Gently squeeze until the buttercream starts to come out, making sure to only squeeze from the top of the bag and not with your free hand.

5. Keeping the bag upright slowly start to move around the outside of the cupcake, trying to keep your squeezing steady, until you have completed one circle around the outside of the cake.

start to pipe How to Pipe Perfect Cupcakes!

6. When you reach the point where you started lift the bag slightly and make another circle almost ON TOP of your first (rather than trying to “fill in the gap”), all the time keeping your bag upright.

second layer How to Pipe Perfect Cupcakes!

7. On your third circle start to move the bag inwards and fill in your gap until you get to the centre. Then squeeze and pull away to give a neat finish.

8. Decorate however you wish to wow your friends and family! If using sprinkles add them as soon as possible as the buttercream will dry quite quickly, stopping your sprinkles from sticking.

cupcake How to Pipe Perfect Cupcakes!

At Blue Door Bakery we teach classes on how to bake and decorate the perfect cupcake, along with specialised workshops on vintage style cupcakes, sugar paste characters, tiered cake decoration, cake pops and even a day completely devoted to chocolate cupcakes! We add new classes all the time and you can buy all of the equipment we use and recommend in classes in our online shop.

Happy piping!

Jenny x

3 Comments

Festive Recipe Wednesday: Spiced Pear Chutney

Posted in on the 26 Oct 2011, by kim

recipe wednesday1 Festive Recipe Wednesday: Spiced Pear Chutney

The nights are drawing in, there’s a chill in the air… it’s definitely feeling Autumnal this week! Autumn is by far my favourite season, I love the clear skys and the chance to wear my duffle coat again. I also love to take advantage of the delicious bounty of Autumnal food.

In the run up to Christmas I’m going to be posting some recipes that make excellent Christmas gifts. For the past few years Adam and I have been making homemade Christmas hampers for our family. These include chutneys, jams, home made wines, Christmas puddings, biscuits and sweets. It doesn’t take that long to do, and people really appreciate a homemade gift!

pear chutney Festive Recipe Wednesday: Spiced Pear Chutney

Last week my Mum gave me a bag full of the last few pears from their garden, those that we haven’t already turned into perry. I thought that instead of just snacking on them I’d put them into a recipe that we can enjoy over the next couple of months.

I’ve made a spiced apple chutney before so I thought I’d see what it was like with the pears. This recipe makes 3ish jars and they’ll last a good few months until they’re opened. In fact, it’s better to leave this a month or two to mature before opening a jar.

The beauty of a chutney is definitely in the complete simplicity of the recipe, you basically just chuck everything in to a big pan and simmer it for 2 hours. Sterilising your jars is easy peasy, too!

You’ll Need…

225g chopped onion (which is about 1 large onion, let’s not be picky!)
800g chopped pears
30g grated fresh ginger
6 cloves
Half a tbsp black peppercorns
stick of cinnamon
2 dried chilis
130g sultanas
5g rock salt
340g soft brown sugar
425ml malt vinegar

pear chutney before Festive Recipe Wednesday: Spiced Pear Chutney

Put everything into a large pan and simmer for 1-2hours, until it’s thickened and all nice and gloopy.  Leave to cool to the temperature of your jars (so that you don’t break them, if they’re from the oven this is pretty much straight away, but if you’ve gone down the dishwasher route then let it cool just a little).

pear chutney finished Festive Recipe Wednesday: Spiced Pear Chutney

Seal the jars and store in a cool dry place for a couple of months before tucking in and having a foodgasm!

If you want a preview then you should probably eat what remains in the pan on a giant cracker with cheddar – yumyum :)

4 Comments

Recipe Wednesday: Comfort Cottage Pie

Posted in on the 19 Oct 2011, by kim

recipe wednesday Recipe Wednesday: Comfort Cottage Pie

We’re feeling quite chilly this week at Finest Imaginary towers, Adam cooked up a comfort tea for us on sunday – Cottage Pie! Pies, stews and casseroles feature heavily in our winter food schedule, but we never usually have this so it was quite a treat.

cottagepie Recipe Wednesday: Comfort Cottage Pie

You’ll need…

500g beef mince
Couple of carrots
1 white onion
1/4 pint of ale (something like a bitter, black sheep or something.. drink the rest)
handful of peas
Enough mashed potato to cover your mince & dish (we all have different dish sizes, so it’s pointless giving you an actual amount!)

Method

Preheat your oven to a medium heat (200°c or there abouts).

Super thinly slice your onion. Fry over a medium heat in a good glug of olive oil and a pinch of salt (pro tip: salt releases moisture from the onion, preventing burning) until translucent. Dice your carrots and add to the onions, fry for a minute or two then add the mince and a good grind of black pepper.

When the mince has browned add your ale and stir, you can also add half a cube of beef oxo at this point (if you feel it needs it, or if you’re wanting a super punchy flavour). Simmer down for 10 or so minutes until the ale has formed a gravy.

Prepare your mashed potato in the mean time, and stir a spoon full of wholegrain mustard through it if you’re feeling kinky (we were, we did.. horseradish is also a winner!).

Add a handful of frozen peas to the mince mixture and continue cooking for a couple of minutes. Give it a taste and season if it requires it.

cottagepiemince Recipe Wednesday: Comfort Cottage Pie

Then, spoon the mince into a suitable oven dish (the layer of mince should be between 3-5cm thick) and add the mashed potato on top. We don’t mess around, we just slap it on, no time to pipe ridiculous potato nipples like the TV chefs do.. no siree! There’s a time and place to wrestle with your piping bag (macarons, whoopie pies) and a cottage pie is not it!

Pop it in the oven until the top of the potato starts to go golden, and you’re done! Serve with vegetables and lashings of gravy. Drink wine, get warm, Winter is coming! (WINTERFELL!!!)

 

2 Comments

Recipe Wednesday: King Prawn & Baby Tomato Pasta

Posted in on the 24 Aug 2011, by kim

recipe wednesday2 Recipe Wednesday: King Prawn & Baby Tomato Pasta

You thought I was going to skip a week again, didn’t you? I know… I missed last week, but what with the hecticness that was our London trip I just couldn’t fit it in!

Alas, this recipe should’ve been posted last week, it was what we had for Adam’s birthday meal at home (can’t be galavanting to fancy restaurants on a freelancer’s pay schedule..!). We were mooching around the supermarket looking for something ‘special’ and failing, when I spotted some king prawns and suggested this meal. It’s a favourite of ours that we usually have Adam’s Dad make, so all credit for the recipe go to him (and perhaps moxies in Canada.. which I think is where this recipe actually originated).

king prawn pasta Recipe Wednesday: King Prawn & Baby Tomato Pasta

Ingredients

Tagliatella pasta
King Prawns
Baby tomatoes
Garlic
Olive oil
Parsley
Fresh ground black pepper
Rock salt

The beauty of this recipe is in the simplicity, there’s no messing around or even any measuring of ingredients (to a degree… I mean, don’t drown yourself in oil or spend £20 on prawns for two people).

I’ve left the ingredient quantities purposefully blank, it’s more of a ‘to your own taste’ style recipe. We used around 250g of king prawns, and around 15 baby tomatoes for 2 people.

Cook your pasta as per packet directions, in the mean time slice your garlic thinly & fry in some olive oil until softened. Halve your baby tomatoes and add them to the pan, fry until they just start to go smushy. Add your king prawns now if they’re raw, and cook until they’re pink, otherwise wait a few minutes for more tomato smushiness and then add cooked king prawns, fry until they’re heated through.

Toss this mixture in with the pasta, adding more olive oil, black pepper and rock salt at the same time. Finish with a good handful of fresh chopped parsley. And you’re done!

Delicious! You can finish off your servings with more fresh parsley if you want, you know, if you’re feeling cheffy.

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I'm Kim, a 26 year old English designer type who lives with two mad kitties and one astrophysicist. I own Finest Imaginary, a place of pretty things. I'm also a web developer, recipe maker-upper, thrifty shopper and happy snapper. Nice to meet you!
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