Where is the sun?

So it's summer? Where is the sun? I'm hoping this means we have a lovely August and September!!

I've been busy with cupcakes and classes which is great. Please contact me for class dates. They last 3 hours and cost £50.

Here are a few pics of recent cakes.

Sheep Cupcakes- The clients surname was "Wooley" so her husband thought it was a good idea :-)

Top cutting cake

Ladybug Cupcakes and cutting cake

Plans are coming along to expand the business a little. I've mentioned the vintage china hire- I've been doing smaller events but the plan is to build the collection so I can do much larger ones. And i'm excited about the Tea Party Packages!

I also have a personal blog over at Pink Chilli Vintage so please pop over and say hi :-)

Cupcake Overload!

It's been a busy couple of months here. Lots of orders and weddings going on. Plus a lot of cupcake classes too!

I've also been on the hunt for more vintage pieces to add to the collection for the vintage china hire as well. Hopefully launching this year.

Wedding cupcakes in various flavours and a top cutting cake.

My main goal this month is to get up to date with all the business admin- you'd be surprised to know how much there is!

Another piece of good news is Jessica's Cupcakes got a 5 star rating from the council. Yay!

Two new books I've got this week are "Peggy Porschen Pretty Party cakes" and "May Clee-Cadman- Cakes for Romantic Occasions" lots of wonderful inspiration in both.

This weekend I have a Vegas themed wedding with a Dice top cutting cake and card suit cupcakes. Great fun!!

If you are not yet following me on facebook you can do so here

Alice in Wonderland

This weekend I had lots of fun making Alice in Wonderland Cupcakes. Alice in Wonderand is one of my favourite Disney films and i've wanted to make these for so long.

I also make some breakfast themed cupcakes which were fun to make.

And some simple snowflake cupcakes.

Today i'm going to be trying out some new flavours and ordering supplies. I also need to get my paperwork done as i've left it for a while! Oops!

Remember I'm running a little competition on your Fantasy Cupcake on my Facebook page. I've also got a great offer on cupcake classes. Check it out.

Jess xx

Busy with cupcake classes

Hi everyone, sorry I've not blogged for a while.

At Jessica's Cupcakes I've been really busy with cupcake classes. People have been saying how fab they are and how much they learnt. Which is fab new.

Here is a few pics of people's creations. Great work.

Lots of orders have gone out of the kitchen this month. Some of my favourites were these bumble bees. Cute!

Today I held a cupcake party in Leicester for a group of lovely ladies. We did a christmas theme and here are some of their creations. They were all thrilled with what they made.

I've added some more dates to www.jessicascupcakes.com for classes so check them out. I'm always adding more and you can purchase gift vouchers for them which would make a great present and they are valid for 6 months and the recipient can choose their own date.

Plans are moving along with the business expansion next year into vintage china hire and holding vintage tea parties. Watch this space!!

I'm running a competition from my facebook page so have a little look and become a fan.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

September already!

I can't believe how quickly this year is going by. Not long until Christmas!!!

Here are a few cupcake highlights

White chocolate and Raspberry Cupcakes- divine!

Giant Cupcakes

Cupcakes created in one of my cupcake classes

I also did a little tea party with my cousin and friends :-) I was in charge of cakes! Great fun!

The weekend just gone I was a bridesmaid for my best friend Catherine, it was a wonderful day and was great I could share it with her.

I did some experimenting the other day with seasonal flavours and created these fab Blackberry and apple Cupcakes. You must try them!!! Here is the recipe:

Blackberry and Apple Cupcakes

Ingredients

230g unsalted butter

220g golden caster sugar

225g self raising flour

4 large free range eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 – 2 tablespoons milk

2 large apples

3 tablespoons water

20g golden caster sugar

Jam filling

275g fresh blackberries

2 tablespoons water

20g caster sugar

Cream cheese Icing

250g soft cream cheese

150g butter

400g icing sugar

Method

You will need a 12 hole muffin tin and line with 12 cupcake cases and a large piping bag with nozzle.

Top tip: Make sure the baking ingredients are at room temperature and try not over mix the mixture once the eggs and flour are added.

1. preheat oven to 170-180, gas mark 4 (fan assist 150-170)

2. peel the apples and then chop into small cubes then gently cook with the sugar and water in a small covered pan, until slightly soften. Strain apple and put to one side to cool.

3. In the same pan put the fresh blackberries, sugar and water and cook until it looks like the consistency of a thin jam- about 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool in the fridge.

4. in mixer cream butter with sugar and vanilla extract, beat until light and fluffy.

5. gently mix in the beaten egg and fold sifted flour with a wooden spoon.

6. fold the cooled apple pieces into the cake batter and add a tablespoon or two of milk if required to form a dropping consistency. Don’t make it too thin as the apples won’t hold in the batter.

7. Spoon mixture into the 12 cupcake cases & fill until three quarters full.

8. cook for 20 minutes or until golden. Test with skewer (it should come out clean). Remove tray from oven and leave for a few minutes. Place cupcakes onto wire tray to cool completely.

Top tip: Always bake cupcakes on the middle shelf of the oven where possible

9. cut out a teaspoon sized piece from the cupcake. Add a teaspoon of the blackberry jam to the centre.

10. To make the cream cheese frosting mix all the ingredients together and place into a piping bag. Pipe onto the cupcakes and top with a fresh blackberry. These are best enjoyed straight away but can be eaten up to 2 days after but remove the blackberry on top.

For bakes sake!

It's been very busy in the Jessica's Cupcakes household. We are moving house in 12 days so lots of packing going on. As it's bank holiday Monday tomorrow we are also going to do a car boot to get rid of some things. Plus I can have a mooch around for some vintage china bits.

Cake wise I've done a giant cupcake

Congratulations Cupcakes

A cupcake party

I'm shortly going to be adding decorated cookies to the range. As with cupcakes these can be for any occasion: wedding, birthday, hen party, engagement, baby shower...the list goes on. I'm really excited about the cookies so watch this space!

A few other bakes I've done this week are banana bread (love this with a bit of butter spread over it), chocolate brownies (the best yet), millionaire shortbread, lemon macaroons and pistachio macaroons.

I want to share the banana bread recipe with you as it's so yummy:

Banana Bread- makes about 8 slices

Ingredients

270g soft light brown sugar

2 eggs

200g peeled bananas, mashed

280g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

140g unsalted butter, melted

1. Grease a 23x13cm loaf tin and dust with flour. Preheat the oven to 170C / 325F / GM3

2. Put the sugar and eggs in an electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat until well incorporated. Beat in the mashed bananas.

3. Add the flour, baking powder, bicarb of soda, cinnamon and ginger to the sugar mix. Mix it until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated into the egg mixture. Pour in the melted butter and beat until all the ingredients ar well mixed.

4. Place mixture into the loaf tin and smooth over. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour or until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool for about 15 minutes in the tin before turning out to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

5. Enjoy!

Cakes glorious cakes

Firstly an apology.. I know I've not updated the blog for a long time. No excuses just one of those things that gets pushed to the bottom of the to-do list!

Anyway lots of cupcaking has been going on. Summer seems to make people want cake! Plus wedding season is among us.

Wedding Cupcakes- Handmade gold butterflies and burgundy roses.

Cupcake classes have also been busy the past few months and I love doing them. The feedback is always great and i'm so glad when people are really proud of what they achieved. I had a mother and daughter come yesterday and they were thrilled with what they made.

I'm doing a summer cupcake offer for July and August. One dozen cupcakes are £18 (normally £22) and half dozen are £10 (normally £12). To take up this offer please mention the promo code SUMMER1 when calling/emailing.

Here is a few of the cupcakes I have done this month- pink and girly has been the main theme!

Vanilla Cupcakes for an employees leaving present.

These are some cupcakes I did for the Big Lunch on Queens Road Banbury

Some pink and girly christening cupcakes

Flat top fondant cupcakes