Life of Pie
Easter at Life of Pie
Our friends at Life of Pie have a put together some wonderful sweet treats for Easter.
You can choose between two boxes this Easter. A small box which contains small cakes and cake pops and a large box which contains a frosted cake with decorations so that you can decorate it home.
They also make other celebration cakes and cupcakes.
Please visit them to order at Life of Pie
Lemon Cupcakes with Buttercream Icing
This recipe for lemon cupcakes is one that we have adapted from Martha Stewart. It produces light, tender cupcakes with a fragrant lemony flavour. Makes about 24 cupcakes.
Ingredients
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
220g unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups caster sugar
4 large eggs
finely grated zest of 2 lemons and 2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup natural yoghurt
1/2 cup milk
Buttercream Icing
150g butter, softened
300g icing sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Chopped chocolate or other decorations to garnish. Our favourite is to use different flavours from Tony's Chocolonely.
Method
Preheat an oven to 160C. Line a muffin or cupcake tin with paper cases. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Beat in the lemon zest and vanilla. Add the flour mixture in batches, alternating with the yoghurt, milk and lemon juice. Beat until just combined.
Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake cases, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for about 25 minutes, rotating the tins halfway until the cakes are golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Transfer to wire racks and cool completely before icing. The cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container of frozen.
For the buttercream, beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
Add the remaining icing sugar and one tablespoon of the milk and vanilla extract and beat the mixture until creamy and smooth. Beat in the remaining milk, if necessary, to loosen the mixture.
Spread the icing over the cupcakes using a knife or small palette knife. Top with the chopped chocolate or other decorations of your choice.
Sinterklaas Cupcakes
Sinterklaas is a holiday celebrated in The Netherlands on 5th December where children are given presents to celebrate the arrival of Sint Nicolaas. Candy and spiced cookies are traditionally eaten. We've taken the idea of the spiced cookies, called Pepernoten and created a cupcake with the same flavours. A great idea for young and old and something the kids can help with.
Ingredients
220 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
220 g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs, whisked
220 g flour
8 g baking powder
pinch of salt
1 heaped teaspoon Speculaas or mixed spice
Frosting
250 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
500g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
handful pepernoten or spiced cookies, crushed
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 C.
Cream the butter and the sugar together in a until light and fluffy. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Graudually add the whisked egg to the mixture. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and spiced together and fold in to the butter mixture. Spoon the mixture into a cupcake tin lined with paper cupcacke cases until two-thirds full.
Bake for about 20 -25 minutes until risen and bouncy to touch. Allow to cool.
For the frosting, beat the butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract to flavour. If the mixture is a bit tight, add a splash of milk to thin it down.
Spoon the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes. Sprinkle with the crushed pepernoten or spiced cookies and serve.
We, the Amsterdam Flavours chefs, hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. If you have any questions on how to prepare it or just want to send us your feedback, you can reach us here Contact Amsterdam Flavours
Wedding Cupcakes for Bernadette's son
A few weeks ago, on a gorgeous Indian summer's day, Bernadette's son walked down the isle with his beautiful bride.
We were asked if we would make cupcakes to serve to guests after the ceremony. As their colour scheme included lime green, we decided on using with that as our base.
After working on flavours and designs with them, we finally decided to start with green cupcake cases. These were filled with a light and airy lemon sponge, filled with homemade raspberry jam and topped with vanilla meringue buttercream, a raspberry and fresh mint.
This was also the perfect opportunity to put our new Magimix Patissier to good use. This machine is ideal for making cake batters, pastry, bread dough and meringues.
With it's powerful and quiet motor, it was a breeze preparing the sponge. We were loved the results and can't wait see what else this mixer can do.
During the ceremony, Mischa finished off the cupcakes and presented them on a special stand in the church gardens. The cupcakes went down a treat, rounding off what was a special and glorious day.
If you would like to order cupcakes from the Amsterdam Flavours Chefs for a special occasion, please contact us here.