A last minute request came in at the weekend from Chris. He was going to a poker night and could I make some muffins... Not my usual clientele i'll admit so I asked what flavour they wanted. The answer: raspberry and white chocolate. Not what I was expecting but who am I to judge?

When I add raspberries to my cake mix I tend to get flat or collapsed cakes. I have read that an extra egg may help stabilise the mixture so this was the perfect opportunity to give it a try

The result: a much better rise and no sinkage. Not massive domed peaks but respectable enough with a swirl of white chocolate ganache and a raspberry on top.

I couldn't resist putting them in pink foil cases to bring a feminine touch to the nachos and pizza. The boys were pretty full but managed to fit in a cake without too much encouragement required.  

Eloise has been poorly this week so we have been cooking up some tasty treats to share with you all. Today luscious lemon cakes. Eloise is not a big fan of traditional sponge but lemon is always a big hit.

To make these lemon cakes we used my basic cake base then add some lemon essence instead of vanilla. As you can see Eloise's technique for filling the cases is getting a lot better. She also loves her 'I love cupcakes' apron, she has a matching version for her dolly!

Whilst the cupcakes were baking we mixed up some freshly squeezed lemon juice and caster sugar and drizzled all over the warm cakes. This made them super lemony and sweet and created a nice glaze on top of the cupcakes. Eloise's face eating the tart cakes cracked me up but she came back for more so she must be feeling a bit better.

This weekend we had Eloise's big cousins James and Emily to stay. This called for some group baking making clever use of the copious amounts of Easter egg chocolate Eloise received.

James supervised Eloise's bowl whilst Emily rode solo. The recipe was a chocolate oil cake (oil used instead of butter) We added cocoa powder and melted milk and white chocolate in the mix to make a very rich flavour. The mixing went well but transference into the cupcake cases proved a little messy - especially with Eloise involved!

Amazingly the cake rose really well and we topped them with a chocolate ganache and butterscotch pieces.

The cakes were demolished in record time and Eloise was so enthusiastic she required a bath afterwards!

After the disasterous house warming cake of last week we did finally visit Jon and Shelley's new home (well at least Chris and Eloise did as I was making a wedding cake - blog post to follow!)

This time I went for some luxury chocolate muffins! The chocolate sponge had a secret chocolate ganache core which I injected after baking using a medicine syringe and were topped with a silky vanilla buttercream icing.. Melted ganache was drizzled over the top for decoration.

Jon has reported that all the muffins did make it to the new abode. I was a little nervous Chris and Eloise may have got hungry on route!

A few weeks back you may have read my post featuring the new craze taking the US by storm... cake cups. I decided to have a go at them myself for a friend's birthday using leftover lemon cake, vanilla buttercream icing, fresh raspberries and raspberry jam.

Funnily enough i didn't have any spare whiskey glasses hanging about so, being the classy gal I am, I decided to use plastic wine glasses. I crumbled the sponge and added a layer to the bottom of the glass then added a layer of raspberry jam followed by a layer of buttercream and some fresh raspberries. 

I then sprinkled another layer of crumbled cake on top and finished it with a fresh raspberry and some grated dark chocolate.

The result looked a lot better than i expected and the layers looked very appealing. 

The novelty of the wine cups was very well received by the tasters (my trusty work colleagues!) and  the general feedback was the ratio of filling to sponge was much better than a normal muffin/cupcake where you struggle to get cake and filling every bite. They were also a big hit with Eloise who got involved and made her own version which looked slightly different to mine but just as fun. The jury is still out over the cake/dessert classification...

I just saw this idea on The Great British Bake Off finalist Holly Bell's blog www.recipesfromanormalmum.com and had to share.

How simple but effective. Any flavour cupcakes you fancy (cinammon spiced or orange zest would be nice) in red and green paper cases topped with a swirl of buttercream (brandy buttercream anyone?) and decorated with a chocolate coin! Loving it.

My goddaughter/niece Emily turned 5 last week and I bought her a cupcake making kit.

Today Em tried out her first bake with help from her glamourous assistant/mum George. The recipe was chocolate cupcakes - an excellent choice.

I am sure you will agree these action shots show a master baker in training and I love the pink mouse apron!

Good job Em! X x

Friday I was trapped indoors as the carpet fitters were in so I had to make do with the ingredients I had in the cupboard.

Luckily I had 3 bananas which were seriously ripe and needed eating. This is the perfect time to make banana cake as the bananas need to be really ripe, almost black. I mashed them and added to self raising flour, sugar, butter, milk, an egg and cocoa powder.

I popped them into cupcake cases and baked 170 degrees for about 30minutes.

The cakes rose really well and had a lovely chewy, moist consistency. Eloise seemed to enjoy eating the mixture more than eating the cakes!

We were invited to a beautiful wedding this weekend at Silvermere golf club by the lovely Sarah and Dan. The day was perfect executed with handmade decorations and a mink colour scheme.

The wedding cake was a lovely cupcake tower made by bridesmaid Michelle. The cupcakes were chocolate or vanilla sponge and iced with some fab 2 tone buttercream icing and mini roses. At the top of the tower a cutting cake was adorned with real flowers matching the brides bouquet.

The cupcakes were displayed in gorgeous cupcake wrappers featuring delicate leaves and roses and placed on a clear acrylic stand. Rose petals were sprinked across the display table completing the look. Great job Michelle!