Last week was my final week at my old job with my lovely boss and colleagues. I distinctly remember my boss telling me about the Octopus cake the last leaver baked in my interview. So I knew I had some big shoes to fill, particularly with the reputation of 'Cupcake Queen' in the office.
We had leaving drinks on the Friday and I couldn't have asked for a better send off. Not only did I get these adorable cards but also some amazing fashion cookie cutters - I cannot wait to try them out soon and will be posting about incessantly I am sure! There isn't really a more appropriate leaving gift, such a great idea. Makes me all the more sad that I had to leave my lovely little team!
So, with Fashion Week being over I finally had time to bake and went back to a classic recipe. The basic cupcake for this were the first cupcakes I ever made for the office, hence it seemed nice to go 'back to my roots'.
You will need:
- 175g soft butter
- 175g golden caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 225g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 142ml soured cream
- 300g punnets blackberries
- 200gr cream cheese
- Icing Sugar
- Fondant
- Edible glitter and sugar balls
And here is how you make them:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Line two cupcake trays.
- Put the butter, sugar, eggs,flour, baking powder and vanilla in a bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon for 2-3 minutes, or with a hand electric beater for 1-2 minutes, until lighter in colour and well mixed. Beat in 4 tbsp soured cream, then stir in half the blackberries with a large spoon.
- Fill the cases about 2/3rds and bake for 25 minutes until it is risen, feels firm to the touch and springs back when lightly pressed. Cool for 10 minutes, then take out of the tin and leave to finish cooling on a wire rack.
- To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese with the icing sugar in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Ice the top of the cooled cake (don't be impatient as the frosting will melt if the cake is too warm).
- Decorate as you wish! I used silver cupcake lining, silver edible glitter and red octopuses. I found a link that tells you how to make these and then spend a good hour handcrafting them - find the instructions here!
And voila, this is what I ended up with:
They looked a little more like aliens, but adorable nonetheless.
