Baking | Tesco's Bee Cupcakes!

The real question is: are you really in Yorkshire if you’re not offered a sweet treat alongside a cracking cup of tea (freshly poured from a teapot, of course) when you first arrive at someone's house? My mum thrives off being a hostess with the mostess when people visit, feeding them up with homemade treats and then sending them on their way five stone heavier. When we were younger and ipads didn't exist (how on earth did the poor parents cope), my mum would often dig out her Be-Ro recipe books and send us on a baking mission to keep us four kids entertained. Back then, I was never really enthused by it (the only thing I cared about was the bowl that needed licking clean at the end) but now I love nothing more than baking up a storm in the kitchen - times have well and truly changed! I also find baking a great distraction in those moments when my brain goes into overdrive and I need to chill the f out!

I'm forever searching the web for new baking challenges and this week, came across this recipe from the Tesco real food website - BEE CUPCAKES! They straight away made me think of Manchester (the city of busy bees and hard workers) and the amount of innocent lives lost in the attack that took place there last month. I knew then I had to give them a go! I won't lie, they did take a whole lot of patience but a perfect recipe if you're stuck indoors due to the crappy, English summer and have some time on your hands! And I mean, how flippin CUTE! They were super fun to make and everyone loved eating them too...I couldn't recommended enough!








INGREDIENTS

For the cupcakes, you will need:

125g of softened butter

125g of caster sugar

2 large eggs

125g of self raising flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

2 teaspoons of milk

50g of white chocolate chips

For the icing, you will need:

100g of white chocolate

150g of softened butter

140g of icing sugar

For the bee decoration, you will need:

100g of yellow fondant icing

50g of black fondant icing

White chocolate buttons

A black icing pen

EQUIPMENT

Yellow cupcake cases

Icing piping bag

Piping nozzles

THE METHOD

The cupcakes
Pre heat the oven to gas 4, 180°C, fan 160°C.

1) Place the sugar and butter in a bowl and mix together until you have a light and fluffy consistency.

2) Add the eggs to the mixture and beat in until it has all come together.

3) Add the flour bit by bit, folding it into the existing mixture as you go. Pour two teaspoons of milk into the mixture and stir together.

Add the baking powder.

Add all of the white chocolate buttons.

4) Ensure the mixture is smooth and all the ingredients are mixed together well!

5) Divide the mixture up into the cupcake cases (the yellow, spotty ones I used are from Tesco) and then bake in the oven for around 15 minutes or until golden brown!

The icing
6) Break up the white chocolate into squares and place in a microwavable bowl. Pop into the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring until completely melted and then leave to cool.

7) Place the icing sugar and butter into a separate bowl and stir together until pale and fluffy again in consistency.

8) Pour the melted chocolate over the butter icing and mix together well.

9) Once the cupcakes are completely cool, using a piping bag and nozzle, pipe the butter icing on the top of each individual cupcake.

The bees
10) Depending on how many cupcakes you have managed to make out of your mixture, roll the same amount of balls (of equal size) from the yellow fondant icing.

11) Make very thin sausage shaped stripes out of the black fondant icing (two for every bee) and place over the yellow balls.

12) Cut the white chocolate buttons in half and secure two halves on the back of the yellow ball as a set of wings for each bee.

13) Using the black icing pen, draw some ice and a big smiley face on each of the bees you have made and a set of eyes! :)

14) Put the bees on one side to properly set for around 10 minutes.

Attach 1 bee to each of the cupcakes.

Happy baking! :)

Lots of love as always,
Beth x