With Easter approaching, our reporter Jess Ward visits the kitchen of award-winning cake artist Aimee Ford, who gets our stomachs rumbling with an easy peasy recipe for seasonal cupcakes.
The April holiday is famed for its family focus, craft making, themes of new beginnings and - who can forget - chocolate!
To help us appreciate these things, I got in touch with Aimee of Butterfingers Cakes to share with us a simple cupcake recipe for readers to try out for themselves.
You may have seen the Peel cake artist’s towering creations at wedding fairs, lovingly-made boxes of treats or heard about her very recent success at international cake competitions.
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As of yesterday (Wednesday) she discovered her work featured in Cake Decoration & Sugarcraft Magazine’s May issue.
Greeted by the bright and sunshiney Aimee, we make our way to her kitchen where two stunning cake displays stand proudly on the table and a batch of freshly-made chocolate cupcakes with mini eggs sit enticingly nearby.
Easter is a busy time for Aimee as she is not only baking luxury treat boxes but, since her husband is a farmer, they both spend vast amounts of time keeping their watchful eyes on the newborn lambs.
For her recipe Aimee provides her top tips:
â?¢ ’Cupcake cases are bigger than fairy cake cases so make sure you get the right size,’ she said.
â?¢ ’Make sure your butter is really, really soft. Hard butter won’t mix and may break your mixer!
â?¢ ’We like Green & Black’s Organic Cocoa Powder as it gives a really chocolatey taste.
â?¢ ’When choosing dark chocolate, we opt for 70% or above however if you don’t want it as strong then you could use a lower percentage or a mix of milk and dark chocolate.
â?¢ ’If you want to be environmentally-friendly then use a reusable piping bag available from any good cookery store.
â?¢ ’Sift your icing sugar to prevent any lumps clogging up your nozzle as you pipe.’
For perfect piping, Aimee shows me that you must ensure all the icing is pressed towards the nozzle in the bag that way there are no gaps that will affect the flow when you go to decorate.
Hold the bag up vertically and squeeze starting first in the centre of the cupcake until a good-sized dollop is formed and continuing the flow in a spiral motion.
Having tried an Easter cupcake out for myself, with Aimee kindly providing the rest for me to hand out to office peeps, I can happily say that they are del-egg-table. (Couldn’t resist.)
Having won a gold and silver award at Cake International in November - her first time in entering a competition across - a gold and ’Best in Class’ at Salon Culinaire in January and another ’Best in Class’ at the Northern Ireland Sugar Expo last month, I find out about Aimee’s journey.
’I’ve been making cakes for seven years. I started doing that as well as a full-time job in finance,’ she said.
A decision was then made to go full-time as a cake artist just over five years ago. ’It was the best decision I made,’ she said. ’I’m ambitious and my previous career really helped me as it’s about taking a few risks in business - it’s given me a really good foundation.
’I’ve got a long way to go and I’m never going to stop coming up with new techniques and ideas. You have to if you’re going to continue to be at the top of the game.’
She added that entering the international competitions was incredibly nerve-wrecking.
’I’m glad I’ve got that first foot on that ladder. I didn’t want to restrict myself to just being on the Isle of Man,’ she said.
She credits her family and friends who have helped her along the way by helping transport cakes and equipment to shows, including her mum who she will ring in times of need.
’I’m lucky because I’ve got a supportive family network,’ she added.
Easy Peasy Easter Cupcakes
(Makes 12 cupcakes)
Ingredients
170g baking margarine or butter
170g caster sugar
140g self raising flour
30g cocoa powder
3 large eggs
Splash of milk
250g unsalted butter
450g icing sugar
150g dark chocolate
Big bag of mini eggs to decorate
Equipment
Bowl x 2
Hand mixer
12 hole muffin tray
Cupcake baking cases
Spoon
Piping bag
Closed star nozzle
Method
Preheat your oven to 140 degrees centigrade on the fan oven setting.
In a bowl add the margarine/butter, sugar, flour, cocoa and eggs and use a hand mixer to mix the ingredients until just combined. Add a splash of milk and mix again - this is your batter.
Line your muffin tray with 12 cases. Divide the batter equally across all the cases and bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for 25 t30 minutes until baked through.
Wash your bowl and while the cupcakes are baking we can make the buttercream.
Into your bowl add your butter and icing sugar and mix until light and fluffy.
Use a smaller bowl to melt the dark chocolate in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring in between.
Once melted add it to the buttercream and mix until combined.
Pop your nozzle into your piping bag and add the buttercream.
Once the cakes are cooled, pipe a rose swirl design by starting in the middle and working your way to the outside in a spiral effect.
Pop three mini eggs on to finish and enjoy!