A couple of weeks ago I bought Eat Me!: The Stupendous, Self-raising World of Cupcakes and Bakes According to Cookie Girl by Xanthe Milton (aka the Cookie Girl). I wasn't going to buy it as I have enough cupcake cookbooks already, however after having a quick squizz through it I couldn't resist - mainly because it had some unusual recipes such as Jack Daniels and Coke cupcakes, Courgette cupcakes and the first recipe I tried from the book, Beet-rose Cupcakes.
Firstly the recipe was very easy to follow, although I didn't get as many cupcakes as the recipe said I would, although I was using rather large cupcake cases. The beetroot was a doodle to handle (have read reviews saying it turned their kitchen etc purple - I wore gloves when grating and it was fine!) and the mix came together really well, if a wee bit runny, which left me a little worried they weren't going to work. The smell wafting through the house when they were cooking was amazing and I was very excited when they came out of the oven all puffed up and well risen.
Then they fell a bit while cooling and I thought "oh no disaster" but decided to frost them and see how they tasted. The recipe calls for a cream cheese frosting but I fancied vanilla. I made half the recommended amount of frosting as the amounts quoted for 12 were massive and I had more than enough to frost the cupcakes and do a couple of special 'super frosted' cupcakes for Manny :)
Finally - I tried using the frosting kit my friend Dennis bought me some time ago but the bottles were really annoying and difficult to fill. I think I'll just get myself some disposable icing bags from Lakeland. They don't look too bad for my first try at proper frosting though, kinda squished rose-like!
