Yes I am a domestic goddess

 

 

Okay so I thought I'd try something new today. I'm a woman of many talents; along with all the fashion stuff I'm also a baking fan. I haven't actually baked in ages but with the return of the Great British Bake-off and the start of autumn, I thought it was time to break out the cook books again. I made these raspberry cupcakes with white and dark chocolate frosting and they taste amazing!
 

 

I hope you appreciate how difficult it was to bake and take step-by-step photos at the same time. Okay so start off by mixing together 140g of caster sugar, 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract, 2 eggs (make sure to crack them in a separate cup or bowl so you don't get any shell in it) and 150ml of sunflower oil. So I know that cupcakes aren't exactly good for you, but making them with sunflower oil instead of butter makes them a teeny bit less naughty. Whisk all the ingredients together until it's smooth and well combined (it's easier to use an electric whisk so it doesn't make your wrist ache).

 

Then fold in 275g of plain flour and 3/4 tsp. of baking powder. Try not to mix it too hard or you'll let the air out - use a figure-of-8 kindof action until there's no floury bits left.

 

 

 
Then use a fork to crush 275g of fresh raspberries and fold them into the mixture. The best part is that they make the cake mixture pale pink - even in baking I can still rock pastel colours. Then spoon into 12 muffin cases; just put one spoon in each case at first and then go back round and add more so it's easier to make them all the same size. Then bake them in the oven at 180⁰C (or 350⁰F or gas mark 4 if you have a weird oven). FYI, it was really difficult to get that last photo because I have a chrome oven which is mega reflective so I just kept getting mirror selfies.

 

Then while the cakes are baking (for 30minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch), you can make the frosting. In a bain marie (a glass bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering hot water), melt together 50g of plain chocolate, 25g of butter and 2 tbsp. of water. When it's completely melted, take the bowl off the heat and mix in 175g of icing sugar. Do exactly the same with 50g of white chocolate and the same amounts of butter, water and icing sugar so you have two separate bowls of frosting, one white chocolate and one plain chocolate.

 

 

Then once the cupcakes have cooled down, its time for the decorating part (the best part basically). You could pipe the frosting but it's just as easy to spoon it on and smooth it out. Do half of the cupcakes with white and half with dark like a checkerboard. Then make some chocolate shavings with the remaining chocolate from making the frosting; drag a knife along the underneath of the bar repeatedly until you have enough shavings to top all the cakes. Top the dark chocolate cakes with white chocolate shavings and top the white chocolate cakes with dark chocolate shavings.

They're really yummy but even though they're made with sunflower oil and fruit, they're still not good for you so make sure to share them with friends. They do say that the best dieting technique is to bake all your friends cupcakes to make them look fatter and you'll look thinner in comparison!