Fluffy Coconut Cupcakes.

Oh so pretty and very yummy too. Ingredients......

125gs Butter (softened)
1 cup Castor Sugar.
3 Eggs.
1 teaspoon Coconut Extract.
11/2 cups Plain Flour.
1 teaspoon Baking Powder.
3/4 cup Milk.
1/2 cup Coconut Flakes.

Method.......

Makes 12 muffin size or 24 cupcake size.
Preheat oven to 180c. Prepare cupcake tray with cases.
Beat butter with electric mixer until pale and creamy. Add sugar 1/3 at a time, mixing well each time. Add eggs one at a time as well, mixing well between additions. Now add the Coconut extract.
Sift the flour and baking powder and add half to butter mixture with the milk, mix until combined. Repeat with remaining flour and milk. Stir in the coconut flakes. Place mixture in to the prepared cases and bake in the oven for 15 minutes for cupcakes and 20-25 for muffins.
Allow to cool while you make the icing.

Icing.......
1 jar of FLUFF (see picture below)
120gs softened Butter.
200gs Icing Sugar.
Beat with your electric mixer and make the butter really soft and creamy, add the jar of FLUFF, a little of the food colouring of your choice, mix, and then start adding the icing sugar until you have the right texture for YOU.
Spread or pipe on to the cupcakes and decorate to suit you. I used more coconut flakes and assorted other things too.

FLUFF, had never heard of it, until someone on one of the forums I belong to, mentioned it. Then I had to get some, made in the U.S.A. Here is a link that you might like to take a look at.
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/FluffernutterSandwich.htm
I do hope you can get some, which ever country you live in. It is a MUST.

Rich Fruit Cake.

It was hubby's birthday recently (his 66th) and he's my little devil, hence the devil's horn's on the cake. His other love apart from food is whisky, so not wanting to use a really good one for this cake, I choose BLACK DOUGLAS, THE BLACK, RESERVE 12 year old whisky. Although very nice in itself, he tells me.
Can't bare the smell of it, so this really was a labour of love. The recipe was given to me by Brenda from http://teandwheatenbread.blogspot.com/ and I made a few changes to it as there was a couple of fruits we didn't like. As long as you have the right measures in the end, you can do the same. The original recipe uses brandy or rum, as you see, I used WHISKY.
Ingredients....
3 cups Sultanas.
1 1/2 cups Raisins (chopped)
1/2 cup Currants.
1/2 cup Pitted Prunes (chopped)
2/3 cup Glace Cherries (halved)
3 tablespoons good dark Marmalade.
1 cup WHISKY. (and more for later)
250g Butter.
1 Orange (zest only)
1 Lemon (zest only)
1 cup Dark Brown Sugar.
4 Eggs.
2 cups Plain Flour.
2 tsp. Mixed Spice.
Method....
Line a deep 23cm round or deep 19cm square cake tin with 2 layers of baking paper. Bring paper 5cm above edge of pan.
Combine fruit, marmalade and whisky in a large bowl, mix well with a wooden spoon and leave to stand over night.
Beat butter and zests in a small bowl with electric mixer, add sugar, beat until combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating only until combined between additions.
Stir creamed mix in to the fruit mix. Mix in sifted dry ingredients until all combined
Spread the cake mix in to the prepared tin.
Bake in a slow oven 125c for 3 and 1/2 hours.
HINT..... I wrapped the outside of my tin in double foil to protect it from burning.
When the cake is cooked, turn off the oven, pierce the cake with a skewer in several places, pour more WHISKY over the cake and top with Golden Castor Sugar. Place back in to the oven and leave over night again. This gives it a lovely crunchy crust. See below for the cut cake.

ENJOY!

Biscotti

As some of you might know, I am a big fan of James Martin. Here is another one of his recipes from DESSERTS (a fabulous collection of recipes from SWEET BABY JAMES)
I did change a few things, as I was out of hazelnuts, almonds and dried strawberries. Used green cherries and the nuts were replaced with pistachios.

Ingredients....
250 g Plain Flour
250 g caster sugar
3 medium Free Range Eggs lightly beaten
50 g dried sweetened strawberries chopped
100 g dried Apricots chopped
50 g medjool dates stones removed, chopped
75 g Pistachios shells removed
50 g whole blanched Almonds
50 g Hazelnuts shells removed
1 Lemon zest only

Method....

For the biscotti, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
Mix the flour, sugar and baking powder together in a large bowl. Add half the beaten eggs and mix well, then add half of what's left and mix again. Add the last quarter a little at a time until the dough takes shape but isn't too wet (you may not need to use all of the eggs). Add the fruit, nuts and
lemon zest and mix well.
Divide the dough into six pieces. With wet hands, roll each piece into a sausage shape about 5cm/2in wide and place well apart on the baking sheet. Lightly flatten the 'sausages' and bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden-brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool and harden for ten minutes.
With a serrated knife, cut the 'sausages' on an angle into 0.5cm/¼in slices and lay these on the baking sheet. Return to the oven and bake for eight minutes, then turn the slices over and cook for a further 10-15 minutes, or until they are a pale golden colour. Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks. When completely cold, the biscotti can be stored in airtight jars for a week or more.
I didn't make the Limoncello, although I certainly have enough lemons at the moment to do so. Shop bought for me, and then dunked the biscotti in to the Limoncello. DELISH.