UPDATE 29th November – The giveaway has now closed and Helena was the winner! Congratulations Helena! We’re sure you’ll love the course.
I don’t host giveaways too often so I wanted to be clear on how I chose the winner – I counted up the eligible entries (15) and then generated a random number between 1 and 15. Helena was lucky number 13!
Right around this time of year is when I get slightly overexcited thinking about Christmas baking (and Christmas in general!). I have to calm myself down by reminding myself that there are only so many baked goods that one family can eat (and, somewhat horrifyingly, many of my family aren’t exactly as enamoured of baked goods as I am). So with that in mind, I’ve had to focus in on what I really want to bake this Christmas out of the extensive list of treats pinned to my Christmas food board on Pinterest.
At the top of the list is definitely cupcakes – I LOVE how cupcakes are so versatile – you can take the same basic vanilla cupcake recipe and transform it completely by using different coloured buttercream and decorations. So I thought I’d share a few ideas for easy Christmas-ified cupcakes – and I’m also giving away a place on a cupcake class worth £125!
- Red and green – well its Christmas, duh! I’m thinking a big batch of Christmas cupcakes including red frosting swirls, green frosting swirls (and maybe some with red, green, red layers, and some with red green accents like these) would be very festive indeed. Be sure to stock up on Christmas Red gel colour. As for Christmas Green, I’ve found the Sugarflair green to be not quite the right colour, but I recently discovered that Asda do a fantastic Christmassy green gel colour for around £2 in their home2bake baking range.
- Vanilla with added Christmas – If even making coloured frosting seems like too much work, why not just invest in some cute Christmas sprinkles to decorate your favourite vanilla cupcake recipe? My favourites are Christmas trees (as seen on my Christmas cookies last year), snowflakes (so cute), candy canes (ahhh!) and these holly leaves and berries (aiiii!).
- Glitter – glitter was BORN for Christmas. A light dusting of non toxic glitter in a complimentary colour (silver or gold work well) will make your cake POP. You can also try lustre spray which is now available in all supermarkets, although it gives a less impressive result.
Cupcake Class Giveaway!
If you’re dreaming about perfecting your Cupcake making and decorating skills for Christmas, look no further! I’ve teamed up with the lovely ladies at Blue Door Bakery to host a giveaway worth £125! During an all day Cupcakes – Start to Finish class, you’ll learn
– how to bake the perfect cupcake
– how to make gorgeous decorations including flowers
– how to make and pipe fluffy buttercream, and how to perfect various swirls, including rose swirl
– how to get around any baking niggles you’ve faced in the past
The class includes lunch and your box of lovely freshly made cupcakes to take home.
I can’t tell you how excited I was when I found Blue Door Bakery on the interwebs. It’s so refreshing to see people offering great quality cupcake courses, and even though I’ve not been on a course myself (one day!), the enthusiasm, professionalism and expertise of the team, led by Sarah, shines through in everything they do online and their course feedback. They even have a brilliant blog where they give you the lowdown on some quite tricky techniques in an easy to understand way!
A bit more about Blue Door Bakery –
Blue Door Bakery are a baking and cake decorating school in a stunning setting, right in the middle of England. They offer a host of classes including cupcakes, tiered cakes, bread and mini cakes to name but a few! They teach complete beginners, baking experts, cake businesses owners and everyone in between. Classes are taught by an expert team, in small groups, so you get brilliant tuition in a relaxed environment, for a great day spent learning stacks of new skills.
Sarah started Blue Door Bakery in 2008 and baked 20,000 cupcakes from her home kitchen in the first year! As the business grew it moved to a fabulous purpose fitted studio and now focuses completely on classes and an online shop selling cake decorating equipment.
To enter –
Just leave a comment on this post telling me what your favourite cupcake combination is. Mine changes all the time, but right now I think it would be cookie dough cupcakes. It hopefully goes without saying that this giveaway is unfortunately only open to UK readers, and those who can easily reach Hagley in Worcestershire for this great day out – easily accessible by train from Birmingham and other parts of the midlands.
The small print –
- Giveaway closes 25th November 2012.
- The prize is for a weekday class (but the winner can upgrade to a weekend class for £25.)
- The prize does not include travel to the class.
- There is no cash alternative.
- The winner must take their class within 6 months of being notified of their success.
Why not visit Blue Door Bakery on Facebook or on Pinterest for baking advice, chat and inspiration? Oh, and let me know whether you’re feeling inspired to bake festive cupcakes!
*Update* – Blue Door have also got a special offer running for the rest of this week – you can bag a class for only £95 to celebrate their first birthday. All classes booked by phone before 5pm on 16th November are available for £95 instead of £125/£150! Call 01562 228 232 to book.
majorzoheb said:
Whilst I’m spoilt for choice, I have to say Red Velvet tops anything for me!! And I always add just a little almond extract, it was an accident at first but now it adds a good dimension!!
Helen said:
Hmmm… really hard decision, but I think I’d have to say mint choc chip cupcakes – chocolate sponge with chocolate chips in and a mint buttercream frosting!
lovelyappetite said:
I’m always a fan of lemon! My simple favourite would probably be a lemon butterfly cupcake! Cute, simple and delicious! 🙂
Victoria's Vintage (@victoriajane6) said:
I love carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and dusted with cinnamon! Perfect for winter 🙂 x
bakearama said:
What an amazing prize, go you!
My favourite is chocolate and anything – chocolate and banana, chocolate and raspberry… chocolate and more chocolate! Now I want cupcakes though… 🙂
kerrycooks said:
Thanks Jen! They all sound amazing!
Natalie said:
Peanut butter frosting with a jam centre, or if
I’m feeling festive mince pie with brandy buttercream
Megan said:
I was given a cupcake recipe book last Christmas and am currently trying to make my way though the 500 cupcake varieties!! Although I think my all time favourite will always be red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing, my most recent favourite has to be Malibu and pineapple cupcakes!! Definately a unique taste!! 🙂
Lynsey Pledger said:
Oooh.. Apple crumble for me!! I love the actually crumble-bits on the frosting! It’s like a little piece of pudding in a cake! Perfect
kerrycooks said:
That sounds lovely! I recently made pumpkin loaf cake with a crumble topping and it was divine – two desserts at once!
Claire Maddrell said:
I absolutely love chocolate with a hint of mint, so I love my cupcakes to be a Vanilla and Chocolate marble mix with a melted chocolate mint centre… Fresh out the oven. Nothing compares to the smell of freshly baked goods! If only I could decorate like the Blue door bakery! Maybe one day…
kerrycooks said:
Thanks for your comment Claire! Melted chocolate mint – very creative! I’ve not thought of that before 🙂 After eight cupcakes might be good too!
confessionsofayoungchef said:
That’s one if the hardest questions to answer- mine’s always changing too- but at the moment I think it’s got to be salted toffee cupcakes, where you put a ball of hardened salted toffee into the middle of the mix and by the time it’s baked, you get an amazing running centre! Topped with vanilla butter cream and chopped pecans. Can’t be beaten at this time of year!
kerrycooks said:
Wow, that sounds amazing!
Susannah Bianchi said:
What would life be without cupcakes? But you know Kerry, now I want one, two maybe…the Magnolia Bakery is calling me. It’s right across the park. Hmm…will you excuse me? I think they open at 10 🙂
kerrycooks said:
And even worse, what would Christmas be? There’s always the new year to eat healthy!
Sarah W said:
Definitely a lemon meringue cupcake for me. I love the sharpness of the lemon against the sweetness of the meringue, and the citrus can stop it being too overwhelmingly sweet. Yums!
Nic's Notebook said:
Fab prize! My fav cupcake combo is red velvet & cream cheese icing – mmmm…. 🙂
hodgetheheg said:
It’s got to be Red Velvet with Vanilla Buttercream and SPRINKLES for me!
kerrycooks said:
I agree it DEFINITELY has to have sprinkles!
Helena said:
at the moment, i cant get enough of brownies! I would have to make a rich chocolate brownie cupcake with a creamy orangey frosting. How can you go wrong with chocolate and orange! 🙂
emiliahearts said:
Wow what a great giveaway! Mine is definitely red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and maybe some sprinkles. Mmmmm.
kerrycooks said:
Yum! Cream cheese frosting rules!
Lee said:
Have to be vanilla custard cupcakes with strawberries and cream topping
kerrycooks said:
That’s an amazing idea!