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Cupcake Mini Cakes

Published 12 February 2013 by Veronica Stillwater

Use your ribbed rolling pin and silicone brooch mould to make these perfect for any afternoon tea party mini cakes!

I know I mentioned at the end of last week's post that I would be making some chocolate cupcakes for this week's blog post but upon discovering a neat little trick, I thought I would hold off on those chocolate cupcakes until next week. This week I took the cupcake and turned it into a mini cake. It's a cheaters way of getting mini cakes without cutting out smaller cakes from a larger cake or using a specialist tin for these preciously pink and yellow pretty cupcakes turned mini cakes.

Using cupcakes as an alternative if you don't have the tins or time to cut smaller cakes is a great way to make some quick and easy mini cakes. I chose to bake up a batch of date cupcakes to accompany the marzipan on some and also for a nice texture and flavour. I opted to cover half of the mini cakes with marzipan and half with pink fondant to give colour variation and using gold marzipan gives a natural yellow that really compliments the shade of pink used with the fondant. Choosing to keep the colour theme running through the design of these cakes, I painted the fondant brooch toppers with co-ordinating colours to that of the fondant and marzipan. It was my first time using the silicone brooch mould, so please be forgiving on their thickness. I obviously didn't take enough fondant from the back of the brooch when making them, so my top tip would be to check out issue 42 of Cake Decorating magazine to see in pictures, a step by step guide on how it can be done. I think they still look pretty for a first attempt and now I know for next time and will be well versed in the technique. These were enjoyed by this week's taste testers and I hope you have fun making your own cupcake mini cakes! You can choose the cupcake of your choice when making these and skip the recipe for the date cupcakes if you would prefer another flavour.

 

　

For the toppers (To be made up in advance):

You will need:

Work surface

Small sharp knife

Brooch Silicone Mould

Chopping board

Small clean dry paint brush

 

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil

Icing sugar for dusting

250g White fondant or sugarpaste

Edible dusting powders/Lustre dusts in pink yellow, copper and gold (Or colours of your choice)

Small amount cake decorators liquid alcohol

First, lightly oil the silicone brooch mould with a small amount of vegetable oil, it really needs to be just a thin film on the mould. You may find that you can press out two or three of the brooches in batches before needing to apply oil to the mould again. Lightly dust the work surface with icing sugar and knead the fondant or sugarpaste until soft and supple. Divide the fondant into twelve equal portions. For a whole moulded brooch: press each portion into the mould and press down firmly to ensure the fondant or sugarpaste is well within all the cavities of the mould. Trim away any excess fondant or sugarpaste carefully using the knife or pinch the excess away with your fingers, ensure the back of the fondant or sugarpaste brooch is flat and smooth. Gently tease the fondant brooch out of the mould by initially squeezing the mould to flex it back a little and allowing it to be released and freed at the sides. Gently pull out the brooch and place on a chopping board. Repeat for the remaining portions until you have 12 brooches made up. Allow to firm up for at least 30 minutes. For a two colour moulded brooch please refer to issue 42 of Cake Decorating magazine.

Once you have allowed the brooches to dry, using the clean paint brush, edible dusting powders and alcohol to paint the brooches. You can alternate between the colours and you can add small gold dots as shown in the photos. Once all are decorated leave to dry over night before use.

 

 

For the cupcakes:

You will need:

Food processor

Spatula

12 paper muffin cases

12 cup muffin baking tray

Tablespoon

Teaspoon

 

Ingredients:

220g self raising flour

3 medium eggs

110g caster sugar

110g butter or margarine

120ml full fat milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

180g stoned dates finely chopped

 

Turn on the oven and set to 180º in temperature.

Place the paper muffin cases into the 12 cup muffin baking tray.

Place the butter and sugar into the bowl of the food processor and blend on a high speed setting until light, pale and fluffy. Add all the remaining ingredients and blend on a high speed setting until a spoon dropping consistency is achieved. Spoon a tablespoon of the mixture into each of the paper muffin cases in your prepared 12 cup muffin baking tray. Place the cupcakes in the oven near or just above the middle shelf and allow to bake for approx 30 – 40 minutes. Checking at 30 minutes cooking time on their progress. The cakes will appear golden, will have risen, be firm to the touch with some of the chocolate oozing out.

You can always test by inserting a clean skewer into one of the cakes, if it comes out clean they are ready, if not return to the oven checking with the skewer again at 5 minute intervals. (Always really important never to open the oven door and allow any air in before 30 minutes of cooking as this will allow for the mixture to 'drop' and sink, look through the oven door if you have one that's made of glass to visually check on their progress rather than open the door). Once baked, using oven gloves remove the baking tray from the oven and rest on a trivet until completely cooled.

 

 

For the trimming of the cupcakes:

You will need:

Bread knife

Chopping board

 

As the cupcakes will be turned upside down to be prepared and presented as mini cakes you will need to trim the excess tops off the cupcakes once cooled to get a level surface to each cupcake for them to sit flat. Carefully cut the tops from each cupcake on the chopping board using the bread knife to prepare them for their coverings. (Should you cut one at too much of an angle and it is only a small area that has been cut away, a quick fix to level out the bottom, is to press in pieces of marzipan to correct the shape of the cake for it to be level).

 

 

To cover the cupcakes:

You will need:

Rolling pin

Ribbed rolling pin

Palette knife or wheel tool

Pastry brush

Cake smoother

　

Ingredients:

Approx 650g golden marzipan

Approx 650g fondant in pink

100g apricot bakers glaze (Warmed)

Icing sugar (For lightly dusting your work surface)

Separately knead each of the fondant and marzipan until soft and supple and roll into a sausage shape. Lightly dust the work surface and rolling pin with icing sugar. Divide each of the marzipan and fondant sausages into 6 portions for each. Separately roll out the portions until big enough to cover each of the cakes and approx 2-3mm in thickness. Bring the mini cakes close to the rolled out fondant and marzipan circles to avoid over reaching causing tearing when placing the fondant or marzipan on each cake. Brush each of the cakes with the warmed apricot bakers glaze using the pastry brush. Lift each of the fondant and marzipan pieces rested over the rolling pin when lifting and positioning on the top of each of the cakes with the fondant covering each cake. Working with each cake and repeating for all 12, press down across the top of the cakes to smooth out the fondant or marzipan using a cake smoother and smooth down and around from the top down towards the bottom of each cake. Trim any excess away using a palette knife and set aside the excess. Smooth across the top of the cake and around the sides of the cake once more to get an even surface (If you don't have a cake smoother, you can use your hands to smooth out the fondant but you won't get such a neat finish).

With the excess trimmings of fondant and marzipan set aside from earlier, knead and roll them each into sausage shapes. Lightly dust the work surface, sausage shapes and rolling pin with a little icing sugar. Roll out the sausage shapes to a rectangular shape approx 2-3mm in thickness. Use the ribbed rolling pin and lightly roll over the length of each of the shapes. Cut 6 approx 1cm in width strips from each of the marzipan and fondant rectangles, using the ribbed rolling pin impressions as a guide for where to cut along the lines. (Check when cutting the first strip that it will fit around the base of the mini cake) Once you have 6 strips of each, brush the back of each strip with a little of the apricot bakers glaze and carefully position the yellow trims around the base of each of the pink mini cakes and position the pink strips around the base of each of the yellow mini cakes, joining together the two ends in perfect positioning and ensuring it is positioned neatly around the base of each cake. Place a brooch on each of the mini cakes as a topper and they are ready to serve and enjoy! Until next week! Happy baking and look out for next week's post with more creative cupcake ideas!