Gloverly Cupcakes

I was really excited about patisserie week – I was hoping that the technical challenge would be something pretty and I wasn’t disappointed! Although these involved making various types of icings, which looked complicated and quite different to what I normally make, they turned out to be easier than I expected.
I’m not saying they were quick and easy – they took quite a while – but I was pleasantly surprised that the odd ways of making buttercream worked. Having read the ingredients I was slightly sceptical, especially since Becky pointed out to me that there seemed to be inconsistencies in the recipe (and it looked like it was slightly different to what they made on the Bake Off). However, it seemed to work ok. The genoise sponge worked perfectly – or at least I thought it had until I cut it in half and discovered a few small lumps of flour that I obviously hadn’t fully folded in… Oops. There weren’t many though, and it rose perfectly, but next time I would make sure that I took more time folding the flour in! The creme beurre au moka didn’t seem like enough when I made it, and when I came to pipe it I ran out – so I didn’t manage to pipe all the way around the bottom of all of them. I also made a few adaptations – I added a bit of milk to the coffee buttercream, I used some very strong coffee rather than coffee essence (because that’s all I had), I used a mix of chopped flaked almonds and hazelnuts on the outside (because the supermarket had no almonds left and I only had half a bag of flaked almonds in the cupboard) and I didn’t add enough brown food colouring to the icing because I didn’t have much left! However, I don’t think any of the tweaks had a major impact on the flavour and look of the Mokatines.

They are really tasty, but quite rich. They are also quite messy to eat with your fingers… but then they’re the kind of cake that should be served on a pretty plate and eaten with a cake fork! If you want to have a go, click here to find the recipe.