Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, love them or hate them?

I LOVE THEM :-) But appreciate they are a bit of a marmite kinda thing. However, my partner in crime and fellow Reese's addict Donna suggested a cupcake version today and, feeling inspired I just had to have a tinker and see if I could pull it off.

The peanut butter buttercream, was an instant success, I just mixed peanut butter (smooth) with vanilla buttercream 1:2 parts and it's amazing I could eat it by the spoonful.

For the cupcakes I thought it would warrant a really chocolately sponge quite dense and toothsome, so I went for the chocolate part of the Hummingbird's blackbottom cupcakes, which are made with oil rather than butter and are really dense.

I topped the buttercream swirls with crushed peanut m&ms (didn't have any reese's pieces this was a spur of the moment thing) and the other half with crushed cupcake mixture, both work well and I'm not sure which I prefer, might just have to mix them both together? The gorgeous little cupcake toppers I can't take credit for they were a lovely surprise from my friend Jayne which arrived in yesterday's post.

I wish the blog had a tasting application, but you'll have to take my word for it... they are pretty damn good. I think the cupcake mixture could do with being slightly sweeter (it's quite a dark chocolate effect) but the texture works really well with the peanut butter buttercream. They are definitely on the list for the summer fair on the 3rd July. Any other suggestions most appreciated so far I'm thinking:

Peanut Butter and Chocolate

Strawberries and Cream

White Chocolate and Raspberry coulis

Melting Marshmallows

Ruby Red

I'm a huge fan of Ruby Red Organic potions and lotions: Check this offer out while it lasts:
http://www.rubyredcosmetics.co.uk/bliss.php

3 bath soaks for £22.50!

Update

Firstly I had better apologise for a serious lack of posts in the last few weeks... Sorry! It has been more than a bit mad here for various reasons, the most relevant being researching and creating a business plan for Just Darling Cakes with a view to acquiring premises for a Design Studio (for the wedding and celebration cakes) and a CupCake Cafe. It's both exciting and terrifying and is in its infancy at the moment, the plan is still being drawn up. However, the downside is it very time consuming so I have neglected the blog slightly.

However, it hasn't been all work and no play, it was my Birthday last week and thanks to my fabulous friends we had a great night out in Leeds and lots of champagne cocktails :-) So thank you girls it was great fun!

It's most definitely back to work now though and I do promise to keep you more regularly updated on the business premises and general news. Thanks for bearing with me :-)

Who said romance was dead????

http://www.harrogateadvertiser.net/harrogatenews/The-proposal--she-said.6311792.jp

The link will take you to an article in the Harrogate Advertiser which shows a video proposal made from one of our soldiers in Afghanistan to his partner who is a Police Officer in North Yorkshire. As Stephen will be serving in Afghanistan until August and could not propose in person, he organised for the ring and a beautiful bouquet to be delievered to Harrogate Police station to surprise Lynsey when she thought she was simply attending the morning briefing :-) What a lovely start to her working day!

I'm also very pleased to say I'll be making Lynsey and Stephen's wedding cake, keep an eye out later in the year for pictures.

I love a good love story, it's even better when it's real life and not on the pages of the trashy novels i'm addicted to!

Just Darling Cakes in Vogue

You may have heard me mention it once or twice but Just Darling Cakes is lucky enough to be seen in Vogue this month :-)

Lili's Cake and Roller Blading :-)

It's great fun when I actually know the recipient of a cake I'm making and this weekend was a special one for Lili, who I've known since she was tiny and who turned six on sunday. It's doubly great when the recipient is having a roller blading party and I'm invited :-) Well I should clarify my daughters were invited but they needed some help with their roller blades and naturally the best way to teach them was by skating myself. they soon got the hang of it and I spent the next two hours whizzing around with the kids... so much fun! I am seriously considering getting myself a pair as a fitness thing!

Naturally Lili's cake had a roller blading theme and the little girl on top is meant to resemble her. I'll let you know about the roller blades :-)

Cascading Blossoms

This wedding cake has been a labour of love and I am so proud of the results. I love this design which I would love to take credit for but which was inspired by a picture given to me by the bride. As Jennifer wanted the wow factor without needing several hundred portions of cake the top two tiers are dummy cakes, the bottom tier is traditional fruit cake laced (generously) with brandy, the next tier spicy carrot cake and the next vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream.

The cakes were stacked and the ribbon added, and then came the flowers, my hand is ready to drop off with all the piping, each one required a tiny blob of royal icing and then the centres needed to be piped and all the surrounding dots and stems... but it was all worth it. Even if I do say so myself it certainly has wow factor :-)