Brix Mix Market

I enjoyed the Brixton Bake Off so much that I signed up for the next one off market. Unfortnately it happened to be that ridiculously hot weekend we had - you know the one right before the heaven's emptied for the Jubilee?! The ice cream weather sent me into a bit of a panic about my butter icing so I put it in the fridge for a bit before icing the cupcakes. By doing this and keeping the cupcakes in the shade the icing held together surprisingly well.

This time I went for boozy cupcakes, wheat-free brownies, flapjack and bakewell tarts. I've already blogged about the flapjack so I'll skip that here.

Rum and Ginger Beer Cupcakes 

These were so popular at the Bake Off that I decided to make them again (plus I had some rum in the cupboard!)I found the ginger beer cupcake recipe on raspberriecupcakes blog and added a bit more ginger as I wanted it to have a real kick. It is a great recipe and produces very moist cakes - make sure you use proper fiery ginger beer as opposed to American style ginger ale.

200g/7oz light brown sugar
125g/4.5oz unsalted butter
2 eggs
250g/8.75oz self raising flour
2 tsp ground ginger
250ml ginger beer

Preheat the oven to 160C. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until well mixed. Add 1/3 of the ginger beer and stir well. Sift 1/4 of the flour anf ginger and fold into the mixture. Repeat until all the ingredients are well combined. Divide the mixture betwen 12 large cupcake cases and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden on top.
* Test whether the cupcakes are done by inserted a skewer or knife into the centre if it comes out clean they are ready to come out of the oven. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Rum and Lime Frosting:
3oz/85g butter
11oz/310g icing sugar
juice of one lime

Sift 250g of the icing into a large bowl and cream with the butter with the back of a wooden spoon. Use an electric whisk to whisk for a few minutes. Sift in the remaining icing sugar, add the lime juice and whisk further. If needed add more icing sugar until firm enough to pipe.


Baileys Cupcakes
I started baking with baileys a while ago and it always goes down well!

8oz/225g self-raising flour
6oz/170g caster sugar
6oz/170g unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of Baileys

Preheat the oven to 160C. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Whisk in the egss one at a time. Sift the flour and fold into the mixture. Add the Baileys and stir until well combined. Divide the mixture between 12 large cupcake cases and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden on top.
* Test whether the cupcakes are done by inserted a skewer or knife into the centre if it comes out clean they are ready to come out of the oven. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Frosting:
3oz/85g butter
11oz/300g icing sugar
2 tablespoons Baileys

Sift 250g of the icing into a large bowl and cream with the butter with the back of a wooden spoon. Use an electric whisk to whisk for a few minutes. Sift in the remaining icing sugar, add the Baileys and whisk further. If needed add more icing sugar until firm enough to pipe.

Gluten-free Brownies

This is a Nigella recipe that I started making because my Mum and Grandma are gliten intolerant but then I realised that it is one of the best brownie recipes ever - gluten free or not! They are very gooey and need to be baked slowly and left to cool completely. Below is the basic recipe but they are best with walnuts/cherries/whatever's in the cupboard added.

8oz/225g dark chocolate
8oz/225g butter
2tsp vanilla extract
7oz/200g caster sugar
3 eggs
5.3oz/150g ground almonds

Preheat the oven to 160C and grease a baking tin. Melt the chocolate and butter in a saucepan over a low heat. Remove from the heat and mix in the vannila essence and sugar.Leave the mixture to cool a little before beating in the eggs. Fold in the ground almonds and nuts/cherries if using. Bake for 40 minutes or until the top is set. Turn off the oven and leave the brownie until the oven has cooled. Remove the brownie from the oven and leave until completely cool until cutting up and enjoying with from fresh strawberries :)

Bakewell Tart

This was by far my best seller - it seems people love a traditional bake! I used Mary Berry's rich shortcrust pastry and I rolled it thinly. I think three batches did about 20 tarts using 8cm (base measurement) tins.

Pastry:
175g/6oz plain flour
15g/1/2oz icing sugar
75g/3oz diced butter
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon water

Sift the flour and icing sugar into a bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture is like breadcrumbs. Add the yolk and water and mix well until you have a firm dough. Wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for about 30 mins.

Frangipane:
4.5oz/125g butter, softened
4.5oz/125g caster sugar
2 eggs
4.5oz/125g ground almonds
1 tbsp plain flour

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time then fold in the almonds and flour. Mix together well.

Other ingredients:
Raspberry jam
Flaked almonds
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 170C. Roll out the pastry very thinly and cut into the vague sizes of the tins you are using. Grease the tins with butter. Place the pastry in the tin and press into the tin. Prick the bottom with a fork and trim the edges with a knife. Place baking paper over the pastry and fill with copper coins. Bake for about five minutes then remove from the oven. Take the coins and baking paper out of the cases. Spread a layer of raspberry jam in each pastry case then divide the frangipane between them. Sprinkle each tart with a few flaked almonds and brush the edges of the tart with beaten egg. Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.

To find out more about Brixton Markets visit http://www.brixtonmarket.net/