I am loving this recipe book!

Indulgence Cupcakes: a fine selection of sweet treats

The recipes are awesomely delicious and very much in a gourmet cupcake direction.

One of the things I love the most about this book is that- where it can do so- the recipes specify the ingredients in cups, grams and ounces! This makes life so much easier! No running back and forth to on-line conversion charts and websites!

Well… that’s how I do it when I need to do conversions!

*No one asked or paid me to write this little snippet.

My dear friend Shebeeliciousness called shotgun to beta test this recipe for me! I hope she’s prepared… its HUGE! There are 3 cups of cream cheese in this decadent monster! She and her other half are HUGE red velvet fans!

This red velvet cheesecake has a dark chocolate biscuit base, which beautifully compliments the richness of the deep red cheesecake, and its topped with cream cheese icing!

I also played around with the recipe a bit and this is perfect as a cupcake too! Can you imagine it! Red velvet cheesecake cupcakes!

You have got to pop over to Shebee’s blog to see the hilarity that ensued when this cheesecake was consumed!

Another beta test- thank you Rozz for trying these out- and its my last entry for the Food24 Cupcake Competition!

These are an absolute winner! The tang of the apricot is perfectly complimented by the sweetness of the cake. I can so see these served with whipped cream as a dessert!

Rozz reckons, after eating them, that they are an awesome winter treat after 10 seconds in the microwave!

Preheat oven to 180°C and fill two cupcake pans with paper cases.

1¾ cups self-raising flour

½ cup dessicated coconut

125g unsalted butter

1 cup castor sugar

2 eggs (lightly beaten)

1 cup apricot nectar (there’s enough juice in a BIG tin of apricot halves)

½ cup sour cream

tinned apricot halves in juice (drained)

¼ cup apricot jam

Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the coconut and make a well in the centre.

Melt the butter and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves (this takes a while) and remove from the heat.

Whisk the eggs and apricot nectar together, and slowly whisk it into the sour cream.

Add the egg and the sugar mixture to the well in the dry ingredients and stir together with a wooden spoon until combined.

Divide the mixture evenly amongst your cupcake cups and place an apricot half- cut side up- on top of each cup.

Bake them for 18 – 20 minutes, or until a cake skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of a cupcake.

Leave them in the baking tin for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Heat the apricot jam till its melted and brush a little jam over the top of each cupcake.

This is another beta test (thank you AndyWandy) and its another Food24 Cupcake Competition!

Preheat oven to 170°C and fill a cupcake pan with liners.

125g unsalted butter (softened)

¾ cup castor sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups self-raising flour

½ cup buttermilk

1¼ cups white chocolate chips

Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric beater until light and creamy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

Fold in the flour, alternating with the buttermilk, then fold in the chocolate chips.

Divide the mixture evenly among the cupcake liners until they’re ¾ full.

Bake them for 20 minutes, or until a cake skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of a cupcake.

Leave them in the baking tin for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

The recipe doesn’t say anything about a topping, but I just had to put something on top of these so I melted some white chocolate and drizzled it over the top!

What do you think, oh fans of The Cupcake Lady?

I’ve been researching and reading and digging and working on taking better photographs of my cupcakes and baking endeavours!

I’m pretty pleased with the new pictures…