Coffee and mascarpone cupcakes

I made these for my mum's birthday since she loves coffee cake, like this tiramisu cake which I made for mother's day here! I usually always just stick to buttercream to ice cupcakes (I would've done coffee buttercream for these), but I thought a cream cheese frosting would be a nice change. It does mean you should probably keep them in the fridge though, as the mascarpone might go off otherwise, but I found that if anything it made the sponge more moist so keeping them cold worked great! You can decorate these with anything you like - walnuts would look really good placed on top and are the perfect match for coffee, but none of us really like walnuts so that's why I didn't do that. We tried to find chocolate coffee beans but couldn't which is a shame because they would have looked perfect. In the end I used these chocolate hearts which are really cute - they came from Sainsbury's, I think they were the Silver Spoon brand. These decorations will be particularly perfect for Valentine's day. The cupcake cases are from Ikea last year so they probably don't do them anymore. I love the colours and designs but always get annoyed because they're tall, slim cupcake cases, and I don't have a suitable cupcake tin to bake them in, so they lose their shape and it means the sponge doesn't go higher then the case. This really annoys me because I don't think the cupcakes look as good aha. Sorry for the long introduction! In short, these cupcakes make a really nice change and are super moist and flavoursome so definitely give them a try if you like coffee flavoured cakes.

Makes about 12
- 100g butter, softened
- 100g soft brown sugar
- 100g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- 2tsp coffee mixed with 100ml water
- pinch of salt
- dash of milk

For the mascarpone frosting
- 200ml mascarpone
- 2 tbsp soft brown sugar
- 1 tbsp icing sugar
- the remaining coffee

1. re-heat the oven to gas mark 4 / 180 degrees, and line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake cases.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs and fold in the flour and baking powder.
3. Stir in the coffee, a pinch of salt and a dash of milk until creamy.
4. Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases and bake in the oven for around 20 minutes, or until golden.
5. Leave to cool on a wired rack.
6. Meanwhile, to make the frosting, whisk together the mascarpone, sugars and coffee. Once the cakes are cool, spread on top.

 7. Decorate the cupcakes with anything you like - chocolate hearts, coffee beans, walnuts, grated chocolate etc etc. Don't forget to store in the fridge!

Enjoy :)

Sea bass with tomato and herb risotto

This risotto can be eaten on its own or goes perfectly well with white fish, like sea bass, or chicken. There was a huge shock horror of not having any normal or risotto rice, but only basmati!! However, I used the basmati and after a long cooking time in lots of stock, it did seem to work - although next time I will use a risotto rice. This is really simple, with the rice you only need a few tomatoes, some fresh herbs (I used parsley), chicken or vegetable stock, parmesan and a dash of cream or mascarpone. We pan-fried the fish so the skin was deliciously crispy, complimenting the soft, creamy risotto perfectly. I added pesto on top of the fish and in the risotto, but if you don't like pesto then it isn't a necessity. I served the risotto on a bed of spinach, and we had broccoli and green beans too, so apart from the dash of cream and bit of parmesan, this is a fairly low-sat-fat meal. The perfect meal if you want to impress!

Serves 2

- dollop of butter/margarine

- 1 onion, finely chopped

- 2 cloves garlic, crushed

- 100g risotto rice

- 3/4 chicken or vegetable stock cube, dissolved in 250ml water

- handful cherry tomatoes, quartered

- large handful of parsley, finely chopped

- drizzle of olive oil

- 2 sea bass fillets

- handful of parmesan, grated

- dash of single cream or mascarpone or crème fraiche

- few teaspoons of green pesto

- handful of ready washed fresh spinach leaves

1. Fry the onions and garlic in the butter until softened. Stir in the rice (it should start to look translucent). Add the stock mixture and cook for around 20 mins, or until the water is absorbed and the rice is soft - you may need to add more water as you go along - keep stirring and testing the rice.

2. Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a pan and fry the fish for a few minutes on each side, until the skin is crisp, and the fish is cooked through (cut open to check)

3. Add the cherry tomatoes and parsley to the risotto and stir until combined (you can do this before all the water is absorbed). Add the parmesan, some cream and pesto, and season to taste. Make sure all the liquids are reduced.

4. Place the risotto on a bed of spinach leaves and top with the sea bass. Garnish with some pesto, parmesan, fresh parsley, and a few cherry tomatoes!

Enjoy :)

Classic Tiramisu

I made this for my mum's birthday last year as she absolutely adores tiramisu, and at the time I thought I hated it - although it was one of those moments where you say you don't like something even though you haven't tried it. This was the evening I discovered I love tiramisu! And other coffee flavoured desserts, like the delicious mocha cupcakes I made (see link at the side). I got this recipe from an Italian cookbook I have; I will post a link at the bottom of this post. The downside of this recipe, however, is that you need Marsala wine which is expensive, but luckily my mum already had a bottle lazing around at the back of the cupboard. I'm sure you could try it without, and just use extra coffee for dipping the sponge fingers in, but it wouldn't be quite the same without the rich, boozy flavour...

Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 3 eggs, separated
- 125g caster sugar
- 250g mascarpone cheese
- 200ml cold espresso coffee (I think I just made a regular coffee, but very strong)
- 4 tbsp sweet Marsala 
- 32-34 sponge fingers (you can get huge packs of these for really cheap)
- 75g plain chocolate, grated

1. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl with an electric whisk until light and airy.
2. Put the mascarpone in a large bowl and beat in 1/3 of the egg mixture until smooth, then fold in the remaining egg mixture.
3. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until they hold their shape (if you can turn it upside down over your head!), then fold into the mascarpone mixture
4. Pour the coffee and Marsala into a shallow bowl and dip in the sponge fingers until soaked on both sides, but not all the way through - be careful here because I left them in too long and they went a bit too soggy and it meant there wasn't as much liquid mixture for the other sponge fingers. I actually ended up using more coffee and wine than it said, so this is always an option too.
5. Arrange a layer of tightly packed biscuits in four 4 inch bowls. Spread with half the mascarpone mixture, then top with a second layer of sponge fingers. Cover with the remaining mascarpone mixture.
6. Cover with clingfilm and chill for at least 3 hours, or up to overnight,
7. Just before serving, garnish with the grated chocolate!

Enjoy :)
I also have a blackberry and lemon version of this recipe that I want to try out so watch this space!

This is the recipe book if you are interested: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hamlyn-Colour-Cookbook-Italian-Favourites/dp/0600619362/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331760603&sr=8-1