Baking – Page 17 – Cupcakes & Couscous

Semolina, coconut and marmalade cakes

Published on January 25, 2017September 24, 2017 by Teresa Ulyate5 Comments

Semolina, coconut and marmalade mini cakes.

I could not resist this recipe when I came across it – the title alone has me dreaming of soft cake drenched in sticky citrus deliciousness. It is adapted from a recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi from their book Jerusalem. I also happen to have an excess of marmalade in my fridge and adore anything with coconut in it so this one had my name written all over it!

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Bran and fruit muffins

Published on January 11, 2017May 9, 2018 by Teresa Ulyate4 Comments

Happy New Year everyone! I am glad to be back after a few weeks away from my “home on the web” and thought we would ease into the year with an easy muffin recipe that I know you will love.

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Mince pie tart with Christmas custard

Published on December 21, 2016November 16, 2017 by Teresa Ulyate3 Comments

Mince pie with puff pastry and topped with stars.

Just a few days to go until Christmas (four sleeps to be precise), are you ready? We are looking forward to a family Christmas at home this year and will be celebrating with a relaxed festive lunch next to the pool – cannot wait!

Fruit mince tart with puff pastry and Christmas custard.

One of the nicest things about this time of the year is that we get to eat mince pies! In fact, just this morning my daughter and I baked up a batch of star topped mince pies to enjoy over the Christmas week, and we will no doubt also be leaving a few next to the tree on Saturday evening.

Mince pie tart slice with stars and custard.

Green Christmas leaves dusted with icing sugar.

This mince pie tart is the larger version of our favourite mini mince pies and is ideal for any Christmas get together – as a dessert at lunch or dinner or even with afternoon tea. Take it to the next level with this lavish Christmas custard which is delicately flavoured with spices and orange zest.

This is my last post for the year, thank you so much for reading and following my kitchen tales in 2016! There is lots more to come next year, but in the meantime here’s wishing you a glittery and treat filled Christmas. x

MINCE PIE TART WITH CHRISTMAS CUSTARD

Servings: 8
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For the tart:

2 small apples (about 200g)
1 x 454g jar fruit mincemeat
2 tbsp mixed citrus peel
1 tbsp brandy
flour for dusting
400g ready made puff pastry
star shaped cookie cutters
milk for brushing
icing sugar for dusting (optional)

For the custard:

2 egg yolks
2 tbsp castor sugar
2 tbsp flour
½ tsp ground cinnamon
350ml milk
4 whole cloves
½ tsp vanilla paste
1½ tsp finely grated orange rind

1.) Preheat the oven to 200°C and grease a 20cm tart tin.

2.) Peel and grate the apples. Squeeze out any excess liquid and place in a mixing bowl. Add the fruit mincemeat, citrus peel and brandy. Mix well.

3.) Dust your work surface lightly with flour. Line the tart tin with puff pastry. Cut the excess pastry away from the rim. Press the scraps into a ball and roll out again. Cut out star shapes of various sizes.

4.) Tip the fruit mince mixture into the tart tin. Arrange the stars on top of the tart and brush lightly with some milk.

5.) Bake the tart for 35 minutes, or until the pastry has risen and is golden. Allow to cool for a few minutes. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

6.) To make the custard: Whisk the egg yolks and castor sugar together until pale and creamy. Whisk in the flour and cinnamon. Place the milk and cloves in a saucepan over a medium heat and heat just until boiling point. Remove from the heat and carefully add half of the milk to the egg mixture while whisking continuously. Then add the egg-milk mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk and heat slowly while whisking. Add the vanilla paste. Continue to stir for a few minutes until the custard is quite thick. Remove the cloves and stir in the orange rind. Transfer to a warm jug.

Recipe round up: 10 fabulous edible Christmas gift ideas

Published on December 16, 2016May 23, 2018 by Teresa Ulyate3 Comments

Happy Friday! Christmas is just around the corner (eek!) and if the thought of hitting the shopping malls this weekend fills you with dread then this post is just for you.

Personally, I love getting edible foodie gifts. But more than that, I love making and giving foodie gifts. Who doesn’t enjoy receiving a parcel of delicious goodies that have been beautifully packaged and made with love? So today I have rounded up some of my most popular gifting recipes that I am sure you and your specials will love too. And without further ado, here they are:

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Christmas biscuit tree

Published on December 7, 2016December 3, 2018 by Teresa Ulyate5 Comments

This week the nostalgic mood continues with another family inspired recipe. When it comes to food there is no question that baking is my first love, and when I think back to my earliest baking memories I am always reminded of childhood Christmases. The much anticipated, long December school holidays that felt like they went on forever were the perfect time for sun drenched afternoons in the pool and fun with friends, but a real highlight for me would be the Christmas baking. Each year I looked forward to making mince pies, biscuits and the decorating of the Christmas cake which my mum would have baked a few weeks earlier using my grandmother’s recipe. (And still does!)

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Almond tart

Published on November 30, 2016March 22, 2025 by Teresa Ulyate15 Comments

Making these cookies is rather like going back in time for me! This is one of my mother’s recipes that my family have enjoyed for as long as I can remember. (Even now, if you were to have a peek in her biscuit tin there is a good chance you would find some of these inside.) There was often a block of almond tart tucked in my lunchbox or gobbled up as an afternoon treat after school.

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Lemon tart

Published on November 16, 2016June 8, 2019 by Teresa Ulyate3 Comments

This is a classic dessert and comes from one of my favourite cookbooks, “The Food of France”. I have made this lemon tart many times and it always goes down well with a crowd! I love citrus puddings and bakes, and tarte au citron is one of my absolute favourites. The sweet pastry used in this recipe is also lovely to work with and can be used in all sorts of sweet tarts.

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A Train Party

Published on November 10, 2016August 26, 2017 by Teresa Ulyate12 Comments

Train cake with buttercream icing and fondant.

October was a rather hectic but very exciting month here at Cupcakes and Couscous HQ. Chaos continued to reign on the home front as renovations went on (we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, hooray!), my sister visited us from the U.K (double hooray!) and we had a couple of special family birthdays – my Dad, and my youngest James who turned two. He is completely obsessed with all things train related and so it was a no brainer as to what his party theme would be. I thought that this week I would share a few snaps from the day, perhaps they will give you a few ideas if you have a train party coming up.

The decor was heavily inspired by a couple of pics I saw on good old Pinterest. There were tons of train party related pins as you can imagine, such fantastic ideas that I probably would not have thought of myself. I went for a blue and green colour scheme and chose the following ideas:

the snacks were served in a train. I painted disposable foil oven trays with blue and green craft paint, stuck black paper circles on the sides for wheels and strung them together with twine. I then used old cardboard boxes to make a train to go at the front (decorated in blue and green of course), lined the carriages with blue and green tissue paper and filled them up with delicious eats.
a cardboard “birthday crossing” sign with paper lights underneath, and another sign that said “Platform 2”.
“Thanks for chugging by” party packs displayed in an open suitcase marked “Baggage Claim”.
the children played pass-the-parcel with train songs as the music.
A train craft where the children could glue their own train pictures using shapes that I had pre-cut and cotton wool. (Apologies for the terrible photo!)

For the food I served a selection of nibbles – fruit and bran muffins, pretzels, crudités, train shaped sugar cookies, fresh fruit, cheese and train crossing biscuits made out of wafer biscuits. It looked rather sweet served up in the train carriages.

The main event of course, was the cake. I decided to make a simple round cake decorated with fondant cut outs and topped with a fondant train cake topper. It worked out great as I was able to make all of the fondant goodies a few days ahead of the party (less stress on the day!). I baked the cakes the day before the party, then on the morning of the big day I simply whipped up a batch of icing, iced the cake and popped all the decorations on.

How to make a fondant train cake topper.

Here are a few more details on how I put the cake together:

I baked two 22cm vanilla cakes. I levelled off the bottom cake to make it easier to stack the other on on top, but I left the top one rounded to give it a “hilly” appearance.
The cake was iced with a thin layer of pale blue buttercream icing.
When it came to making the fondant train I referred to this easy tutorial, adding my own touches here and there.
I also used fondant to make the train tracks (I used a sharp knife to score lines into them to give them a more woody look), clouds, “tunnels” with rocks around them, apple trees and hills.
I finished the cake off by piping a little bit of green buttercream icing around the base to look like grass.

If you have a train party planned for your little one then hopefully this has given you a bit of inspiration. If you have hosted a train party lately I would love to hear about it!