On Monday I along with eleven other bloggers spent most of the day in the Unilever Kitchen.
First thing was we had the opportunity to learn some interesting facts about tea; this session was presented by the lovely Jane Pettigrew. Afterwards we met Marco Pierre White who shared with us his hints and tips on cooking (I will write about this part at a later date). And finally we did some baking with Sue Batty, a Stork expert baker.
The whole day was fantastic but the baking part was the most fun, just simply because it was free form baking. We were all supposed to bake cupcakes but specifically their flavourings and decorations were totally up to us.
We were provided with some recipe sheets but I don’t think anyone used them; everyone was just running wild with their flavour combinations and choices of icing.
I believe all the cupcakes were based on this basic recipe, which will make 12.
- 115g Stork tub
- 115g caster sugar
- 140g self-raising flour
- 2 eggs; medium size
The rest is up to you 🙂
I decided on chocolate and orange cupcakes but as I have never used orange blossom water before I erred on the side of caution and so didn’t put enough in my mix so my cupcakes ended up being chocolate with only a slight hint of orange.
I had to change the basic recipe as stated above to be suitable for my creation. I’ve used:
- 115g Stork tub
- 115g caster sugar
- 115g self-raising flour
- 3 eggs; medium size
- 2tbs of good quality cocoa powder
- 50g of crushed dark chocolate
- 5ml of orange blossom water
+ Decorations
- 50g of melted dark chocolate and 50g of melted milk chocolate
To make this recipe work even better Sue suggested some small changes – add 1/2tsp of baking powder, this will help with the raising as the cocoa powder makes them quite heavy and then add an additional 5ml of orange blossom water, to achieve a more orangey flavour. The zest of an orange added to the mix would have also elevated them to the next level.
Method:
Place all cupcake ingredients except for the crushed chocolate into a mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until everything is just combined. Add the crushed chocolate and spoon the finished mixture into 12 paper muffin cases.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes or until soft and firm to the touch.
Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.
Melt 100g of chocolate and slowly pour over your cupcakes.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy… as they say.
And if you are wondering what the other bloggers baked here is a selection of some of their lovely cupcakes baked on the day.
I didn’t manage to ninja a sample of all cupcakes nor did I manage in the hussle an bussle of the day to take photos of everyone’s creations, so I do apologise if I missed yours.
Also I would like to send a big thank you to Rose @Freycob who investigated which cupcake belongs to which blogger.
@AgataPokutycka @supergolden88 @belleaukitchen @k_phillipson @M_Diaries @jimsyjampots Our cakes #unileverkitchen pic.twitter.com/5DwaD3rZ55
— freycob(.)co(.)uk (@Freycob) October 15, 2014
Thank you for the great day guys!
It was a pleasure to meet you all!
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mmm they look so good! x
Very nice recipe.Chocolate and orange are very good combination!
Oh that looks like a wonderful day. I am going to show this post to my teen daughter who is doing cooking as her options. Thank you
chocolate orange has to be my favourite flavour ever
so many nice cupcakes!
you should link up with my #foodiefriday
What is Stork? We don’t have that in Singapore but it looks like a secret ingredient that gives great result! All those cupcakes look fab!
looks like a really fun event! i love baking as well, and it’ll be awesome if i can ever participate in such a blogger’s event!
giglove
Oh the cakes looked amazing! I actually really like the ones nobody owned up to making/claimed!
Yes please! They all look amazing and I love cake.
My nan always used Stork for baking and I do too. Sounds like a really fun day.
Oh how I love cupcakes and I wish I could have a baking day with friends! I’m gonna play with some of these recipes
so educational love all the varieties and photos
Oooh,those look so good! I’m always looking for new stuff to try, so this will definitely be on my list!
Those cupcakes look good enough to snatch off my computer screen. When is that going to become a thing? Darn you Willy Wonka and your impossible inventions!
You have me at chocolate. I’ll try making these with a Stork tub in the pantry.
Those all look delicious! My mouth is watering now - my sweet tooth is hard at work! 🙂
OH YUMMM! I love chocolate and orange! I want to try on of each like on the tray! 😉
These look amazing! I love how you can make cakes and muffins look even more delicious with cute decorations and colorful papers:)
Wow, what an amazing selection of cakes, yummy! I remeber stork being popular when I was a kid.
What an amazing day - they look fantastic.
Mum mum always baked with stork and I learnt at her side so I do too
Oh my goodness, you are putting me in a baking mood.
They all look so delicious.
Wow, awesome post and great pics. Thanks for the mention. Wish I had more of those delish cupcakes! 🙂
Great to meet you all as well and let’s arrange to meet up again really soon. xx
Oh these look so good!!! I’ve never used that diet of flavoring either, I’d like to try though.
I’ve never cooked with orange blossom water before, I love cakes and chocolate and orange so I cannot wait to try these. They look fab! 🙂
ahh, a fab reminder of a brilliant day. was lovely to meet you x
I am so sorry I didn’t capture your cupcakes on the day… and the one I took home with me got eaten before I could even think about taking my camera out
Thank you for the mention 🙂 it was a great day and lovely to finally meet in real life! Hope to catch up again at another event x