Low Carb Muffins

I'd like to begin this post with an apology for my absence - things have been a little crazy here, as we're in the midst of moving house. Needless to say, baking has been somewhat difficult!


I do have a couple of little treats to post though, rest assured I haven't abandoned my life completely.

I begin with this lovely little gem I stumbled across for low-carb muffins. Being a diabetic, ideally the fewer carbs I consume the better (yes, I'm very good at that... honest!), so I decided to investigate low carb baking. This recipe is absolutely brilliant - so easy to make, and the end product is really, really good! Moist, not too sweet, and delightfully almondy.

 

So, lovely muffins that are healthy...? Nope, I see no reason not to indulge either!
 

Pink Lady Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

The second part of my weekend baking marathon involved attempting a recipe that I spotted on Smitten Kitchen (if you've never been there, do take a look!) for something called a Pink Lady Cake.

"A what?" thinks me. Well, it turns out that said cake is a gorgeously pink towering confection, covered in nothing less than my favourite cream cheese frosting! And to make it even better, the aforementioned gorgeous pink colour is reached by the addition of strawberry puree.

So, it's pink... it tastes of strawberries... it's covered in cream cheese frosting... exactly where does this cake fail? Ah, I see, it's an entire cake!
So of course, I simply had to see if it would turn into cupcakes!

Hummingbird Bakery's Vanilla Frosting

This is a very simple, yet highly delightful, vanilla frosting from the Hummingbird Bakery.
I used it to top their Vanilla Cupcakes, and I would happily use it again for other cupcakes where a cream cheese frosting is less suitable (yes, I believe there are such creatures!)

The frosting was light and fluffy, and took colour well. It also held its shape well and would probably pipe wonderfully, however I was feeling too lazy on Sunday to go through the rigmarole of piping. And it was warm in my kitchen. Piping is rarely successful in a warm kitchen, or at least that's my excuse!

Hummingbird Bakery's Vanilla Cupcakes

I had a bit of a kitchen marathon over the weekend. I think maybe I was making up for not baking last weekend. Or I was incredibly bored.
Or it could have been that over the last week I stumbled across two very lovely-looking recipes for cakes that had to be tried. So I dutifully tried them both!

The first was the recipe for Vanilla Cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery.

If you've never heard of them, please do go and have a look at their site. I vow on my next visit to London I must pay them a visit, though I fear I may come out slightly broke and considerably more chubby than I went in!

If you have heard of them, you may be aware that their vanilla cupcakes are considered to be very, very good. And since the Daily Mail kindly pilfered & printed the recipe from their cookbook, I felt it was only right and proper that in return I be kind enough to make them. (I must add here, their cookbook is on my wish list along with the Magnolia Bakery one. They shall be mine, one day!)