Gelato from the land of Italy!

After trying some flavours over and over again, particularly pistachio and peaches, the difference between different gelaterias began to surface. The flavour of gelato is normally stronger and richer than ice cream, so, how the maker handles the gelato or the quality of ingredients used really does get through to you after you become more accustomed to particular flavours.

So, to anyone interested in the little facts about gelato:

1. They have a lower fat content compared to ice cream, due to the use of more milk than cream used in ice cream
2. They contain less air than ice cream
3. Not served frozen like ice creams
4. How ripe the fruit used (even just one or two days difference) can make a surprisingly big difference
5. Ice cream uses a higher churning speed to incorporate air and volume into it. The higher air incorporation, the more easily it melts on your tongue, but also means it will be less flavourful. Gelato on the other hand, uses a much lower churning speed, making the texture more dense and in theory, should be more flavourful!

Until next time! Ciao!

Lemon, chocolate buttercream butterfly cupcakes

This is the first post of my blog, so I'll be brief and get to the point. I am still a novice in baking but I am hoping to share some of my bakes with all you out there who love to bake. Whether you are a starter, experienced baker or a master in this art. I hope you will find something to enjoy from this blog. 

Here comes the first bake of the blog: 

Lemon butter cream and dark chocolate buttercream butterfly cupcakes

Ingredients (for 12 plain cupcakes):

• 100g softened butter
• 80g caster sugar
• 100g self raising flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• (2 tablespoon milk maybe required to get right consistency)

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C fan oven
2. Mix together all ingredients until mixture is smooth and pour in equal amount into 12 paper cases in a bun tin. 
3. For chocolate version, reduce flour by 15g and replace with coco powder, for lemon flavour, simply add in the lemon zest
4. Gently tap the tin to remove any trapped air bubble from the mixture
5. Bake for 15-18 minutes. 
6. Remove from oven and lift cases out of bun tin to cool down at room temperature
7. Use a sharp knife and cut out the top of the cupcakes at about 1-1.5cm depth. Cut the top in half into 2 semi-circles and place the round part together on top of the buttercream

For general butter cream icing (enough for 12 cupcakes):

• 100g unsalted butter
• 170g icing sugar

1. Blend the two together until smooth, this usually takes 3-4 minutes using an electric whisk
2. Chocolate buttercream, melt 40g of milk/dark cooking chocolate and mix with butter cream
3. Lemon buttercream, add 3-4 table spoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice to buttercream, note 3-4 table spoons of many different types of blended fruit can be used for the icing

Happy baking everybody!

What NOT to do:

• The lemon cream can seem a bit runny at times, but don't worry, if it gets too runny, add in a couple of tbsp icing sugar 
• The chocolate cream will harden slightly and become harder to pipe if you leave it for too long, but it will be too runny at the start. So make it and let it harden slightly for 15-20 minutes and THEN pipe it onto the cupcakes