This year, my mother's work are holding their own coffee morning and I was asked to bake a few things for her; some mini cocktail cupcakes (mojito, piña colada, strawberry daiquiri) that can be found in Cake Days by Tarek Malouf from The Hummingbird Bakery. I agreed to this because it's a good cause, Macmillan has helped when my grandmother was ill and supported her and my family towards the end; I think I would do anything for this charity because of my grandmother.
Like my other review of the other Hummingbird book I reviewed, I'm going to review this book based on how clear the recipes were and how easy it was to follow and the end result.
I've made this previously but it all went wrong because I put too much liquid in the frosting as I misread the instructions (all my fault, not the book's fault). Luckily this time, I read the instructions properly and they were really easy to follow when read properly though it took a while to make the cupcakes because you have to soak the strawberries that are in the bottom of the case in a rum reduction for 40 minutes (which are taken out of the rum reduction and the liquid is saved and is pink from the strawberries) and it only took me 5-10 minutes to make the batter so there was just a lot of waiting around until I could continue.
Upon making these the second time, I realised that you are supposed to spoon a tiny bit of the strawberry rum reduction over each cake, adding more taste to the cake itself. One thing that isn't mentioned until one of the very last steps is you need to save 4 teaspoons of the rum reduction to put in the frosting so there is more in it than icing sugar and butter.
When the cakes were baked and cool enough, I made the frosting and decorated them with pink sprinkles to further tell people that these were the strawberry daiquiri ones. Another decoration could have been strawberries but they may have gone funny over the course of the night and day if they weren't refrigerated.
Upon making these the second time, I realised that you are supposed to spoon a tiny bit of the strawberry rum reduction over each cake, adding more taste to the cake itself. One thing that isn't mentioned until one of the very last steps is you need to save 4 teaspoons of the rum reduction to put in the frosting so there is more in it than icing sugar and butter.
When the cakes were baked and cool enough, I made the frosting and decorated them with pink sprinkles to further tell people that these were the strawberry daiquiri ones. Another decoration could have been strawberries but they may have gone funny over the course of the night and day if they weren't refrigerated.
These were the simplest of the three because I could just make the rum reduction then make the cake batter straight away without soaking fruit in it. The batter took minutes to make and everything was done within half an hour so if you wanted something quick to make, I'd choose these ones out of the three.
The instructions, when read properly, were easy to follow and this recipe was less time-consuming which is good for the impatient people out there (including me).
Though these were mojito cupcakes, they weren't overly strong in lime taste and there was just a hint of lime because the zest was used so nothing was sharp, taste-wise, as some people don't strong flavours like limes. [Note: Not me, I love them and lemons]
To make them stand out against the other cupcakes, these were decorated with lime zest, mint, or small lime slices.
Much like the daiquiri cupcakes, the pineapple was soaked in the rum reduction and had to left for over half an hour so that the flavours could be absorbed.
What was good about this recipe was that coconut milk was used into of whole milk in the batter and frosting to get the coconut flavour which made them stand out when they weren't frosted because they had a distinct flavour to them.
I deviated from the recipe slightly for this cake because it said to use white rum but I used coconut rum (Malibu) instead to add more flavour as I thought it would make it all a bit more interesting.
These were then decorated with desiccated coconut to make sure everyone knew which cakes these were.
Like the daiquiri recipe, the instructions were easy to follow but time-consuming so if you do decide to get this book and make this cake, make sure you're not in a rush.
Of the three cakes, though all tasted like their namesake cocktails, the piña colada cupcakes, in my opinion, were the nicest of the three because they weren't too sweet, like the daiquiri cupcakes, and had a bit more to them in their texture and taste with the coconut milk in the batter and the pineapple in the base.
I have made other things out of this book, including a carrot and pecan cake as well as a strawberry and cream cheesecake. The carrot and pecan cake was a big hit with those that tried it, though it was a lot larger than a normal cake because it was four layers along with cream cheese frosting; this is definitely one of my favourite cakes that I've made and was quite simple to cake, though I had to great a LOT of carrots. The strawberry and cream cheesecake wasn't as simple because I had never made a cheesecake before so I do think you need to know what you're doing when making it.
Overall, this book is easy to use as long as you read the instructions properly and not just read that particular step. The cocktail cupcakes are tasty and would be great for a party because they can nearly fit in your mouth all in one go and are dead easy to make.
Other Books by Tarek Malouf
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