Reeces Peanut Butter Core Cupcakes

Hello guys,

Recently I watched a video posted by Tanya where she and Zoe (aka Zoella) did some baking so because I hadn't baked in a while it made me want to bake! A while back I had the idea of a peanut butter core cupcake recipe and on Saturday my friend Emily came over and we did a few hours of baking! The inspiration for this was Reeces peanut butter cups (which a friend of mine has been eating lots of at the moment!) as they have a chocolate outside and a peanut centre.

Makes 24 Cupcakes

You Will Need:

For the centre:

• 45g unsalted Butter (Room temperature)
• 160g smooth Peanut Butter
• 125g icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla Extract

Alternatively you could use 24 Reeces peanut butter mini cups

For the cupcakes:

These are just a Mary Berry fairy cake recipe so if you have a favourite that makes 24 cupcakes then use your own however I used:

• 200g softened butter
• 200g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 150 self raising flour
• 50g cocoa powder
• 2 level tsp of baking powder

For the icing:

For the icing I used two different icings for a twisty affect however I used milk instead of dark chocolate for the chocolate butter cream so because the two colours didn't have a distinct different the swirl of colours wasn't noticeable. So make sure you use dark chocolate. To simplify it you could just do one type, but check your using the right measurements.

For the Peanut Butter Buttercream

• 210g icing sugar
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 50ml milk
• 55g smooth peanut butter

For the Chocolate Buttercream

• 420g icing sugar
• 55g butter
• 85g dark chocolate
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3-4 tsp milk (add more if mixture is to stiff)

Method:

To start preheat the oven 200 C/ Fan 180 C

To make the filling:

1. Combine all the ingredients for the peanut butter core in a bowl then mix. 


2. Separate the mixture into 24 1 inch balls for the centre of the cakes.

For the cake mix:

1.Combine all the ingredients in the order they are listed above, in a bowl. 
2. Pour the mixture into 24 cases and fill them only halfway. Then put the peanut butter ball in the centre and cove with the rest of the mixture. 

3.Put in the oven and bake for 12-18 minutes.

Once the cakes are out of the oven and fully cooled pipe the icing on top.

For the icing:

1. Mix the ingredients for each flavour in separate bowls using a spoon or an electric whisk. 

2. Then put two strips of peanut butter icing down the side of an icing bag. Then fill the bag up with chocolate buttercream and pipe the cakes. 

3. If you run out of mixture I would suggest using a new bag rather than trying to put strips of peanut butter icing down the sides of a sticky piping bag! As I used milk choc rather than dark when I piped the similarity of the icing colours meant there wasn't a real swirl however they tasted just as good!

I was very happy with how these turned out as they were delicious! If you try these or have a question leave me a comment. Have a lovely week,

Abi
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Christmas Time!

Hello Guys,

I want to start this blog post by apologising about the lack of posts over December. I have been busy with a much bigger workload at school and also learning lines and going to rehearsals for Hairspray! I have really enjoyed December and the build up to Christmas but as always it has been very busy.

A Bare Christmas Tree...

One of my favourite things to do is to put up the Christmas tree with my family and play some fun Christmas music! My favourite Christmas album at the moment is one by Pentatonix who sing a Capella, which is perfect for Christmas songs and carols. Their most recent Christmas Album is called 'That's Christmas to Me' and it is amazing! You might notice in the pictures some string coming out of my Christmas tree, this is because of my cats. We got our cats Christmas 2010 and it was their first Christmas. My cat Beebo jumped into the tree and it crashed down! So to insure this doesn't happen again we tie the tree to the door with string!

Baking Mince Pies

I don't know about you guys but I love mince pies and baking so another of my favourite things to do is to bake mince pies. The recipe is very simple so it is a great way to relax and mince pies are delicious! I just feel so festive drinking a Hot Chocolate, eating a mince pie, in my onesie, with the fire burning and watching a Christmas film! My personal favourites are 'Elf' and 'It's a Wonderful Life' but let me know what you enjoy in the comments.

I also enjoy painting my nails and so I had to do something Christmasy. In the end I just went for some festive colours and a simple cross design on my ring finger because it was very simple and I didn't have much time!

Finally, the most relaxing thing to do at Christmas in my opinion is to have a long soak in the bath with a Lush Christmas Bath Bomb/ Bubble Bar or to snuggle up in blankets and watch YouTube videos with one of my cats on my lap.


Thank you for reading and I hope you have enjoyed this post. I have just realised that on December the 29th it will be 6 months since I started Raspberries and Ribbons. I have really enjoyed writing blog posts and coming up with ideas and I hope that you have enjoyed reading them. 

Have a Merry Christmas,

Abi

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Sleepover Snacks - Mini S'mores!

Hello Guys,
For those of you who don't know as it is Half Term and I have a lot more time to blog, I wanted to do something special. So Emily and I are doing a collab where we share ideas on having the best sleepover ever. For more information click here.

Today I am very excited to be sharing with you something I have wanted to share for ages. I came up with this idea a while back but wasn't really sure when to post so now is perfect because they are so much fun to make at a sleepover and will be delicious snacks. I really like S'mores but they are quite messy so these Mini S'mores are a great alternative as they are quick and easy!

What you will need for 20 Mini S'mores:

• 20 Marshmallows
• 50g of Chocolate
• 5 digestive biscuits

Method:

1) Prepare your ingredients - put the chocolate in a microwaveable bowl and the biscuits in a thick plastic bag.

2) Put your chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds, take it out and stir. Keep doing this until all of the chocolate is melted.

3) Make sure all the air is out of the bag, use a rolling pin and crush up the biscuits. Some slightly bigger chunks are nice to leave if you wish. Pour the crumbs into a bowl.

4) Take a marshmallow, dip it into the chocolate and then into the biscuits and then leave on a rack. Cover about half the marshmallow. Do this for as many as you want.

5) Leave them to dry and then enjoy!

And that's it! Leave me a comment down below if you enjoyed. On Emily's Blog we will be showing you how to create the best Hot Chocolate ever. Thank you for reading and have a great week. If you have any suggestions for future blog posts then please let me know and I will try my best.

Abi
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Easy Raspberry and Banana Smoothie Recipe

Hi Guys,
So as we are approaching the summer holidays (whoop whoop!) I wanted to post a really summery recipe. So I looked in my cookbook for some ideas. One of the recipes in there was a raspberry and banana smoothie that my Mum had made up a couple of years ago. It was perfect because I needed to harvest my raspberry plant anyway. So anyway here it is, a quick and easy smoothie recipe for summer:


For two people you will need:

• 3/4 of a banana
• 6 table spoons of raspberries 
• 200ml of milk

Equipment:

• A blender
• 2 glasses (for 2 people, you can do it for more or less if you would like)
• A knife

Method:

1) Slice the banana into thin circles and then put them and the raspberries into a blender.

2) Then add your milk.

3) Blend until there are no big lumps, if you think it should be thinner then add more milk and blend again.

4) Pour into glasses and enjoy!

As you can see this recipe is very quick and easy and I really hope you like it. If you have any questions or suggestions for things you would me to do in the future please leave me a comment.

Abi

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