Salted Caramel Cupcake Kit by Sainsbury's

Nothing says "Sorry for neglecting you for so long" like cupcakes so, after my previous reasonable success, I've been looking at various easy cupcake-making options over the last few months. I'm not sure whether cupcake-making kits predate the likes of Wright's Flours or whether they're a response to them in the same way that most supermarkets now have their own brand of 'just add water' bread mixes, but they are becoming quite prominent on the baking aisles. Then again, cupcakes seem to be big business these days... Every time I go to something like the London Expo (sorry, the MCM London Comic Con), there seems to be a greater number of stands selling little more than glittering, brightly coloured sugar mountains...

Wanting to try something a bit different from the average sweetness explosion, I picked up this kit, which purports to make six cupcakes with the aid of nothing more than a single (medium) egg, 120g of butter and a grand total of 50ml of water.

Ingredients:

• 1 Sachet Cupcake Mix
• 1 Sachet Icing Mix
• 1 Sachet Drizzle Mix
• 1 Sachet Fudge Pieces
• 1 Medium Egg
• 120g Unsalted Butter (approximately half an average brick)

Preparation Time: approximately 30-45 minutes

Tools Required:

• At Least One Mixing Implement (eg. Whisk - Electric or otherwise, though I used a jar scraper for the icing)
• 2 Small/Medium Mixing Bowls (one for the cake mix, one for the icing)
• Teacup-sized Bowl (or a teacup, for the drizzle)
• Muffin Tray
• Piping Bag or Palette Knife (for applying the icing, though I just used a normal table knife)

The Process:
I have to say the instructions on the box are pretty clear... but they're also fairly minimal and very much 'best case scenario'. Since my kitchen rarely bares witness to a best case scenario, here's a fuller explanation...

To begin with, preheat the oven to 180C (160C for fan-assisted), then place the provided cupcake cases into the muffin tray. Set these aside for the time being, and pour the contents of the Cupcake Mix sachet into one of your bowls. As it comes out, it may be slightly clumpy, so it's worth giving it a quick whisk to break it up a little. Add the egg and 45ml of water (about three tablespoons - doesn't seem like much, but the egg adds a fair bit of fluid). Whisk the mixture till smooth. An electric whisk might do a better job than my manual whisk did, as the mixture remained pretty lumpy for me.

Spoon the contents into the cases, trying to ensure even distribution, as this will ensure your cupcakes will all be of approximately the same size. Stick the muffin tray into the oven, on the middle shelf, for about 15 minutes (hopefully you'll know your oven well enough to judge timings but, if you're unsure, there's the old trick of sticking a fork or toothpick into the cake where, if it comes out clean, the cake is ready... I was in the process of washing all the forks while this was going on, so my girlfriend used an Alien chestburster chopstick instead). When the cakes are done, let them cool in the muffin tray for about five minutes before moving them to a wire rack. And, seriously, don't eat any along the way.

Next comes the icing and, bizarrely, all you need in your medium-sized bowl is the sachet of Icing Mix and 120g of unsalted butter. No fluids necessary. It's as well to have left the butter out of the fridge for a couple of hours (or less, during summer!) to ensure it's nice and soft, and easy to mix. The box recommends using an electric whisk for everything but, considering how much of the icing mix went flying the moment I started stirring manually (albeit with a jar scraper which is, perhaps, not ideal), I would recommend avoiding electric whisks for this stage, if not altogether. Despite the softness of the butter I used, mixing this stuff was very tiring (you'd think my wrists would be stronger...) and it took quite a while for the bowl of powder and chunks of powder-coated butter to become anything resembling icing, during which time I snorted quite a bit of airborne icing. Cue jokes about rolling up £20 notes and 'doing lines' of icing.

Wow, I'm so Middle Class.

This kind of icing, despite the description on the box, never quite becomes 'light and fluffy', so stop stirring/whisking when you have a fairly consistent paste. If you've done this manually, the cakes will almost certainly be fully cooled by now, so grab your icing-application implement of choice and get spreading. There will be enough icing for a very generous topping, but you may wish to give each cake a small amount of icing to begin with and build each one up in stages, to ensure an even spread.

The final stage is the Dressing of the Cupcake, for which you will need the last two sachets. The first is the Drizzle Sauce, which needs - somewhat incredibly - a single teaspoon (5ml!) of boiling water. Quite how they expect you to accomplish that, I'm not sure. Carefully, of course. My girlfriend very deftly poured the water straight from the kettle into a teaspoon.

Once this miniscule amount of water is fully stirred in, you have a surprisingly thin sauce to pour gracefully and artistically over your six lovingly iced cupcakes. Once you're happy with that, open the final sachet - the fudge pieces - and carefully arrange them in complex geometric patterns over the top. Or just sprinkle them randomly. Each to their own.

One step that's not mentioned on the box - and actually isn't completely necessary - is sticking the finished cupcakes in the fridge to allow the icing to set a little before you eat them. This is my preference, because otherwise the icing just oozes everywhere every time you take a bite. If you have poor impulse control, you may wish to start scoffing immediately...

I'm a bit nonplussed by these cupcakes... I'd always though that, as well as featuring opulent towers of icing, they were supposed to be tasty cakes but, in all honesty, I couldn't tell you what the cakes taste like. They're not entirely without flavour, but it's nothing outstanding. It really is the icing, the drizzle and the fudge pieces that make these cupcakes... So don't be surprised if, after your first taste, you end up just licking all the icing off and discarding the cake.

City Kitchen Quiches Roundup

My local shops are always a bit strange about their stock - it seems that there's a constant run of test products coming through, so very few new products seem to stick around for more than a few months. A couple of years ago, Higgidy had shelf space in a Sainsbury's Local only minutes from my home, while now I have to go to one of the larger branches, even to find their smaller quiches. The Happy Egg Company, meanwhile, are present only in the form of six-packs of eggs - no more quiches at all (not sure I've seen them even in the larger shops, but should probably investigate more closely).

Since I'm a huge fan of quiche, it should come as no surprise that, when a new brand turned up in my local Tesco (and exclusively there, according to the packaging), a selection were snapped up and sampled.

Now, when I say "a selection", it turns out I mean the whole range - they currently only do four different kinds, and it struck me as interesting that only one of them is vegetarian, as the usual thing with such a small range would be to have a couple of each.

The packaging is a curious mix of Higgidy's hand-scrawled look with photographic elements but, while Higgidy use full cardboard boxes with plastic windows, The City Kitchen are using plastic clamshell cases with cardboard bands. The upshot of this is that, bar the ingredients list, the most pertinent information is on the inside of the band, rather than on display.

But obviously the packaging is a secondary concern - what's more important is how tasty the contents are.

Hot Smoked Salmon, Pea & Wasabi
Since I'm a fan of salmon, this should be the easy winner... and there's certainly a fairly decent portion of fish atop each one. However, flavour-wise, this is a tad bland. The smoked flavour of the salmon is barely noticeable in comparison to the Happy Egg Company version, the peas add very little by way of flavour and the wasabi, while present to some degree in every mouthful, doesn't have the impact I would expect - or at least hope for... it's a mild seasoning rather than a full hit of wasabi. Eaten hot or cold, this was a disappointment... but perhaps my expectations were too high. It's certainly not a bad quiche, but it lacks the kick implied by the ingredients. Hot is definitely the preference, though.

Bombay Potato & Sweet Mango
This one claims 'coconut flavoured pastry' on the packaging but, were it not for that statement, I'd never have known. Likewise the coriander topping. This quiche is where I first experienced The City Kitchen's 'trick': the mango chutney is nothing more than a layer (possibly more accurately described as a smear) on the bottom of the pastry case, below the main bulk of the quiche filling. Considering any kind of chutney wouldn't mix into a quiche very well, this is probably a good idea, and it does ensure that hints of mango can be detected in almost every mouthful. I'm no connoisseur when it comes to Indian food, but I live in an area which is abundant with Indian restaurants so, when a product boasts that it's inspired by Indian food, I have certain expectations, and this quiche didn't live up to them. Whether the mango chutney somehow managed to overpower the "aromatic spices turmeric, cardamom, nutmeg and coriander", I'm not entirely sure... but they weren't exactly prominent... and the pastry was indistinguishable from the others, for the most part. This one also works best when hot, as the mango chutney oozes out provocatively when the quiche is cut.

Hickory BBQ & Monterey Jack Cheese
If you've ever tried one of those pizzas where the tomato purée is replaced by barbecue sauce, it's safe to say you'll have a good idea what to expect from this quiche. Like the Bombay Potato & Sweet Mango variety above, the BBQ element is a layer of sauce at the bottom. Not being a cheese expert, I couldn't tell Monterey Jack if it jumped out of my fridge and attacked me (and, given how much cheese ends up going to waste due to mould in my kitchen, I'm pretty sure that will eventually happen) , but I'd have to say there wasn't anything especially cheesy about this quiche. Its saving grace was the maple bacon which, while in short supply (compared to the salmon in the first quiche, above) certainly added to the flavour. Of the four, this is the only one that tastes as good cold as it does hot.

Chorizo, Red Pepper & Onion
I was a little wary of trying this one, since my usual experience of chorizo ends up leaving my stomach feeling very acid. Buoyed (strangely enough) by the comparative dearth of bacon in the quiche above, I gave it a whirl... and I'd have to say the chorizo contained therein was of decent quality - spicy, but not excessively so... or, at least, moderated by the other ingredients, in particular the eggs. Oddly, I found the red pepper more noticeable and flavoursome than the onion, so there's something wrong either in the preparation or the balance of ingredients.

Overall, they're not bad... of the range, I'll most frequently buy the first two... but if it comes to a choice between these and something by Higgidy, there's still no contest.

A Couple of Shout-outs

Apologies for the lack of updates recently (again)... My most recent job has now wrapped up, so there's a slim chance I might do a bit more 'proper' cooking in the next couple of weeks, depending on levels of motivation (currently a little low, but it is Monday...)

In the meantime, a couple of shout-outs to foodie places I discovered last weekend (1st June) at the Brent Cross Food Market.

• Wildes Cheese - had a selection of their awesome cheeses. Now, I'm not massively into cheese, but I like their style, and rather enjoyed their creamy Number 3 (with herbs) and absolutely loved their brie-beating Number 4 (aka the Londonshire). I still have a chunk of Number 6 (aka Ally Pally) sitting in my fridge. Amazing stuff.
• Franchini & Figli (fb/tw) - my lunch that day was one of their 'Ultimate Beef Sandwiches' and, frankly, I lack the superlatives to do it proper justice. The meat was literally melt-in-your-mouth tender, and the smoky flavour was subtle, but surprisingly distinct. You know how 'barbecue' and 'smoky flavour' things invariably just taste like HP Sauce? Well, forget that... this is how smoked meat should taste. Nick, manning the stall that weekend, took a photo of my ecstatic face as I munched on the sandwich, saying it was for Twitter... hasn't gone up yet, so I may have to pop back another weekend for another sandwich... or two. Or just some sliced, smoked beef. Or both. They also sell on Hubbub which, sadly, does not yet deliver to my area.

There were plenty of other cool stalls despite the relatively small area the market occupies and, when the weather is fine, it's worth going to Brent Cross just for the market.