Another favourite in the café. My customers love them and, although they can be eaten all year round, they remind me of a Terry’s Chocolate Orange, which I always have at Christmas. And I know Georgie does too – fifteen to be exact, if I’m not mistaken. She was very keen to offload them on Christmas Day…
Makes 12 cupcakes.
Ingredients
120 g plain flour
140 g caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking power
40 g unsalted butter
50 g dark chocolate, melted
1 free-range egg
125 ml milk
1 orange, juice only
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
For the white chocolate and orange buttercream
125 g unsalted butter, softened
250 g icing sugar
2–3 tablespoons milk
50 g white chocolate, melted
1 orange, zest only
100 g orange chocolate for decoration
Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas 3. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
Mix the flour, sugar and baking powder together in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until combined.
Whisk the melted chocolate, egg and milk together in a jug.
Stir the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture until just combined.
Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake for 15–20 minutes, or until risen and golden-brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix the orange juice and granulated sugar together in a bowl. Carefully pour the orange juice mixture over the warm cakes and set aside to cool completely.
For the white chocolate and orange buttercream, beat the butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Carefully stir in the icing sugar and continue to beat for five minutes. Beat in the milk, melted white chocolate and orange zest.
Pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes. With a sharp knife, make chocolate shavings from the orange chocolate and use them to decorate the cupcakes.
Christmas stollen slice smothered in dusty white icing sugar with an edible sprig of holly on top
Everyone loves a slice of stollen at Christmas, which is handy as this recipe makes about fifteen decent slices. It does take a couple of hours to make, but if you have the time, then it’s well worth it.
Ingredients
2 teaspoons dried active baking yeast
175 ml warm milk (45°C/113°F)
1 large egg
75 g caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
75 g unsalted butter, softened
350 g strong white bread flour
50g currants
50 g sultanas
50 g red glacé cherries, quartered
175 g diced mixed citrus peel
200 g marzipan
To decorate
1 heaped teaspoon icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Toasted flaked almonds
Edible sprig of holly available online
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with the egg, caster sugar, salt, butter, and 260g of the bread flour; beat well. Add the remaining 90g of flour, a little at a time, stirring well after each addition.
When the dough has begun to pull together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead in the currants, sultanas, cherries and mixed peel. Continue kneading until smooth, about 8 minutes.
Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Lightly grease a baking tray. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the marzipan into a rope and place it in the centre of the dough. Fold the dough over to cover it; pinch the seams together to seal.
Place the loaf, seam side down, on the prepared baking tray. Cover with a clean, damp tea towel and let rise again until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2 and bake for a further 30–40 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow loaf to cool on a wire cooling rack. Dust the cooled loaf with icing sugar, sprinkle with cinnamon and finish with toasted flaked almonds and the sprig of edible holly.
Wishing you all a very merry Christmas xxx
Buy Cupcakes at Carrington’s
New to the fabulous series of the world of Carrington’s? Try CUPCAKES AT CARRINGTON’S, the first book in the series
Georgie Hart loves her job – running the luxury handbag concession at Carrington’s department store in the pretty seaside town of Mulberry-on-Sea, and treating herself (once too often!) to a red velvet cupcake with buttercream icing in Carrington’s café.
But Georgie is thrown into disarray when Carrington’s is plunged into a recession-busting makeover, cueing the arrival of femme fatale Maxine, who wields the axe in her immaculately-manicured hands. It spells a recipe for disaster for Georgie and soon she is fighting not only for her job, but also for the attentions of her gorgeous boss, James. And when hot newcomer Tom arrives, who may or may not be the best thing since sliced bread, Georgie must decide where her loyalties really lie…
Click here to buy now 978-0-00-748824-7
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Wondering what happened between CUPCAKES and CHRISTMAS?
ME AND MR CARRINGTON is an ebook-only exclusive short story. Click here to buy now 978-0-00-755253-5
About the Author
Alexandra Brown is a British writer and used to work in an office. When she isn’t writing, reading, thinking about writing, sniffing stationery, lusting after handbags or watching trashy TV, Alexandra likes to indulge her online shopping addiction while tweeting too much. She is the author of the Carrington’s series: set in a department store in the pretty seaside town of Mulberry-on-Sea, it follows the life, loves and laughs of sales assistant, Georgie Hart.
Alexandra lives near Brighton, on the South Coast of England, with her husband, daughter and a very shiny black Labrador puppy.
Follow Alexandra on Twitter @alexbrownbooks
Also by Alexandra Brown
Cupcakes at Carrington’s
Me and Mr Carrington
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2013
Copyright © Alexandra Brown 2013
Cover illustration © Sarah Gibb
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2013
Alexandra Brown asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007488254
Ebook Edition © November 2013 9780007488261
Version [2013-10-09]
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