Juniper Cakery | Bespoke Cakes in Yorkshire & the Humber -

17th January 2019 // 0 Comments

Recipe: Partron Café and Dark Chocolate Mousse Cups!

We pretty much live on coffee every single day so these dark chocolate mousse cups laced with Patron XO café are an instant hit with us. Also, if you watched out Instagram stories over Christmas then may have spotted the tequila coffee liqueur a few times. For Valentine’s Day why not surprise the coffee fanatic in your life with this caffeine infused dessert? However, feel free to whip them up for yourself too if you like… you deserve it!

Dark chocolate mousse with Patron XO Café

Ingredients needed… (makes approx. 2 large coffee mugs full or 8 espresso cups)

220g good quality dark chocolate callets or buttons
1 tablespoon butter
150ml double cream – whipped
3 separated eggs
4 jiggers (the smaller end) of Patron XO café
100ml (however, you can use more if you like) double cream – whipped (we coloured our cream pink using Pro Gel in Strawberry)
Crushed coffee beans or chocolate covered coffee beans to garnish

Step 01:

Firstly, melt the dark chocolate slowly in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Make sure not to heat the chocolate too much or too fast. Also, try not to get water into the chocolate as this will seize it up and you’ll need to begin again.

Step 02:

Now stir in the butter, Patron and egg yolks gently. Once incorporated set aside off the heat. At this stage it will look a little grainy and feel stiffer.

Step 03:

Add your egg whites to a stand mixer with a whisk attachment and whip to a slightly stiff consistency. Basically your egg whites should resemble a large fluffy cloud at this stage.

Step 04:

Next fold your whipped egg whites into your molten chocolate mixture along with your double cream (the 150ml amount).

Step 05:

Carefully add to some stylish coffee cups. If you spoon these in and want a nice level flat top then just tap the cup on a counter a couple times to help the mousse inside settle. We divded our’s across two large coffee mugs. If you’re, instead, making these for a larger party then why not add to espresso cups? Leave to set for a couple hours in your fridge.

Step 06:

Finally, when ready add a dollop of whipped cream (from the 100ml amount) on top of each with a sprinkling of chocolate coffee beans!

Tip! If you over whip your cream then don’t worry! This can be fixed pretty easily. Simply add in a tablespoon or two of full fat milk or left over double cream and whip for a few seconds.

Your perfectly creamy and thick decadent chocolate mousse should now be ready for dessert time! The great thing about this recipe is that it is pretty adaptable. Swap the Patron XO Café for cognac or even Bailey’s (make sure to taste test) or trade in the dark chocolate for milk. You can, however, leave out the alcohol hit all together. There’s even the option of playing with layers. Alternate white chocolate mousse with dark and add crushed chocolate chip cookies on top.

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15th January 2019 // 1 Comments

Recipe: Cherry and and Rose Bellini Eclairs for Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and we can’t wait too! Full of sweet little treats, lots of pink and more heart shaped sprinkles than anyone could count it’s such a cute holiday! This year we are kicking off the love-filled season with these Cherry and Rose Bellini Eclairs. Pretty choux pastry desserts filled with rose extract infused cherry preserve and whipped prosecco swiss meringue buttercream… then topped with cherry flavoured fondant, fresh cherries, sprinkles and elegant roses!

Ingredients and tools needed… (makes approx. 10 eclairs)

For the eclairs

165g plain flour
300ml water (room temperature)
100g diced butter
4 beaten eggs

To fill, bake and decorate

Cherry and Rose Bellini Eclairs recipe!

Step 01:

Firstly. pre-heat your oven to 200C/180C fan/400F/Gas mark 6. After that add your butter to a saucepan with the water on medium to high heat on your stove top. When the two ingredients melt together bring them to the boil! Don’t worry… this shouldn’t take too long. For us it takes around 5-7 minutes.

Step 02:

Next remove the pan from the heat and also add in your flour. Quickly start to stir. The mix will thicken at this stage (try not to stir too much as this will over mix the dough).

Step 03:

Once your flour has been incorporated it’s time to add in your beaten eggs a little at a time (make sure to add the egg on top of the dough and not right onto the pan’s surface… the heat will instead start cooking up scrambled eggs). We’d recommend pouring in whatever you estimate to be an egg’s worth then stir vigorously (this part takes some arm muscle). Repeat this until all your eggs have been added.

Tip: This part is, however, a lot easier with someone to kindly help you. Whilst you mix everything together have your helper add in the egg.

Step 04:

When your choux dough is ready it should be thick and look a little glossy! Next you’ll need to scoop it into a disposable piping bag. You can use a large round piping tip or go rogue and just snip the bag when you’re ready to pipe!

Step 05:

Spritz your silpat lined cookie tray with water. You don’t need a lot so make sure you don’t drench it!

Step 06:

Now you can pipe out your eclairs. Snip your disposable piping and pipe thick lines of your dough along your tray. You’ll need the scissors to cut the dough off. It’s got a lot of elasticity in it’s texture so it won’t snap or break off easy. Place in your oven and bake for 30 mins. When the 30 mins are up turn the tray around and bake for a further 10 minutes. When baked leave to cool before filling and decorating.

To fill

Step 08:

Take your cherry preserve and then add a few drop of rose water to it. Most importantly, make sure you taste test so can get the exact flavour you like. You may need a few drops more depending how strong you’d like the rose flavour to be. Make sure the mix doesn’t end up runny though. Add your rose water infused cherry jam to a piping bag fitted with a bismarck tip. At two points along the flat base of your eclair pipe a little of the preserve in. Don’t pipe too much!

Step 07:

If you’ve already whipped up our prosecco swiss meringue buttercream (or SMBC) then bag it up in a disposable piping bag with your bismarck tip at the end. Now pipe the SMBC into your eclair at 3 alternating spaces between where you piped in your preserve. You can, however, use whipped cream to fill.

To decorate

Step 08:

To decorate we added some cherry extract to pink fondant and mixed it in, however, you can leave this plain if you like. We love the added cherry flavour though! When ready roll out your fondant and cut oblong shapes using for fondant eclair cutter.

Step 09:

Add a little light corn syrup onto your filled eclairs and gently lay your pink cherry fondant on top!

Step 10:

Finally, you can add your roses, cherries and sprinkles! Why not use melted chocolate to attach (use a cocktail stick to apply the chocolate) each piece on top of your fondant covered eclair. We opted for light pink roses in the middle surrounded with fresh morello cherries and sweet white heart sprinkles!

Now enjoy! Aren’t these fun and boozy inspired eclairs perfect for a Valentine’s Day dinner? Whip these up for your crush, your best friends or just for yourself (seriously, we won’t judge). They’ll be such a treat paired with some rose gold prosecco (our favourite is by Bottega)!

30th December 2018 // 0 Comments

Bespoke Snow Globe Themed Cookies for Olivia Burton London!

How gorgeous are these winter themed cookies we designed and created exclusively for Olivia Burton London? Based on their snow globe inspired watch collection each cookie is a sparkling holiday motif from a gold streaked candy cane to an intricate snowflake! Perfect sweet treats for the frosty and cosy season!

How pretty is that gingerbread gift tag cookie! Each dove grey iced biscuit featured a hand piped holiday message from Olivia Burton in a fun on-trend script / hand-written inspired font as well as a slip of satin ribbon through each.

Above is a quick shot of all the little beauties packaged and nestled in their pretty silver tins with shimmering iridescent shred. We love this part of any large bespoke project… seeing everything in their final stages of packaging! Everything always looks so fabulous. We’re such insane package and wrap freaks that everything has to be perfect. We even weigh out any filling like poly peanuts or shred so it’s all equal.

One of our favourites were the lovely and seasonal white, grey and gold snow globes in each silver tin. When Olivia Burton London explained their collection ideas we instantly felt so festive! The snow globe idea was such an exciting shape and cookie to work with. We looked at their collection (we also own 4 Olivia Burton London watches!) and kept the colours simple. We toyed with rose gold hues based on one of their snow globe watches, but this changed to a gorgeous classic gold to reflect the interior of their flagship store in Covent Garden!

Snow globe themed cookies for Olivia Burton London!

Also included in this sparkling collection of winter cookies are pretty splattered trees, gold streaked candy canes and pearl-studded snowballs! Each cookie was baked fresh using our go-to gingerbread recipe.

The lace-like and intricate snowflake cookies were a definite favourite too. They’re too pretty. Each was iced in white before being dusted in edible pearl lustre and finally piped details were added!

And here is a shot of the final collection! A large dove grey branded gift tag with ribbon, mini trees, a pretty snowflake, larger gold finished tree, fun snow globe, trio of snowballs and a gold streaked candy cane. What pretty treats!

21st December 2018 // 0 Comments

Benefit Cosmetics x Juniper Cakery: Reindeer Cake Tutorial!

We have been ridiculously excited about this super pink reindeer cake tutorial for a while now! We partnered with Benefit Cosmetics UK to help get everyone in the holiday spirit with this gorgeous video how-to. If you LOVED our stylish Mrs Claus cupcake tutorial with Benefit last year then you’ll adore this! Whether you’re a novice or an expert this sweet treat is going to make THE cutest centrepiece!

You can view our full tutorial over on IGTV via our Instagram page (Yay! We’ve launched own own channel so expect lots more tutorials and filmed sneak peeks) or the Benefit Cosmetics UK account! If you’re more of a YouTube user then don’t worry we’ve edited the video so that it is lovely and landscape! Click the play button below to watch or head to our YouTube channel and subscribe!

How cute is this cake? It’s such a fabulous shade of blush pink which was 100% inspired by Benefit’s The POREfessional: Pearl Illuminating Face Primer colour. The rest of the colour palette for this beauty incorporates Benefit’s packaging from their glistening silver brow pencils to their love of warm pinks!

And yes. We would put a gif together of the cake being stacked! It feels so magical. If only cakes actually did appear in front of us like this!

We decorated our end design in the reindeer cake tutorial with sprinkles, snowflakes and macarons. You can re-create our little arrangement or add chocolate truffles, candy or even fresh roses? Glittering star shaped cookies, chocolate jewels and even lollipops sound amazing too! If you’re feeling super adventurous (or brave) then a cute drip down one side and homemade candy canes would be so impressive.

Once your own reindeer cake is all dressed up and ready for party season it’s time to fill your phone with 1,000 photos of it! Hope you enjoyed creating one gorgeously pink cake! From us and Benefit Cosmetics have an amazing holiday season!

14th December 2018 // 1 Comments

Recipe: Bottega Prosecco Swiss Meringue Buttercream!

With party season right around the corner you’re going to want to impress everyone with all the chic treats you can whip up! It’s also easy to feel overwhelmed or stuck on what to make. For us anything with a bit of glitz and a hint of alcohol is the way to go. Obviously with that in mind our prosecco Swiss Meringue Buttercream is a must try! Soft buttery swirls infused with fruity Bottega Rose Gold prosecco on top of freshly made cupcakes? Who could say no? Obviously the answer is… no-one.

Ingredients needed…

114g egg whites
226g granulated sugar
340g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
Pinch of salt
Pink food colouring (we like to use ‘Flamingo Pink’ by Sugarflair)
200ml Bottega Rose Gold Prosecco

Note: You’ll definitely need a stand-up mixer for this prosecco Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe! It’s going to get frustrating and hard trying to whisk by hand!

Step 01:

Firstly you’ll need to quickly reduce your Bottega Rose Gold Prosecco! Sounds tricky, but it really isn’t. Add 200ml of your prosecco to a sauce pan on a medium to high heat. Stir gently while bringing to a boil. It should take around 8-10 minutes for your prosecco to reduce down to around half the amount you started with. The flavour will still be there, but what you need is to rid yourself of too much liquid that could hinder the consistency of your SMBC (Swiss Meringue Buttercream). When this has reduce set aside to completely cool down.

Step 02:

You’ll need to make sure that your bowls, paddles, whisks and utensils are cleaned with fresh lemon juice to stop your egg whites from going flat. Any fat from a previous mix can stop egg whites from whisking properly!

Step 03:

Seperate your egg whites into a medium sized bowl and set them aside.

Step 04:

Next prepare a sauce pan of boiling water on medium to high heat. Add your bowl of egg white on top of the boiling water (not into it). Then whisk your egg whites in the bowl over the sauce pan.

Step 05:

Gradually add in sugar. Keep whisking until the sugar is fully dissolved.

Tip: You can test whether the sugar has dissolved fully by rubbing the egg mixture between your fingers. It’s ready when you can’t feel any undissolved grains of sugar. and until your mix is pale and fluffy.

Step 06:

With your stand mixer use your whisk attachment not the paddle. Add the egg and sugar mix to your bowl and whisk on the highest speed on your mixer for 5 minutes. Your egg white mixture should be white, sticky and have a bit of a glossy sheen. The bowl should also be cool to touch!

Step 07:

Now you need to remove your whisk attachment and switch to the paddle attachment. Then on a medium speed begin to add the chilled butter a cube at a time! There’ll be a point when your SMBC will look scary and curdled. Don’t worry about it. Keep mixing and it will soon start to look silky!

Step 08:

Finally, you can add in a little of your pink food colouring along with your reduced Bottega Rose Gold Prosecco. We strongly recommend adding a little prosecco at a time and taste test! It all depends on just how boozy you’d like it to taste. We’re perfectly OK with a hit of alcohol so obviously we used the whole amount.

SMBC is amazing to pipe. It’s oh so silky and creamy and utterly perfect for adding flawless swirls on top of cupcakes. You can use this prosecco Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe to smooth over freshly filled cakes and even use to fill decadent doughnuts with!

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Hello! We’re Felicity & Krystle; we create beautiful cakes and confections in Hull & Yorkshire!

Since we opened Juniper Cakery in 2012 our work has featured in international books, magazines & blogs. In 2015 we began creating bespoke cakes and confections to order. We've also created treats for Olivia Burton Watches, Benefit Cosmetics, Boux Avenue, Homepride Flour, The Happy Egg Co., Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, Royal Albert and more! We also write for the popular Craftsy.com blog too!