Baking Fun with Swizzels

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I wrote recently on an Instagram post that I am not a huge fan of baking with the children. I am not a fan of baking in general, and as my children like to remind me, our friends are much better at baking than I am!

That said, I do make the effort to bake with them as there is a lot to be learned from baking and I am rather partial to the results of any baking that takes place! The children are pretty adept at just getting on with it with minimal input from me.

We were recently sent a big tub of sweetshop favourites from the team at the Swizzels Shop so I set the children the challenge of coming up with something they could bake with them. They came up with lots of ideas for making a cake. Initial ideas seemed to revolve around a large cake with everything from the tub stuck into and onto it, but we compromised on some cupcakes with Parma Violets buttercream and love heart decorations.

Making the Cakes

We made the cakes using this recipe from BBC Good Food. We popped the cakes into the oven to cook then set about making the Parma Violets buttercream. The children took great delight in crushing up the Parma Violets using a pestle and mortar – and sneaking one or two; just to check the taste! We then made the buttercream and added in the crushed Parma Violets – this smelt amazing. We did add a few drops of purple food colouring too at this stage just to enhance the colour a little.

Once the children were happy they scooped out the buttercream to add to the tops of their cupcakes. They then added some of the Love Heart sweets on top – in celebration of Valentine’s Weekend.

Different Variations

The Swizzels Sweetshop tub of sweets is packed full of sweets that you can use in your baking. You could crush up the fizzers into icing or buttercream to add a tangy twist. You could break up the fruity pops to make stained glass biscuits – get the heart cutters at the ready for the coming weekend.

These sweets are really versatile; you can use them in children’s birthday party bags or, like us, add them to your baking repertoire for an interesting twist. Happily, there is a vast vegan range which makes them perfect if you’re baking for a mixed crowd.

The Love Hearts are particularly good for mother’s and father’s day as well as Valentine’s day, what message would you select for a loved one’s cake?

Adding a Bookish Twist

When I was chatting with a friend about the children saying her baking was much better than mine she suggested using the sweets to make Wonka-themed cakes. This would be perfect for World Book Day on 3 March if you were doing a Roald Dahl or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory themed day. We had our own Wonka-themed day last year and it is something I plan to re-visit this day next year so we will be making these again I am sure.