Basic Cupcakes

Welcome to my blog! 

Today's blog post is a baking one!

I am definitely not the most experienced baker in the world, but in recent years my passion for baking has developed and I really wanted to share some of the recipes I have found on the way. 

I always enjoyed baking with my mum when I was younger and when I got older I occasionally baked for my parents. However, when I was around 15 I was stuck on what to get my sister for her birthday. So I decided to bake her some cupcakes and I have to say they were a hit and I left her house with orders for both my niece and nephew’s birthdays! From then it has become sort of a tradition and I believe I would not be doing this today without their encouragement (and the mounds of baking stuff I got that Christmas!)

So I decided that this recipe would be a perfect place to start!

This recipe comes from a book called step to step, practical recipes:cupcakes and can be found here.

The reason why I like this recipe is because of its simplicity. I found that after a few times it sort of became second nature. So without further ado let’s begin! (before I start waffling any longer!)

Ingredients

For cake mixture

100g/3 1/2 oz soft margarine

100g/3 1/2 sugar (the recipe says brown sugar but I am using caster)

100g/3 1/2 self-raising flour

2 medium eggs, beaten
Finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon and 1 tsp juice (however i don't use this as I don't lemons)

For icing

50g/2 oz unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract 
125g/4 oz icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp milk (i used semi skimmed)
food colouring/paste
sprinkles 

For the cakes

Step 1

To start with you will need to preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius/ 375 degrees Fahrenheit/ gas mark 5. I set my oven to 170 degrees Celsius as it's a fan oven. Also at this point place your paper cases in your cupcake tin.


Step 2 

Put the butter, sugar and if you are using it lemon zest into a large bowl. Mix until it look pale and fluffy, which should be something like this.

Step 3

Beat your eggs in a little at a time and add small amounts of flour with each addition. Fold the rest of the flour and lemon juice and mix until it is a nice smooth consistency.

Step 4

Scoop the mixture into your bun cases and bake for around 12 minutes until they are a nice golden colour. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For the icing

Step 1

Beat the butter and vanilla extract together until light and fluffy.

Step 2

Gradually beat the icing sugar and milk together until it is all mixed well. You may find that you need to put it into the fridge to set if it doesn't feel like it will stay put on the cakes.

I didn't add any food colouring but you can add it in after mixing all the ingredients together. 

Step 3

Spread the icing over the cold cupcakes with a small flat bladed knife and decorate with sprinkles.

And here is the finished product! I hope you enjoyed my first ever blog post!

Please leave me any tips or suggestions in the comments below.

Thanks for stopping by!