After a taxing few days at work, I came home tonight feeling a little deflated instead of the usual Friday buzz. Feeling a bit mopey and sorry for myself I decided to make my go to recipe which takes no real thought or effort ….cupcakes! This is the most basic recipe but it works a treat, they always come out light, fluffy and moist and you can mix it up by adding chocolate, nuts, dried fruit or anything you want. Today I just went with plain cupcakes, white icing and hundreds and thousands. After 30 minutes of therapeutic baking all is right with the world again. 🙂
Classic Cupcake Recipes (Makes 6 – 9 Depending on the size of your cases)
120g good quality unsalted butter (softened in the microwave if necessary)
120g caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
120g self raising flour
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C or 160°C fan.
Cream the butter and sugar together until very light and fluffy. Beat it like crazy to get as much air in as possible.
Stir in the eggs with a little flour so the mixture doesn’t split.
Add the vanilla extract and baking powder, stir well making sure everything is well combined.
Add the flour and fold in gently. Do not over mix or you will end up with cakes like bricks!
Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases. My best ever purchase was a spring release ice cream scoop that I use to get perfectly even cupcakes! Fill the scoop, flatten with a knife then release the mixture into the case.
Bake for 17 minutes or until the tops are golden brown in colour. Check they are fully cooked by pushing a knife into the middle of a cupcake. If it comes out clean with no cake mixture stuck they are done.
Leave to cool on a wire rack. Don’t decorate until fully cool (although obviously you may need to test one still warm with a cup of tea at this point 😉 )
Make up the icing sugar with water as instructions on the box. You want a nice thick paste like consistency. Pour the hundreds and thousands onto a plate.
Now the most fun part! Dip your cupcakes into the icing and twist to fully coat. Spread the icing evenly with a knife then dip into the hundreds and thousands.
Enjoy xxx
FletchieFeasts 