A little differet - Cupcakes!!!

Hey ladies,

I just wanted to post a little blog on the cupcakes i made today, they cost me a couple of scalds & cuts but are bloody worth it, so i thought i'd give you the recipe to try if you ever have an occasion which requires cupcakes (to me this is any & every occasion!! i got home from work - cupcakes! yay! hehe) What i found different from this recipe compared to others i've tried is that they're so light!!! so this is totally un related to makeup but hey i think you should share a recipe when they're good.
(if you follow me on twitter you'll have seen this pic already, i think you can tell the ones i iced compared to my cousin!!)



The recipe!!

Cupcakes
125g - unsalted butter, softened
125g - caster sugar
125g - self raising flour
2 - large eggs
2-3 tbsp - milk
1/2 tsp - vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees centigrade/gas mark 6. In a large bowl cream together butter & sugar
2. in a cup beat eggs with vanilla & 2 tablespoons of milk and slowly add to the butter & sugar beating thoroughly before adding more.
3. Sift in flour a bit at a time until fully incorporated but dont over beat so the gluten isn't overstretched in the flour which will stop the cakes being light & fluffy.
4. Add milk until the mixture is at drop consistency (if you hold some up on a spatula it should drop in a dollop (love that word)).
5. Split between cupcake papers & bake for 15 - 20 mins or until cooked & golden brown (to determine if cooked get a sharp knife & in the middle of the cake prod if the knife comes out clean with no mixture on it they're done) Makes approx 12 cakes

I normally split my mixture in 2, & leave the 1st half plain & then the second half add a couple of tablespoons of cocoa to taste (so determine how chocolatey you want it, good excuse to eat the mixture raw as well, or is that just me) & a little more milk so its still at the drop consistency & spread between the cases & bake the same amount as the plain ones.

Once the cakes are out the oven put on a cooling rack & then ice. with the plain ones i like to do a butter icing but the chocolate ones just a normal icing with cocoa in it so they're not too sickly!

Butter icing (half this recipe if you only do half plain ones)
175g - icing sugar
75g - butter
Food colouring if you're opting for fabulous cakes

Beat the butter in a bowl until its soft then slowly incorporate the icing sugar
It looks like you've got too much icing sugar but stick with it & it works out
Then add some colouring of choice & a little milk so its an easier consistency to spread over the cakes

Normal icing (same as above this is for 12 cupcakes so half if you're doing 6)
125g - icing sugar
1tbsp - water

Basically mix the two together again its hard to believe that much icing sugar mixes properly with 1tbsp of water but it does, & if you're making the chocolate icing replace a tablespoon of icing sugar with cocoa & then i add a little milk so its an easier consistency to spread over the cakes

And there u have it, i'm gonna make some extra special ones on friday/saturday for my best friend she deserves them!! so i'll put a pic up but off the top of my head i'm thinking spelling her name in iced cupcakes with sprinkles!! ... now wheres my piping bag (i'm 22 & have a piping bag i swear i'm a 40 year old housewife in an incredibly hot 22 year olds body haha! :p just kidding!)

So if you try it out let me know how you went on, they're so easy you could just shove all the ingredients in a kenwood barring the milk & mix & then add the milk gradually i love the long winded way personally because i enjoy baking!!

thanks for reading this non beauty item if you did
cya later
Nicola
xxx