Birthday Cup Cakes - 14/10/15
We love it when birthdays or other special occasions happen as it is a good excuse to do some baking whether this be sweet or savoury. When it comes to sweet or savoury we would say that we have more of a sweet tooth even when going to food festivals most of the time we would go for a sweet taster than savoury. One of the recipes that we like to make are cupcakes this is because we have the freedom to create anything that we want. We like the way that we can be creative with the flavours of the cupcakes and icing but also the way that they look. They can easily be made for any occasion with the different flavouring and colours that can be used, but are very simple and are very easy to make. With cupcakes we have found that there are different recipes that people use but they have the slightest of difference to the ingredients or the way the ingredients are added. From all of the different ways we have made cupcakes we have found that this way for the sponge and the icing is the best as they are creamy and light when finished.
Ingredients for the sponge:
2 Large Eggs
125g Caster Sugar
125g Butter
125g Self Raising Flour
1 1/2 Tablespoon of Milk
1/4 Teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Ingredients for the butter icing:
335g Icing Sugar
150g Softened Butter
1 or 2 Tablespoon of Milk
1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Purple food colouring or Red and Blue food colouring
(depending on what is found in the shop as both work fine)
Preheat the oven to 170oC
Line 12 cupcake cases in a tray, we found that the best tray to use was a muffin tray. This is because when the cupcakes are baking in the oven they tend to rise in a nicer shape as they have good support so they rise up then out into a good cupcake shape.
Make sure that the butter is at room temperature before adding to the mixing bowl, this is so that the mixture is able to mix well and easily.
Add the butter and sugar into the mixing bowl and using an electric whisk mix until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Then add the eggs in, one at a time, along with the vanilla extract, milk and mix all the ingredients together.
Once the mixture is fully mixed add in the flour and the bicarbonate of soda, fold in gently until the mixture is all mixed together.
Using an ice cream scoop or two teaspoons spoon in the mixture into the 12 Cupcake cases making sure that they are all equal in size.
Once they are all in the paper cases put them into the oven for 20-22 minutes until the top of the cakes start to go a light brown colour.
Once the time is up check that they are ready and have been fully cooked by using a skewer. If it comes out clean then it means that the cupcakes are fully cooked. But if the skewer comes out with some mixture attached put the cakes back in for a couple of minutes. After these minutes are up check the cakes again, if it comes out clean it means that the cakes are cooked and ready to take out of the oven.
Once cooked leave them to cool before the icing is added.
When the cupcakes have cooled down a bit and are cool enough to touch, remove them onto a wire rack to ensure that they fully cool down.
While the cakes are cooling make the butter cream.
Make sure that the butter is at room temperature and add this into the mixing bowl. Whisk the butter until it goes a white creamy colour.
Sieve in a little bit of the icing sugar into the butter at a time, then mix. Sieve in all of the icing into the mixing bowl until it is all gone.
Add in 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk (depending on the thickness of the icing originally).
Separate a little bit of the icing into a separate bowl.
If using purple food colouring add in a couple of drops into the smaller separated bit of icing and mix until it is all blended in, if you feel the colour needs to be stronger add in a couple more drops then mix. Continue doing this until you're satisfied with the colour.
If using blue and red food colouring add in a couple of drops of both colours into the icing and mix, depending if the colour needs to be a lighter shade then add a slight bit more of red. Whereas, if the food colouring needs to get darker add a couple more drops of blue food colouring and mix. Continue doing this until you're satisfied with the colour.
Get a disposable piping bag cut off the end and put in an icing nozzle of your choice (I used a large star icing nozzle) slide that right into the end of the icing bag to ensure it doesn't come out.
Fold over the piping bag so that it's easier to put the icing close to the end to fit in as much as possible.
Using a mini spatula or a teaspoon smear the purple butter cream along the two sides inside the bag, once completed spoon in the white icing making sure the goes right down to the bottom.
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This is the disposable icing bag folded over at the top so that it's easier to add the icing to the cakes.
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