The quest for a good basic recipe!

Slowly but surely i'm getting there! i think i have found my favourite buttercream recipe, which i will share with you shortly, as for the sponge? Well this one was nicer than previous but still not quite there!

one thing different from the usual sponge recipes i use was that there was no vanilla essence in it, i think this made a lot of difference, positively! npow if you are interested, this is the basic sponge recipe . .

115g butter

115g sugar

115g flour

2 eggs

1tbs milk

1) beat butter and sugar together until combined and fluffy

2) mix in eggs

3) sift in flour

4) fold flour in with milk

bake in 12 cases for about 20mins, until a cocktail stick inserted comes out clean.

I baked my cupcakes in some new, dare i say it, christmas! Silicone star shaped cases, absolutely adorable, £7.50 from Marks and Spencer, i love them, even more so because they are dishwasher safe!!

Now for the frosting, what gets me about this frosing is that it has a lovely stiff texture, but when you bit into it it is so light, it just melts in your mouth, mmm.

175g butter (at room temperature)

2 tsp vanilla extract

a couple of drops of food colouring

2 tbs milk

300g sifted icing sugar

1) cream the butter, vanilla, food colouring and milk togther (i use an electric whisk as it makes it fluffier)

2) bit by bit add the icing sugar until fully incorporated

3) beat, beat, beat!! the more you beat it the lighter and fluffier it will be!

the frosting recipe is meant to be for 12 cupcakes but i found i had half left over so you may want to reduce quantities! I used my new Tala Icing Bag to ice them, this is the first time I have used an icing bag before so i dont think they look too bad!

thanks for reading

Cinnamon swirl cupcakes!

Well this is my first post to this blog, welcome! Today I experimented with making cinnamon swirl cupcakes.

This was my first attempt at these and the idea was pretty much "suck it and see" as I didn't have a specific recipe for them. I used my current favourite basic vanilla sponge recipe (I say current, it's the only one so far that I have managed to do without going wrong) which is as follows . .

(makes 6 large cupcakes, 12 small)

4oz butter
4oz sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
4oz flour

1. Mix butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla together until smooth

2. Mix in flour until incorporated

3. Spoon into paper cases

Now here is where the cinnamon part happened! I mixed some demorera sugar with cinnamon (don't ask about quantities because I havnt a clue, I just made sure it was edible, not too cinnamony!).

Backtracking slightly to spooning into the paper cases . .

I spooned a dollop of cake mix, enough to cover the base of the paper case, then a spoonful of the cinnamon sugar, then more cake mixture, then used a cocktail stick to swirl it around a little.

Then baked, at about 170 degrees, until golden and a cocktail stick inserted came out clean, about 20-25 Mins.

For the frosting I used the following recipe, although it is very sweet, I have yet to find a better alternative . .

250g sifted icing sugar
80g butter
Milk (a dash or two)
A few drops of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Combine the butter and icing sugar (I like to use a handheld electric whisk)

(tip: make sure the buttetis fairly soft, room temperature is great)

2. Add the vanilla essence and milk, add enough milk to get the desired consistancy.

3. Beat in the ground cinnamon, 1/2 a teaspoon is an estimate, I just added it to taste!


Once the cakes were cooled I put the icing on using a plastic spatular and sprinkled a little cinnamon to decorate!

Here is the final result . .

And the swirl . .

Unfortunately I don't think I put enough of the cinnamon sugar in, next time I would certainly use more, and be sure to distribute it a little bit better.

Until next time . .