Vanilla cupcakes & buttercream frosting

OK, so today I decided to give my new piping bag a go. I was really looking forward to using it & making some lovely looking cupcakes with the fancy nozzle, but it didn't really go to plan :(

I found a recipe on the Internet for buttercream frosting & learnt how to make it thicker & thinner depending on what you wanted to use it for, so i made some ordinary simple cupcakes (click here for recipe).

I then planned on making a thick buttercream frosting to pipe on top, but it ended up being too thin and runny & it wouldn't thicken no matter how much i tried bulking it up. So in the end I just spread a generous amount of buttercream on the top of each cake and added some chocolate & iced decorations..& here's what the outcome was...


I was quite pleasantly surprised, even though i was rather disappointed at my piping bag plan failing.

So, if you fancy giving these a go here's the recipe for the buttercream topping...

Ingredients:

• 125g butter
• 100g icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons of milk

Method:

1. Put butter into a bowl & beat with a whisk or wooden spoon until butter is as pale as possible.
2. Gradually add half of the icing sugar & continue beating
3. Beat in the remaining icing sugar until a smooth mixture is formed.

If you want to make it a chocolate flavouring just add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder into the icing sugar, or if you want it a different colour, then just add a drop of food colouring to the mixture.

For the toppings on the buttercream, I sprinkled on some 'Supercook Barbie fun sprinkles', which you can buy from Tesco.

Frosting / Icing

Although I'm mainly writing this blog because I rather enjoy baking..& of course eating..cakes, I'm also writing it to record my..what shall we call it..baking journey :)

One of the aspects of making cakes which i want to venture into, is cake decorating.

I've always known how to decorate my sponge cakes with basic icing..mixing water with icing sugar...but I've never really attempted anything more.

So, I've been wondering around the Internet looking at different baking blogs & websites and it seems that one of the popular things to decorate your cupcakes with is fancy Frosting.

Now, I've come across a few types & ways of making frosting & the first kind I want to try is buttercream frosting.

I have made buttercream before but I've only used it as a filling to a birthday cake, so I am quite excited to use it as a topping as it tastes lovely!

However, to make your frosting look pretty on your cupcakes it also seems that a lot of people use a piping bag to ice their cakes & make lovely looking patterns.

So, yesterday I went out & purchased my very first piping bag & piping nozzle...take a look...

I must admit I am very excited at the prospect of using it!

Cupcakes or fairy cakes?

Recently I've got into the habit of calling cupcakes...cupcakes, without realising that i did used to call them fairy cakes. My mum questioned me yesterday on whether 'cupcake' is the American term for the English 'fairy cake'..& i was unsure. So i searched the net..& found that she was, as always, correct :)

Apparently the term 'cupcake' comes from the fact that before paper cases or muffin tins were available, cupcakes were baked in pottery cups & now any small cake which could fit into a teacup is known as a 'cupcake'.
And, the name 'fairy cake' refers to the size of the cake also, which would apparently be appropriate for a party of faires to share..(how cute!)

However, although I am very much English..im still keen on using the word cupcake.

Simple Cupcakes

My favourite kind of cake has to be cupcakes. They are very easy to make & taste delicious.

I was taught how to make cupcakes by my Gran when i was younger & I've always enjoyed baking them.

So, my first recipe is for a batch of simple, plain vanilla cupcakes.


Ingredients:

• 115g Butter
• 115g self raising flour
• 115g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder

Serves 20-25 cupcakes.

You will also need:

• Wooden spoon &/or electric whisk
• paper cases
• bun tin

Let's get baking:

Firstly grab your paper cases & line them in your bun tray & pre-heat your oven at Gas Mark 5

1. Put butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat together with whisk or wooden spoon until a fluffy & pale mixture is formed.
2. Add the eggs one at a time & beat.
3. Once the eggs have been mixed in, add the flour, baking powder & vanilla extract & mix until everything has blended together and a pale mixture has formed.
4. Divide the mixture evenly between the cases. I like to use either a teaspoon or a small sized ice cream scoop to do this.
5. Put the bun tray into the oven and bake the cake mixture for about 15-20 minutes or until cakes are a light golden colour.
6. To double check that cakes are ready, prod them with a knife & if the knife is clean when pulled out of the cake then its ready :)

This recipe can also be used as a basis for a birthday cake or a Victoria sponge.