I have been baking cupcakes for a long time now and must have made several hundred of them over the years for everything from high teas, picnics and birthdays to charity events like RSPCA Cupcake Day. I've practically made every kind of cupcake flavour there is! However, baking the perfect vanilla cupcake has eluded me. The recipe I have been using never seemed to come out the way it looked in the recipe book. It would always be a bit heavy tasting or not rise perfectly or be the wrong shape on the top... until this batch!
I have finally experimented with subtle tweaks to the recipe enough to find that I now have the perfect vanilla cupcake, light and fluffy on the inside with the loveliest vanilla buttery flavour and texture. Happily I also matched it with a perfect batch of vanilla buttercream icing, almost mousse like in consistency. I'm usually a little impatient and don't spend enough time beating the icing until enough of the sugar dissolves but this time I was patient and got it just right. I only hope that I'll get them exactly like this every time now! This batch was made for a picnic in the park at West End...
This was the batch that came very close leading into Christmas but a little more tweaking was needed... for a work barbeque at New Farm Park.
I decorated them with orange sherbet icing and crushed Fruit Tingles, being inspired by the Fruit Tingle layer cake I had made recently and all... I have found that I prefer it best to keep it simple with vanilla buttercream... not that anyone complained, they were definitely tasty!
And for good measure here is a bunch of brownies I made to take to A+O's for dessert last weekend. They came from a recipe in Bake, given to me by Geneve and Joe for my birthday last year. They tasted delicious.
I find baking to be so comforting and relaxing, that it involves making something and getting a beautiful result is very rewarding and takes my mind off the daily stresses... lucky for James he is a very happy taste tester and I have plenty of people and occasions to share it all with!
Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
Makes 24
1 cup plain flour
1 3/4 cups self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
200g softened unsalted butter
1 3/4 cup castor sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
Preheat oven to 170oC and line two 12-hole cupcake trays with cupcake papers.
Sift together the flours and baking powder into a bowl.
In a separate large mixing bowl, cream the butter for 2 minutes. Add the sugar a third at a time beating for 2 minutes after each addition. After the last addition beat until the sugar has almost dissolved and the mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition until mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract until combined.
Add a third of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add half the milk and beat until combined. Repeat this process. Add the last third of the flour and beat until combined, being careful not to over-beat as this will toughen the mixture and the cupcakes will not be light and fluffy.
Spoon mixture into prepared tins filling to three-quarters full. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes or until a fine skewer comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from tray immediately and cool on a wire rack before icing.
*make sure eggs are at room temperature prior to adding to the mixture
** the milk should not be cold straight from the fridge but close to room temperature
