6 great cupcakes in a jiffy

I have been trying  many cupcake recipies of late.  All have been found wanting, until this one.  I wanted a cupcake that was versatile, not too sweet, had a good, light cake, but not crumbly, and that was delicious.  Not much to ask?  So many of the recipies just did not stack up, too sweet, cakes that did not rise well, etc. even Nigella did not come up to the mark.

Well here is a recipie that I adapted from one that Matt Preston's friend Carol, put up on Taste (click here for the link).

This makes 6 large cupcakes or 10ish small ones.  That's perfect for our family. The cakes turn out with a rounded top, they are not the flat type of cupcake I have often seen.  I have not included Icing recipie, as I'm sure you have your favourite one.  You can easily double the recipe, or more if you want!  Vary the flavours once you have mastered the cakes, the next one I am going to make is coconut and lime.  Just remember to remove a little of the flour (no more than a tablespoon) if you are going to add a dry ingredient like coconut or cocoa for chocolate cakes.

The icing will ice 6 cupcakes, and is based on Magnolia Bakery's Buttercream - which in turn is an old fashioned buttercream recipe.  I have also included the measurements for a large cake, as once you use this icing you will want to use it again. I use vanilla extract in the icing, not a vanilla bean - it seems to work better, taste to see if it strong enough for you.  You can use any flavouring you like, try zest of lemon or almond extract.  You can also add food colouring to the icing.

Two things to remember about the icing 1) the butter MUST be very soft.   2) when you think it is mixed enough, mix it for another couple of minutes.

Cup Cakes

Rating: moderate

Ingredients

115g  self-raising flour

2 teaspoons cornflour

110g caster sugar

115g butter, at room temperature, chopped

1 egg

13ml (1/4 cup) milk

1 scant tsp vanilla extract  (you can use other flavourings like almond extract or lemon zest)

Method

Preheat oven to 190°C/170°C fan forced.

Line 6 80ml (1⁄3 cup) muffin pans with paper cases.

Sift the flour and cornflour into a large bowl.

Add the sugar, butter, eggs, milk and vanilla.

Use electric beaters to beat on medium-low speed for 3-5 minutes until mixture is very pale and very smooth.

Divide mixture among pans, filling to two-thirds full. (don't overfill)

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Or use the finger test, if it bounces back when touched, its cooked!

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Buttercream

6 cupcakes                                                     1 large cake

1/4 cup soft butter                                           1 cup soft butter
2 cups icing sugar                                           8 cups icing sugar
1/8 cup milk (1/2 a 1/4 cup)                           1/2 cup milk
1 teasp vanilla extract                                     3-4 teasp vanilla extract

Method - Put everything into a stand mixer and beat for at least 5 minutes.  The icing should be very light and fluffy.  The key to this buttercream is to keep on beating it until it looks almost like meringue.  Pipe onto cupcakes.