Cupcakes are all the rage but really they are just a fashionable version of good old buns or fairy cakes, fancier and seeming to be more fun, it is true. But often the shop ones are just lots of sickly icing with a horrible fake tasting bun underneath. Really they are so easy to make and you get lots for your mixing. To make them cup rather than bun you have to decorate them. The basic mixture is the same, however you flavour them:
Either: 4 oz of butter, sugar, and self raising flour plus 2 eggs for 12 buns or 6 oz of everything and 3 eggs for 18 plus. This is also the standard cake mixture for a sandwich cake. For a classic Victoria, you weigh the eggs and then match the other ingredients to that - not that I have ever done this(to my shame) If you make 2 layers, with 4 or 6 oz, and then sandwich them with jam and perhaps some cream, bingo, you can call it a Victoria Sponge.
NB Butter does mean block butter, not margarine or any soft versions. I did use the soft baking margarine for years when I was hard up and they were anyway the latest thing as an ingredient to make mixing a cake easier. But I no longer think it is worth eating chemically altered fat when the real thing is a natural product and is easy to mix if you let it soften slightly out of the fridge. Butter is not cheap, though there is always one cheap brand which I look for, but cakes are a treat and need the best of everything.
So - Take the butter out of the fridge to soften enough to make the mixing easy; add everything in together and add 1/2 tsp baking powder for 4 oz and a 1 tsp baking powder for a 6 oz mixture. A processor or a hand held beater will make the job even quicker and easier.
If you use a wooden spoon to mix them in the traditional way,(which is not hard and is very satisfying) cream the butter and sugar first, beat in the eggs gradually and then fold in the flour with a metal spoon.In theory at least you don't need baking powder added if you use this method, but if you are nervous you can use it.
Whichever method use, the quick all in or the traditional in stages,you need to end with a light fluffy mixture that drops off your spoon. If it seems heavy or stiff, add a few drops of hot water from the kettle.
These choco coffee ones are a sophisticated take on a chocolate version and could be even served for a pudding, as K does her coffee ones. They don't need baking powder unless you really skimp on the mixing.
Chocolate Expresso Buns (cupcakes)
6 oz butter
6oz soft brown sugar - dark or light
3 eggs
6 oz SR flour plus 1 tsp baking powder
1oz cocoa powder
3 tablespoons instant expresso coffee powder mixed with
1tbs hot water
1) Beat the cake ingredients together in a mixer or by hand, adding the dissolved coffee at the end. If the mixture is not dropping off the spoon, add 1 tbs milk.
2) Put dessertspoonfuls into bun cases in a tin - you will have at least 12 but if you put less in each it easily makes 18.You may need to do them in 2 batches if you haven't got 2 tins.
3) Bake at No 5 for 15/20 mins till firm and risen.
4) When cool ice with:
4 oz butter
2oz plain choc melted
8 oz icing sugar
1 level tbs instant expresso coffee powder
1 level tbs cocoa
2 tbs boiling water
Beat the dissolved cocoa and coffee into the butter, then beat in the chocolate and then the icing sugar.
You could put the mixture into a shallow tin,11' by 7' and cut it into pieces after icing. But then it is that old fashioned 70s event, a 'tray bake'.
If you want to enjoy these but there are too many of them for health, the waist line etc, freeze some of them un-iced and some icing separately and then get them out later on.
Either: 4 oz of butter, sugar, and self raising flour plus 2 eggs for 12 buns or 6 oz of everything and 3 eggs for 18 plus. This is also the standard cake mixture for a sandwich cake. For a classic Victoria, you weigh the eggs and then match the other ingredients to that - not that I have ever done this(to my shame) If you make 2 layers, with 4 or 6 oz, and then sandwich them with jam and perhaps some cream, bingo, you can call it a Victoria Sponge.
NB Butter does mean block butter, not margarine or any soft versions. I did use the soft baking margarine for years when I was hard up and they were anyway the latest thing as an ingredient to make mixing a cake easier. But I no longer think it is worth eating chemically altered fat when the real thing is a natural product and is easy to mix if you let it soften slightly out of the fridge. Butter is not cheap, though there is always one cheap brand which I look for, but cakes are a treat and need the best of everything.
So - Take the butter out of the fridge to soften enough to make the mixing easy; add everything in together and add 1/2 tsp baking powder for 4 oz and a 1 tsp baking powder for a 6 oz mixture. A processor or a hand held beater will make the job even quicker and easier.
If you use a wooden spoon to mix them in the traditional way,(which is not hard and is very satisfying) cream the butter and sugar first, beat in the eggs gradually and then fold in the flour with a metal spoon.In theory at least you don't need baking powder added if you use this method, but if you are nervous you can use it.
Whichever method use, the quick all in or the traditional in stages,you need to end with a light fluffy mixture that drops off your spoon. If it seems heavy or stiff, add a few drops of hot water from the kettle.
These choco coffee ones are a sophisticated take on a chocolate version and could be even served for a pudding, as K does her coffee ones. They don't need baking powder unless you really skimp on the mixing.
Chocolate Expresso Buns (cupcakes)
6 oz butter
6oz soft brown sugar - dark or light
3 eggs
6 oz SR flour plus 1 tsp baking powder
1oz cocoa powder
3 tablespoons instant expresso coffee powder mixed with
1tbs hot water
1) Beat the cake ingredients together in a mixer or by hand, adding the dissolved coffee at the end. If the mixture is not dropping off the spoon, add 1 tbs milk.
2) Put dessertspoonfuls into bun cases in a tin - you will have at least 12 but if you put less in each it easily makes 18.You may need to do them in 2 batches if you haven't got 2 tins.
3) Bake at No 5 for 15/20 mins till firm and risen.
4) When cool ice with:
4 oz butter
2oz plain choc melted
8 oz icing sugar
1 level tbs instant expresso coffee powder
1 level tbs cocoa
2 tbs boiling water
Beat the dissolved cocoa and coffee into the butter, then beat in the chocolate and then the icing sugar.
You could put the mixture into a shallow tin,11' by 7' and cut it into pieces after icing. But then it is that old fashioned 70s event, a 'tray bake'.
If you want to enjoy these but there are too many of them for health, the waist line etc, freeze some of them un-iced and some icing separately and then get them out later on.
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