Having spent very little of my 26 years in a kitchen, I decided it was time to learn my way around one. Especially now I am attempting to be an adult and finally have my own, I really should probably at least try to use it.
My “cooking”, if you can call it that, has mostly consisted of removing packaging and placing in the microwave and my one attempt at baking was a massive fail involving a ready mixed bag.
So I googled basic cupcake (hey, we all have to start somewhere..) to find something simple for my first attempt. I brought my ingredients and donned my apron. Ok, I didn’t own an apron, I bought one.. if you are going to do it you might as well do it properly. Then I set to making a mess in the kitchen … which somehow miraculously turned into edible and actually quite tasty cakes.
If like me you are a baking virgin and want to give this very simple recipe a go it is a pretty good place to start. Plus, everyone needs a good basic cupcake recipe that you can then mix-up with different flavours and decorate as you choose.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
• 250g (8oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 250g (8oz) caster sugar
• 250g (8oz) self-raising flour
• Pinch of salt
• 4 medium eggs
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 2 x 12-hole muffin tins, lined with paper cases
Method
• Set the oven to 190°C or Gas Mark 5.
• Tip the butter into a bowl and beat it until softened. Add the sugar, flour, salt, eggs and milk and whisk until the mixture is smooth.
• Use a spoon, to divide the mixture between all the paper cases.
• Place both muffin tins in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, then swap over the position of the tins over and bake for a further 3-7 minutes, until both trays of cupcakes are a light golden colour.
• Remove the tins from the oven. Leave the cupcakes to cool in the tins for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool.
• Decorate as you wish!
Next for the icing.. I thought about saying I made this too, but I didn’t. Next time I will, but I’m taking baby steps into baking and when I saw this Disney/Pink/Glitter… well, what more could you want from a girly cupcake!? Think I’ll be making these basic cupcakes a few more times before I give anything else a go so I feel like an expert baker for a while. But I’m pretty sure I’ll be ready to take on Bake Off and impress Mary Berry in no time.
Happy – easy peasy – Baking!
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