These little lovelies are based on a ‘cater for a crowd’ article in Delicious Magazine. I had to make double the amount because, let me tell you, this mixture will turn out about 24 cupcakes. I don’t know what kind of crowd the author of that article caters for, but they probably run out of food a lot. Trust me, people will want 2 or 3 of these little darlings minimum – so bear that in mind when you buy ingredients!
Ingredients
5 large eggs
400g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
500g flour
20g baking powder
250g unsalted butter (melted)
Icing
125g unsalted butter
375g icing sugar
2tbsp milk (approx. – add slowly)
pastel sprinkles
- Preheat oven to 200C/400F
- Beat the eggs until pale and frothy
- Add the caster sugar and vanilla – whip until thickened and pale
- Gradually sift flour and baking powder into the eggy mixture, folding gently as you go
- Pour in the melted butter, folding until fully absorbed
- Using heaping table-spoon amounts of mixture per cup, fill a cupcake sheet lined with paper cases
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, testing until a toothpick comes out clean
Icing
- Beat the butter until pale and whipped
- Gradually add the icing sugar and mix with the butter
- Add milk one spoon at a time to get the right consistency (stiff on the spoon but not too heavy or crumbly)
- Pipe onto cooled cupcakes (better than I did) – you can brush a little vanilla extract on top of the cakes if they’ve risen too high and broken their tops, it helps to adhere the icing
- Sprinkle, sprinkle
Okay, so my icing skills are in dire need of practice since my little baking sabbatical during the UK-US move. And because of the miniature NYC kitchen here not having direct sunlight, all my photos use flash (gag). But the baking and blogging must go on!
That’s a looot of cupcakes! I even made a few with some leftover Christmas shiny, red cases – pretend they’re for Valentines Day.
