Back to basics

People often ask me when did I start baking and what did I first make. I'll share with you the story.

It began back in March 2007 and it was the strawberries 'n cream cupcakes from 500 Cupcakes. Two friends and I attempted to bake a couple of cupcakes for fun. We chose the strawberries 'n cream and the chocolate mud cupcake recipes from the book. A few weeks later, I attempted the first recipe on my own. 

I still remember..I wanted to give something personalised for easter. So gaining the confidence from the earlier group baking, I made 24 of the strawberries 'n cream cupcakes for the cell group and added 100g of dark chocolate chips to the batter. That experience gave me the first taste of the real joy of baking: making something artistic from scratch that can make people happy :) If you ask me, that's what I like best about baking.

Why the flashback? Well early in the week, a couple of my girl friends and I cooked together for dinner and we revisited this recipe for dessert. I have to say, the cupcakes taste just as good, if not even better. Not because of skills, but because of practice and experience. The many failure with cakes made me more attuned to what kind of texture I have to look for when mixing the ingredients. 

There are two things I have learned so far with regards to this recipe:
1. Always always have the butter and eggs in room temperature. You know when some recipes give you guidelines on how many minutes to beat? They're more likely to work if you have the two ingredients in room temp.

2. Be careful not to overbeat the batter. When the recipe says beat until smooth and pale, beat until the batter is very light yellow but still fluffy. Fluffy means that there is more volume than the start, it's lighter in texture as if there is air inside, but still soft when mixed. The batter is overbeaten if it becomes close to white and tough. Toughness is the best indicator of when you have gone too far. A tough batter will be very crisp outside but still wet and uncooked inside. A batter that is just right will make fluffy and soft cupcakes. If you prefer a denser one, stop earlier. 

These two parts are just the tricky bits of the recipe. Everything else is more straightforward than most. It's a simple one bowl recipe and easily changed to suit your liking. Add 4 tbsp of cocoa powder or cinnamon to taste with the other dry ingredients or fold in 100g nuts/100g dark or white chocolate chips/100g raisins after mixing and you'll have a whole other cupcake.

Vanilla Cupcakes

makes 18 cupcakes

adapted from 500 cupcakes 

Ingredients

225g unsalted butter

225g caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract 

Method
1. Preheat oven to 175C (350F).
2. Place 18 paper baking cases in muffin tins.
3. Combine all the cupcake ingredients in a medium bowl.
4. Beat with an electric beater until smooth and pale, about 2-3 minutes.
(optional step: if you add nuts/chocolates/raisins, fold in the ingredient at this stage)
5. Spoon the batter into cases.
6. Bake for 20 minutes.
7. Remove tins from the oven and cool for 5 minutes.
8. Cool cupcakes on a rack.

Strawberries 'n Cream cupcakes

Extra Ingredients

350ml thickened cream

4 tbsp pure icing sugar, sieved
1 tsp vanilla extract
375g sliced small strawberries
4 tbsp strawberry jam
1 tbsp water

Method
1. Combine the cream, icing sugar and vanilla in the bowl and beat with an electric beater until soft peaks.
2. Spoon onto the cooled cupcakes and arrange the strawberries on top. 
3. In a small saucepan, heat the jam and water until melted.
4. Brush the mixture on top of the strawberries.
5. Chill until ready to serve.