Last week, when I was working with the children, we made cup cakes. Although the cup cakes are always very popular, we make them at work from a packet mix. When I first started working there, I had no idea how to make a cake from a cake mix, but I have noticed that there are children who seem not realise that there is an alternative. When I told Roy that some children didn't know how to make cup cakes 'from scratch' he thought that was very sad and immediately decided we should share our recipe. It is known as 'three minute cup cakes' and is a very old recipe but very easy and quick to make - and all you need is a bowl and wooden spoon. The cakes are delicious too!
You Will Need:
- 1 heaped cup of self-raising flour
- 1/2 cup of white or castor sugar
- 1/2 a cup of milk
- 1 egg
- 110 grams of melted butter or margarine
- 1/4 of a teaspoon of vanilla
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius.
- Put cupcake liners into a cupcake tray. Cupcake trays are traditionally smaller than muffin trays, and Roy and I like our little cupcakes, but you can make big cupcakes if you want - they will take longer to cook though!
- Put the flour and sugar in the bowl and combine.
- Add the vanilla to your milk - this will make the vanilla spread through the mix more evenly.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients (basically, you just want to make a hole in the middle of the ingredients to put the wet ingredients into).
- Add the milk, egg and butter into the bowl.
- Mix thoroughly with the wooden spoon until you have a smooth batter.
- Use a teaspoon to fill the cupcake containers with the mix. You want to only fill them about 2/3 of the way or they will make a mess in your oven when they rise!
- Bake for about 12 minutes until they are golden and delicious smelling. To test if they are ready, poke a cake tester into the centre and if it comes out clean they are done. They also bounce back when you touch them when they are cooked.
- Transfer them to a wire rack to cool before icing. They are also delicious warm, but if you try to ice them while hot the icing will run off! You can also add sultana's or choc chips to the batter or use them as the base for butterfly cakes.
To Make The Icing
You Will Need:
- 1 cup of icing sugar mix
- 1 dessertspoon of butter or margarine
- Flavouring and colouring:
- Roy and I decided to make chocolate icing so we added a dessertspoon of cocoa powder. If you want vanilla or another flavour . . .
- . . . add 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla essence, or other essence of your choice and a drop or 2 of food colouring, of your choice. Hint - add colouring with a toothpick or you might overdo it!
- Boiling water, in a teacup and a teaspoon
- Hundreds and thousands
Method:
- Put the icing sugar, butter and cocoa (or essence and colouring) into a bowl.
- Add the boiling water, 1 teaspoon at a time, mixing as you go. Remember, you can always add more water, but you can't take it out! Hint - if it is too runny you can add a little more icing sugar. You want it to look like the picture below.
- When you have a good consistency, thick enough to not run off the cakes but thin enough to spread, use a knife to spread the icing onto the cakes.
- Dip into a bowl of hundreds and thousands.
- Enjoy!