Kiddy-friendly cupcakes

Alright I'm sorry. I haven't posted since January, that's awful isn't it? No excuses...just life's been getting in the way of this blog...and so has the main blog I write - The Boy's Behaviour.

But, I do have some things to share...so without further ado -

Kiddy-friendly cupcakes

 

Yes, there are plenty of cupcake recipes out there, including on this blog, but this is the simplest, easiest recipe and this time my kids (aged 6 and 2) made cakes almost entirely by themselves (with the help of my trusty mixer). They measured everything between them, they cracked the eggs (into a cup first to check for bits of shell), they poured things into the mixer, turned it on, put the cases in the tins, and spooned the mix in. They iced and decorated them and then ate them!

This recipe made 12 fairy cakes AND 12 cupcakes - so small and large cases. And it's in ounces because that's the easiest way to remember it:

4 eggs
8 oz sugar (granulated/caster)
8 oz self raising flour
8 oz margarine

For the icing:
Icing sugar
A little water
Food colouring

Preheat your oven to 180C.

In the mixer, cream together the margarine and sugar til fluffy. Add one egg, then a spoonful of flour, mix until combined. Repeat for the other eggs, then finally add the remaining flour. Mix until smooth and incorporated.

Divide the mixture evenly between the cases and then adult's job is the put the cakes in the oven. The fairy cakes will take around 12 minutes, the cupcakes nearer 15minutes. Remove from the oven and put the cakes on a rack to cool.

Once the cakes are cool, add a dribble of water to a bowl of icing sugar, remember that liquid food colouring will also make your icing runnier. (I prefer to use gel colours).

Then decorate! The best thing about these particular cakes are the toppers, which are pictures printed onto rice paper, bought from Ebay. I got Hello Kitty toppers for Dollop, and Lego Ninjago for Mini - they both declared them the best cakes ever!

First bake - malted chocolate and vanilla cupcakes

Hi and welcome to my new blog - Cakes, Bakes and Makes.

Here I aim to share some of the things that I make - some regularly, some not so regularly, and if I'm brave enough, I might even share some of the disasters too! I love baking, and love eating the results, and with a hungry husband and 2 young children, I always have willing testers too.

But I don't just make cakes; I like baking savoury things and I like to cook generally. And, I like doing craft activities too - often with the children. So hope to feature all these on the blog at some point soon.

So for my first bake, I want to share my malted chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with you, this recipe makes 12:

For the vanilla cupcakes:
3 eggs
175g margarine
175g sugar(granulated works fine, or caster)
175g self raising flour
vanilla extract (never flavouring)

For the malted chocolate icing and decoration:
2tbs malt extract
9ozmargarine, softened
18oz icing sugar
2oz cocoa
1 bag of maltesers, keep 12 for the tops, but crush the remainder of the packet into sprinkles.

Preheat your oven to around 180° C. 

Line a 12 hole muffin tin with either cupcake or muffin cases.

In a mixer, by hand or with an electric handwhisk, cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add one egg, swiftly followed by a dessert spoonful of the flour, beat for a moment. Then repeat the process for the remaining eggs. Add the vanilla and finally beat in the remaining flour.

Divide this mixture evenly between the cases and cook for around 12-15minutes until the sponges are lightly browned and spring back when pressed lightly. Remove from the tin and allow to cool on a rack until completely cold.

To make the icing, first beat together the malt extract and margarine. Then add the icing sugar and cocoa. You and your kitchen will get covered in a cloud of icing sugar if you're not careful - my mixer comes with a guard which helps contain the mix within, but you could also use a dampened tea-towel over the bowl to help lessen the white dusting! If the icing looks to soft to pipe or looks like it might not hold a piped swirl, then add more icing sugar a little at a time. If it looks too stiff, then you could add a dribble of milk until it's the desired consistency.

Now the choice is yours - either fill a piping bag and pipe the icing onto your cupcakes, or spread it on with a spoon or palette knife. Immediately sprinkle over some of the crushed maltesers and top with a whole one. 

Eat.

There you go, my first bake for you. I'll add that this is my basic cupcake recipe and I tweak it with flavours and textures, but I almost always start with this as a base.

Maltesers as a sprinkle to tend to go a little sticky and lose their crunch within a day or so, so don't make these too far in advance.

The malt icing is quite strong so you can adjust to taste, or you might like to try a stout flavour cupcake with this icing - it can take a lot of flavour underneath.

Enjoy x