Love and Cupcakes

I decided this week to make cupcakes. Those of you who have read previous posts know how deeply I love to cook; how it nourishes my soul as well as my appetite. So making cupcakes is as much an expression of my love as it is a tasty treat for B1 and B2.

If only the cupcakes had known this and cooperated, all would have been well. This week was one of cupcake disasters. I made three successive batches of cupcakes following the recipe to the letter. Baking is exact science and cakes are not forgiving of any deviation from the recipe. The ratio of solids to liquids to fats is precise. Knowing this, I scoured through my cupcake recipe book, double-checked Michael Ruhlman's Ratio book and made sure the butter and eggs were at room temperature before I started.

Three batches of cupcakes were made. Three batches of cupcakes went sailing into the rubbish bin. Well, ok, two batches went into the bin. The third was rescued by B1 who threw himself in the path of the exiting cupcakes and barred their path with his person. His view of food borders on obsessive and the thought of  losing another batch to the bin was more than he could bear.

Then came the four-day-migraine which put paid to any notions of repeating the cupcake experiment. Today, heart in mouth and courage pinned, I went at it again. I threw aside my Cupcake Recipes book, Googled some good recipes and used the principles I'd learned in Ruhlman's Ratio. With all of this, I came up with a scrumptious, lightly chocolate, fluffy cupcake. So if you're in the mood for cupcakes, here's the recipe (and yes, that's them at the top of this post).

Slightly Lightly Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 150 g softened butter
• 150 g superfine (castor) sugar
• 175 g self raising flour
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 3 eggs lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

• Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake papers (use the good ones, they hold their shape better).
• Measure butter and sugar into a bowl.
• Measure and sift flour and cocoa into another bowl.
• Crack eggs into separate bowl and beat lightly with a fork.
• Beat sugar and butter with electric mixer until light and creamy.
• Add vanilla extract and beat again.
• Add eggs a little at a time, beating well between each addition (this is an important step and will stop the mix from curdling).
• Add flour mix and milk alternately and continue beating during additions till all ingredients are well mixed.
• Divide mixture evenly between the patty cases. Do not fill - 2/3 to 3/4 is plenty!
• Bake for 20 mins or until well risen, firm and springs back to the light touch.
• Allow to cool in the tin for 5 mins.
• Transfer to wire rack and allow to fully cool before icing.
• Ice as prefered (though they're delicious without icing too).

The key to this recipe is to work quickly and not overwork the mix. Overworking the mix will result in flat cupcakes (it ruins the raising agent in the SR flour).

Enjoy!