This recipe is easy to remember and will make light, fluffy cupcakes every time. When the butter and sugar are beaten and whisked it will create air pockets in the mixture. Also when the egg is then added the butter-sugar and egg mixture will trap even more air. Finally when baking powder is added to the cake batter, the baking powder will break down in the heat from the oven into carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide will expand the air pockets in the cake, which makes a light fluffy cake. Be careful not to over mix the cake batter as this will build up the gluten strands in the cake batter. This will make the cupcake tough and chewy.
Try adding different flavours to the cupcake batter such as lemon zest, chocolate chips or ground cardamom you can be creative, as you want with this recipe. Try not to add too much liquid ingredients, as this will affect the consistency of the cupcake batter. If you do decide to add liquid ingredients you may need to alter the amount of flour you need to counter the addition of more liquid.
Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
225g Soften Butter/Baking Spread
225g Caster Sugar
225g Self-raising Flour
4 x Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Essence/Paste
1 tsp Baking Powder
1. Pre heat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4.
2. Place the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and mix using a stand mixer until the ingredients become lighter and paler. The sugar and butter turns lighter in colour because air is being trapped into the mixture.
3. While the mixture is mixing add the eggs one at time until fully incorporated. If the eggs are added to0 quickly it will cause the cake batter to split. When a cake batter splits it can affect the texture of the cupcake, to fix this a tablespoon of flour can be added.
4. Add the self-raising flour, baking powder and vanilla essence/paste and mix until everything is mixed in evenly. Be careful not to over mix at this point.
5. Line a cupcake tray with cupcake liners. Using an ice cream scoop, place a scoop of the cake batter in each liner. By using an ice cream scoop all the cupcakes will have the same about of batter. Bake for 14 minutes or until the cupcakes have risen and are golden brown and springy to the touch. To check if the cupcakes are done, piece the center of the cupcake with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean then the cupcake is cooked.
6. Allow the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes if you are icing the cupcakes. If the cupcakes are too hot when they are being iced the frosting will melt quickly.