Month: April 2013

Show me a person who doesn’t like cupcakes and I’ll show you a mystery of the universe. Cupcakes are delicious! They’re delicate, small and tasty. Plus, since you can decorate them any way you like, they make a starling addition to any occasion — like, for example, a bridal shower.

And you don’t have to be a baking queen to make them look good. All you need is a few basic ingredients, an hour or so, and a zip-lock bag. Bada bing, bada boom – cute bridal shower cupcakes.

The batter

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 8oz unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat oven
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 2: Mix butter and sugar

Place the softened butter and sugar into a big bowl and beat them until they get fluffy.

Step 3: Add eggs

One by one add and mix the eggs into the mixture. Make sure to beat well between each addition so that the mixture is light.

Step 4: Add flour and milk

Add the baking powder and a third of the flour and mix lightly, then add the vanilla essence and a third of the milk and mix again. Alternate between the flour and milk, each time mixing lightly until everything is blended. Be careful not to over-mix.

Step 5: Spoon into forms

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake forms.

Step 6: Bake

Bake the cupcakes for 25 minutes. You can test if they’re ready by sliding a wooden stick into the center – if it comes out clean, they’re done.

Step 7: Cool cupcakes

Allow the cupcakes to cool and prepare the icing!

Icing

Ingredients:

• 4oz butter
• 2 ½ cups icing sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons milk
• 3 teaspoons rose syrup
• Food colouring
• Zip-lock bag

Step 1: Mix butter and icing sugar

Mix the butter and icing sugar until they form a smooth paste. If you’re worried about your mixer spraying the icing sugar all over the kitchen, and don’t have a guard, you can knead the butter and sugar together with your hands until they’re somewhat blended, then mix.

Step 2: Add milk

Add a tablespoon of milk and mix. If the mixture is still too stiff, add another spoonful.

Step 3: Add food coloring

Separate the icing into bowls and add the desired food coloring until you achieve the colors you like – you’ll need one color for the base, one for the leaves and at least one for the flower petals. I went with white, green and pink.

Step 4: Add rose syrup

Add a teaspoon of rose syrup to each of the colors of icing and stir it through lightly.

Step 5: Make base

Spread the base color of your icing mixture over the cupcakes.

Step 6: Make piping bag

Cut a triangle out of the corner of a zip-lock bag and fill it with the green icing.

Step 7: Make leaf

With the fold of the zip-lock bag facing up, squeeze out the icing. As you do so, move the bag slightly forwards and backwards to form the veins on the leaf. Here’s a brilliant YouTube tutorial by howtocookthat.net that’ll show you exactly what to do.

Step 8: Repeat

Repeat the process until you have two leaves on each of your cupcakes (except if you’re making mini ones, in which case one should be enough).

Step 9: Make petals

Wash out your piping bag or make a new one, and fill it with your flower icing (in my case, pink). Begin the same way as with the leaves, by squeezing out the icing, but rather than zigzag-ing in and out, squeeze lightly and pull the bag away and up, to form the petals.

Step 10: Make flower

Using the technique in step 9, work your way around the cupcake until you’ve completed a circle. Then make a smaller circle on the inside, and another one, until you reach the very center.

Step 11: Repeat

Repeat the steps until you’ve completed your cupcakes. For a bit of variety you could make other frosting colors, or vary the size of the flowers you make. Have fun with it!