19 October 2011

Cupcake Crazy

The world seems to have gone cupcake crazy in the last five years. The humble cup cake with icing and hundreds and thousands is no longer.  Instead it has become a work of art. Some really are too beautiful to contemplate eating they are so decorated.

While the decorating has become more intricate the actual cup cake itself remains the same.  A simple mixture of flour, eggs, milk, sugar and a flavouring. With a basic plain frosted cupcake costing upwards of $2 each (yes, $2 EACH) cup cakes are being priced out of the everyday lunchbox and birthday party.

The recipe below makes twelve regular sized cupcakes for $1.92 - less than the price of one bought from a bakery! Not only that but you can have twelve freshly baked cup cakes made in under 30 minutes -  faster than you can get in the car, drive to the bakery, find a parking spot, wait in the queue and drive home! And you save the petrol money too!

The Worlds Easiest Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup cream
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups SR flour
2 eggs

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Prepare patty pans by either greasing and dusting with flour or lining with cup cake papers.  Combine cream and sugar. Add flour and beaten eggs to the mixture. Spoon into patty pans and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until tops are golden and spring back when touched.

Variation:

Add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder for chocolate cakes.

Cake decorating isn't my forte, but I can follow  recipes and instructions. In fact if I didn't have the Women's Weekly Birthday Cake book my children would have been stuck with an iced sponge for birthday cakes instead of the Mum-made wonders they had over the years.

Nowadays when it comes to decorating your cup cakes the sky is the limit!  A simple glace icing will do. Or you can make a butter cream frosting and pipe it onto the top of your cakes for an extra special occasion (these cupcakes do not travel well in lunchboxes).

If you really aren't creative there are some really cute cake decorations available in your local supermarket.  You'll also find some gorgeous cake papers and toppers at Matchbox, House and other similar kitchenware stores.  Of course you'll pay a pretty penny for them but browsing is good for inspiration if the budget won't allow such extravagances.

I found some very cute silicone cup cake moulds at our local Borders when they were having their closing down sale - they really are little cups and saucers!  Just perfect for a little girls (or big girls) tea party.

And then there are the giant cup cakes. Hannah is the cup cake queen in our house, she whips them up and then spends hours decorating them so when she found the giant cup cake tin on the clearance rack at Big W we had to have it, especially as it was marked down from $20 to $5.  It's had quite a workout, being the birthday cake shape of choice for us all this year.  She's even made a couple as birthday cakes for school friends. They are decorated just  like a cupcake - coloured icing and sprinkles or jelly beans, depending on whether the cake is for a boy or a girl.

All this talk of cup cakes has me thinking Hannah will have a job to do when she gets home from school - we could be enjoying cup cakes for dessert tonight!

1 comment:

  1. Hey there! This post could not be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my good old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this write-up to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing! Also, please take a look at my website

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