Fall Harvest Goodies: Pumpkin Cupcakes
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A dozen of these cupcakes were casually carted off to a friend’s house last night as dessert for six kiddies, and another near-dozen vanished straight down the cake holes of immediate family members and sleepover pals, before I fully appreciated their appeal. So, here’s the recipe for these moist and luscious babies.
Those of you who enjoy amassing your pumpkin puree via slaving over a stove (ie. cubing and baking the squash, then whizzing in a food processor) may do so. Without sacrificing much in taste, those of you who struggle to find a minute to yourselves may enjoy my preferred puree-obtaining method for baking – via can opener!
After nearly hacking off a finger for the second year in a row, you may as well enjoy our Halloween squash handiwork too 
Lemon Sunshine Cupcake Minis
It’s miserable outside. Grim, grey, gloomy, garbage. We’ve had a couple of days of this already, topped off on Friday with a poorly child (he woke up sounding like a grumpy rhinoceros with pneumonia, but, from the second I told him he had to stay home, ne’er a sniffle was heard). He still looked awful, pretty hard for him from a doting mother’s point of view, and it was the sole clue of his true health.
Birthday Cupcake Gallery
My younger son’s birthday and party came and went over the weekend, thankfully without too much drama. He wanted cupcakes and he got cupcakes. A whole load of them. Hope you have as much fun in the seeing as he and his mates did in the eating of them!
Cupcake Calamity in Car
I baked a dozen cupcakes to take along to my younger son’s school today for his birthday on Saturday. I’m afraid I’m one of those awful parents who insists on bringing cupcakes to school! I wonder if the fact that they’re lovingly homemade, with wholegrain flour and the best ingredients (and no nuts), makes a difference. No matter. He wanted cupcakes for his mates and I obliged.
The ones you see here are just the rehearsal lot (later eaten by his classmates). There are more I’ll frost for his party tomorrow.
Anyway, as I had swirled the frosting too high on the cupcakes, I couldn’t use my 24-cupcake carrier as it was, but had to remove the second storey to allow headroom for the little gateaux. With those 12, and another dozen in a separate container, I piled the kids into the car and set off. (more…)
A Ghastly To-Do List. And Halloween Cupcakes To Die For
The to-do list went on and on, even as a sense of foreboding and doubt built, as if it were The Ten Commandments. Only it outnumbered them: (more…)
Cinnamon Cupcakes
Birthday Cupcakes II – Frosting and Gallery
My son insisted that I present a choice of frosting for his classmates – apparently the vanilla lovers among his friends don’t care for chocolate and vice versa. Sigh. Fast forward several hours and this is the result. Good job his mummy loves baking!
Vanilla icing:
- butter, 1 stick, room temperature
- icing sugar, 3-4 cups
- whipping cream, 1/4 cup
- vanilla, 1 tsp
- salt, pinch
Chocolate icing:
- butter, 1 stick, room temperature
- dark chocolate, 6 oz
- whipping cream, a few tablespoons
- vanilla, 1 1/2 tsp
- icing sugar, 3 cups
- Cream all the ingredients together
- Frost as desired
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Birthday Cupcakes – Slideshow
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Birthday Cupcakes – Butterscotch Vanilla
Hooray, another birthday comes around and with it, the opportunity to play with food! This recipe, which yields about 40 butterscotch-vanilla flavoured beauties, will particularly be enjoyed by those who like digging into their cupcakes before they’re baked – what a pretty caramel colour the batter is too
Pour les petites gateaux:
- plain flour, 4 cups
- white sugar, 2 cups
- brown sugar, 3/4 cup
- butter, 2 3/4 sticks, softened
- eggs, 5
- milk, 1 1/3 cup
- vanilla, 2 tsp
- baking powder, 1 tsp
- baking soda, 1 tsp
- salt, 1 tsp
- Preheat the oven to 350F, 180C
- Cream the butter and sugar till pale and fluffy
- Add the eggs, one at a time, process further
- In another bowl, sieve together all dry ingredients
- Add dry ingredients and milk, in small portions, to creamed sugar/butter
- Use an ice cream scoop to pour batter into paper cupcake liners in baking pan
- Ensure the cupcake liners are no more than 3/4s full
- Bake for about 18-20 minutes, till the centre feels firm and looks golden brown
- Cool and frost as desired
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Vanilla-White Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
My children were keen that I bake cupcakes and soon. Here’s what we whipped up on this frosty, snowstormy afternoon.
- 250g butter, softened
- 250g castor sugar
- 250g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp vanilla essence
- salt, pinch
- cream, 2-3 tbsp
- white chocolate chips, a handful
- Preheat oven to 420F or 200C
- Cream butter and sugar together till fluffy and white
- Sift flour and baking soda into the mixture
- Add all the other ingredients and whizz together till combined
- Fold the white chocolate chips into the batter
- Grease some paper cupcake liners in a muffin tray and drop the mixture into them, one icecream scoop at a time, till about 3/4s full
- Bake for 13-14 mins
- This amount yields about 24 cupcakes
For the icing:
- butter, softened, about 3/4 stick (90g)
- icing sugar, 2-3 heaped cups
- whipping cream, 2-3 tbsp
- vanilla essence, a few drops
- red gel food colouring, one drop
- Cream all together till fluffy, thick and relatively stiff
- Pipe into a bag with a round nozzle or jagged one and
- Ice as you fancy. Enjoy!
(All text and photos or images are copyright protected. Please do not reprint any stories, recipes or photographs without the author’s permission.)
