Cupcakes as a Birthday Surprise | Baking
I don't bake as often as I'd like to but I do still enjoy the process. It's quite therapeutic to toss together some ingredients, mix everything up, throw them the mixture into the oven and get delicious baked goods afterwards. It's something that occupy your hands and give your mind a quite simple task to focus on. It's a nice way to have a bit of a break while still feeling like you're doing something productive.
Sometimes, I do find baking stressful. If I'm under a strict time limit or it's a new recipe that I'm worried about screwing up, it takes a bit of that calmness away. So I try to make sure I have enough time and only try out new recipes when I'm feeling on top and a bit adventurous. Slowly but surely, I'll be able to add to the repertoire of what I'm comfortable baking. I'm the same with cooking food in general.
Yesterday, I decided it was the perfect time to return to an old trusted recipe for a special occasion. It was my mother's birthday a few days before but she'd been abroad and was returning home the following morning. I got the idea in my head that having a festive cupcake as greeting when she and my father came home would be quite cute. I couldn't be there myself because of work but at least I could leave something nice for them to return to.
Additionally, I was going to see a couple of friend that same afternoon and I thought it would be a nice treat to bring over. And I was right, my two friends absolutely loved these sweet treats. As did my Mum when she returned home, so it was a quite successful endeavour. I'll go through the recipe briefly on here, because why not? It's always nice to have electronic access to one of my favourite recipes.
The recipe is from Tanya Bakes, which I bought last year. It's got so many recipes but this one is one of the simplest and one I tend to gravitate towards, along with her cookie recipe. However, I made a few adjustments with the icing but all in due time.
You'll need 250 grams of butter, 180 grams of sugar, 160 grams of flour, 160 dl. of milk, 350 grams of icing sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, baking powder, red food colouring and 12 cupcake cases. One of the thing I love about this recipe is that usually all ingredients are in-house when you feel the baking urge. There really isn't many speciality ingredients. Start by preheating your oven to 180 degrees, unless it's really fast like ours is in which case you can do it half-way through the mixing process.
Whisk all the sugar and 50 grams of the butter together and then add a few squeezes of vanilla extract (original recipe says just a teaspoon). I preheat the butter in the microwave because it needs to be soften and I never plan ahead enough to put it out beforehand. Ten seconds will be more than enough.
Crack in the egg and add all of the flour as well as two teaspoons of baking powder, all of which will make it more of a batter consistency.
Gradually, add in your milk (I usually add it in about three segments, whisking in between each). This will make your batter nice runny without losing consistency entirely.
I place all of the cupcake casings on our wire rack and then pour the batter equally into them. This is honestly always a struggle for me as I tend to get batter all over the rack and the paper cases but in this specific case it went rather well.
Pop them into the oven until golden brown on top. This will likely be between 15 to 20 minutes. On this particular day I let them stay in just past 20 minutes but I was sitting on the floor, scrolling through social media while I waited for them to finish. Sitting on the floor, especially if it's nice and heated like ours, contributes to the therapeutic effect of baking for me. Through I wouldn't recommend if it's more than half an hour in the oven, you'd likely get bored.
As you can see, the structural integrity of the cupcake cases or size portions don't always work in my favour and one spilled out. All the more excuse to eat the excess while the cake is still hot and lovely. Not that much of a problem if you ask me. Leave them to cool down until they're not hot at all. I let mine be for nearly three hours while I took a quick shower and read 50 pages for my class the following day.
Now to the part where I deviate a bit from the recipe other than adding more vanilla extract than suggested. I've found 250 grams of butter with 500 grams of icing sugar (as the recipe says) to be way too much for twelve cupcakes. Only using 200 grams of butter (softened in the microwave again), 350 grams of icing sugar and a couple of splashed of boiling water works much better in my opinion. It makes a more pliable consistency, easy to plop onto the cooled cupcakes and there'll still be so much icing. I also added several drops of red food colouring because I wanted to slightly represent our flag with vanilla cupcakes and red icing, even if they more looked pastel than like Dannebrog (our flag).
Twelve lovely cupcakes with one specifically decorated for the occasion. It took centerstage this morning and greeted my parents as they came home from their long-haul flight and errands.
It's nice to remember to do little things for the people you love. I wrote a rambly note to go with the cupcake this morning, very early before heading to work. It's been quite a while since I wasn't with my mother on her birthday, even if we video messaged on the day, so it was lovely to do a little thing for her. Furthermore, my friends, the family and myself got some nice treats out of it as well, so it's all good.
Sometimes, I do find baking stressful. If I'm under a strict time limit or it's a new recipe that I'm worried about screwing up, it takes a bit of that calmness away. So I try to make sure I have enough time and only try out new recipes when I'm feeling on top and a bit adventurous. Slowly but surely, I'll be able to add to the repertoire of what I'm comfortable baking. I'm the same with cooking food in general.
Yesterday, I decided it was the perfect time to return to an old trusted recipe for a special occasion. It was my mother's birthday a few days before but she'd been abroad and was returning home the following morning. I got the idea in my head that having a festive cupcake as greeting when she and my father came home would be quite cute. I couldn't be there myself because of work but at least I could leave something nice for them to return to.
The finished product - quite happy with how they turned out
Additionally, I was going to see a couple of friend that same afternoon and I thought it would be a nice treat to bring over. And I was right, my two friends absolutely loved these sweet treats. As did my Mum when she returned home, so it was a quite successful endeavour. I'll go through the recipe briefly on here, because why not? It's always nice to have electronic access to one of my favourite recipes.
The recipe is from Tanya Bakes, which I bought last year. It's got so many recipes but this one is one of the simplest and one I tend to gravitate towards, along with her cookie recipe. However, I made a few adjustments with the icing but all in due time.
You'll need 250 grams of butter, 180 grams of sugar, 160 grams of flour, 160 dl. of milk, 350 grams of icing sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, baking powder, red food colouring and 12 cupcake cases. One of the thing I love about this recipe is that usually all ingredients are in-house when you feel the baking urge. There really isn't many speciality ingredients. Start by preheating your oven to 180 degrees, unless it's really fast like ours is in which case you can do it half-way through the mixing process.
Whisk all the sugar and 50 grams of the butter together and then add a few squeezes of vanilla extract (original recipe says just a teaspoon). I preheat the butter in the microwave because it needs to be soften and I never plan ahead enough to put it out beforehand. Ten seconds will be more than enough.
Crack in the egg and add all of the flour as well as two teaspoons of baking powder, all of which will make it more of a batter consistency.
Gradually, add in your milk (I usually add it in about three segments, whisking in between each). This will make your batter nice runny without losing consistency entirely.
I place all of the cupcake casings on our wire rack and then pour the batter equally into them. This is honestly always a struggle for me as I tend to get batter all over the rack and the paper cases but in this specific case it went rather well.
Pop them into the oven until golden brown on top. This will likely be between 15 to 20 minutes. On this particular day I let them stay in just past 20 minutes but I was sitting on the floor, scrolling through social media while I waited for them to finish. Sitting on the floor, especially if it's nice and heated like ours, contributes to the therapeutic effect of baking for me. Through I wouldn't recommend if it's more than half an hour in the oven, you'd likely get bored.
As you can see, the structural integrity of the cupcake cases or size portions don't always work in my favour and one spilled out. All the more excuse to eat the excess while the cake is still hot and lovely. Not that much of a problem if you ask me. Leave them to cool down until they're not hot at all. I let mine be for nearly three hours while I took a quick shower and read 50 pages for my class the following day.
Now to the part where I deviate a bit from the recipe other than adding more vanilla extract than suggested. I've found 250 grams of butter with 500 grams of icing sugar (as the recipe says) to be way too much for twelve cupcakes. Only using 200 grams of butter (softened in the microwave again), 350 grams of icing sugar and a couple of splashed of boiling water works much better in my opinion. It makes a more pliable consistency, easy to plop onto the cooled cupcakes and there'll still be so much icing. I also added several drops of red food colouring because I wanted to slightly represent our flag with vanilla cupcakes and red icing, even if they more looked pastel than like Dannebrog (our flag).
It's nice to remember to do little things for the people you love. I wrote a rambly note to go with the cupcake this morning, very early before heading to work. It's been quite a while since I wasn't with my mother on her birthday, even if we video messaged on the day, so it was lovely to do a little thing for her. Furthermore, my friends, the family and myself got some nice treats out of it as well, so it's all good.
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