Cupcakes

When my friend asked me the other day if I wanted to hang out and watch a movie, I said yes on one condition: that she would let me teach her how to make cupcakes from scratch. You see, I had a couple of weeks earlier been gobsmacked when said friend told me that she did a little bit of baking, but that she always used the "just add water"-cake mixes. I really couldn't believe what I was hearing, and vowed to give her a lesson in baking when I had time.

Since she didn't have any of the ingredients I had to bring flour, baking powder, sugar and eggs. The rest of the ingredients we picked up at the store on our way to her place, she came to pick me up in her car since it was raining and I don't have a car, nor do I drive.

The cupcakes turned out great and I left my friend with the recipe, she even asked for it, and said, quite a few times, while we were baking that "this wasn't as difficult as I'd expected it to be". Yay, mission accomplished!

Cupcakes
Makes about 20 cupcakes
Adopted from Laila bakar

100 g butter, melted
2 2 eggs
1.5 1.5 dl caster sugar
1 1 tsk vanilla sugar
2 2 dl milk
1 1 lemon, the zest
4 4 dl flour
2 2 tsk baking powder
1 1 pinch salt

Frosting:
100 g Philadelphia cheese
60 60 g soft butter
300 300 g chocolate/strawberry flavoured powdered sugar
0.5 the juice of ½ lemon

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200 C fan, or 220 C if you use a normal oven.

2. Start by beating the eggs and the sugars until you have a pale yellow, fluffy batter.

3. Pour in the melted butter, milk and the lemon zest. Mix to combine.

4. Using a wooden spoon or a spatula, fold in the flour, baking powder and salt.

5. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners and fill each liner 3/4 of the way up. Place on the middle shelf of the oven for 10 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out dry and clean.

6. Allow to cool some in the tin before tipping the cupcakes out to cool completely on a wire rack.

7. Make the frosting:
Cream butter, powdered sugar and lemon juice. Mix in the cream cheese.
Spread or pipe onto the cupcakes and garnish with sprinkles or flowers.

Orange and lemon flavoured cupcakes

Despite the sun shining brightly outside, I am inside baking cupcakes. I had been sitting outside, reading food magazines , when I came across this recipe. It looked yummie, the yellowie cupcake with its blue frosting, topped off with black currants. How could I resist an image like that? I just had to make my own batch.

I tried to wait for as long as I possibly could before going back inside to bake the cupcakes. When I couldn't wait any longer, I kept telling myself that "well, it's 1p.m-ish, and that's when the sun shines at it brightest", as if that was of any concern to me; being born in India, the only time I'd ever gotten sunburned was once on a snowboarding trip to Chamonix, France. Apparently, high altitudes does burn even my Indian skin....

Orange and lemon flavoured cupcakes
Makes 16

3 eggs

150 g sugar
zest of one orange or lemon
200 g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp powdered vanilla sugar
½ tsp salt
½ dl milk
3/4 dl orange juice
2 tbsp lemon juice

Frosting

200 g powdered sugar/icing sugar
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp lemon- or lime juice
food colouring or fruit juice
fresh berries

Preheat your oven to 180°C

Beat the eggs and sugar together in a bowl. Add milk, lemon-/lime juice, and zest. Carefully fold in the flour mixed with baking soda, powdered vanilla sugar, and salt. Line an oven tray with 15-20 cupcake paper liners, or line standard cupcake tins with paper liners.Fill each paper liner 2/3 full. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool on wire racks.

Mix the icing sugar with water and lemon- or orange juice. Add a couple of drops of food coloring/fruit juice, stir. Using a spoon, garnish each cupcake with frosting and fresh berries.

På svenska
Citron- och apelsinmuffins

Orange flavoured chocolate cupcakes

Today's project, after yesterday's nearly lethal spicy dinner, is to make birthday cupcakes for my bf's dad who turns 70 today.

I have been browsing through different blogs looking for the perfect recipe. I knew what I wanted, something easy to make, but at the same time something utterly delicious. Don't know why I thought that one excluded the other!!

I stumbled across several recipes that sounded yummie, Martha has some great ones over @ MarthaStewart.com, but I decided on this recipe from DagensMuffins in the end. I tweaked it some, the original recipe does not call for orange zest....

Orange flavoured chocolate cupcakes
Makes 15-20

2 eggs
3 dl sugar
1 ½ dl all-purpose flour
4 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp powdered vanilla sugar
a pinch of salt
100 g margarine or butter, melted
zest from 1/4 orange
15-20 squares of chocolate

Pre-heat the oven to 200° C

Beat eggs and sugar together in a plastic bowl.

Add the flour, cocoa, powdered vanilla, and salt.

Whisk well to combine until smooth.

Add in the melted margarine/butter, and mix to combine.

Grate orange zest into the mixture, and whisk some more to combine.

Line an oven tray with 15-20 cupcake paper liners, or line standard cupcake tins with paper liners.

Fill each paper liner 2/3 full. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes. When done, transfer onto wire racks, press a chocolate square into each cupcake, and set to cool allowing the chocolate to melt ontop of the chocolate cupcake.

På svenska
Apelsinsdoftande chokladmuffins