QUICK CUPCAKES FOR KIDS By Anna Eden

• 

• 

Let’s make some delicious Vanilla cupcakes

There’s nothing like a handy little recipe! Let’s me show you how to make some  deliciously quick cupcakes that the whole family will enjoy!  

Have this one up your sleeve

I always think that having key recipes up your sleeve is a must! It was for this very  reason that I started The CCC! My Grandmother shared her little book of secret recipes  with me before she passed away and I am so grateful to her for that. Included was this  wonderfully easy cupcake recipe that we would beg her to make with us (reminding her  that there were no longer butter rations!) Now let’s get started! 

Ingredients

• 1200 g plain flour (sieved) 
• 150 g caster sugar 
• 125 g butter (room temperature)
• 125 ml milk (room temperature) 
• 2 large eggs (room temperature) 
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt  
• 2 teaspoon(s) baking powder
• 1tsp pure vanilla extract 

Method

1. Warm up the oven 170C (160C for fan oven) 
2. Put ALL the ingredients together into the mixing bowl and mix by hand or on a  slow speed until no lumps remain. 
3. Put batter into cupcake cases using a cup, ice cream scoop or spoon. Fill 3/4 of  each case 
4. Fill your cases up to weigh between 36g-38g for the perfect cupcake ready to  decorate with buttercream frosting. 
5. Bake until springy to touch (approx. 18-20 mins depending on your oven). 
6. Gently open your oven door when the cupcakes are ready and place onto wire  baking rack to cool completely before decorating (or, if you are like me, wait 1  minute before enjoying one warm from the oven – you can’t beat it!).

Anna’s Tips! 

• For delicious a light chocolate cupcakes, replace 35g of the flour with high quality  cocoa powder – super easy! 
• Always work with your ingredients at room temperature – you will thank me for  this! 
• Make sure to warm your oven up when you start mixing everything together so  that it has reached the desired temperature when you need to use it! 
• Use the best quality ingredients that you can afford – cupcakes are a treat so be  good to yourself and don’t bake with rubbish. 

Let’s keep this simple! 

When our bakers start with us at The CCC we spend so much time working on  buttercream. Why? Well, it can be a very fickle thing and you need to know how to ‘read’  your buttercream. I’ve had days where the warmth of the mixing paddle actually started  cooking the butter so it ended up splitting just as we were piping over 1000 cupcakes!  When we first did Valentine’s Day, we made over 3000 red velvet cupcakes and piped  them all with red buttercream roses. Sounds simple huh? Wrong! This was a nightmare.  The kitchen looked like a massacre had occurred with red food colouring splattered  across the ceiling, our staff’s hands and the walls…and then the 20 kg bowl of red  buttercream split! So you really do have to take your time to really perfect your  buttercream and take every step slowly, tweaking here and there. 

Ingredients

• 125g unsalted butter, softened 
• 250 pure icing sugar 
• 2-3 tablespoons whole milk 
• 1⁄2 teaspoon of high-quality pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste (don’t be  tempted to add more otherwise it may taste bitter) 

Method

1. Make sure your butter is room temperature
2. Cream the butter using your whisk or mix master (or lovely Kitchenaid if you have one) until it starts looking more white rather than cream-coloured.
3. Sift in your icing sugar slowly whilst continuing to mix. Always use pure icing sugar and not the mixture.
4. Combine your milk and vanilla.

Anna’s Tips! 

• Don’t fancy plain ol’ vanilla buttercream, then substitute the vanilla essence with  other flavours! 
  • A squeeze of fresh lemon 
  • A squeeze of fresh orange 
  • Tablespoon of blended raspberries 
  • Tablespoon of pureed strawberries 
  • Shot of coffee 
• Always work with your ingredients at room temperature – you will thank me for  this! 
• Use the best quality ingredients that you can afford – cupcakes are a treat so be  good to yourself and don’t bake with rubbish. 
• If your buttercream splits then slowly add a little more icing sugar until it comes  together. 
• Add melted white, milk or dark chocolate to your buttercream for white choc  buttercream! 
• Create two-tone buttercream by filling half of your piping bag with one colour of  buttercream and the other half with another colour. Use a Wilton 1M nozzle to  get this exact effect on top of your cupcake.