Cupcakes not just for the children

By Sam Wylie-Harris

Published:

Carrot Cupcakes with Honey Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Grown-Up Mocha Cupcakes

Basic, Extremely Low-faff Square Cakes

A CHILDREN’S tea party could be the perfect excuse for grown-ups to reach for the baking tray and treat themselves to the “cream of the cupcake”. With naughty names like Bite My Cherry, Chocolate Maltesers and Lemony Lustres, tucking into a delicious cupcake could be as tempting as a trip to the sweet shop.

Kate Shirazi, founder of Cakeadoodledo mail-order cupcake business, has cooked up some whacky ideas from her farmhouse kitchen in Devon. Her colourful recipes come in three varieties, “Low-faff, middling-faff and high-faff”.

We’ve selected recipes for cakes the whole family can enjoy at teatime. And you can get some junior help in the kitchen with the stirring, the decorating – and the tasting, of course.

Makes about 12 if you can be bothered to put them in cases/cups

“These little dollops are really easy. It’s a tray bake. Sshhh. Don’t tell anyone,” says Kate.

110g (4oz)) self-raising flour

110g (4oz) caster (superfine) sugar

110g (4oz) margarine, softened

1 tspn baking powder

2 large free-range eggs

1 tspn pure vanilla extract

1 quantity of glace icing

Gel food colouring of your choice

Sprinkles of your choice to decorate

Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas Mark 3. Grease and line a 20cm (8in) square baking tin.

Sift the flour and sugar into a large mixing bowl, food processor or mixer. Add the margarine, baking powder, eggs and vanilla. Turn on or beat like fury until it’s all pale and fluffy. Tip the mixture (batter) into the prepared baking tin and level carefully. Bake in the centre of oven for about 20 minutes, or until the cake is firm to the touch and golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Make the icing (see below). You now have two options here. For both options, you need to have the cake upside down so that the bottom of the cake is the part that’s iced. If the top of the cake is not level, just level it by slicing the uneven bit off with a sharp knife so that the cake sits flat.

Option one means that you cover the whole cake in icing, add the sprinkles and cut into squares when the icing is dry. Place each square in an individual case.

Option two involves cutting the cake into squares first, then drizzling the icing over the individual squares so that the icing dribbles down the sides of the cakes too. Add the sprinkles and, when the icing is dry, place the squares in cases.

Makes enough for 12 cupcakes

“This is the simplest and most useful icing. Minimum ingredients and minimum fuss. Very easily correctable if you make it too thick or too thin,” says Kate.

200g (7oz) icing (confectioner’s) sugar, sifted

Juice of 1 large lemon or 55ml (2fl oz) boiling water

Gel food colouring of your choice

Put the sifted icing sugar in a bowl. Add the liquid slowly, a little at a time, and stir until smooth. Stop adding liquid when you like the look of the consistency. It should be a smidgen thicker than double (whipping) cream.

Add a tiny amount of colour – use a cocktail stick or toothpick dipped into the colour. You can always add more if you want, but there is no way to undo a lurid amount of colour without making a super-huge batch of icing.

Makes about 12

“The coffee in the buttercream makes these a bit more adult, and the sponge has that slight hint of bitterness that is needed to cut through all that topping. Most very grown-up and sensible people who wouldn’t usually think about eating a cupcake will be like putty in your hands if you offer them these,” says Kate.

85g (3oz) self-raising flour

4 tblspn cocoa powder

110g (4oz) caster (superfine) sugar

110g (4oz) margarine, softened

1 tspn baking powder

2 tblspn instant coffee granules dissolved in 2 tspn boiling water

2 large free-range eggs

25g (1oz) chocolate coffee beans (optional)

Gold dragees (optional) to decorate

For the mocha buttercream:

110g (4oz) unsalted butter, softened

225g (8oz) icing (confectioner’s sugar)

1 tblspn cocoa powder

1 tblspn instant coffee dissolved in 2 tspn boiling water

You will need a large piping (decorating) bag fitted with a star nozzle.

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake cases.

Sift the flour, cocoa and sugar into a mixing bowl, food processor or mixer. Add the margarine, baking powder, dissolved coffee and eggs, and beat well until the mixture (batter) is light and fluffy. (If you want to add a real bonus feature, chuck in a small handful of chocolate coffee beans and fold them in). Spoon the mixture into the prepared cases and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

To make the buttercream, put the butter in a bowl, sift the icing sugar and cocoa over the top and beat away. Add the coffee and beat again. If the mixture is too wet, add a bit more sifted icing sugar. Bit dry? Add a tiny bit more coffee.

Place a piping bag with a star nozzle into a beaker and fill the bag with the icing. Pipe huge, glamorous swirls on to the cakes and dot with gold dragees, if you so wish.

Makes about 10

175g (6oz) soft brown sugar

175ml (6fl oz) sunflower oil

3 large free-range eggs

150g (5½oz) plain flour

1½ tspn bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1½ tspn baking powder

1 tspn ground cinnamon

½ tspn freshly grated nutmeg

Pinch of salt

225g (8oz) grated or shredded carrot

For the cream cheese frosting:

1 x 225g (8oz) packet cream cheese (not soft or light cream cheese), softened

2 tspn honey (or more to taste)

Grated zest of 1 unwaxed orange

Orange sprinkles, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake cases. Mix the sugar and oil in a large bowl. Add the eggs and mix well. Sift in the dry ingredients and beat everything together until really well combined. Next, add the grated carrots and stir through well.

Place spoonfuls of mixture (batter) in the prepared cases and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Watch these like a hawk as they have a tendency to burn. If the tops are getting a bit dark and it looks like the innards are still raw, cover with greaseproof paper or baking parchment and cook a little longer. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

While they are cooling, make the frosting.

Put the cream cheese in a bowl and beat until softened. Stir in the honey and orange zest. Taste to make sure it is sweet enough. Add a bit more honey if you want. When the cakes are cold, spread the frosting over the top and decorate at will.