I was supposed to go to a house-warming last weekend, and when it was postponed, my husband was most disappointed. He didn’t even plan to accompany me to the house-warming, but he was really looking forward to the cupcakes I had planned to take along.
In my efforts to be a kind wife, I quartered the recipe and baked some cupcakes (minus the rich frosting) for us to enjoy at home. This is my mum’s recipe, which she usually uses to make plain cake in a loaf tin. The only thing plain about this cake is the recipe. It works just as well in a cupcake tray.
Old-fashioned cupcakes for me, naturally come with hundreds-and-thousands added to give some colour and that extra crunch. Unfortunately, because Taiwanese are not big on baking at home, baking ingredients are limited. I had to use other decorative sprinkles. They didn’t look as pretty, but they served the purpose.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Ingredients:
- 125 grams butter
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1.5 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup of milk
Method:
- Cream the butter and sugar. I usually take the butter out of the fridge immediately and chop it into small blocks, put it into the microwave for 10 seconds and use the back of the spoon to smoothen it out before I beat it with the sugar.
- Add the eggs, one at a time and then add the vanilla essence. Keep beating.
- Add the milk and keep beating.
- Add the dry ingredients and beat until you have a smooth batter.
Line a cupcake tray with paper cupcake-holders and spoon the batter into the individual cups. Fill each cup until it is about 2/3 full. Sprinkle hundreds-and-thousands over each cup of raw dough to ensure they look like mum’s. Bake for 17-22 minutes. Poke a cupcake with a toothpick after 17 minutes and if it comes out dry, it’s ready. If not, you know what to do.
Makes approximately 15 cupcakes.
Packing Bags and Plates 