Cupcakes have personality.
They are the #1 reason for goofy smiles.
They can end wars and start world peace.
Don’t believe me? I’ll prove it to you.
You fought with your best friend? Give him/her a cupcake.
Your boss wants to destroy your life? Cupcake.
Gloomy weather got you down? Cupcake.
You want someone to marry you? Cupcake.
Cupcake, cupcake, cupcake.
You will thank me.
There is just something special about these small, adorable treats.
Can you see it?
How about now?
What I love about the cupcake is that it really is rather humble. I mean I know there are stuffed cupcakes (crazy!), layered cupcakes (genius!), and liquer cupcakes (I’m in heaven), but usually it all begins with a basic cupcake.
Something like this?
And then you get busy.
You scribble, sprinkle, squeeze, smile.
You dip, dry, decorate, dance.
You hold, heat, hide, hop.
You…get the drift.
So you can make a “La-dee-daa” cupcake.
Or an “Excuse me, while I turn away from your silliness” cupcake.
Maybe a “I may look 25, but secretly I’m 5” cupcake.
Or my current favourite – “I’m fancy so deal with it” cupcake.
Explore your hidden personalities.
Be silly, smiley, sophisticated, angry, loopy, or crazy.
Make cupcakes that celebrate you. And share them with someone.
Celebration cupcakes
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 12-15 mins
Makes: 6
Ingredients:
65 g plain flour, sifted
65 g salted butter, melted and cooled
65 g finely ground sugar, sifted
1 large egg
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp vanilla essence
for decorations see below
Method:
For the cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 180º C. Line a six-grooved cupcake tray with paper liners.
- Gently mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix until it comes together and becomes a pale yellow, shiny batter.
- Use a spoon to drop the batter into the 6 liners. Don’t worry if the tops are uneven. The heat in the oven will make them smooth.
- Put the tray into the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes. Take the cupcakes out of the tray and leave to cool on a wire rack.
For the decorations
- For the pink and yellow cupcakes, I used regular butter-cream icing. For this, mix 4 tbsp melted and cooled butter with 30g icing sugar. Add a few drops of vanilla essence, and mix well. Add a little more sugar if the consistency isn’t thick enough to hold. Add a drop of your preferred food colour and mix again. Spoon this into an icing bag and pipe away. Add sprinkles or sugar flowers on top.
- The brown sugar cupcake is very easy to do, and so delicious. Heat 2 tbsp butter in a small pan. Add 2 tbsp granulated brown sugar and leave for a couple of minutes. When you see bubbles appearing around the edges, stir gently and remove from the heat. Carefully (it’s very hot!) spoon over your cupcake.
- For the colourful red and green cupcake, I used edible food colour pens a fabulous friend brought me from Germany. Find some and create scribbly cupcakes!
culinarystorm 
Wow..awesome stuff Charis!Will keep coming back for recipes and some lovely writing 🙂
Q: So for your butter cream you use regular salted butter?
You could use unsalted as well. I like salted because I always have some at hand, and the saltiness offsets the sugar slightly.
They taste as good as they look. And they look like different districts of paradise.But even better is the text itself which is as fresh and friendly and funny and fabulous as YOU.!!!!!!! =)
Stormmmmmmmm! This is brilliant stuff. Cant say enough how inspiring this stuff is. I solemnly swear to now try my hand at everything you post here (vegetarian only ofcourse! :P) and tell you how it went.
Love the cupcakes, love the icing and LOVE the name of the blog….well done! 🙂
Congratulations and thanks, Charis for 1) inspiring me to try my hand at baking and 2) for feeding us your lovely cupcakes, quiches, tarts, and fancy desserts every other day at lunch time. The culinary delights you come up with each time are amazing! Food writing has always interested me and it’s great to see you, an expert gourmet and cook, make a foray into this world. All the very best!
I keep staring at these cupcakes and feeling happy!
Fabulous! Cup cakes for all reasons and seasons…
Eagerly waiting to read more and sample more delicacies:)
Simply amazing!! Loved your post! 🙂 🙂
Waiting to taste these delectable cupcakes!! 😀
Super! The cupcakes look gorgeous and your writing is pretty as well!
Awesome to look at, but even better when you bite into them. Yummm
Thank you all much for the encouragement! 🙂
More coming soon!
You’re a natural! That does not seem like a first post! And with subject matter like that.. 🙂
Anyway, I am disappointed that the brown sugar cupcake is in third place. I feel like running an internet campaign to ensure it wins!
Charis, now that’s like the real life ‘Cafe Queen’! Loved every bit of it…err…I mean, loved every bit of the post (as far as the cakes are concerned, I can only DROOL!). And yes, “I may look 25, but secretly I’m 5” 😀
Awesome Storm!! I love it, and i’m mentioned!!!!!
This is a great start, and no one better to do it than you 🙂 this is a happy-cupcakey-space ! Can’t wait to try them all.
Looks absolutely delicious! Wish I was there to eat all of them.
Brilliant post!
Your cupcakes taste as delicious as they look!! 🙂
Can’t wait for the next one…
🙂
culinarystorm has blown us away!!! This is simply genius! Great to share your world online…bring on the next post!!!!
Your biggest fan
Oh what heavenly cup cakes.
They look so good that I am gonna have it for breakfast,lunch and dinner.
Come over and I make these for you.
Even got a new oven.
This is the best addition I can think of