Cool cupcakes for special occasions: ThePost.ie


TCH Archives > Sunday Business Post > 2006/02/19 > Cool cupcakes for special occasions

Cool cupcakes for special occasions
Sunday, February 19, 2006 - By Vanessa Berman
Traditionally the preserve of very small children, when the Sex And The City girls were filmed digging into delicacies from New York’s Magnolia Bakery, word was out: cupcakes were cool. Carrie et al reclaimed the cupcake for grown-ups in the knowledge that - just like diamonds and Manolo Blahniks - good things always come in small packages.

London cake shop Treacle, on Columbia Road in the East End, serves cupcakes and tea to the fashionable Hoxton set, and is now doing a thriving trade in special occasion cupcakes.

White and gold cupcakes are pi led high for weddings, or set in a particular designer’s colours of the season for London Fashion Week, and are a far cry from those served at kiddies’ birthday parties.

Making cupcakes, however, is child’s play, and is a good way to get your children interested in cooking. The trick with the simple cupcake recipe is to use your imagination in their decoration to produce something beautiful. You can experiment with different flavours too - rich chocolate cakes with mint-flavoured icing, or pumpkin cakes with cream cheese and cinnamon icing.

When it comes to baking the cakes, some new technology has made the process easier.

French company Demarle has diversified its SILPAT system of silicon bakeware for industrial bakers for the domestic market. It is flexible, heat resistant and non-stick, so your cupcakes will turn out of the moulds easily.

For the icing, Kitchen Complements on Dublin 2’s Chatham Street has a large range, and most supermarkets stock basic colours. You could use cocoa powder or nuggets of candied peel if you want to keep things natural.

CUPCAKES

Makes 12 large buns, or 24 small ones

125g (4.5oz) softened butter
125g (4.5oz) caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
125g (4oz) self-raising flour
2 tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5.

Butter a 12-hole tin or line with paper cases.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the beaten egg, beating all the time, and then the vanilla extract. Sift in half the flour, folding to incorporate without losing the air you have just beaten in. Then fold in the remaining flour and milk. Spoon into the tin and bake for 12 minutes, or until golden brown and risen well.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tin.

When completely cool, ice generously.

BUTTER CREAM ICING

140g (5oz) butter
280g (10 oz) icing sugar
1-2 tbsp milk
A few drops of food colouring
Half teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat the butter in a bowl until soft. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining icing sugar with 1 tablespoon of the milk.

Add this to the butter mixture and stir well with the vanilla extract and the food colouring.

Separate into different bowls if using more than one colour.

Add extra icing sugar if the mixture looks a bit runny, or milk if it’s a bit stiff.

For a home demonstration, or further information about Demarle products, e-mail demarledublin@yahoo.co.uk