Vanilla cup cakes

Ingredients

• 150 grams of self raising flour
• 50 grams of corn flour
• 150 grams of icing sugar
• 2 tbsp of granulated sugar
• 75grams of unsalted butter
• 30 ml of vegetable or sunflower oil
• Two eggs
• A pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp of semi-skimmed milk
• 50 ml of water
• 2 tbsp of vanilla essence

Method

Step 1

Pre heat the oven at gas mark 4, 350 degree Fahrenheit, 177 degree Celsius for 15 minutes. Place 12 cupcake cases in the muffin or cupcake tray and keep it on the side.

Step 2

Whisk eggs white :- In a bowl whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt and two table spoons of sugar. Whisk till you get a medium stiff peak.

Step 3

Whisk egg yolks and mixing butter :- In another bowl whisk the egg yolks and whisk till they double in volume add in icing sugar ,vanilla essence, softened butter, oil , 50ml of water and also 2 tbsp of milk also.(Warm butter should not be added to eggs as you can scramble the eggs .The butter should be at room temperature only.) Add in the egg whites and fold it in the mixture. Be careful not to stir too much as the air can be knocked out.

Step 4

Sifting flour in the mixture Sift in flour and corn flour over the egg mixture and gently fold it in the batter. Please don’t over work the batter as you will activate gluten and the cake will come out hard when baked. Quickly within 15 minutes at this stage, scoop out 1 tbsp of batter in the cup cake cases. The batter will make around 12 cup cakes; fill only half of the cupcake cases as the cakes will puff up.

Step 5

Bake in the medium rack of the oven at gas mark 4 for 20 to 25 minutes .Poke a skewer or a tooth pick to check the cake if it’s done. The skewer will come out clean if the cake is cooked through. Please slightly open the door to check the cup cakes are cooked as you don’t want the cup cakes to sink as the hot air maintained in the oven will be lost by opening the door wide. The cup cakes should be removed from the (muffin or cup cake) trays and placed over cooling rack to cool for an hour. Decorate them with icing or fondant or eat as it is.

Variation:

For coffee cup cake
1 tsp of coffee should be added 1 tbsp of melted dark chocolate and combined with cake mixture to make coffee cup cakes.
For lemon or any othered flavoured cup cakes, lemon flavourings (and 1 tsp of lemon zest) or any other desired flavouring or essence can be added.