Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 1 cup self-raising flour
2/3 cup superfine sugar
9 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
1 packet instant royal icing
food coloring (for preference colour pastes)
cake decorations (wafer roses, sugar flowers, spinkles or your favorite sweets/candies)
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Directions: |
Directions:Preheat the oven to 400ºF and line the tin with the muffin cases.
If couldn't be simpler to make cup cakes; just put all the ingredients except for the milk in the processor and then blitz till smooth.
Pulse while adding milk, to make for a soft, dropping consistency, down the funnel. Or using a bowl and wooden spoon, cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs one at a time with a little of the flour. Then add the vanilla extract and fold in the rest of the flour, adding the milk to get the dropping consistency as before.
I know it looks as if you'll never make this scant mixture fit 12 bun cases, but you will. I promise you this mixture is exactly right to make the 12 cup cakes, so just spoon and scrape the stuff in, trying to fill each case equally, judging by eye only of course.
Put in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cup cakes are cooked and golden on top. As soon as bearable, take the cup cakes in their cases out of the tin and let cool, right way up, on a wire rack.
Once they're cool, make up a big, uncoloured batch of royal icing, and then remove a few spoonfuls at a time to small bowls.
Using a bamboo skewer, add small dots of colours from the paste tubs, stirring with a teaspoon and then adding more colouring, very slowly, very cautiously (pastel works best here, whatever your everyday aesthetic) until you get the colour you want.
Use teaspoons to coat the cup cakes with icing and leave each a moment to dry only slightly, on the surface, before sticking on a rose, daisy or whole stash of decorations. |
Personal
Notes: |
Personal
Notes: From Nigella Lawson's "How To Be A Domestic Goddess" cookbook
You can also make your own icing - confectioners sugar, a few drops of vanilla extract and a little water to mix.
You can also use this batter as a base for different muffins, swapping half the sugar for brown sugar and adding banana and chocolate chips is amazing (comment on website).
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This recipe for Cupcakes (Nigella Lawson) is from