Coffee Cupcakes

This is my daughter's favourite cake in the whole world. When the weather is miserable, as it is today we make cake and these are her first choice each and every time.

I should start off by explaining that I recently realised that in the US a coffee cake is a cake eaten with coffee and that it could be a plain sponge cake, a flavoured cake such as cinnamon flop or even something like crumb cake whereas here in the UK a coffee cake is a cake flavoured with coffee traditionally a sandwich cake with coffee flavoured butter cream and topped with chocolate vermicelli.

These cupcakes are a variation of that recipe



Preheat oven to 180C (350F) and gather your ingredients;

Start off with a two egg simple sponge recipe, weigh the eggs and add the same weight of sugar, butter and self raising flour. Add to that 1 tbls espresso or any strong coffee and 1/2 tsp baking powder.



Put all of the ingredients together in a large bowl and beat for a few minutes until pale and fluffy.




Line a muffin tin and divide the batter between 12 liners then bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes.




Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack and leave to cool completely before frosting.




Place 3 oz butter and 6 oz icing sugar in a large bowl and beat until creamy, add to that 1 tsp strong coffee and beat again until well combined.





Top the cupcakes with the frosting in which ever way you find easiest. I tend to put it in a bag and pipe it on, or if you prefer you can spoon it on or turn the cupcakes upside down and dip them in the frosting.




I topped these cupcakes with chocolate curls instead of the chocolate vermicelli because I just like the look of the little curls on top.




And this would be a 4 year old sized bite, rather than a mummy sized bite.

Lemony Delight

I am a complete sucker for fairy cakes and these little lemony explosions are no exception.

They're such dainty little things without looking too fussy or "worked at".

As usual I stuck with my Simply Sponge Recipe.

I started with two eggs which weighed 110g still in their shell. I added 110g each of self raising flour, butter and caster sugar. I then added two heaping teaspoons full of lemon curd.

Preheat oven to 180C (350F)



Before beating with my hand held beater until the batter was light and pale. This takes a minute or two, but it beats the 20 solid minutes of bicep bashing it would take to do it by hand.



You'll end up with quite a thick batter, which can be very easily spooned into a lined bun or muffin tin. I used my small bun tin which produces little two or three bite sized buns. This recipe will make fourteen buns of this size. It will make eight or nine muffin sized buns. You'll have to excuse the slightly battered bun tin. I've had it years and I've grown very attached to it. I do have a silicone muffin pan, but I can't stand silicone.



Once you have all of your batter divided amongst the liners, put them in the oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. You don't need to test these with a skewer although if you prefer to by all means do. I find it much easier with small cakes to just press the top of one of the cakes slightly. If it bounces back its ready



These little cakes are feather light and have a delicious subtle lemony flavour.

I always prefer buns with a good golden colour to them. Its the reason no silicone will ever be harmed in the making of any baked goodies in my kitchen. I find that silicone produces a very patchy, insipid looking colour on baked goods. Its handy for some things, just not baking.

Don't they just look too good.

Not too good to eat obviously. This one had to be sacrificed for the sake of a good photo and it quickly became the cook's treat.

I made a very quick little icing to cover these fairy cakes.

Just about two thirds of a cup of icing sugar, with a teaspoon of the lemon curd and enough lemon juice to make a thick icing. It is roughly the consistency of toothpaste for desperate want of a better word.

I used slightly less than a teaspoon of icing to cover each bun, gently swirling the back of a spoon over the icing to push it towards the edges.

And enjoy.