A few months ago, gripped by baking fever, I purchased Mary Berry's Baking Bible. I quickly decided to embark upon a mission to bake everything in the book, and turn myself from an occasional baker into a bit of an expert. My Grandad Ern was a Master Baker by trade; the man responsible for introducing Danish Pastries to England in fact, and I wish it had occurred to me to spend more time learning from him, rather than simply enjoying the fruits of his effortless labours. This project is almost a way of making amends for that; I'd like to follow in his footsteps (if not in my career, at least as a hobby) and continue the proud heritage of baking in my family.
I credit my friend Rachel with the idea to write a blog about my baking exploits, hoping that there will be more successes than failures as I attempt all 213 of the Queen of Baking's recipes.
So as not to bore the husband with a monotonous diet of sponges, followed by weeks of biscuits, I've decided to tackle the recipes by selecting the first bake from each chapter, followed by the second recipe and so on. I'm not going to pick and choose; I'm determined to face my baking demons and learn how to do everything baking-related, even if the consequences are disastrous!
Everything will be photographed, with comment about how I found baking it, and a husband rating (to be taken with a pinch of salt as he has a very selective cake-tooth).


Sunday, 6 April 2014

57. Cupcakes

These were baked for my A Level students and were meant to be Valentines' Day chocolate cupcakes, complete with fondant love hearts. Unfortunately my cutters didn't arrive on time, and when I started baking, I realised I didn't have enough cocoa powder to make them chocolatey! So they turned into vanilla cupcakes with chocolate butter icing instead.
They were very simple to make, following the all-in-one method again. They got a reasonable rise, but these are a bit denser than fairy cakes, although not quite as dense as muffins. I need to get myself an ice cream scoop for even portions, as invariably I end up with buns which are all different sizes. It was harder to divide the mixture because I'd made double the quantity as well, but they didn't turn out too bad really.
Icing the cakes was very time-consuming. I was trying to go for a decent finish, but cake decorating isn't my forte so it took ages. I also found that despite plenty of mixing, there were still lumps of icing sugar flecking the mixture. Schoolboy error: I forgot to sift it first! You couldn't really tell once I'd smoothed the icing, but it was annoying all the same.
Baker's verdict: easy to make, classic tasty cupcakes. The students enjoyed them!
Husband rating: can't remember what they were like; it was too long ago!
 
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