Making Cup Cakes...

[PatsyMFagan Profile]

For all you expert Bakers :

I want to make a dozen cup cakes for daughter to take to work tomorrow for her birthday. I thought I would make 6 Vanilla and 6 chocolate. I will be following the recipe in the Hummingbird Bakery book.

For a dozen vanilla cup cakes the ingredients are:

120g Flour
140g sugar
1.5 tspn BP
40g butter
120ml milk
1/4 tspn vanilla

The ingredients for chocolate flavour are the same apart from only 100 g flour and 20g cocoa powder.

If I make up the vanilla recipe and halve it, then add the 10g cocoa to one half, will that work ? If not, how could I adjust this ?

thanks

[Suelle Profile Website]

Your plan will work!

I assume there are eggs in there too! It won't be a very chocolatey flavour with that little cocoa, IMO, but the recipe will work OK.

[Sakkarin Profile]

Make the vanilla recipe using 100g flour, add 10g of extra flour to the vanilla half and 10g cocoa to the chocky half.

[PatsyMFagan Profile]

While waiting for a reply (then realising my system had gone down ) I ploughed on .. I made up the recipe for a dozen vanilla ones, halved it and added 10g of cocoa to half. They are now baking. I seemed to have more of the chocolate half, than the vanilla half, ( I weighed each cup cake ), so I evened up the weights with a swirl of choc mix on top of the vanilla

I will be topping them with vanilla and chocolate cream frosting respectively

[PatsyMFagan Profile]

Well, they are baked and not a roaring success The (raw) mixture was supposed to fill 12 case 2/3rds full, but only enough for a quarter full. They rose to the top of the case on baking, but as they cooled, the mix sunk back down again

[KeenCook2 Profile]

Oh dear, sorry to hear that Pat.
I'm sure they'll still taste great

IMHO it struck me that 120g flour wasn't much for 12 cup cakes? But then I haven't baked any cupcakes for as long as I can remember

Maybe your paper cases were bigger than the ones in the recipe?

[Earthmaiden Profile]

I've never had much luck with cupcake recipes, the proportions look odd to me. I just stick with a traditional Victoria sponge type recipe which can be tweaked for cocoa etc and feel a lot happier. They probably aren't quite as light as modern cupcakes but that doesn't really bother me!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I’ve made these ginger cupcakes a few times when I wanted a grown up cake, they have worked well - I use white sugar, can’t see it making a difference using golden

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/ging ... akes_24180

[Suelle Profile Website]

I've made the Hummingbird's Ginger cupcakes - based on the same recipe as yours, Pat - and noted that I only got 8 cupcakes from the recipe. I also hinted in my blog post that someone on the old Beeb board had had the same trouble as you with sinking. The front of the book says that the recipe uses large American cases, which I presume means muffin cases, and the recipe should make 18 UK standard cup cakes!

https://mainlybaking.blogspot.com/2009/ ... cakes.html

The only good thing I learned from that recipe is that the Hummingbird recipe for buttercream is much nicer than the traditional recipe just using butter and icing sugar!

[PatsyMFagan Profile]

Thanks everyone for assuring me it wasn't just me ...

I had just enough Sainsbury Cup Cake cases, but also have a new pack of Dr Oetker Muffin cases. because I thought they were bigger. They actually are exactly the same size

The HB Bakery book lists 3 different frostings: Vanilla (made with icing sugar, butter and milk), chocolate (made with icing sugar, butter, cocoa and milk ) and cream cheese (made with icing sugar, butter and cream cheese). I thought I would make half quantities of the vanilla and chocolate . .

[DEB Profile]

I am not sure if you can follow this link it depends on where you are.
https://www.bakingmad.com/recipe/mary-b ... te-cupcake
This is Mary Berry's recipe I use and it is nearly foolproof. It is not the light fuffly type but is very chocolately and moist.

[Earthmaiden Profile]

It's interesting to try to work out how the recipes work. Most Amercan-style cupcake recipes seem to have such a huge amount of liquid, usually milk, that it is truly a batter to be poured into the cases. I have had trouble getting such batters to set well. Even Mary Berry's recipe seems to have a smaller quantity of dry ingredients to butter and sugar although not a vast amount of liquid. I suspect it is the eggs which are expected to do much of the work.

[PatsyMFagan Profile]

These are the best of the batch.

However, daughter said her 'boys' (at work ) will still enjoy them. I intend trying HB Black Bottom cupcakes on Monday .. I am intrigued and have all the ingredients. That is of course unless I get a warning from any of you

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I think they look great actually.

Is it perhaps like muffins too? That you mix the batter very roughly and quickly. Hardly any mixing at all in order to get a good rise.
If you over stir, they collapse.
Over stir might be with beaters, or too much elbow grease.

[smitch Profile]

I’ve made a few Hummingbird recipes, I really like the Earl Grey cupcakes. I have found you need to make them exactly as written and not change anything in the recipe

[KeenCook2 Profile]

They look lovely, Pat

[PatsyMFagan Profile]

Thanks everyone ...

[Earthmaiden Profile]

They look nice Pat and not too overpowering.

Is it perhaps like muffins too? That you mix the batter very roughly and quickly. Hardly any mixing at all in order to get a good rise.
If you over stir, they collapse.

Oh, I thought that cupcakes and muffins in this context were the same thing. I didn't know about the mixing, perhaps that's why mine have always gone wrong, although it is the consistency that has always been the problem, too wet/sticky with a lot sticking on the cases. I must try one of the T&T recipes mentioned here.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I don't think the dividing line between a cup cake and an American style muff in is set in stone, but to me recipes like the ginger one I linked to that start by creaming are cup cakes, whereas a muffin mix is a simple two bowl thing, wet ingredients mixed in one bowl and dry in another, combined as swiftly as possible and then baked

Don't know if US bakers would agree

But this is Anna Olson's basic muffin recipe, so probably reliable, and demonstrates that two bowls and no creaming method rather well

https://www.annaolson.ca/recipe/details ... ng-muffins

[PatsyMFagan Profile]

Cupcakes and Muffins each have their own sections in the Humming Bird Bakery book ......however as I said yesterday, I had in my possession both cupcake AND muffin cases and they are exactly the same size I would have thought the muffin cases would have been deeper

Further investigation in the muffin section says: ' A 12 hole muffin tray lined with paper cases (see note on page 4) '.... only there is no page 4 . The contents list starts at page 6. Actually finding a page number is another challenge