Food_Heaven_-_October_2019

18 baking heaven OCTOBER WWW.FOODHEAVENMAG.COM

Va n i l la c upc a ke s

MAKES APPROX. 15

For the cupcakes

110g (3¾oz) plain flour

110g (3¾oz) golden caster sugar

110g (3¾oz) unsalted butter, diced

2 medium free-range eggs

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp vanilla extract

For the icing

125g (4½oz) unsalted butter,

softened

125g (4½oz) icing sugar, sifted

½ tsp vanilla extract

Little extras

1-2 drops of blue food

colouring (optional)

retro sprinkles

1 Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark

6 and arrange 15 fairy cake paper cases

inside a couple of fairy cake trays.

2 Place all the ingredients for the

cupcakes in the bowl of a food

processor and cream together. Spoon

the mixture into the paper cases so they

are two-thirds full. Bake for

17-20 minutes until risen and springy to

the touch. Remove and leave to cool.

3 To make the butter icing, whisk the

butter in a large bowl for a minute using

an electric whisk until very pale and

fluffy, then add the icing sugar, vanilla

extract and 1-2 drops of blue food

colouring if you wish. Continue whisking

for another couple of minutes until really

mousse-like. Using a small palette knife

or straight-sided table knife, trowel the

icing over the surface of the cakes and

decorate with sprinkles.

4 Any bright pastel will keep these in

retro mood – pale green is particularly

lovely, also dusky orange, yellow

and pink work well too.

take a few minutes longer. Remove and

leave them to cool in the trays.

3 To make the icing, spoon the

mascarpone into a bowl and beat in the

vanilla extract, then the syrup and finally

the icing sugar. Place the chocolate in a

bowl set over a pan of simmering water

and gently melt it.

4 Using a small, sharp knife, cut out a

shallow cone from the centre of each

cake and halve it to form two butterfly

wings. Fill the cavit y of each cake with

the vanilla cream.

5 Shake some hundreds and thousands

into a small bowl. Dip the curved tips of

the butterfly wings into the melted

chocolate, then into the hundreds

and thousands.

6 Set them into the vanilla cream at an

angle, tips uppermost. Set aside in a

cool place.

7 If keeping longer than a few hours,

store in an airtight container.

TIP You could simply fill the cakes,

and dust the wings with icing sugar

for a classic simple butterfly bun.

You can use buttercream instead of

mascarpone cream if you like.

finely grated zest of 1 orange

3 medium free-range eggs, plus

1 egg yolk

50ml (2fl oz) whole milk

175g (6oz) plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

For the decoration

250g (9oz) mascarpone

1 tsp vanilla extract

25g (1oz) golden syrup

10g (¼oz) icing sugar, sifted

Little extras

50g (1¾oz) white chocolate, broken

into pieces

hundreds and thousands

1 Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark

5. Cream the butter and sugar in a food
   processor until almost white. Incorporate
   the orange zest, eggs and yolk, then the
   milk, and continue beating until
   homogenised. Transfer the mixture to a
   large bowl. Sift the dry ingredients twice
   then fold them, one-third at a time, into
   the butter mixture.
   2 Fill 20 fairy cake paper cases set inside
   two fairy cake trays about half-full with
   the cake mixture, using up all of it, and
   bake for 20 minutes. The lower tray may

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MAKES APPROX. 20

For the cupcakes

175g (6oz) unsalted butter,

softened

175g (6oz) golden caster sugar

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