Recipe: Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

I was off work on Monday and Tuesday and had lots of time to laze about in my jammies and watch telly all day, but I did get a little bored after a while, so I decided to spend some time in the kitchen. I made some yummy cupcakes and lots of christmas biscuits (never too early!) - and I thought it would be nice to share them with you :)


Vanilla Cupcakes (12 small ones):

• 110g plain flour
• 100g caster sugar
• 85g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• milk

These cupcakes are super easy to make and just as delicious! Preheat your oven to 175°C. Mix the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until smooth, then add the egg, flour, baking powder and vanilla extraxt and beat until everything is combined. Depending on the consistency, slowly add some milk, just enough to make your batter soft and creamy. I never measure the milk but it should be around 50ml. Mix for another two minutes and you're done! Place your paper cases into a muffin baking tray, spoon your cupcake mixture in until about two-thirds full (if you make them too full, they will overspill!) and bake them for about 20 minutes.

 

Do not disturb your cakes for the first 15 minutes as they might not rise properly or sink completely. After around 20 minutes, they should look slightly golden. To find out if they are done, simply insert a wooden skewer and if it comes out completely (!) clean, you can take them out the oven and leave them to cool on a cooling rack. Or if you are as impatient as me, eat one while it's still slightly warm.. mmhh :)

While my cupcakes were cooling down, I prepared the chocolate frosting, which is also very easy and quick to make:

Chocolate Frosting (for 12 small cupcakes):

• 150g icing sugar
• 50g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 20g cocao powder
• 20ml milk

Mix the icing sugar, butter and cocao powder in a mixing bowl and slowly add the milk. Make sure you whisk it on a slow speed or your whole kitchen will be covered in icing sugar (trust me, I have done it many a time haha!). Beat until your frosting is fluffy and light, fill it in a piping bag and decorate your cupcakes.

I don't have any piping bags at home which is why I simply use a knife for spreading the frosting on my cupcakes. For the cupcakes I made on Monday, I halfed the recipe for the chocolate frosting because Kev is not a big fan of it and even though I love it, it's just so so so sweet! I only covered half of the cupcakes with the frosting and used melted milk chocolate to cover the rest of them. Some pretty sprinkles on top and that's them done... Enjoy! :)