Cupcakes- Easiest ever

These are the easiest moist cupcakes you can throw together within minutes, and best of all you are likely to have all the ingredients in your pantry. The recipe is from an old magazine clipping, but I've added a few tweaks to my taste. We didn't have a reason to bake, just that my daughter (no.1) woke up this morning with a desire for 'fairy cakes'. And since Daughter 2 can now tolerate eggs in baked foods (yippee!), I thought it would be fitting to celebrate with cupcakes and brighten up a gloomy Autumn day.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk (Optional: I added 2 heaped tablespoons low fat sour cream)
1/2 cup sunflower oil
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

ICING: Icing sugar and fresh lemon juice (use water if you prefer)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C (350 deg F)
Line a muffin pan with paper moulds.
Combine all ingredients; try not to overmix.
Spoon the mixture into the muffin tray.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until an inserted skewer/toothpick comes out clean. Note that the cupcakes do not brown.
Cool on a wire rack.
Combine icing sugar and lemon juice/water to form a thick paste.
Spoon icing onto cooled cupcakes, decorate as desired and allow to set.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Frugal Baking: Choc-chip Cupcakes

Every mother who is looking to save a bit and wants to impress is looking for the perfect home-made cake recipe for her child’s next birthday party. I finally found a delicious Victorian sponge cake recipe from one of Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks that I made two years in a row for Daughter#1. It's very decadent and not very cheap to make, but so worth it. So I thought I found my recipe for all future birthdays, until we discovered (the hard way) that Daughter#2 is allergic to eggs. Initially she also had a wheat allergy (tricky combination- toddlers are fussy enough as it is!), but thankfully she's outgrown that. I’ve been trying to find the ultimate egg-free cake for her second birthday and gave this recipe a try today. Interestingly, it’s derived from a World War II recipe during times of egg and milk rationing, so it’s egg-free, can be dairy-free and it's cheap to make. If you've read my previous post on organizing your pantry and stocked up on essentials you should have all the ingredients except for choc-chips/cocoa and white vinegar (cider vinegar is also acceptable).

I’ve adapted the recipe slightly by omitting cinnamon and since I didn’t have cocoa, I used choc-chips instead. Also, I tried baking them as cup cakes, but this can be made into a cake too.  

CHOC-CHIP CUPCAKE RECIPE (Adapted from Veteran Affairs Canada)

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C (350 deg F).

Ingredients

Combine dry ingredients:
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 cup of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
½ teaspoon of salt
2/3 cup choc-chips (use 3 tablespoons cocoa if you want to keep it dairy-free)

Add:
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of white vinegar*
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I prefer Canola)
1 cup of lukewarm water

Combine all ingredients and fill a paper-lined muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 mins.

The recipe doesn’t seem to need any frosting with choc-chips, but as a chocolate cake one could dust it with icing sugar or make a rich butter icing.

* The science behind including vinegar- the acidity of vinegar reacts with baking soda and produces carbon dioxide, which gives the batter the lift it needs.

Yes, that's my daughter's hand, ready to pounce!