{"id":1701,"date":"2010-08-19T16:34:38","date_gmt":"2010-08-19T08:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/?p=1701"},"modified":"2010-08-25T17:00:08","modified_gmt":"2010-08-25T09:00:08","slug":"cupcakes-for-a-cause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/cupcakes-for-a-cause\/","title":{"rendered":"Cupcakes for a cause"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you may already know I never seem to need an excuse to bake something as it is one of my favourite hobbies.\u00a0 However, when there is a good reason for doing so it makes\u00a0it that little bit more exciting.\u00a0 Last Monday was National RSPCA cupcake day here in OZ.\u00a0 So what is\u00a0cupcake day\u00a0all about I hear you ask.\u00a0\u00a0Cupcake Day for the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)\u00a0is the biggest bakeoff in the Southern Hemisphere and involves Cupcake Cooks around Australia baking cupcakes and hosting a Cupcake Party to raise vital funds for the non-profit community organisation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

My workplace was fully supportive of the project with several groups holding morning teas to sell their wares and donate funds raised.\u00a0 I spent about 8 hours on Sunday making over 120 cupcakes, icing my last one at 10.30pm.\u00a0 While many people made some amazing, decorative and elaborate designs (which gave me cupcake envy) I decided to make three different flavours each with their own special icing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

G & I packed everything up on Monday morning and did our best for this fabulous cause, eventually raising over $150.00.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To digress slightly, I must admit that I am not a big cupcake maker so when it came to finding some recipes to bake I went hunting far and wide.\u00a0 The internet came up trumps with so many good recipes to choose from.\u00a0 In the end I settled on vanilla with coloured glace icing, chocolate with chocolate butter cream and banana pecan with maple syrup butter cream.\u00a0 I can’t tell you which\u00a0flavour was favourite as they were all devoured\u00a0by the end of the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We must thank all those who purchased and\/or donated to the cause, our little girl is very proud of you all!\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

High 5 for a job well done!<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

vanilla cupcakes with glace icing\u00a0\u2013 (recipe from Exclusively Food<\/a>)
\nmakes 12 cupcakes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ingredients
\n<\/span>125g (4ozs) unsalted butter, softened
\n2\/3\u00a0cup (150g\/5.3ozs) caster sugar
\n1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
\n2 large eggs
\n1 1\/4 cups (188g\/6.6ozs)\u00a0self-raising flour
\n125ml (1\/2 cup) milk
\nIcing
\n<\/em>1 1\/4 cups (175g\/6.2ozs) pure icing sugar, sifted
\n1 teaspoon (5g) butter, softened
\n1 tablespoon plus 1\/2 teaspoon (22ml)\u00a0boiling water\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nPreparation
\n<\/span>For the cupcakes, <\/em>preheat oven to 180\u00b0C\u00a0\u00a0(350\u00b0F\/Gas 4) or 160\u00b0C\u00a0 (325\u00b0F\/Gas 3) if using fan-forced oven.\u00a0\u00a0If you are not using a fan-forced oven, adjust the oven rack to the middle of the oven.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Line twelve 1\/2-cup capacity muffin pan holes with cases.\u00a0 I used paper-lined foil cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Using an electric mixer or electric hand-held beaters, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together in a large bowl, starting on low speed and increasing to high once the sugar is incorporated.\u00a0 Beat until the mixture is pale and creamy, stopping the machine once or twice during beating to scrape down the side and base of the bowl with a spatula.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Add one egg to the butter mixture and beat for about a minute. \u00a0Stop the machine and scrape down the side and base of the bowl. \u00a0Repeat with remaining egg.\u00a0 Sift about\u00a0one third of\u00a0the flour over the butter mixture.\u00a0 Stir with a spoon or beat with the electric mixer\/beaters on very low speed until the flour is just incorporated.\u00a0 Add about half the milk (about 1\/4 cup) and stir or beat on very low speed until just combined.\u00a0 The mixture will probably look curdled at this stage.\u00a0 Repeat the process with the remaining flour and milk, making sure that you finish with flour and\u00a0do not over mix the batter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Divide the mixture evenly among the cases (about 1\/4 cup batter per case).\u00a0 Bake for about 20 minutes, until the cupcakes are light golden. When they are ready, a skewer or thin-bladed knife inserted into the centre of a cupcake will come out without any batter attached, and the cupcakes should spring back when lightly pressed in the centre.\u00a0 Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for about five minutes, and then place them on a wire rack to cool completely.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When cupcakes have cooled, make glace icing (see instructions below). Use a knife or offset spatula to spread the cupcakes with the icing. \u00a0If you wish to attach decorations, do so before the icing sets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Store the cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature.\u00a0 The cupcakes can be made up to two days before serving.\u00a0 If sprinkles are used, the colour may bleed into the icing over time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the icing, <\/em>stir icing sugar, butter and boiling water together in a small bowl until smooth.\u00a0 Use the icing immediately.\u00a0 If it starts to set before you have finished the cupcakes, stir in a few drops of hot water.\u00a0 Add colouring as you wish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

My tips\/alterations:<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0*To make sure that your cupcakes are light and fluffy always making sure you alternate the flour and milk when mixing the batter.\u00a0 You should also always start and finish with the flour.\u00a0 *If the batter looks curdled at any stage don’t worry just keep going.\u00a0 Once you add a little of the flour it should start to come together.\u00a0 *To ensure that all cupcakes have the same measure I like to use an ice-cream scope to\u00a0put the mixture into the cupcake cases.\u00a0 *If you want your cupcakes to come out flat on top make sure that you don’t fill them above halfway up the cases but remember you will get more cupcakes from the recipe, but I don’t see that as a bad thing :).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

chocolate\u00a0cupcakes with chocolate butter cream \u2013 (recipe from\u00a0<\/span>Cadbury Chocolate Cupcakes<\/span><\/a>)
\nmakes 12 cupcakes<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ingredients
\n<\/span>100g (3.5ozs) unsalted butter, softened
\n2\/3\u00a0cup (150g\/5.3ozs) caster sugar
\n1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
\n2 eggs, lightly beaten
\n1 cup (150g\/5.3ozs)\u00a0self-raising flour
\n1\/3 cup cocoa
\n\u00bd teaspoon bicarbonate of soda <\/span>
\n125ml (1\/2 cup) milk\u00a0
\nChocolate butter cream<\/em>
\n60g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
\n1\u00bc cups icing sugar, sifted
\n1 tablespoons\u00a0cocoa
\n1 tablespoons milk<\/p>\n

Preparation
\n<\/span>For the cupcakes, <\/em>use exactly the same preparation as above.\u00a0 The only difference being when you sieve the flour, sieve the cocoa and bicarbonate of soda with it. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For\u00a0the chocolate butter cream<\/em>, combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

My tips\/alterations:<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0*These cupcakes are very similar to the vanilla recipe with just a little less butter and the addition of cocoa.\u00a0 Therefore the same tips\/alterations will apply as they did to the previous recipe.\u00a0 *The bicarbonate of soda gave them a crunchy topping but the middle was still light and fluffy.\u00a0 *The chocolate butter cream asks you to sieve the icing sugar and cocoa.\u00a0 I skipped this step and just put these two ingredients in the food processor first and pulsed them to break up any lumps then added the butter and milk and blended to make it smooth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

banana pecan\u00a0cupcakes with maple butter cream \u2013 (recipe by Fiona at Food 4 Thought)
\nmakes 12 cupcakes<\/span><\/p>\n

Ingredients
\n<\/span>A.
\n125g (4ozs) unsalted butter, softened
\n1\/2\u00a0cup (110g\/3.8ozs) caster sugar
\n1\u00a0large egg
\nB. (dry ingredients)
\n1 1\/4 cups (188g\/6.6ozs)\u00a0self-raising flour
\n1 cup (120g)\u00a0pecan nuts, finely chopped\u00a0
\nC. (wet ingredients)
\n550g (approx\u00a03 medium\/5.3ozs) very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
\n1\/2 cup milk\u00a0\u00a0
\nMaple butter cream<\/em>
\n60g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
\n1\u00bc cups icing sugar, sifted
\n1 tablespoons\u00a0maple syrup
\n\u00a0
\nPreparation<\/span><\/p>\n

For the cupcakes, <\/em>use exactly the same preparation as for the vanilla cupcakes.\u00a0 The only difference being the dry ingredients will be the flour and the nuts while the wet ingredients are the banana and milk mixed together.\u00a0 So when alternating wet and dry ingredients all these will be included.\u00a0 Remember to always start and finish with dry ingredients.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For\u00a0the\u00a0maple butter cream<\/em>, combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

My tips\/alterations:<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0*These cupcakes are similar to the\u00a0Banana bran muffins<\/a>\u00a0that I have made previously but with a few adjustments the mixture becomes lighter and smoother.\u00a0 I mix the nuts in with the flour so that the flour slightly coats the nuts and this prevents them from all sinking to the bottom of the mixture.\u00a0\u00a0*The butter cream recipe\u00a0asks you to sieve the icing sugar.\u00a0I skipped this step and just put it\u00a0into the food processor first and pulsed\u00a0it to break up any lumps then added the butter and maple syrup\u00a0and blended to make it smooth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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ease: 9\/10.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Basic cupcake recipes.\u00a0 The more you do the quicker you get, trust me \ud83d\ude42
\nprep time:<\/strong>\u00a030mins.\u00a0<\/strong>
\ncooking time: 20-25mins.<\/strong>
\ntotal: 55mins.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

taste: 9\/10.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0These all came out light and fluffy and were exactly what they said on the box.\u00a0 That is, the vanilla tasted like exactly\u00a0vanilla cake and the chocolate ones exactly\u00a0like chocolate, and although they were not as rich as some cupcakes I have eaten in the past I really liked them for exactly that reason.\u00a0 They weren’t too sweet or too rich, they were just lovely.\u00a0 My favourite were the banana pecan and the maple syrup butter cream complimented them perfectly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

would I make it again:\u00a0\u00a0Yes.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Anytime for a good cause.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Can I have a cupcake......please?!<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As you may already know I never seem to need an excuse to bake something as it is one of my favourite hobbies. However, when there is a good reason for doing so it makes it that little bit more exciting. Last Monday was National RSPCA cupcake day here in OZ. So what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[78,89,81,31,48,29,27],"tags":[6,17,104,119,102,100],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1701"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1701"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1716,"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1701\/revisions\/1716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}