Vanilla Cupcakes!

As promised...here are my Vanilla Cupcakes!

I decided in the end I didn't want to cheat and so I made a small batch from scratch.

The small batch only made 6 cupcakes, the perfect amount for my brand new cupcake maker! Some may say that is cheating also, however I think it does the same trick as an oven, and it help me build on my collection of baking gadgets.

I decided not to follow any particular recipe as  the batch was so small. So instead I guesstimated what I though would be enough! They turned out a bit on the eggie side but I had no choice, it's either 1  egg or none. Being a student I'm also a yet to purchase any scales, so the measurements are based on whar I could use from my cupboard!

Ingredients

For the Cupcake:

1 egg

4 tbsp sugar

4 tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 mug plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp milk

For the icing:

100g (roughly) butter

200g (roughly) icing sugar 

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp milk

This is my new cupcake maker from American Originals, I bough it for £25, I wanted to ensure it would do the job, so after searching threw reviews and comments I decided this one would be best even if it takes away from my food budget for this month!

Most recipes will tell you to mix the dry contents and wet contents separately (which I also recommend) however in this circumstance I was too keen to try out my icing gadgets and so I whacked it all in together and filled up the cupcake cases. 

While the cupcakes were in the maker, I cracked on with the icing, I first placed the butter in the bowl, making sure it was nice and soft, I then added the milk followed by some of the icing sugar.

After a couple of stirs I added a bit more, repeating until it was all in. 

Finally I added a drop of vanilla extract to create a buttery topping for the cakes.

As I didn't make much icing, I decided to also save my piping bag and use the plastic one that came with the maker. Although I'm yet to use the bag I would recommend that would be better, as this one was too small and didn't let out all the icing.

The actual icing of the cupcakes however was very easy, I started from the outside and worked my way into the middle, lifting up to finish it off.

And there you have it.... not the best cupcakes, and maybe more icing quantities would have allowed me to get a thicker texture on the butter-cream  But overall I am pretty pleased and can't wait to start making some really wacky cupcakes!