Sometimes Life Calls for Simplicity

Sometimes it's best just to stick to something simple. It can be just as rewarding and satisfying. I have found a great recipe in a very old cookery book (older than me, probably almost twice my age). It is for cupcakes. Now I know there are millions of recipes out there, all sorts of ingredient combinations. Now this recipe is definitely the simplest one I have ever seen and it works perfectly!

Ingredients

85g Butter, room temp
85g Castor Sugar
2 Medium Eggs
115g Self Raising Flour
1tsp Vanilla Extract or 1/2 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste


Method

1) Preheat oven to 170℃. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy - I never used to do it for long enough but it's about 2-3 mins with an electric whisk.

2) Add one egg and whisk thoroughly for about a minute or so until fully incorporated and then add the second egg. Whisk again until fully incorporated. If the mixture looks like it's curdling (looks like a very runny scrambled eggs) you can add a few tablespoons of your flour.

3) Sift in flour and fold with a large metal spoon in a circle of 8 motion to keep the air in the batter.

4) Line cupcake tin with cases. Half fill each case and cook for about 12-15 mins until a light golden brown. Cool on an airing rack.

This recipe will make 12 small cupcakes or 6 regular size cupcakes. These days cupcake cases are a bit bigger than back in the day.

What I did with this recipe was 6 Vanilla and tested out the Vanilla bean paste which is pretty potent, I then did 6 cinnamon and orange. To do this I simply added half a teaspoon of cinnamon to the flour and the grated rind of 1 medium orange and 2tbsp of orange juice.

I decided to turn these ones into Hallowe'en Treats for the upcoming holiday. 

Feeling Autumnal

The nights are drawing in, the air is noticeably cooler and one can justify wearing welly boots and cosy coats. I can safely announce that it is definitely comfort food weather! So, today as a welcome to Autumn I'm going to post a recipe for raspberry and apple crumble. It's a classic, a Sunday dinner staple and so easy!

When making a crumble I do not measure out how much fruit I need, I go by dish size. The one I used for this was roughly 12"x6". I just put the blackberries in to about halfway up the dish and use roughly 1 large cooking apple cored and sliced. 

Ingredients for the Topping:                         Ingredients for Filling:
240g plain flour                                                        fruit of your choice, enough to fill half way up              
120g castor sugar                                                     the dish (roughly 500g berries)
120g butter, cut into cubes                                     2tbsp+ castor sugar
                                                                                     1 large cooking apple

Method

1) Sift flour into a good size bowl and add the butter. Then you need to rub in the butter to the flour. Use the tips of your fingers and rub the butter through your fingers with the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Click Here for a video on how to do this! 

2) Stir in the sugar to the mixture with a metal spoon. 

And voila that's the topping ready

Tip #1 Make the topping before you prep the apples to save them discolouring.
Tip #2 Have sink of hot soapy water ready for washing your hands! 


Put your fruit in the dish, blackberries/raspberries and apple, or just apples. But you need to sprinkle about 2tbsp of sugar if not a little bit more over the fruit. It's all down to your personal taste. I only used 2tbsp for the raspberries and it was a bit too tart. Once done, sprinkle your topping on. Make sure that all the fruit is covered and press down lightly with the back of a spoon. 
Cook on 180℃ for about 40mins until the top is golden. 

When making just an apple crumble I like to add a handful or two of sultanas and a teaspoon of cinnamon and half a teaspoon of mixed spice. It gives that extra flavour. You can also put a little bit of the spices in with the flour to make the topping more flavoursome. 

Being in Cornwall, my first choice of accompaniment for a crumble is Cornish Clotted Cream, but ice cream, double cream, even crème fraîche.  

So enjoy! I hope this makes sense and I'd love to see pictures of your crumbles :) 

Greetings

I have decided to create a new blog, to do with my baking obsession. Yes I know there are millions of baking blogs out there. But what I have found is that the majority are not British and this can cause issues when it comes to measurements and ingredients.

So, I love baking. Cakes, cupcakes, biscuits, desserts, basically anything sweet! When I hear the word birthday or cake stall my heart skips a beat as I know it'll be an excuse to try out making something new.

On this blog I want to share recipes and tips on what I make. I welcome any ideas or comments, so don't hold back.