Cupcakes

Cupcakes

These little cuties top the baking hierarchy - sweet and slightly fluffy. Why not bake up a batch for an unusual wedding cake?

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 24

Preparation and cooking times

Total time

Ready in 1 hour, plus cooling

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, flour and lemon zest. If the mixture is too stiff to fall off a spoon, add 1-2 tbsp lemon juice or water. Fill 24 cupcake cases ½ full, either put in a muffin tin to help them keep their shape or put on a baking sheet (use 2 cases per cake to keep them more rigid) and bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned and springy to touch. Cool on a wire rack.
  2. Melt the apricot jam with a little water and sieve to make a glaze. Melt the fondant icing very carefully with the liquid glucose in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, don't let it boil or it won't set again. Melt the sugar with 2 tbsp water and add to the mix. Stir until smooth then leave until it thickens and cools a little. Add colour if you like.
  3. Brush each cake with apricot glaze then ice it with the fondant, decorate with sugar flowers and let dry.
Try

Know-how

Find liquid glucose in chemists or good cook shops.

Per cake

227 kcalories, protein 2.4g, carbohydrate 38.5g, fat 8.1 g, saturated fat 4.7g, fibre 0.3g, salt 0.27 g

Recipe from olive magazine, April 2007.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • 21 May 2008

    Christine Child commented on this recipe

    There is no amount for the caster sugar!

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  • 26 May 2008

    aonehomecare commented on this recipe

    Can anyone tell me how much caster sugar to put in the cake mixture please. Thanks.

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  • 02 June 2008

    Lynda commented on this recipe

    Try using 200g of caster sugar!!! Works wonders....delicious! :)

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  • 05 April 2009

    maryclifford commented on this recipe

    200g caster sugar

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  • 27 June 2009

    yummy mummy commented on this recipe

    What is the best way to ice these little gems.. I would like to make them for my little boys 6th birthday ?

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  • 24 January 2010

    Monky rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • 07 April 2010

    greenlung rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Easy and yummy.... Did these first with my six year old, and the result was the lightest cup/fairy cakes I have ever had. Iced them with icing sugar and butter icing we also make some chocolatey (cocoa mixed with some milk). Made them since and not as light, obviously needs a child's hand. These are a hit, now feature as our birthday cake of choice. thanks.

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  • 15 May 2010

    canuck of north london commented on this recipe

    CASTER SUGAR; The standard is that the weight of butter equal to the weight of sugar.

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  • 20 May 2010

    Northern Nigella rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Excellent, I made a large batch - bumped the quantities to 250g on flour, butter & sugar and an extra egg, my family loved them. A usefull tip would be to use muffin cases or as deep as you can find bun cases as you want room for icing and a deeper case encourages a better rise. I watched mine very closely in the last minutes of cooking and removed a few minutes before time and they were perfect - my oven is mega quick and I didn't want them to dry. I also double cased them for shape retention and moisture - as a guide for standard white muffin cases I filled the 2/3rd full and 250g quantity made 21 large cup cakes. I used a stiff icing sugar topping so the icing flooded the top of the case and looked flawless and anothe tip is to use the juice of the lemon to make the icing so that it's not too sweet - yummy

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  • 19 November 2010

    Good Food commented on this recipe

    How much sugar does this recipe need. It does not say

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  • 18 August 2011

    felicitycornish rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I made the cupcakes exactly as the recipe says and it worked a treat - delicious! I iced some with ready to roll icing and some with buttercream and they were really nice.

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  • 17 January 2012

    Myra commented on this recipe

    Cup cakes for birthday at the pre-school. very good indeed!!

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  • 01 February 2012

    Silversurfer commented on this recipe

    This is the old 4-4-4 basic 'sponge' recipe my mum used to make: 4oz sugar, 4 oz butter, 4 oz flour (and 2 eggs). I'll stop hunting now and just go back to the old tried and tested...you can add sultanas, chocolate (chips or liquid), cranberries whatever and they will come out fine...and a lot less calories than some of the other basic cup cake recipes... No not counting but no point over-eating!

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  • 09 February 2012

    Debbie commented on this recipe

    can these be frozen

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 24

Preparation and cooking times

Total time

Ready in 1 hour, plus cooling

Ingredients

  • 200g butter , at room temperature
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 200g self-raising flour
  • 1 lemon , zested
  • 3 tbsp apricot jam

FOR THE FONDANT ICING

  • 1 box ready made fondant icing
  • 2 tbsp caster sugar
  • food colouring , for decorating
  • sugar flowers, for decorating
  • 2 tbsp liquid glucose
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Per cake

227 kcalories, protein 2.4g, carbohydrate 38.5g, fat 8.1 g, saturated fat 4.7g, fibre 0.3g, salt 0.27 g

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