My grandmother made the most amazing wee buns. She didn’t call them cupcakes, or even fairy cakes – and she didn’t even ice them, they were perfect as they were, straight out of the oven. Nowadays, I do tend to ice my wee buns (and bake them in larger cases so I can call them cupcakes) but if you are short on time they are perfect without any icing.
These vanilla cupcakes with buttercream are made from the simplest ingredients – just flour, butter, sugar and eggs – and vanilla for flavour, though sometimes I leave the vanilla out and just have ‘plain buns’. Or you could add a completely different flavour eg lemon – I highly recommend Boyajian lemon, orange and lime oils. I do always add vanilla to the buttercream though, I don’t like the buttery taste without it. Do use proper block butter, especially for the buttercream, it just doesn’t work with anything other than 80% fat. Flora Plant Butter can be used if you need want a dairy-free option, it’s the only butter alternative available that actually behaves like butter. I always use salted butter as I don’t like the taste of unsalted and I feel that buying unsalted butter and then having to add salt is a bit of waste – someone else has already done that in the salted stuff!
For cupcakes I love Italian or Swiss Meringue buttercream but there’s a lot of work (and faff) in making them – making a sugar syrup or heating the eggs and sugar together just feels like too much hassle sometimes. That’s why I use my cheat’s version of a meringue buttercream, it’s much lighter than the traditional 1 part butter to 2 parts icing sugar buttercream and whilst it does crust slightly it shouldn’t become as hard as the traditional one. It’s also much, much easier and quicker to make.
You’ll have these wee buns rustled up in an hour or so, all ready for a cuppa to go along with them. You can double or triple or quadruple the quantities below, sometimes one batch is just not enough for everyone!
To get started, preheat the oven to 160C (fan) and line your cupcake tin with paper or foil liners, I recommend these non stick carbon steel muffin tins. You’ll need a spring-loaded ice cream scoop of 5cm diameter to measure out the mixture for perfectly sized cupcakes.
Prepare the ingredients – mix the flour and sugar together to break up any lumps. You can do this by hand with a whisk in your mixing bowl or place in an electric mixer on minimum speed whilst you get everything else ready. Crack the eggs into a jug and add the vanilla. Soften the butter, the best way to do this is in the microwave on full power for 10 – 20 second intervals, stirring well each time. Do not, under any circumstances allow the butter to melt as it won’t work. You want the butter to be the consistency of clotted cream.
Use the ice cream scoop to measure the amount of mix into the cupcake liners. You should get 9 or 10 cupcakes which should have a reasonably flat top, just a very slight dome when baked. Place in the oven and bake for 25 – 30 minutes, they are done if you can press gently in the middle and the cupcake rises back. Remove from the oven and allow to cool while you make the buttercream.
Mix the egg white powder with the water and whisk until no lumps remain. Add the icing sugar and beat in the mixer at full speed until the mixture is pale and stiff – you are making royal icing at this stage so you need to beat it to stiff peaks.
Add the butter and vanilla and beat again at full speed until the buttercream forms – it should be pale in colour and smooth, not curdled. The mixture will initially curdle a little (or a lot if the butter is too cold) and you’ll think it’s ruined but keep mixing – it will eventually come together into a lovely silky, smoth buttercream. It is almost impossible to overbeat this, the mixture just gets softer the more it is beat.
Put the buttercream into a large piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. A large open star nozzle, like the 1M works well, it pipes a lovely swirl on a cupcake. Place the cupcake directly in front of you and imagine it’s like a clock face – you need to start at 12 o’clock and reach all the numbers the whole way round, coming back to 12 o’clock again. Once you reach 12 o’clock again move in slightly and repeat until you finish in the centre, stop squeezing the piping bag and pull away.
You can decorate your cupcakes any way you like – these particular ones were for my youngest son’s 18th birthday party in the rugby club so I used edible images with a rugby theme.
Vanilla Sponge Cupcakes with Cheat’s Meringue Buttercream
Equipment
- 1 12 hole cupcake tin and liners you can also make these as fairy cakes, you will need 2 trays with 12 holes and a smaller scoop
- 1 spring loaded ice cream scoop, 5cm diameter
- 1 piping bag and large star nozzle
Ingredients
Cake mix
- 2 large eggs
- 115 g butter
- 115 g caster sugar
- 115 g self raising flour
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract you can change the vanilla for any flavour of your choice
Buttercream
- 1 tablespoon egg white powder eg Meriwhite – you can also use pure egg albumen but you need to mix it a couple of hours before you use it and stir occasionally to get rid of any lumps
- 60 ml cold water
- 250 g icing sugar
- 170 g butter if you need to make this dairy free you can substitute the butter for Flora Plant, it is the only acceptable substitute for butter and no other margarine or spread will work in this recipe
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or other flavour of your choice
Instructions
Cake mix
- Preheat the oven to 160C (fan) and place the cupcake liners in your tin. You may not need all 12, this recipe normally yields 9 or 10.
- Soften the butter in the microwave on short bursts, stirring well each time until it is the consistency of clotted cream.
- Stir the flour and sugar together to break up any lumps.
- Whisk the eggs together in a jug and add the vanilla.
- Add the butter and eggs to the flour/sugar mix and beat well on a medium speed until the mixture is smooth and a little paler in colour.
- Use the ice cream scoop to measure one full scoop of mixture into each cupcake case, place in the preheated oven and bake for approx 25 – 30 minutes, until a pale golden and the centre springs back when lightly pressed. Allow to cool completely before adding the buttercream top.
Make the buttercream
- Soften the butter, if required – you should be able to press your finger lightly into the butter and leave an indent.
- Mix the egg white powder and water together until no lumps remain then beat in the icing sugar – you want the mixture to be quite stiff and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla and softened butter and whisk until smooth. Use immediately.