All About Cupcakes: Baking Cupcakes and Making Buttercream (Part 1)
The basics of baking cupcakes and making buttercream are compulsory before starting the decorating part, whether it is with all varieties of cream, ganache, fondant, glaze, bean paste and etc. I intially thought everything can be explained in one post, so that I can be done with cupcakes. However, it might be too much information. Now I’m seeing the endless possibilities.
A little back story. My first cake blog was named A Cupcake Project. Those were the days where Blogger ruled the bloggerspere. It was a time where we treat blogs as journals, documenting about daily life and uploading photos. A Cupcake Project was where I wrote all about my discovery into cake world. Cupcake being popular at that time, therefore the name. It was the emergence of digital cameras, then came camera phone and selfies. Social media put an end to my blogging with Facebook leading the pack. I have since closed my Blogger site when I moved to Wix ten years back. Wix felt isolated, so I moved everything tp WordPress this year to better integrate with the blogging community.
Blogging is so much different now. Being more technical and factual, conforming to SEO requirements rather than storytelling. Who would have thought that the internet and social media would give rise to unheard of jobs.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I love the dynamics in the F&B industry and will be exploring a variety of related products and bring to light its creative usage. If you click and buy from my affiliate links, I will receive a commission. This will sustain me in my research and sharings, and may it bring good return on investment for you.
The Reign of Cupcakes
Who loves a cupcake? The answer is…Everyone! Below are my cupcake tower assembled throughout the years. Looking at them I wonder why I’ve not talked about cupcake towers before. Well, that needs to change!
The plus points for having cupcake towers at weddings and events are:
- looks cute and attractive
- everyone gets their own without the need to share
- convenient for distribution
- possibility of turning them into doorgifts
Baking Cupcakes
Before any decorating can be done, cupcakes need to be baked. The most common cupcake is the butter cupcake. The below is a recipe. This recipe can also be used for cakes.
Butter Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 300g butter
- 210g castor sugar
- 3 eggs
- 300g plain flour
- 15g baking powder
- 150g milk
- 100g fruit filling or jam
Directions
- Cream butter and sugar.
- Add eggs one by one while creaming. Do not overbeat.
- Alternate between flour mixture (plain flour + baking powder) and milk while creaming. Start with flour and end with flour. Do not overbeat.
- Weight 42-45g batter into solo cups.
- Add fillings
- Bake at 180°C for 20 minutes.
Once you have mastered the basic recipe, here is another site with a variety of cupcake flavours to try next.
Where to Buy Solo Cups
There are many types of cupcake liners available. The ones shown here goes by different names depending on country. More commonly called Solo Cups in Malaysia. They are easily available at any baking ingredient shops or online. Here’s an Amazon link. The advantage of using Solo Cups is that you do not need a muffin pan to hold up the sides of the cupcake during baking. One less baking tool to buy. 🙂
The best pricing for standard sized cupcake cups. 200pcs available in 4 colors. Made from natural wood pulp. Does not require muffin pan for baking.
Buttercream Recipe (for covering the base)
After baking cupcakes, make buttercream next. A delicious buttercream using just 2 ingredients; butter and icing sugar. Specifically to level the top of cupcakes giving it a flat surface to prepare for decorating. Similar to preparing the canvas for artwork. The below recipe covers approximately 50 cupcakes. You might want to half it for the cupcake recipe above, or keep the remaining in the fridge for the next batch.
Ingredients
- 250g butter
- 500g icing sugar
Directions
- Beat butter with icing sugar until well combined
- Tip: store leftover buttercream in the fridge.
Storage and Shelf Life of Cupcakes and Buttercream
After baking, butter cupcakes are best eaten at room temperature. Refrigeration makes them harder, and frozen is the best for indefinate shelf life (placed in freezer bags, also known as ziplock bags).
Excess buttercream can be kept refrigerated (shelf life of few months) and bring to room temperature before spreading onto cupcakes. Therefore, it can be made in advance.
All About Cupcakes -Part 2 will be the most simplest decorating with buttercream.
