Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing

A whole ago I bought the Sunbeam Pattie cupcake maker, and I figured it would be a cute and easy way to bake with my niece. WRONG! It turns out that is is awesome for making just enough cupcakes for morning tea, so that they are always fresh!

Except generally cupcake recipes are for more cupcakes. Pattie makes 6 at a time so easily, so I've been working on recipes to make just a half dozen cupcakes at a time.

These are soft, fluffy and gorgeous.



Vanilla Cupcakes
1 egg
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/6 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the egg in a jug. This makes it easier to fill the cupcakes....

Add softened butter and sugar and beat. The mix should be light and soft.

Add milk, flour, baking powder and vanilla. Combine with a spatula.

Heat Pattie, placing the cupcake liners in the spaces. You can bake these at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes, but Pattie is only about 8 minutes.

Pour the mixture into cupcake liners, leaving about a cm at the top of the liner. The cupcake should rise to the top of the liner.

Bake for about 8 minutes in Pattie, or 15 in a conventional oven.

When cool, ice.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing

Tablespoon of butter
2 mini tubs of cream cheese
Strawberry essence
1/2 cup icing sugar

Heat the butter and cream cheese in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Stir briskly, mixing into a paste.

Add a few drops of strawberry essence. Stir.

Add the icing sugar, stir until combined.

Load into a piping bag and pipe onto the cupcakes. Decorate with sprinkles if desired.


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Tie-dye Rainbow Cake

I admit it... I have become known for my Rainbow Cake... but even I admit that it is sweet to the extreme.  With 5 layers, jam holding the layers together, and 2 layers of icing, it is a mouthful.  It also takes a couple of days to compile.  Literally.  So this is an easier alternative.  And I did need to make a cake to farewell my fantastic student teacher.

How to do this....

Make one batch of White Cake.

Then using the 1 cup scoop (I have a cup scoop that is a little less than a full cup, 235ml, which is great).  Scoop a cup, and colour with red colouring.  Mix with a small spatula, then dump in the middle of a cake tin. Take anther scoop and colour with orange.  Dump this into the middle of the red.  Repeat until you have run out of cake mix or colours.

Smooth the cake batter around the pan carefully, trying not to disturb the colour mix as much as possible.

Bake as usual.  I like a chocolate icing, covered with sprinkles. ;)

When cut, the colours look pretty impressive.

There is my layered Rainbow Cake taking centre stage at the last staff morning tea shout.