quirkymelbournian

The Chocolate Cupcake!

The Cupcake is said to originate from England!

It was originally known as a Queen Cake and is said to have gotten its name by either the way it was baked – in a cup or that the recipe was measured mainly in cups. It was a lighter and sweeter cake served with tea or coffee. These days cupcakes are decorated in many different ways and made with a variety of flavours. It is crucial to follow the recipe of a cupcake in order to achieve the light and fluffiness and roundness of the cake.

Other information about cupcakes can be found here:

http://mylittlecupcakevt.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/history-of-cupcake.html

I chose the cupcake as my first recipe to try and conquer simply because I have always liked them. To bake them or to eat them. Cupcakes are delicious!

My starting point for this recipe was a book that my mother gave me (before being GF) about five years ago called “Cupcakes” by Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas

I have picked the recipe on page 16. On the ingredients list it says to use 185g plain flour, sifted. I have baked cakes before using my own version of gf plain flour. This time I did more research through

http://thankheavens.com.au/2013/01/31/mix-your-own-gluten-free-flour-easy-guide/

Chose this one – 250 g/ 9 oz of sorghum flour or brown rice flour
250 g/ 9 oz tapioca flour
100 g/ 3 1/2 oz almond flour
1 tsp xantan gum 

except instead of almond flour I used amaranth flour and chose sorghum flour.

This was my flour mix                     from here I then measured what I needed. As I started making my cakes and realised after it was too late that the eggs were meant to separated into yolk and whites. The vanilla was meant to be mixed into the milk… the egg and butter part of the mixture was meant to be divided in thirds and slowly beaten into the flour mixture… it was all too much by this point. You are not meant to do this with baking but as I already made crucial mistakes I decided it wasn’t worth the effort…

Then I overfilled the patty pans! The result was sunk in cakes that came over the edge of the patty pans. Oops! Not my finest baking moment.

I made chocolate icing with dark chocolate melts, butter and pure icing sugar. Iced the cakes and topped them with naturally coloured sprinkles. According to my Mum and our friend they were delicious!

Here is the end result:

They are not the typical cupcake and the combination of the gluten free flour and my mistakes they don’t look quite right. But they taste, great!!