This time round, we did cupcakes. I was tempted to try out a sponge cake recipe... but upon knowing you need to beat the batter in warm water, and the many things to take note of, I chose to stick with a 'safe' recipe that is easy to follow.

I wanted the students to experience success, and to have fun decorating the cupcakes. These are their designs.

tea to go with cupcakes

some like colours

others like it thick - with lots of frosting

another liked it plain

The students were asking me what's the difference between a muffin and cupcake. To me, cupcakes are small cakes, usually with a frosting. Muffins are heavier in texture, loaded with fruits, and usually eaten for breakfast. When I think of muffins, I think of blueberry muffins, banana muffins. They can be savoury too like the potato cheese muffins I made.

Recipe: (from 我愛杯子蛋糕)

Ingredients - yields about 6 cupcakes

Butter Cupcake
100g butter
85g caster sugar
2 eggs
100g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder


Chocolate Glaze
90g chocolate
1 tbsp icing sugar, sifted to remove lumps
30g butter, cut into small pieces
   

Method
Cupcakes

• Pre-heat oven to 180 deg C.
• Measure out the flour and baking powder. Mix well. Sieve it and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, beat the butter till soft and creamy. Use a wooden spoon for this.
• Add in half of the sugar, and mix into the butter . It is important to mix till well-combined. Add in the remaining sugar, and mix again.
• Crack the eggs into a small bowl. Lightly beat the eggs using a fork. Add half of the egg mixture to the batter. Mix well. Add in the remaining egg mixture.
• Add in the flour, and lightly mix everything together.
• Spoon batter into muffin cups, and fill till 80% full.
• Bake in oven for 20 mins, or when toothpick inserted into the centre of the cupcake comes out clean.

Glaze

• Put the chocolates in a heat-proof bowl, and melt over simmering water. You can also use a microwave to melt the chocolates.
• Using a small whisk, stir the icing sugar into the chocolate. When everything is well-combined, add in the butter.
• You can dip the top of the cupcake into the glaze, then give the cakes a little twirl as you pull them out. Or you can use a metal spatula to spread the glaze over the cupcakes. 

I like the glaze a lot. As you can see, the amount of icing sugar used is quite little, compared to other recipes. It's not overly sweet and very chocolately :) I think my chocolate-loving friend will definitely like this!