Vanilla cupcake

My kids love plain vanilla cupcakes. I didn’t know this until our recent trip to Ooty. The breakfast buffet at Savoy, Ooty had wonderful, fine-crumbed freshly baked vanilla cupcakes every day and I’d grab a bunch of these for snacking later on in the car. It kept them full while we drove around and I was really surprised they didn’t get bored of these cupcakes. I decided then that I had to make these vanilla cupcakes once we returned home. I found an easy basic vanilla cake recipe in Maida Heatter’s book and I adapted that recipe to make cupcakes. The recipe uses no butter, instead it calls for fresh cream. You won’t notice the difference though, the cupcakes turn out tender and fine-crumbed.

I baked the first batch for about 17 minutes or so and the cupcakes were done but the tops didn’t turn golden. I baked the next batch for about 20-22 minutes and they came out nice and golden but I thought a tad bit drier than the first batch. So I’d suggest watching the cupcakes closely after the first 12 minutes or so and then pulling them out as soon as you think they’re done. These cupcakes taste great fresh out of oven. Serve them warm for breakfast or along with your evening tea. I am sending these to Srivalli's Cake Mela.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 15-25 minutes
Makes: 16 cupcakes

Ingredients

Flour – 2 cups
Sugar – 2 cups
Salt – pinch
Eggs - 2
Vanilla Essence – 2 tsp
Whipping Cream – 1 cup (I used Amul Fresh Cream 200 ml pack)
Baking powder – 2 tsp

Method

1.      Preheat oven to 180 C and line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.

2.      Sift together flour, salt and baking powder twice. Set aside.

3.      In a bowl, break open eggs and beat well till pale. Add the sugar and beat on high speed for 2-3 minutes. Add the vanilla essence and cream and beat for a further 1 minute till well incorporated.

4.      Add the flour and fold in till properly mixed. Use a spoon to fill the cupcake liners about 2/3^rd full with the cake batter. Bake at 180 C for 17-22 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.