“Two” Many Cupcakes?

Tuesday June 13th is Cupcake Lovers Day 🙂

Coming up with a cupcake recipe for this awesome day should be so easy for me – after all, I am writing a cupcake cookbook! But as the day neared, I found myself surprisingly uninspired. So I decided to get my creative juices flowing by looking at the history of the cupcake and discovering why they are indeed called cupcakes.

Historically there are two types of cupcakes. The first is called a cupcake because the ingredients are measured by volume rather than weight. For this type of cake, most of the ingredients are measured in a cup. A popular cupcake of this type is called a 1234 cake because it is made with 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups flour and 4 eggs. These cakes are usually baked in conventional cake pans.

The second type of cupcake is the cupcake we know and love today. They are called cupcakes because before the invention of muffin tins, these small, single serve cakes were actually baked in tea cups or mugs. Today, cupcakes are no longer baked in cups but are baked in muffin tins lined with decorative paper cases. They are usually topped with frosting or icing and can be filled or unfilled. They can also be decorated in many creative ways.

Did my trip down cupcake history lane whet my appetite? It sure did! After much thought and battling sugar cravings, I was inspired by the concept of the mug cake – quick, single serve cakes that are baked in mugs. But what I really wanted was to make a small batch of cupcakes baked in paper cases, not mugs. A quick bit of research and I happily discovered that there are many recipes for 1 or 2 cupcakes. The recipes for 1 cupcake required tablespoon measurements of egg white which I really don’t have time for, so I explored the 2 cupcake recipes, most of which use a whole egg white.

I know what you’re thinking. Why would you only bake 2 cupcakes? Well, I’d like to say it’s because I’m worried about eating a dozen cupcakes on my own but I would be lying 🙂 I was really thinking that by making only 2 cupcakes at a time I can experiment with more flavours and more combinations. In fact, I could well end up eating more than a dozen! I also did think there may be people out there who would like to make small batch cupcakes. So here is the first of what I hope are many creations for my “two for me” cupcakes!

Two Brown Butter Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients
30g (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 egg white
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of sea salt
1 + 1/2 tablespoons milk

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F.
Place 2 paper cases in either a 6-hole or 12-hole muffin pan.
Add the butter to a small frying pan.
Carefully swirl the pan for two minutes or until the butter is golden brown, being careful not to burn the butter.
Pour into a heat-proof bowl and allow to cool slightly.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg white and sugar until combined.
Stir in the vanilla and melted butter.
Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir until combined.
Add the milk and stir until just combined.
Divide the batter evenly between the 2 paper cases.
Bake for 10 – 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a cupcake comes out clean.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

So how do you frost two cupcakes? Well the possibilities are endless. As you are not going to make a huge batch of frosting – unless you want to – you can be a bit more creative with your topping choices. For one of the cupcakes I went the simple route. I topped the cupcake with a dollop of double cream and grated some white chocolate over the top. You can do this with any of your favourite toppings and spreads. No recipe needed!

For the other cupcake, I challenged myself to create frosting for one, because who doesn’t want to know how to make frosting just for yourself 🙂 There were many options available but I finally went for a peanut butter one. The thought of a brown butter cupcake topped with peanut butter frosting actually made me drool.

Peanut Butter Frosting For One

Ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons icing (powdered) sugar
1 tablespoon milk

Instructions
In a small bowl, whisk together the butter and peanut butter. You can use a small whisk or a fork.
Whisk in the icing sugar until combined
Mix in the milk and whisk until you reach your desired consistency.
Dollop onto cupcake.

Click Cupcakes for more of my recipes 🙂