WWDH - Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Icing

 Today is Wednesday with Donna Hay so I am joining in for a change. My brother asked for cupcakes so I thought it was an opportune way to make another Donna recipe.

These cupcakes are from Donna’s Modern Classics Book 2. I combined the cupcakes from one recipe with a half batch of her buttercream recipe. The cupcake recipe is unusual in that everything is dumped into  the bowl at once and beaten until smooth and creamy. I was a bit worried about the batter getting tough but I went with it.

I am yet to try one of these cupcakes, so I am unsure of the flavour outcome. However, the texture seems ok - not tough or rubbery, so that’s a revelation. [Update - these cakes are good - not tough at all despite the unorthodox method.]

To make these cupcakes, you will need;

125g softened butter

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line or grease a 12 hole muffin tin.

Put all of the ingredients into a bowl and beat until pale and smooth.

Divide the batter evenly between the muffin tin holes and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Turn the cooked cupcakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cool, ice them with buttercream made by beating 125g butter until smooth and creamy; sift in 1/2 cup icing sugar and beat until smooth and blended; beat in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and colouring (optional).

TWD - Grain and Seed Muffins

This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Grain and Seed Muffins.  These muffins contain a long list of healthy-ish ingredients and bake up into rather good savoury-sweet muffins:

Everyone suggested that these muffins were best served with butter, so that is what I did:

 I only made a quarter batch, replaced the wheat bran with more oats, and replaced the whole seeds with LSA for no reason other than that is what I had available.

These were good and I’d make them again.

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

TWD - Portofignos

 

Today’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Portofignos, so called as a riff on the port soaked figs they contain and the totally unrelated Italian town of Portofino.

These biscuits are flavoured with cocoa, port, figs and walnuts. They also get depth from both brown and white sugar.

They bake up soft and are delicious.

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

TWD - Stephanie Johnston’s Bakewell Tart

This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Stephanie Johnston’s Bakewell Tart. The quintessential English bakewell tart comprises raspberry jam and frangipane in a tart shell, and decorated with flaked almonds.

I skipped the flaked almonds and used strawberry jam inside, representative of what I had access to at the time.

 I also added the optional icing, a la Mr Kipling, but less full on.

This tart was delicious, especially the day it was made. It could be served warm or cold, as is or with icecream or cream.

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

TWD - Bruno’s New Year’s Waffles

This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Bruno’s New Year’s Waffles. These waffles are more akin to pizzelles than my idea of waffles.

I flavoured my waffles with vanilla, and not having a pizzelle iron, I used the sandwich maker (which is why they resemble potato chips):

 As reviews had stated, these are crispy when they first come out, but very quickly go soft (but are still tasty).

I enjoyed one of these with icecream and raspberries.

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.