Goodness gracious, but I have been baking up a storm lately! I would like to say the process all went flawlessly, but that would be a lie!
There were plenty of learning curves I had to get over, but with the help of my lovely family, @zakludick @aimeludick @merenludick and @matthew-williams I was able to pull it all off in the end.
Big lessons I learned were:
1. you can't rush perfection. Allocating enough time to each baking project, especially new recipes, is extremely important
2. It's very difficult to bake multiple items in an oven that can only handle one tray of cupcakes at a time - although it does bake brilliantly - I need like 4 of them or for my big oven to be fixed
3. Food colouring stains like hell. I mean, this seems obvious but when you are rushing and up to your elbows in purple icing, you're bound to dye something the wrong colour!
4. Keeping long term items like muffins in an airtight container is really important. Obviously, unlike store bought muffins, for example, shelf life is affected because I don't add any extra preservatives and my recipes are not designed for mass baking.
- There is actually a limit to how many cupcakes you can eat 😂😂🤦♀️🤦♀️ like your body starts rejecting them! What a betrayal! Especially because your mouth want's more, but your tummy just says "nope." @zakludick and I discovered this the hard way!
- ASK FOR HELP - you do NOT need to do it all by yourself.
An exhausted and defeated me, trying to take a nap wile still full of adrenaline... and food colouring from the previous batch of cupcakes
Right, so back to these delicious babies, this is a recipe I have never tried and tbh I didn't think I'd have time to make them on Saturday for my birthday party, but I did! And the turned out to be SUPER delicious and easy to make! Thanks to @merenludick for helping me to pull this off!
To describe them, I would definitely alike them to jam stuffed donuts or pancakes, of course, with loads of cinnamon sugar!
I have actually been staring at this recipe for ages and absolutely dying to make them so I am so glad I did! Jam donuts, which are my absolute favorite donuts but they have to be the the right ones sprinkled with castor sugar and cinnamon NOT icing sugar are so hard to find! I still have enough ingredients to make another batch, which I will do so this weekend.
They were a rocking success and I don't have a single one left!
Here we go. This is what you'll need and the instructions on how to do it! I will probably try to double this recipe next time as it only makes 12 cupcakes.
Tools:
- Electric hand mixer
- A tin opener, butter knife, fork, teaspoons, tablespoons, a wooden spoon and a ladle
- A sieve
- a measuring cup
- a muffin/ cupcake tray (12's)
- Muffin/ cupcake baking liners
- Cook and bake/ spray and cook
- Two plastic mixing bowls
Ingredients:
*140 g caster sugar
*230 g self-raising flour sifted with other dry ingredients. If you use ordinary cake flour, like I did you need to add
*1 and a half teaspoons of baking powder
- 1 free-range egg - I unfortunately only had battery eggs and they were very small, so I used two. One has to be careful with eggs: although they are crucial for binding ingredients and adding a fluffy texture, adding to many can make your end product very dry!
- ⅓ cup canola oil - I think any oil will do, but I happened to have canola oil at hand
- ⅔ cup full-cream maas: for "non-saffers":
Google actually explains it really well:* "Maas," also known as "amasi," is a popular South African fermented milk product, similar to yogurt or buttermilk, enjoyed for its creamy texture and tangy flavor, with a rich history and health benefits. * Also, don't get a fright if it comes out of the bottle with chunks! you can shake it to avoid this. - 1 tablespoon vanilla extract: you know I'm extremely liberal with vanilla! Let your ancestors guide you!
- 12 t apricot jam (or any other jam): its actually quite important to stick to this otherwise the jam gets to heavy and sinks to the bottom - making the cupcakes very awkward to eat!
- 50 g butter, melted - you can substitute this with good quality baking margarine, which I use for most of my recipes - look for 70% fat!
- cinnamon sugar, for dipping - premix this before you start so you don't have to run around while your cupcakes are cooling. It's very important to butter and add the cinnamon sugar while the cupcakes are still hot!
Method:
Prepare your cupcake tray/s in advance with pray an cook/ cook and bake and your baking cups/ liners. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Sift the flour, sugar and baking powder together
In a separate bowl, add the oil, eggs mass/ amasi, and vanilla extract
Combine each separately, the dry ingredients with a spoon and the wet ingredients with the electric hand mixer.
Add the wet and dry ingredients together, beating a bit more with the hand mixer to thoroughly combine.
Spoon the mixture into your baking cups, about 1/2 way
Add the apricot jam
Cover with remaining batter
Bake for around 40 minutes until they're slightly golden brown on top
Once they're ready, remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack. While they're still hot, butter each cupcake and cover generously with cinnamon sugar.
Enjoy!
