Never Fail Cupcakes
170g caster sugar
170g margarine
200g self raising flour
3 eggs
1 tbs milk
1. Put all ingredients in TMX jug and mix. I mixed these on 4 for 40 seconds and then on 8 for 20 seconds. The mixture just needs to be a creamy, pouring consistency. I am not a great cook so I am sure the more experienced people here can tweak this part of the recipe for me
2. Put about a tablespoon full into cup cake tins, lightly greased or use cup cake papers.
Makes about 24 (unless your kids eat a few spoonfuls of the mixture before it makes it to the tin!!)
Bake at 220 for 10-15 mins.
Ice, if desired.
You can make this into a cake too. Makes the lightest, fluffiest sponge cake you will ever eat.
These make excellent additions to the lunch box and are great for parties, especially if you are creative when icing them. you can also make butterfly cakes, just cut the top off the cup cake, cut the piiece in half, put some butter icing on the cupcake and then place the two cut pieces on top to look like wings.
Members' commentsDebs - They worked perfectly and were yumm and soooo easy although I couldn't mix on 8, it just caused an air vacuum. But on a lower speed it mixed and I actually was putting away the ingredients while mixing and ended up mixing for over a minute. Very light and fluffy cakes which would be great as butterfly cakes. Thanks.
CP - or instead of icing - a little dob of jam, heaped tsp of whipped cream, put wings together, and then sprinkle with icing sugar, mmm.
Lellyj - Thanks for this recipe Sharona. I did have a fail the first time--because I'm new to thermomix and didn't realise I had my cord wrapped around one of the feet! This meant that the quantities were weighed all wrong. Anyway, I realised that the weights weren't correct . . . wayyyy too much butter for cakes . . . fixed the cord problem and saved that mixture to make biscuits and started again! I made 2 batches as my cupcake pans were quite big. Only took minutes in the thermomix and the cupcakes were lovely as promised. I used this frosting
http://www.stephberg.com/?p=2888 which was great and made some fancy fondant stars to make new years eve cupcakes. But thanks for the great, easy recipe.
rubyslippers - The kids love these. I ended up getting 30 (tablespoon of batter) and a good like of the bowl. After the first batch came out brown @ 10 mins, I dropped my oven back to 200
oC and they were cooked perfect in 10 mins.
JD - Just finished icing these and would like to thank you for posting this lovely recipe sharona. I also did the frosting from the link posted (thanks for that Lellyj) - best topping I've ever tried. Have a fair bit left over so will freeze it as an experiment to see how it goes - got nothing to lose. Why did I have so much leftover?
Lellyj - Judy I made 24 big cupcakes from a double batch of mixture and iced them with a piping bag with big extravagant swirls like in a bakery so used almost all the icing. Probably should have thought to warn people that normal sized cupcakes iced more modestly would use less frosting.
JD - I made 6 dozen lamingtons today using 2 different cake recipes. This one was my preferred option and the coating, I used one from a Woman's Weekly cake book.
Icing for lamingtons
500g icing sugar (the bought one was far better than the TMX one, that was gritty and disappointing)
30g cocoa powder
15 g butter
125g milk
desiccated coconut to coat
Place butter and milk into the TM bowl and cook for 1.5 minutes/80o/speed 2.
Add icing sugar and cocoa and blend for 20 sec/speed 4.
Heat for 2 mins/80o/speed 2.
Place into a deep bowl and use tongs to dip the cakes (or slices if you've made a slab cake) into the icing then into a plate of coconut.
I am going to make butterfly lamingtons from the small round ones.
termomix - um, perfect cupcakes for my son's 6th birthday. I used butter instead of margarine and cooked on 180 degrees for 15 minutes. Thanks for a great recipe.
triley - made these for my son's cricket team tomorrow. Never really made cupcakes but these were so easy. They look good so I'm sure a dozen teens will wolf them down in no time.
lindy - These are delicious!! The yummiest cupcake recipe ever - beautiful texture and flavour. Thanks so much for sharing - I'm going to try the frosting too. Just made a batch of mini cupcakes and about to make up a 2nd batch of mix for normal sized cupcakes. I added about 3 Tbsp milk to my mix - could probably even done with a little more than that as it was very thick and I also used butter instead of margarine.
SuzieG - I made these and the frosting yesterday very easy. Taste test last night and these were lovely. Thanks for the recipe!
Coops - I use this recipe all the time, as a cake and cupcakes, it's great. Wanting to do choc cupcakes too, do you think this recipe could be easily adapted to become chocolate? I've used a double batch of this recipe to make lamingtons, they were great!
Lellyj - Coops, I think if you replaced some flour for cocoa you would be fine, or try I Love Bimby's chocolate cake recipe which is a forum icon. Lots of people make that into cupcakes, although I have only made it as a slab cake. The recipe would make heaps.
KerrynN - I baulked at the amount of sugar (given sugar in the icing and in the popcorn topping) so replaced it with half rapadura and half pear puree (75g each). My cup cake pans were a bit big so the cakes were not huge but they still tasted good. I iced them with a cream cheese and vanilla sugar icing, and then, as per birthday boy's request topped them with homemade caramel popcorn.
korrick - great, easy recipe but I found I had to add another tablespoon of milk. It still didn't achieve a pouring consistency, but it did make 2 doz cupcakes. I replaced some of the flour with 20gm cocoa. I opted to make up an icing of 350gm icing sugar and 50 gms marg, enough boiling water to achieve a spreadable consistency. I added red food colouring for a lovely pink girly icing. I used the butterfly for approx. 10 secs, scraped, then another 5 sec. I thought as it was a fairly forgiving recipe I would play a bit and it seemed to work.
luel - they really do live up to their name - Never Fail because I forgot to put the marg in! There it was sitting in the microwave all softened nicely when I went to heat up some food for the kids. I had them in the oven baking so was past the point of no return.
They turned out great and healthy too! I sent them the next day with my son to day care and got the comment from one of the kids in the arvo that I make the best cupcakes (yes!!).
My variations to the recipe were:
no butter!
rapadura instead of the caster sugar ground for 1 min/speed 9 as a very first step.
some milk to make it runnier (obviously not enough liquid seeing as I'd forgotten the butter)
50gm desiccated coconut
1tsp vanilla essence
1 MC frozen blueberries stirred in at the end 5 sec/reverse/speed 2.
So Never Fail Cupcakes are winners in this house - a very forgiving recipe!
runnybabbit - My Never Fail Cupcakes FAILED. I used the same amount of plain flour, and used 2 tsp of baking powder. After 10 minutes at 200
oC (fan forced), they all domed really asymmetrically and the tops cracked, too. Troubleshoot, anyone?
dede - Oops. Ok maybe they are 'sometimes fail cupcakes'. I can't answer that one for you sorry.
Did you open the oven at all during cooking time? Did you let them sit to long before putting them in the oven? Is your oven temp correct? I read somewhere that cupcake or muffin batter should be placed in the oven as soon as possible from mixing the batter. I think the batter starts to work once all the ingredients are mixed together. I will have to double check on that one for you though as it was awhile ago when I was having trouble making these kind of things so I googled some tips.
runnybabbit - I assume oven temp is alright because I haven't had too much trouble with other stuff so far.
I did let the batter sit for about 15-20 min (baby needed resettling) before I divvied it into the patty pans and popped them in the oven. How does that make a difference?
dede - I read somewhere that cupcake or muffin batter should be placed in the oven as soon as possible from mixing the batter. I think the batter starts to work once all the ingredients are mixed together.
Bonsai - Maybe try again with 1tsp of baking powder.
Depome - Dede, as soon as baking powder (or bicarb) gets wet, it is activated. It starts to dissolve and produce carbon dioxide bubbles. It's those bubbles that we try to capture in baking to work particularly with the gluten that's created in a lot of our flours when they get wet. We get air pockets and stretchy glutenous walls. Additionally a hot oven excites gaseous molecules very rapidly which results in some expansion of those air pockets/bubbles. If we leave batter too long then the bubbles will peak before we can use them.
I use my batters quickly! But I sometimes have cupcakes leaning over too. I have thought it might be a batter that is too runny. I don't seem to have the problem when I turn the fan off, which I prefer to do for baking.
merl81 - The recipe was great! My husband agreed that they are light and fluffy. It is actually similar to one I use Pre-TMX, (except this one had an extra egg). I also had my oven on 180 with fan, and added some vanilla essence. I used my normal buttercream recipe, but made it in the TMX for the first time. I use ordinary teaspoons to put the mixture in the cupcake wrappers. It probably ends up with 1 heaped teaspoon and a little bit more. Sometimes it doesn't look like much, but if you look at the photo I attached the other day you will see how even they come out and they are the perfect size for icing. I also cook my cupcakes at about 180 in fan forced electric, in the middle of the oven.
maddy re peaking - What temp are you cooking them at?
220c is far too hot, and over mixing could be making them peak too.
I only cook cupcakes on 175c max. ( just adjust cooking time), lower in the oven - not middle rack in my oven as they peak and over cook.
cookie1 - I made these this afternoon. I felt that the thermomix was straining to mix at speed 8 so dropped it back. I cooked them at 180 for about 15 minutes. They look lovely.
and again, I needed something quick for afternoon tea so I made these. They are lovely and light. I cut the tops off and put Passionfruit butter in them.
evepantany - I made these last night for a 'Biggest Morning Tea' my husband was having at work. He just called to say they went down a treat. Thanks for a great 'never fail' recipe.
AnnieM - These were a real winner with my friends. I put some coffee essence in the cupcake mixture too. Thanks.
Thermesa - Made these today. 180 degrees no fan for 10 minutes then with fan for another 5. Success.
LeeJ - This is very similar to my recipe, it's
225gms SR flour,
225gms sugar
225gms butter or nuttelex (to make dairy free)
4 eggs.
Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time, mix in flour.
They are beautiful, as I'm sure your recipe is.
Cook 190
oC, 15 minutes for 18 cakes.
They 'turn' quickly, so I always keep an eye on the end for just the right amount of 'brownness'.
For a sponge, 180
oC, 2 x 20cm cakes tins, 20 minutes.
MJ - Unfortunately, these didn't work too well for me. I cooked at 200
oC as I thought 225 in my oven is too hot. They peaked and were brown around the edges. Nice and soft when still warm, but I didn't like the texture when cooled. They were quite light, but not 'fluffy' or soft.
I made lamingtons from them and they were perfect for that as they didn't disintegrate when placed in the icing.
My normal cupcake recipe uses less sugar and more flour and gives a fluffier cake texture.
220g dairy soft
150g caster sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
240g SR flour
Make the same way. 180
oC, fan forced or 190 if not FF for 15 minutes.
CP - MJ I just had a look in Lady Flo's book and she says:
if cup cakes are to be iced and smooth tops required, bake in a moderately hot oven (190 - 220C). For peaked tops (necessary for butterfly cakes), bake in a hot oven (200-230C) and place cakes in the hottest part of oven, usually near the top of gas ovens and at the bottom of electric ovens. Check oven guide for your particular stove.
To make Jelly Cakes: use 1 pkt red or lime-green jelly crystals and coconut for rolling cakes in. Dissolve jelly crystals in 1 cup boiling water and allow them to almost set. Take each cake and dip into soft jelly, then roll in coconut. Place in refrigerator to set. Cut off top of cake, add a good dollop of whipped cream and replace the lid.
