When I was growing up, we often used to make Queen Cakes. These days, Cupcakes are very much in vogue but in essence, they are the American version of English queen cakes.
Bought cupcakes seem to be defined by their topping which is often quite elaborate and usually at least as deep as the cake itself! Personally, I prefer less icing and more cake so unless it is a very special occasion, a thin layer of icing is the most I put on my cupcakes.
This recipe is a variation of my grandmother’s sponge recipe. The cakes are soft and light. They keep well in an airtight container for several days and also freeze well.
I find I get between 12 and 18 cupcakes out of the mixture, depending on whether I use traditional wider cupcake papers or thinner ones like those in the photo above.
Ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- ¾ cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons boiling water
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ⅓ cup brown rice flour
- ⅓ cup white rice flour
- ¾ teaspoon xantham gum
- ⅓ cup oil
Method:
Beat together the eggs and sugar until thick and pale.
Add the water and beat lightly to combine.
Fold in the dry ingredients.
Add the oil and mix to combine. Ensure all of the oil is thoroughly incorporated – this can take a few minutes. The mixture is quite runny.
Pour or spoon the mixture into cupcake cases. Take care not to overfill the cases as this may cause the mixture to spill over the sides. I find it best to fill the cases no more than half to two-thirds full.
Set the filled cupcake cases aside while the oven heats.
Heat the oven to 190° C. Cook the cupcakes for 20 minutes. Test with a skewer before removing from the oven.
Even though the cakes rise, they tend to remain reasonably flat on top. On the odd occasion, I have even had them sink slightly in the middle! It doesn’t appear to affect the cakes though – they are still light and fluffy inside.
The texture of the cupcakes is light and spongey.
The cupcakes may be dusted with icing sugar, iced or made into butterfly cakes. For the cupcakes in the photo at the top of this post, I made butter icing. I used about 250g of butter, 1 cup of icing sugar and a small amount of red food colouring. This was ample for 12 cupcakes.
Using a piping bag with a star nozzle, I piped the icing onto each cupcake by starting at the outer edge and piping in a circle around the top of the cake, working inwards, gradually moving towards the centre of the cake.
