Little sister J is a bit of a health nut. She jogs every single day, does gym classes, swims, and has been known to compete in the occasional triathlon. She eats reasonably well too - she loves her vegies, cooks low fat dinners, and snacks on nuts.
However she does have a weakness. She is absolutely obsessed with cupcakes. I'm not exaggerating. The last time she visited Hobart's wonderful "Cutie Cups" shop, she excitedly purchased half a dozen beautifully crafted morsels of cupcakey deliciousness, devouring one and packing the rest for the return trip. Only she forgot and left them in the hotel room. When I met her for breakfast immediately after landing back in Melbourne, she had tears in her eyes as she told me her tragic tale of cupcake forgetfulness. And then promptly turned to her fiance T and blamed him for distracting her.
My belated birthday present to J this year: a trip to Old Kingdom for a spot of Peking Duck (her second favourite food), and some chocky home made cupcakes with a generous dollop of icing.
Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla marshmallow frosting
Preheat oven to 200C and line 12 cupcake tins with patty papers. Beat together 175g softened unsalted butter with 175g caster sugar until pale and creamy, then gradually beat in two beaten eggs. Stir in 175g self raising flour, 2 heaped tbs cocoa and approx 1 cup milk (sorry I forgot to measure the milk). Fold together until combined - it should make quite a thick cake batter. Spoon into tin - you'll need to flatten slightly with the back of a spoon. I also tapped the tin on the bench a few times to more evenly distribute the batter. Bake in the oven for about 15 mins or until cooked through.
For the frosting, put half a pack of vanilla/raspberry marshmallows in a small pan on low heat, together with one tablespoon of milk - heat gently until melted. In another bowl, beat together two egg whites until soft peaks form, then beat in two heaped tablespoons of caster sugar until stiff peaks form. Cool the melted marshmallow a bit before folding into the egg white mixture. Let it sit for approx 10 mins before icing the cupcakes. My trick is to fill a zip lock bag with the frosting then cut off a small corner, and pipe it over the tip of the cakes.
2 comments:
Oh yumm Karen- I wish you'd psoted your blog before my cupcake adventure this week - the marshmallow frosting sounds divine. There's a new cupcake chop opened up in the city on the corner of Flinders Lane and Elizabeth St - I don;t think they're as good as homemade, but your sister might find some comfort there!
Hot Damn! That almost compares to the massive cupcake cake that my g/f made me for my birthday today...Awesome!
Post a Comment