recently there was a full-family holiday...by that I mean my parents, my siblings, their spouses and children (only 3 so far!). I just knew that I had to make cupcakes at some stage, and why not involve the oldest nephew, who would delight in being included. He already helps his Mum with her baking, I had previously noticed him playing with sand at the beach - stirring, scooping, declaring " just a little bit of ginger for the gingerbread man!"
But!! Trouble ensued - I had brought my traditional cupcake recipe, and over the few days of coffee and pancakes, we had used up ALL the sugar. My husband unknowlingly saved the day by giving me a present for our 2 year wedding anniversary that very day..."How to be a Domestic Goddess" by Nigella Lawson. And it had a recipe...for brown sugar cupcakes! I didn't do exactly as the recipe said, but after having a look at quantities and method, ended up simply replacing the white sugar in my traditional recipe with brown sugar, and it worked really well!! And no, I won't keep the recipe to myself greedily. Enjoy!
Cream 1 cup butter (softened) and 1 cup sugar (usually caster sugar, in this case brown sugar!)
Add 3 egss, beating well until light and fluffy.
Add 1/2 C milk, 1 and 1/2 C self-raising flour, and 1 tsp vanilla. Keep beating with an electric beater til creamy.
Divide mixture between 12 cupcake cases in a muffin tray. Depending on the type of paper, you may need to grease them (I use a ricebran oil light spray, so easy!)
Bake for 15-20 minutes at 160C, until risen and a delicious golden brown on top.
I iced these with an easy icing sugar, butter and hot water icing, so as to be child-friendly, I wasn't going for gourmet! I had also brought some chocolate candy-covered sprinkles up to the holiday house, Caleb delighted in dipping his spoon into the pot and sprinkling generously on the cupcakes.
