Cooking is suppose to be a pleasure

Well, I'd love to tell you that I swept gracefully into the kitchen this morning like a woman from the 50's. That the first time I attempted cupcakes everything went beautifully, and that the finished product was pure art. . . but I'd be lying.

Instead, I got a faulty recipe and the first batch was a disaster. I mean yes, the chef wasn't exactly an expert either ;). But the recipe called for 3 1/2 cups of flour and the mixture ended up looking like a bread type mix. It was sticky, dry and almost caused my poor Mumsie's Kitchen Aid to go ca-put. Seriously, you could smell it burning and you could almost hear the motor going, "I think I can, I think I can." Seems like I'm continuing my trend of burning things in the kitchen already.

I wish I could tell you I acted like a young lady, but I didn't. I was frustrated because I followed the recipe to a T and it was just awful. I feel sorry for my mum for having to listen to my rants and raves.

But after cleaning everything up, and a few words of encouragement, my mum and I found a different recipe and I started over. This is what I made!

Quick Yellow Cake - in a Cupcake version
Source: Kitchen Aid Great Baking and More
Makes: 14 cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (we didn't use this)
1/2 cup shortening (we used butter)
1 cup low-fat milk
1 teaspoon vanilla (we used lemon extract)
2 eggs

Method:
Basically, you throw all the dry ingredients in with your shortening (or butter), milk, and vanilla (or lemon). Mix that until smooth and then add your eggs. Mix again until eggs and other ingredients are all well mixed.

Put oven on to 350 degrees, I'd recommend spraying your cupcake pan/cupcake holders with PAM so that nothing sticks (well, actually, you can thank my mum for telling me that). I baked them for roughly 25 minutes- you just want to make sure when you touch the top your finger bounces back off like a sponge! Then leave to cool for about ten minutes.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Source: Kitchen Aid Great Baking and More

Ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar
1 package (8 ounces) light cream cheese
1 teaspoon orange juice
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel (or orange extract if no peel)

Method:
Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Just make sure the icing is a soft peak, and not runny.

And the result of these two and a few yellow sprinkles? St. Clements cupcakes!




I thought about naming them Sweet Sunshine (after part of my nickname) or Clementine Cupcakes (like the song). But since I'm told that a lemon/orange mixture is called a St. Clements, I figured I'd be unoriginal.

My first attempt at cupcakes started out rough, but at least it made for a good story, right? I've put away my baking tools for this week, but I'll definitely do it again soon. As for tomorrow, I'm making dinner. Not sure if I'll post about it or not, but wish me luck!