Making the perfect fluffy cupcake is not as easy as it sounds. For beginners, magnificent muffins will come out far from the first time, but we advise you not to despair. We offer three recipes that are worth learning how to bake.
Semolina muffins with jam
Ingredients (for 6 servings):
100 g flour
50 g semolina (semolina)
0.5 tsp baking powder
60 g powdered sugar
1 egg
70 g vegetable oil
100 ml milk
jam or jam (dense)
Cooking method:
- Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl.
- In another bowl, mix egg, oil and milk. Whisk.
- Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and stir.
- Place 1 tbsp. in each cupcake pan. l. test. Then add 1 tsp. jam (jam). In addition to jam, you can put nuts, seeds, dried fruits or sesame seeds inside the cupcakes. Lay out the dough so that the molds are filled to two-thirds of the volume.
- Bake semolina muffins with jam for 25 minutes in an oven preheated to 180 degrees. You can decorate the semolina cupcakes with confectionery powder or whipped cream if you like.
Marble cake with almonds
Ingredients:
6 eggs
200 g sugar
200 g butter
300 g flour
1 tbsp baking powder
150g nutella (or 4 tbsp cocoa)
orange peel
chopped almonds
Cooking method:
- Take 5 eggs and separate the whites from the yolks.
- Beat the yolks for about 5 minutes with a mixer. Add the remaining egg and melted butter to the yolks. Beat for 5 more minutes. Add flour sifted with baking powder and beat for another minute, then set everything aside.
- Beat the whites with a pinch of salt until a thick foam forms.
- Mix the whites with the rest of the mass, carefully laying them out with a spoon or wooden spatula, then add the almonds to the dough.
- Heat Nutella in the microwave (30 seconds).
- Divide the dough into two equal parts. Add orange zest to one and Nutella to the other. Mix well.
- Pour both masses at the same time into the mold, pre-greasing it with oil and covering it with baking paper. With a wooden stick (or the handle of a fork or spoon), mix both masses a little, making patterns, but not mixing completely.
- Bake for 35 minutes at 180 degrees and then another 5 minutes at 150 degrees.
- Remove from oven and let cooked cool.
- The combination of chocolate, almonds and orange will give the cupcake a delicious taste and smell!
Delicate lemon cupcakes
Ingredients (for 6 servings):
3 art. flour
7.5 Art. l. Sahara
3-4 tsp baking powder
1-1.5 st. l. lemon peel
a pinch of salt
1 st. milk
2 large eggs
4.5-5 st. l. vegetable oil
vanilla essence or vanillin
Cooking method:
- Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and lemon zest in a bowl.
- In another bowl, lightly beat eggs with milk and vegetable oil. Add 0.5 tsp. essences or vanilla and stir.
- Combine both mixtures and mix well (the dough should be a little lumpy).
- Grease a muffin tin with oil. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Fill the molds two-thirds with the dough and bake for 20-25 minutes until done, checking with a toothpick.
- Leave the cupcakes in the tin for 1 minute, then transfer to a serving platter. You can sprinkle the top of the muffins with powdered sugar.
Modern cupcakes look suspiciously like rolls and biscuits compared to those of old.
It would seem that we have tried all the sweets over the many years of the existence of our rubric. Against the background of the sign "SM Number One, People's Expertise" there were French rolls, and oriental kurabye, and, probably, all the sweets - from the elite brand "Korkunov" to the democratic "Korovka". We ate waffles and marshmallows, halva and boiled We treated folk experts with marmalade, plain and chewy, tasted chocolate, bitter, milk and white. Cooking.In the past, when the market was not yet filled with an abundance of imported goods, cupcakes were considered a truly folk product, equally in demand in every kitchen.Today, cupcakes are somehow undeservedly forgotten.We will try to fix this, and at the same time find out how the current cupcakes differ from cupcakes from the past.
Cupcake is a biscuit with splashes
As we managed to find out, the word "cupcake" comes from the English word, which the British designate a variety of rich confectionery products that have a filling in the form of raisins, candied fruits, vegetables, nuts, chocolate interspersed in the dough. The word "cake" came to the Russian language in the 2nd half of the 19th century. from English, where cakes is a linguistic form of cake - "sweet cake, cake".
The closest relative of the cake in the Russian version is the well-known Easter cake, but the technology for making the cake is completely different, it is more like making biscuits. The dough for cupcakes should, as a rule, be fluid, the form is always greased with oil or spread with oiled parchment.
The homeland of the cake is Great Britain. The classic English cake is called the Millennium. What did the British want to emphasize by this? Maybe the antiquity of the recipe, or maybe the fact that it can be stored for a very long time without getting stale?
Finding at least four cupcake manufacturers was not so easy. Despite the same name, cupcakes can look completely different, have a rectangular and round shape. Perhaps the most common is a cupcake, which in appearance is not much different from a regular roll, especially judging by the packaging. This is a Yubileiny cake produced by Royal Cake LLC, Safronovo, Smolensk Region.
In grocery stores, we managed to find small round cakes, six in one pack, with very similar names - "Magdalenas" (manufactured by Harris CIS LLC, Moscow) "Magdalena" from Chipita St. Petersburg LLC. The fourth type of cake looked very, very familiar - round, brown, without packaging, from the Irkutsk manufacturer of PE "Nina". To give objectivity to the people's tasting, all the cupcakes we bought were with apricot filling. Locally produced cupcakes are baked only with raisins.
We're spoiled for biscuit dough
It was decided to conduct a people's examination in a traditional place - in the Miracle Dish cafe.
An amazing coincidence: the first tasters to come to the table were our colleagues: Vasily Yashkinas, deputy editor-in-chief of the Pyatnitsa newspaper, and his wife Olesya.
The most airy and juicy cupcake is this one, - Olesya points to the Magdalenas cupcake from Harris CIS LLC. “That’s exactly what a real cake should be, in my opinion.”
Cupcakes, you say? How long have I not tried them! - exclaimed Irina Petrovna, our next expert, - I remember that earlier, when there were only candies "dog's joy" on sale, and even some rather boring primitive sweets, we cooked a lot ourselves. I baked cupcakes for the kids, kneading them from the dry mass, which was sold in bags. It was very convenient, although the cake turned out to be a bit dry, my children soaked it in tea. Today is a completely different matter. Cupcakes are not something to be soaked - you don’t need to drink them down, they are so juicy. But I am true to the old taste.
It is this cupcake, in my opinion, that is most similar to the real one, - said Irina Petrovna, pointing to the confectionery from the state of emergency "Nina".
Cupcakes are not at all what they used to be - a woman named Valentina joins the conversation - they are too clearly reminiscent of rolls and cakes.
Most of all I like this cupcake, - Valentina points to the Yubileiny cupcake, - its taste is real, not interrupted by flavoring additives.
A cupcake without filling (from Nina PE. - Author's note) is also okay, but, apparently, we are already spoiled with products that do not even need to be chewed, which melt in the mouth that we no longer perceive more severe food, - Valentina says with a smile.
Cupcake is such a cool word; when you hear him, you don’t imagine food at all ... This is such a familiar address to a male representative ... There is another expression: “The best diet: cupcake in the morning, in the evening ... well, you understand,” Christina, a student, smiles fervently - This is, perhaps, all I know about cupcakes, and also - they are sold in student canteens, but they are not popular, we buy cakes with filling.
By the way, the cupcakes that you give for testing are no worse than cakes. I like this one the most,” Christina points to a plate of Magdalenas cake.
According to the results of the people's examination, the first place was taken by the cake "Magdalenas" produced by LLC "Harris CIS", Moscow, the second place was taken by the people's experts from the Irkutsk manufacturer PE "Nina", and finally, the third place with an equal number of votes was taken by cupcakes " Magdalena" from LLC "Chipita St. Petersburg" and cake "Jubilee" produced by LLC "Royal Cake", Safronovo, Smolensk region.
Irkutsk sweet tooth made their choice:
Cupcakes "Magdalenas", (LLC "Harris CIS", Moscow) - 45%
Cupcakes from PE "Nina" (Irkutsk) - - 25%
Cupcakes "Magdalena" (LLC "Chipita St. Petersburg") - 15%
Cupcake "Jubilee" (LLC "Royal Cake", Safronovo, Smolensk region) - 15%
Holiday cupcake recipe from "SM Number One"
Ingredients: 1 cup flour; 34 cups of powdered sugar; 100 g butter or margarine; 2 eggs; 12 cups of raisins; 12 cups of nut kernels; 12 cups of dried apricots; 12 teaspoons of baking soda; 1 teaspoon lemon juice; salt on the tip of a knife.
Preparation: separate the yolks from the whites. Grind the butter and half of the powdered sugar until white, add the yolks one at a time, stirring thoroughly until the sugar crystals are completely dissolved, add salt, soda, lemon juice, mix everything. Pour sorted, washed, dried raisins, chopped dried apricots, chopped nuts and mix, then add flour. Whisk the egg whites with the remaining powdered sugar until stiff peaks form, quickly add to the batter, and mix gently from top to bottom.
You can bake one large cupcake, you can have several small cupcakes, for the preparation of which it is better to use corrugated basket-shaped molds.
Bake at 180 degrees until done. Carefully remove the cooled cake from the mold, sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Let's start with England - baking muffins similar to what we eat appeared in it. The British created two traditional types: muffins and Simnel, an English Easter cake.Muffins. Why they were called that, the British themselves cannot figure it out. Whether the German muffin , "small pies", or French soft moufflet served as a source - the British call muffins buns for tea. They are sure that this already traditional pastry appeared in the 10th-11th centuries and became the embodiment of the traditional five o’clock tea drinking, which appeared in England not so long ago - from the 18th century.
What do muffins look like in English? These are small flat cakes that do not look like lush cupcakes, rather resemble yeast buns without filling.
They are made from yeast dough and served during breakfast, lunch or tea. Before serving, muffins are heated over an open fire, and eaten with jam, cream or butter.
If you want to have an English-style tea party, then you should know that muffins are usually torn into two parts and flavored with sweet additives.
By the way, American version of muffins- This is a portioned type of cake made from different types of dough, most often with filling, such as vanilla blackcurrant muffins, or pear muffins. Try making English muffins at home and compare with the modern American interpretation in the form of cupcakes with filling - the British consider these pastries exclusively homemade.
Appearance English Easter cake associated with the sentimental tradition of Mother's Sunday ( mothering Sunday ): on the fourth Sunday of Great Lent, fruit cakes were baked for mothers and received a blessing for the whole year.
In the 19th century, the British began to bake such a cake for Easter and call it Simnel Cake – Simnel. Usually this is a rich yeast ring stuffed with candied fruits and dried fruits, richly decorated with fudge or powdered sugar. You can try making Simnel cake according to this recipe.
french cupcake
The French gave us a chocolate muffin - muale(or moileux ). This chocolate dessert has won the hearts of the French and has received many variations.The secret of love and adoration is in simplicity. Cooking takes no more than half an hour, and in the end you will get juicy, fragrant and slightly alcoholic (you can add rum, cognac, liquor) spicy muffins. We tried it and we got chocolate muffins - moileux from Pierre Herme's book “Larousse. Chocolate".
You can make a variety of moale, which appeared in 1981 - chocolate fondant. You will get a chocolate cupcake with a liquid filling - as in the photo.
german cupcake
We often bake an analogue of a German cake without even knowing it. This kind is called stollen. An oblong shape, candied fruits, fruits and nuts, powdered sugar and a characteristic crack on the crust - all this began to be done by the Germans. The recipe for stollen has not changed since the end of the 15th century. It is baked for Christmas, adding a lot of candied fruits and nuts to the filling, decorating with chocolate or powdered sugar. Stollen is often soaked in alcohol or sweet syrup.
The Christmas cupcake gradually ceased to be such and became a symbol of comfort, mulled wine or tea. Try to make a cupcake with dried fruits - you will like it!
