Good Ol' Cup Cakes

The buttery vanilla taste of a plain cake that my mum would bake is still so fresh in my mouth even today !!!

The first cake that I ever baked as well, was the Plain Vanilla Cake. Don't we all start our cakes from that ?? It is the mother of all cakes.....the foundation cake !! Nothing beats that !! and it is still my favorite tea cake. As a child I used to have it with my glass of milk in the evening, before I'd run to play and now I have it with my evening tea in my office.

I learnt this wonderful cake from my mother. She used to bake this cake for me all the time....The cake box was never allowed to be empty, even though dad and I would sneak to the fridge, in the middle of the night to have our little 'midnight cake snack' !!

This cake was even a fab hit at school among both teachers and friends .....Maa would often bake it for my school parties.

There would two variants....one with mixed nuts for teachers and one plain for my friends and I (remember kids are not too fond of nuts :P)

Unlike me she would never accurately measure her ingredients. We had this one coffee mug in our ktichen which was her standard measure for flour, sugar and butter / oil and to that she would always add 5 eggs. Besides this much of measuring she never weighs any ingredients when she cooks, but still every time...every single time the dish is perfect !!! I wonder how she does it ??!!

I've adapted the same recipe in cup cakes plain and decorated with chocolate ganache.

Now this has become a perfect 'take to office' lunch dessert for KJ.

The Good Ol' Cup Cakes....with Chocolate Ganache Incing

Ingredients

Flour 220g
Baking Powder 1 tsp
Castor Sugar 120 g
Butter 120 g
Eggs 5
Vanilla Essence 1.5 tsp

Directions

1. Sieve the flour and baking powder together. Reserve.

2. Cream the butter and castor sugar together till light and creamy.

3. Separate eggs. Add the vanilla essence to the egg yolks.

4. Beat the egg whites till stiff peaks form. Be carefull not to over beat.

5. Add the egg yolks to the stiffly beaten egg white one by one.

6. In batches, to the eggs, add the butter-sugar mixture and keep whisking till all ingredients are incorporated.

7. Fold in the flour in batches. Mix well.

8. Grease a 12 muffin tray with butter or line with paper muffin cups.

9. Pour the batter in and bake at 180 degree C for 45 minutes.

Serve warm or otherwise.

You could also add some nuts like almonds/ walnuts / cashew / raisins.

Dust the nuts in some flour and add to the cake batter at the end. Mix it to incorporate and transfer to the baking dish.

Happy Baking !!