CUPCAKE BAKING
Cake. Sweet Cake. Cake is an integral part of society in that it is one of the most commonly seen menu at both tradition and civil occasions. It serves as something to look forward to at one too many events,be it a wedding party,a birthday party,retirement party and even graduation parties. Besides the taste,everyone loves cake for its elegance and ways in which it could be used to express feelings such as decoration and writings in icing.
Cupcake,a rather smaller version of the cake is not usually taken into consideration when one thinks or talks about the pleasure of eating cake.The cupcake is however not just a smaller version of cake. It is whole on its own and unlike cake,each individual invited to a party or an event can get his or her own whole share and not a section of the whole cake. Cupcakes are not limited to events. They can be made for family dinners and/or for entertaining guests.
Although cake is always looked forward to,the cupcake can be better than the whole cake in many a ways. Cakes come in various varieties of tastes and flavor. However,there can't be a cake with all the tastes and flavors. Whereas,making multiple cupcakes comes with the benefit of making each cupcake with the benefit of a diversity of tastes,flavor and of course design. And as is often said, 'variety is the spice of life'. One can only imagine going through a lot of effort to bake a large cake in order to impress one's in-laws only for them to shun it because they were allergic to raisins present in the cake. While if one had prepared a barrage of diversified cupcakes,one would just reply,with a smile. "Fine,i still have a full basket of cupcakes. Some don't even have raisins". That way one would have saved oneself the embarrassment of baking cake only for no one to eat it.
More so,making cupcakes is so convenient and the space required to bake a single cake could be used to bake a dozen or more cupcakes. While some would argue that a larger cake means more space for decorations and writings than on a cute little cupcake. I would say no to that thought because a couple cupcakes arranged appropriately could be used as a form of decoration or writing on it's own,like soldiers in a parade.
Cake baking on its own is a sacred art that is passed on within families. Each person preferring to pass down their personal baking recipe only to their progeny. To be honest,there is no one way to bake cakes,there are series of ways. The one I'll be discussing in this article is one which I kind of picked up when i visited my cousins sometimes in 2017. Feel free to experiment with different combinations of ingredients. Without further ado,here are the steps for successfully baking a lovely batch of cupcakes preceded by a list of the required ingredients.
Ingredients:
Flour
Baking powder
Sugar
Butter
Eggs
Nutmeg
Raisins
Mixer
Oven
Seven up
Vanilla/strawberry essence
Setting tins and papers.
First and foremost,a little butter and some sugar are placed in a bowl and stirred till the sugar dissolves in the butter. This is however,a tedious process. Adding a little seven up soft drink to the butter-sugar mix makes the process easier by dissolving the sugar faster. It is advisable to use an electric stirrer to put the stress at a minimum. Next,raw eggs are poured based on the user's digression. Each and every eggs should however be first cracked into a separate bowl in order to prevent spoiled eggs from being added to the cake mixture. Next,flour and baking powder are placed in the bowl and then,the whole mixture is stirred vigorously until a fairly smooth paste is formed. Raisins,nutmeg and the essence can be added during mixture based on the chefs preference,allergies or health dictations.
The final steps of making cupcakes include preparing the setter which could have been done even before the flour was mixed. This would save time as you could just pour the mixture into the setters immediately after it is mixed. The metal setters are to be in fitted with paper fitters. The inside of the paper fitters should then carefully rubbed with butter,this would make it easier to separate the cake from paper. After this preparatory step has been done,the already prepared flour mixture is poured into the fitters in doses. It isn't however necessary to fill the fitters to the brink because the oven heat would make the flour mixture increase in size as it becomes the final cake.
The penultimate step involves placing the setters into an oven tray and then into a hot oven for about 25-45 minutes depending on the size and of the cake one is making. For those who do not have an oven or those who have an oven but cannot use it due to lack of power supply or any other problems,i say; fret not for there exists a way to bake without the use of a proper oven. It involves a pot,sand and some newspapers. To prepare your makeshift oven,on the inner surface of the pot should be placed a layer of sand -salt could be used instead. A layer of used newspapers should be placed on the sand layer and your oven tray atop the stack of newspaper. The cake setters are then placed on the tray and covered. A steady supply of heat from a reliable source should be supplied for the next hour. The fire source could be a coal pot,kerosene stove,gas cooker or fuel wood.
After half an hour,the cakes should have been baked,usually it gets done sooner so one has to be careful with the timing. A toothpick can be used to inspect whether or not the cake is done. The toothpick is dipped down the length of the cupcake and brought back up. If the toothpick comes up clean,with no clumps of flour sticking on it,the cupcake is done and ready for eating but if otherwise,it should be left to bake in the oven for a few more minutes. After it is done,icing could be added or not,depending on the chef's taste and/or health and allergy considerations.
Frosting is usually considered optional for a variety of reasons. But if you would like to learn different ways of making frosting or applying frosting, let me know in the comments section so i canmake another write up like this on frosting making and application with the same tags.
The final,last but not the least step in cake baking is... Oh,you should know this,you have been expecting this. It involves mastication and peristalsis. Eating and swallowing,if I may. Cupcakes and every kind of cake are meant to be eaten with happiness and a big smile on the face.