Cupcake Cheats

Cruise ship food is amazing, especially the desserts if you have a sweet tooth. But not all of us have the time to buy the 2,254,258,659 ingredients usually required to make our home cooked meals taste that good.

A few of the cruise lines have started featuring cake shops on their ships too now with RCI sporting the ‘Cupcake Kitchen’ and the lovely Buddy from Carlos Bakery having shops on some of the NCL ships.

As you may know, I used to own a cake business. It is still running but I don’t have a huge amount of time to spend making cakes anymore due to another fantastic job I have (no prizes for guessing where). So I thought I’d share some of my favourite recipes with you. Some festive and some just perfect for a Saturday night when you have that ‘I need something warm and chocolatey in the next five minutes or else’ craving.

I want to see your pictures if you try out any of these!

Need a quick fix? Try one of these fab microwave recipes!

Cookie dough in a mug!

Warm and gooey

3 tablespoons of brown sugar

1 egg
5 tablespoons of self raising flour
1 tablespoon softened butter
handful of chocolate chips (or chopped up chocolate)
Method:
Crack the egg into the mug and mix in the brown sugar and flour. Add the softened butter and mix until combined. Add the chocolate chips and stir then cook in the microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds (800w). Enjoy with a spoon!

Fancy something cakey instead?

Chocolate mug cake

Try dropping a spoonful of Nutella into the mixture just before you put it in the microwave

4 tablespoons of flour
4 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons of milk
3 tablespoons of oil
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

Method:

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high). The cake will rise over the top of the mug but don’t be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

For something a bit more festive, these Mince Pie cupcakes should go down a treat.

Mince Pie meets cupcake

For the cupcakes (makes 12 large cupcakes)

60g unsalted butter
210g caster sugar
180g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
180ml milk
zest of one orange
4 tablespoons of mincemeat (or more depending on how much you want to add)

For the buttercream
150g unsalted butter
350g icing sugar
Mixed spice
Sometimes a drop of milk is necessary to loosen the mixture

Method:

Preheat the over to 180 degrees C. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixer. Add the flour and baking powder and continue to mix. In a jug or bowl, whisk the eggs into the milk then pour the egg and milk mixture into the mixer slowly whilst it’s still mixing. Once combined and smooth add the orange zest and mincemeat. Pour the mixture from the mixing bowl into the jug then pour evenly into 12 cupcake cases placed in a muffin tray. Bake in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes.

Whilst the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the buttercream. Whop it all in the mixer and mix on high speed (although start slowly with a tea towel over the mixer to prevent the ‘poof’ of icing sugar I am well too familiar with). The buttercream should end up pale, creamy, light and airy (this can take 10 minutes of mixing on a high speed but ensure it doesn’t start to split).

When the cakes are completely cooled add a generous dollop of buttercream to the top of each with a tablespoon (smoothing it down with the back of the spoon) or use a piping bag with 1cm snipped off the end to make some swirly yummyness.

And now that you’ve mastered the cupcake making you can start to get arty with some of these: