Perfect cupcakes

Tips for perfect cupcakes:

1. Make sure you combine all the ingredients properly. Mix them very well in the mixer for about 5-10 minutes. It's worth investing in a good mixer.
2.  Use free-range eggs, medium size and at room temperature. If eggs are too cold, the cakes won't bake as well and they won't be as light.
3. Bake the cakes for a longer time at a lower temperature to make sure they are evenly cooked. Ex: bake cupcakes for 20 minutes at 160ºC instead of 18 minutes at 180ºC. Make sure oven is at the right temperature before you put the cakes in.
4. If you are making vanilla cupcakes, opt for vanilla extract or scrape vanilla seeds from pods into the batter, instead of vanilla essence. It makes a huge difference to the flavour.
5. Cinnamon is a great spice to add to cakes. Add it to the other dry ingredients.
6. If the muffin cases peel away from the side of the cupcakes on cooling, it means the mixture is too wet, so, next time add more flour. It's also better to use thick good-quality muffin cases.
7. A cracked cupcake is not necessarily a disaster. Icing can hide imperfections. To avoid cracking, learn to judge whether your cake is too dry or not. A batter without enough moisture can erupt when it's baked, so learn to add a little water and thin the batter down, just like thick custard.
8. Opening the oven will lower the temperature and it causes cakes to sink. Instead, open the oven door once you are fairly certain they are done.
9. To check if cupcakes are done, press them gently. They should spring back to your touch.
10. Once out of the oven, cool them on a wire rack away from open windows and doors, where sudden temperature changes could still make them to sink.
11. For a perfect buttercream  use 2 parts icing sugar to 1 part of butter. So, if you are using 1kg of icing sugar, use 500g of unsalted butter and a splash of milk. Put all in the mixer and whip it for about 10-15 minutes on a high speed.
12. When flavouring buttercreams, try to use fresh flavourings, ex: fresh limezest in plain buttercream or a touch of Baileys in chocolate buttercream. If you are adding a dry ingredient, you will need to balance it ou with a touch more liquid, like milk. If you are using a wet flavouring, replace some of the milk with it so that you get the consistency right. Too runny and the icing won't hold it's shape when piped, too dry it will be a struggle to come out of the icing bag.
13. When using your own decorations on the cupcakes, put them in place while the butterccream is still wet. If you are putting them on to a fondant-iced cake, use small dab of edible glue to stick them in place.