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Cupcakes are a party requirement and a good afternoon with children. This is the all-in-one method — everything in one bowl — which is more reliable than creaming and far less work.
Everything at room temperature
The one rule that matters. Cold butter will not combine smoothly with flour, and cold eggs added to soft butter make the mixture split and curdle. A split batter bakes into a dense, slightly greasy cake.
Take the butter and eggs out an hour before you start. If you have forgotten, cube the butter and leave it somewhere warm, and sit the eggs in a bowl of warm water for ten minutes.
Two-thirds full, no more
The commonest cupcake problem. Filled to the top, the batter rises over the edges, spreads into a flat mushroom and sticks to the tin. Two-thirds gives you a neat domed top that sits inside the case.
An ice cream scoop is genuinely the easiest way to get them all the same size, which matters because different-sized cupcakes do not bake in the same time.
Cool completely before icing. Completely.
Buttercream on a warm cupcake melts, slides off and takes the top of the cake with it. This is the step everyone rushes and the one that ruins the result.
At least an hour on a wire rack. If you are short of time, the rack in a cool room beats the fridge, which can dry them out.
Buttercream that is not overwhelming
Standard buttercream is two parts sugar to one part butter and is, frankly, very sweet. This one pulls the sugar back and adds a pinch of salt, which sounds odd and simply makes it taste less cloying.
Beat it for a full five minutes. Properly beaten buttercream is noticeably paler and lighter, and that alone makes it taste less heavy.
Storage
Un-iced sponges freeze well for two to three months and can be iced after defrosting. Iced cupcakes keep two days in an airtight tin at room temperature; refrigerating them dries the sponge.
