Exactly How I Make My Cupcakes

Many of my friends have asked me what I put in my earl grey cakes to make them so tasty. Well, fortunately it requires no talent or skill, and it's not really anything to do with me, but with the equipment and ingredients I use that make the cakes come out well.

This post is for the purposes of clarifying the little things that turn the cakes from being good to very delicious.

Step One: (Pre-heat oven to 160/180) Heat the milk until it starts to boil, then infuse 4 earl grey teabags in a cup with cling-film or foil over the top for 30 mins.

With this step, I make sure I heat the milk on the stove: do not microwave it! Make sure you use good quality earl grey because it tends to be stronger, meaning your cakes will have more flavour. In fact, my best earl grey cakes are made with leaf tea: I put four teaspoons of strong leaf earl grey into the milk, and then after thirty minutes I use a sieve to get rid of the tea leaves. Teabags work fine though, as long as you don't get impatient (you must leave it for thirty minutes), and give them a good squeeze at the end. The darker and more fragrant your infusion, the better your cakes will be.

Step Two: Put 110g of butter (room temperature) and 225g sugar (granulated) into a mixing bowl and beat for three to five minutes until pale and smooth.

It is absolutely essential that the ingredients are at room temperature. I find the best way of preparing this is to get out your ingredients when you heat your milk, which means they have thirty minutes to get to room temp. Your butter must be really soft, the softer the better without it being melted. When you mix the butter and sugar, use an electric hand-whisk, so you have control over the mixture and ensure it gets a thorough mixing. You must keep going until the mixture is pale and smooth. Remember, the more you mix the cake mixture, the lighter the cakes will be.

Step Three: Add two eggs, one at a time, mixing between. Add 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional).

Add one egg, mix, add another egg, mix. Keep mixing, mixing, mixing. Choosing to put the almond extract in is risky: it is incredibly strong and even 1/2 teaspoon, tiny as it sounds, will transform the taste of your cakes. If you slip over that amount, you will mask the taste of the earl grey. Personally, I've used almond extract in my cakes once and I prefer it without; recently I've taken to adding a splash of vanilla essence which works marvellously. If you love almond it does taste good in earl grey cakes, but remember that it is the bergamot flavour that gives these cakes their deliciousness. So don't overdo it!

Step Four: Add 1/3 of the flour, and 1/3 of the earl grey-milk and beat. Repeat until all used up.

I follow this instruction religiously, because I genuinely believe it makes your cakes lighter and tastier than doing it all at once. Get a third of your flour, sieve it (you MUST sieve it) into the mixture, and then pour in a third of your milk. Grab a wooden spoon and stir all the flour in, because if you whisk it immediately the flour will fly up in your face. Once it's stirred in, mix it with your hand-whisk. Then put the next third of flour and earl grey mix, stir with a spoon, mix with your hand-whisk. The final time you do it, make sure you spend ages mixing at the end.

Step Five: Divide mixture into twelve muffin-sized cases and bake!

This doesn't really need any explanation!

ICING

I have taken to completely making this up. I whack a blob of softened butter into a mixing bowl, whisk it, and keep adding icing sugar to it until it becomes really thick and naturally falls into peaks. I usually do lilac icing as it complements the daintiness of the earl grey flavour; I mix a little blue and red food colouring to achieve this. Then I use a butter knife to spread the icing onto the cakes (when they are completely cooled), making sure that it falls into a natural swirl. I top it off with little silver balls or icing flowers.

Hope this is helpful!

J xxx

p.s. Disclaimer: Recipe adapted from the original recipe from Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery.