Of cupcakes and muffins

One should never plan. And I cannot resist planning.

My mom always says- don’t plan. Even for the next morning. Because the moment you do, it is surely not bound to happen.

So, when I gleefully planned to bake with my newly found, pretty cupcake cases last Sunday, I should have very well guessed that ‘It was not going to happen.’ Sunday was overtaken by the quickie, Monday just happened to be a typical Monday, and then the no energy Tuesday and Wednesday, and by Thursday evening- I was seeing muffins on my office computer screen and thinking about my cupcake wrappers in the middle of reviews. Was it possible that I did not have a spare 20 minutes to bake a quick round of muffins? Had my life really come to this? By the time I reached home from work- I had declared that this was the day, when my plan to bake just had to work! (with or without the photography)

Post dinner, out came the equipment, while I was still contemplating, if I should bake muffins or cupcakes. As much as I like muffins, the thing is- that I have an immense love or should I say fascination for cupcakes. Not that I love eating them- I do, only occasionally, but the glamour of cupcakes and the diversity that they offer is just astonishing.  The delight that you see on people’s faces (both kids and adults) on being offered a cupcake- especially, baked at home is a delight that one can only experience and no words can describe. The icings, the decorations, and the colours; all for a wonderful little cupcake, crafting each cupcake as if it was architecture.

But before I dwell into architecture, and its analogy to baking (which I will surely save for another post), I will share my no-cupcake recipe. The thing is that this recipe is actually not a cupcake recipe- hence, the name no-cupcake. In fact, it is also a no-muffin recipe. I have had a cake recipe ever since I was a kid, which was passed onto me by my mum. This has worked for me- always and has never betrayed me. I have tweaked it for all types of cakes, and have always managed it successfully. It has brought a smile to many – a faces. And then, one fine day, I attempted choco-chip muffins, and I discovered miracles. The convenience of a muffin- a petite bite, yet so gratifying. I would bake an entire lot and they would finish within 24 hours (thanks to my sweet-toothed K family). In fact, if I must shamelessly say so myself, I think, the muffin played an important protagonist between me and Ak (and maybe he should post about that!). If nothing else, it got me some brownie points :P or so I like to believe (or maybe an association that I am happy to retain). Therefore, I would like to share it, for the sake of posterity.

The no-cupcake/ choco-chip muffin 

3 Eggs

¾ cups oil/unsalted butter

1.5 cups sugar (use a bit more if using castor)

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Blend oil/butter and sugar for about 2 minutes in a mixer (This is a thick mix). Add eggs, one by one to this mix to get a smooth batter. Pour this mixture into a big bowl, add the teaspoon of vanilla essence.  Sieve 2 cups of flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder together, and add to batter. Start mixing this batter by hand with a big spoon, rotating only in one direction, pouring a cup of milk slowly, to get a smooth consistency of the batter. Once the milk is finished, the batter will be smooth.  Add chocolate chips as per requirement (about 50-80 grams for this serving). Pour into muffin moulds and bake at 180 degrees, preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes. (A golden brown colour or the usual dry fork test usually does the trick for me).

Usually this makes 2 rounds of 12 muffins each.  But, since I was in a mood to experiment a bit, and intended to bake a little bit of everything, I divided this batter into 2 halves- vanilla and chocolate, and replaced ¼ of the flour in one bowl with cocoa powder. I used ¼ of the vanilla batter to make banana-walnut muffins, and the remaining ¼ for choco-chip muffins. Further, I used the other half with cocoa powder to make chocolate choco-chip muffins (which I iced with some chocolate frosting).

For the chocolate frosting/ganache:

80-100 g dark cooking chocolate

50g cream (thick and whipped)

4 tablespoons castor sugar (brown is preferred) or as per taste

Milk to adjust consistency if desiredMelt the chocolate in a microwave for about 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the sugar and cream when it cools a bit. Add milk if required to obtain desired consistency (not drippy). A tip though- Let the muffins cool for at least 20 minutes before icing them.

The one thing I am really glad for is the fancy icing equipment I have access to @261. A humble and honest Thank you. It is clearly visible that me and Ak had a little fun with the icing. One can only guess who did the heart J. Hopefully, it will be more precise in the next batch.

p.s. so much talk about blogging these days, I wonder.

Why is it that people blog? For themselves or for others? I am currently deliberating- if my blog is for me or are others interested in reading it? What are the specific aims of a cooking blog? Think this calls for another post…