This video shows you how to decorate cupcakes with 3 different Wilton tips – 1M, 2D, 2A. The recipe for icing is great for adding color or flavoring and you can easily change to consistency to suit your needs by varying the amount of water added.
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 lb icing/confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract, or to taste
2 tablespoons water (add more to achieve desired consistency)
Directions:
1. Mix shortening and sugar in bowl. Add vanilla and water.
2. Mix until creamy and desired consistency is achieved.
This is a great recipe because it uses cocoa, which I always have on hand. It works great as a cake as well and will make a 2-layer 8 or 9 inch round cake.
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 stick butter, softened
2 eggs
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F or 180 C.
2. Line 2 standard cupcake trays with cases and set aside.
3. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
4. In another bowl or 4-cup measuring cup, whisk together 1 cup of sugar, buttermilk, cocoa and vanilla. Set aside.
5. In a large bowl, cream together butter and remaining 1 cup of sugar. Mix in eggs, on at a time.
6. Completely stir in 1/3 of the flour mixture and then mix in 1/2 of the cocoa mixture. Next, stir in 1/2 of the remaining flour mixture and then mix in the remaining cocoa mixture. Finally, stir in the remaining flour mixture.
7. Divide evenly into cupcake cases.
8. Bake for about 20min or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
9. Cool in pan for about 10min and then remove cupcakes to wire rack to finish cooling.
This is an easy cake baked in a loaf pan with a lemon syrup. The lemon syrup is added while the cake is still warm so it absorbs into the cake – yum. A simple dust of icing sugar is all it needs to finish. This recipe calls for self-rising flour. If you don’t have self-rising flour, please see the note at the bottom for how to make it yourself.
1 stick butter
1 2/3 cups self-rising flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
rind/zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
Directions for Cake/Loaf:
1. Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F.
2. Grease, line and flour loaf pan. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix in completely.
5. Stir in half of the flour.
6. Mix in the milk.
7. Stir in the rest of the flour.
8. Stir in the lemon zest.
9. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for about 45 min or until cake tester (toothpick) comes out clean.
10. Remove loaf from oven and place on wire rack. While still warm, poke holes in the loaf with a skewer and pour lemon syrup over the top.
11. Leave loaf in pan to cool completely.
12. Once cooled, remove from pan and dust icing sugar over the top.
Ingredients for Lemon Syrup:
3 heaped tablespoons icing/confectioner’s sugar, plus more for dusting
Juice from 1 lemon
Directions for Lemon Syrup:
1. Place sugar and lemon juice in small saucepan over low heat.
2. Stir until sugar has dissolved.
3. Set aside until ready to pour over Lemon Cake.
Note: You can make your own self-rising flour using all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. For every 1 cup of flour, add 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Whisk or sift together.
This is a moist, easy to make carrot cake. The cream cheese icing or frosting is very simple too. I’ve just done a very quick and easy way to decorate the cake using a bread/table knife, so no fancy decorating equipment required!
Ingredients for Carrot Cake:
1 1/3 cups flour
2/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups carrot, grated
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup crushed pineapple
Directions for Carrot Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Grease and flour 2 x 8″ or 9″ cake pans
3. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and salt in a bowl
4. Mix in oil and eggs
5. Stir in carrots, walnuts and pineapple
6. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 30-35min or until toothpick comes out clean
7. Cool in pans for 10 min and then remove cakes from pans and cool completely on wire rack
Ingredients for Cream Cheese Icing:
2 x 8oz packages of cream cheese
2 sticks of butter, cubed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 lb icing/confectioner’s sugar
Directions for Cream Cheese Icing:
1. Beat cream cheese in bowl until light and fluffy
2. Add butter and beat until fluffy
3. Add vanilla and mix in
4. Add icing sugar and mix well
5. Place bottom cake on a serving plate. Add a large spoonful of icing and spread to cover cake.
6. Add second layer of cake. Add remaining icing to top and spread over cake from center outward.
This is a great recipe that can be made into a variety of sizes. In this video I’m making muffins, but you can easily use a loaf pan or round or square cake pans. If you are using a cake or loaf pan, make sure you grease and flour the pan before pouring in the batter. You will also need to bake longer.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.
In another bowl cream shortening and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined. Mix in bananas and vanilla.
Add flour and buttermilk, alternating, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
Pour into muffin cases.
Bake for about 15-20min. Check after 15min by inserting a toothpick/skewer into the muffin. If it comes out clean, with no crumbs or batter on it, the muffins are done.
Cool on wire rack.
This video shows you how to make a classic one-bowl vanilla cupcake with a buttercream icing using a Wilton 1M swirl. The icing contains vegetable shortening, so the icing will stay white and doesn’t need to be refrigerated. These easy vanilla cupcake and icing recipes can also be used to make cakes or as a base to add other flavours or food colourings to both the cake and icing.
Vanilla Cupcakes:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup milk
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 large eggs
– Preheat oven to 180 C (or 160 C for fan bake).
– Place cupcake cases in pan.
– Measure all ingredients into the mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment.
– Mix at low speed until ingredients are combined.
– Scrape down bowl once.
– Mix on high speed until smooth and fluffy (about 2 min).
– Scoop batter into prepared cupcake pans.
– Bake for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean.
– Let cool for 10 minutes in pan before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely.
White Vanilla Buttercream Icing:
1 cup vegetable shortening
4 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon clear vanilla flavouring
7-8 teaspoons water
– Place vegetable shortening, icing sugar, vanilla and 7 teaspoons of water into the food processor. Mix until icing is spreading consistency and add more water if needed.