Cup Cakes Galore

Remember that I mention I joined the "Learn2Bake' Club in Facebook? Well, the challenge given for the month of May (the 1st part) was Cup Cakes where we have to bake and 'dress' the cupcake for mothers day. Oh dear....I have actually never made a cupcake before. The ones I did was premix muffin bought from supermart. But...I gave it a try and the result was disastrous!!! I actually made 4 attempts until the leader of the club aka 'sifu' took pity on me and drop off some cupcakes which she made for me :-( Here are some pix of the unsuccessful cupcakes I made and before the 'dressing'.

After few attempts on my own and some practise on decorating the cupcakes, I manage to 'master' the making of cupcakes but I still need to have more practice on the decorating. Here, I would like to share with you my favorite recipe:

Lemon Cupcake                                       
(makes 24)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter
11/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
3 tbsp lemon zest & 2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp vanilla essence
1 cup milk

1) Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. set aside.
2) Cream butter & sugar till pale & fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporate.
3) Beat in zest & vanilla.
4) Fold in flour in 3 batches alternating with milk and lemon juice.
5) Fill cups to 3/4 full. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees c for 25 mins.
6) Cool before frosting.