Pigeon Cottage Kitchen

Teaching someone to cook is one of my great pleasures in life. To teach a curious and enthusiastic child is an absolute privilege. This gorgeous girl is my great niece Jemma and we had a lot of fun baking these pretty cup cakes with vanilla frosting. So, feel free to make these with the children in your life at any time but Dad’s…a plate of these for Mother’s Day this Sunday could really light up everyone’s day!

Makes 12 cup cakes

• 1 x 12-hole muffin baking tray, digital weighing scales, 1 medium and 1 large mixing bowl, 2 small bowls, 1 small plate, 1 wooden spoon with a shortish handle, a fork, a hand-held electric whisk, 2 teaspoons, 2 dessert spoons, 1 spatula, 1 toothpick or skewer, a wire cooling rack
• 12 paper muffin cases, plain or fancy
• 110g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 110g golden caster sugar
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 110g self-raising flour
• 1-2 tbsp milk
• Frosting: 1 x 280g pack of cream cheese, 2 tbsps icing, 150g soft unsalted butter, vanilla extract
• To decorate: a jar of sprinkles, dried raspberries or edible flowers – whatever looks great in the baking aisle at the supermarket. There are lots to choose from; letting the child choose the decorations is all part of the fun.

To make…

• I’m going to be a lot more specific with the instructions than I would normally do in my recipes because baking with children takes a little extra care.
• First, make sure you have everything you need all set out right from the beginning. The last thing you want is to be faffing around looking for a bowl or something while the child waits – they don’t like being kept waiting! Second of all, make sure you’ve taken your butter out of the fridge in plenty of time so it’s soft enough for little hands to cream with a wooden spoon. Eggs shouldn’t be kept in the fridge anyway but if they are, take them out and allow them to come to room temperature or the mixture will split.
• Preheat the oven to 180C. As soon as the cake batter is in the muffin cases they need to go into the oven or they won’t rise properly.
• Next, make sure you and the child wash your hands. Setting good hygiene standards from the start is a good lesson to learn.
• Allow the child to put a paper muffin case into each of the 12 holes in the baking tray and set it to one side.
• Children love to measure things so put the large bowl on the scales and set it to zero so they can see the number display. Jemma is 6 and she could read the display pretty competently. Get them to spoon the 110g of sugar in. Take the bowl off the scale and add the small plate onto the scale. Allow the child to cut pieces of butter onto the plate until it reads 110g. Use a butter knife or a spoon so there’s no touching anything sharp. Let them add the butter to the sugar.
• Next, help them break the eggs into a small bowl and then whisk them lightly with a fork. You might have to fish out a few bits of shell but never mind. Help them measure the vanilla extract into the eggs and whisk.
• Add a small bowl to the scales. Help them measure out the 110g of self-raising flour with a tablespoon.
• Now for the mixing. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. If they can’t get it quite light enough, you can finish off the heavy lifting but only intervene when you can see they can’t do any more. Next ask them to add a big spoonful of the egg into the butter and sugar and mix it in until all the egg is incorporated. Do the same with the flour. This is where real teamwork between the adult and child develops. The older the child, the more they can do but don’t be tempted to do it all yourself and just make them watch. Let them taste the mixture with a little spoon but don’t allow multiple dips with the same spoon. Promise they can eat any surplus mixture in the bowl with their fingers. I used to love it when my Mum let me do that.
• Now, spoon 12 equal dollops of cake batter into the muffin cases. You could use a dessertspoon to get the right measure of batter and get them to scrape it into the muffin case with another spoon. Tidy them up if necessary so the mixture isn’t lop-sided in the muffin case.
• Once that’s done, get them into the oven quickly and set a timer for 10 minutes. They might want to check their progress through the glass. Watching the little sponges rise is magical to them. Just be careful to make sure they stand well clear of the hot oven when the door is opened. Once they are golden-brown on top and a skewer or tooth pick comes out clean they are ready. Take them out of the oven and set them aside to cool down completely before they are iced. Move them out of the tin onto a cooling rack.
• Next, make the frosting. In the medium mixing bowl, let them add the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together. You will need to use an electric hand whisk yourself to get it really smooth. Get them to add the icing sugar, tablespoon by tablespoon and keep checking it it for sweetness after each mix. The frosting needs to be thick enough to spoon over the cakes without being runny but not be so thickened by icing sugar you can’t eat it! Once you’re happy with it, put it in the fridge to firm up a little.
• If you don’t want to make frosting you could just mix icing sugar with a little water until it’s pouring consistency. You can spoon it over the top of each cake before decorating and that way you’ll be making fairy cakes rather than cup cakes.
• Once the cakes are cool, get them to add 12 equal dollops of frosting to each muffin case and smooth it out with the back of a spoon. I usually put the cakes back into the baking tray to make it easier so they don’t move around. Now, let them get creative with whatever sprinkles you’ve bought.
• Transfer them to a serving plate and allow them to serve, beaming with pride at their creation. Just like Jemma!
• Let them help with the washing up of course.

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