Wedding cupcakes―the recipe

I promised to post my recipes for the cakes I made for the wedding. The recipe is so basic that you will probably be disappointed.

It is taken from the recipe book I go to when I want to make a well tested, no fail recipe.


This book was first published by the Milk Marketing Board in 1968, it was revised to Metric in 1978 and then the new version for the '90s was published in 1992. The new version includes how to take shortcuts by using the microwave etc. You can still find it if you look on the net; for example here.

It has lots of useful information on ingredients, such as how to buy the right cut of meat...


descriptions of pulses...



and more. In the baking section you can find recipes for all kinds of pastry, cakes, breads and delicious recipes like this..


While I have many cupcake books and recipes, I chose this basic recipe for the wedding cupcakes because I know it works and I know that those who eat these cakes usually groan with delight when they bite into them. So I'll write the basic recipe and then I'll tell you different ways you can alter it.

Basic cupcake recipe:
Makes 12

100g Butter
100g Sugar
100g SR Flour
2 Eggs

Beat butter and sugar until very light colored and creamy.
Add eggs one at a time with about a spoonful of flour.
Fold in remaining flour.
Divide the cake between the 12 cupcake cases and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 deg for 14-18 minutes. The time will vary according to your cooker and whether or not you use a fan assisted oven.

Resist the urge to over cook. When you take a cake out of the oven it will continue to bake for another minute or so anyway.

For Lemon cake: Add one to two teaspoons of grated lemon rind to the mix

For Chocolate cake: Replace 25g of the flour with cocoa powder (For the wedding cakes I added 25g of grated dark chocolate to ads a bit of depth)

This recipe is so adaptable. You can make it into carrot cake, raisin cakes, chocolate chip cakes or anything that you feel like. You could even add coloring to the cake if you want them to be interesting for kids although I personally prefer to avoid adding colors and add sprinkles or something similar for decoration.


The basic buttercream icing recipe is from the same book.

100g Butter
225g Icing sugar, sifted
20 ml Milk
Couple of drops of vanilla extract

Beat the butter, milk and vanilla until very soft then beat in sugar.

For the wedding I added a couple of drops of red coloring (to match the wedding theme) per triple quantity of icing and I add the seeds from some Madagascan Vanilla Pods.


Vanilla pods are rather expensive to buy in the shops. I recently saw some at the supermarket for 5 Euro for one! Obviously it helps to have a Madagascan friend (Hi C) who just so happens to have returned recently with a supply for her crazy cupcake making friend!


Tip: After you have scraped the insides out of the pod, you can put it into a jar of sugar and you will get wonderful vanilla sugar which is great for all kinds of sweet baking or in your coffee if you take sugar. I always have a jar on the go.


OK... so you don't get the aroma through a photo.

For the chocolate cakes I added 25g of melted and cooled white chocolate to the icing. I use slightly less milk when I add melted chocolate.

Again you can do all sorts of variations with this recipe: You can make it citrus flavored with lemon or orange rind, you could add espresso powder, cocoa powder and many other things.

Enjoy experimenting! Remember not to over cook them!