Pink & White Cupcakes

The first recipe of my Cupcake Challenge is from a book which my Mum bought for me from Next. It's called I love cupcakes, which I do!

The topping for this is less like frosting and more like Meringue, but it gets the thumbs up from my man :]

Ingredients (makes 16):

115g self-raising flour

1tsp baking powder

115g butter, softened

115g caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1tbsp milk

few drops red food colouring 

for the topping:

1 egg white

175g caster sugar

2tbsp hot water

large pinch of cream of tartar

2 tbsp rasberry jam

3tbsp desiccated coconut lightly toasted

How to:

• Preheat oven to 180c/350f/Gas Mark 4.
• Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl.
• Add the butter, sugar and eggs, and beat together using an electric hand whisk until smooth.
• Mix together the milk and food colouring and whisk into the mixture until evenly blended.
• Spoon the mixture into paper cases.
• Bake for 20 mins or until risen and golden brown.
• Transfer to wire rack and leave to cool.

For the topping:

• Put the egg white, sugar, water and cream of tartar in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water.
• Using an electric hand whisk, beat for 5-6 minutes until the mixture is thick and softly peaks when the whisk is lifted.
• Spread a layer of rasberry jam over each cupcake then swirl over the frosting
• Sprinkle with the toasted coconut

What I learned:

• I am still getting to grips with my oven, cakes take twice as long as they should, but the cupcakes cooked double quick, and then burned a little, which really annoyed me!! So, the only person judging this batch, will be Dave.
• I have lost one of my electric whisk whisks, it still works with one, but it creates lots of splatters, and took forever to get the topping to peak in the pan.
• 4 big drops of food colouring wasn't enough, couldn't even tell the cakes were supposed to be pink.
• I'd use less sugar in the topping, it looked a lot at the time, and didn't dissolve very well.
• Wait for the topping to cool a bit before adding it on top of the jam, to stop it running off everywhere.

Feedback:

A nice combination, even though they're a little burned.