Hello cupcake

Our Alice turned five last week, and in celebration we had a little cupcake party at the Farm Kitchen. It was another freezing Orange afternoon but the kids had a good time, especially the party girl, despite a minor meltdown when someone beat her in the sack race.

  

The lovely Pip Farquharson came along with her camera and took these photos. Pip is a great photographer and does beautiful family portraits, she can be contacted via this email address. Thanks also to my mother-in-law Judith for being such a big help and to Mum for the cake recipe. This is the one my family usually turn to for birthday cakes and is a real gem. Plus it takes no more than five minutes to make and always works. I doubled the recipe a few times to make the seventy odd cupcakes we decorated on the day, flavouring half with vanilla and the other half with cocoa powder but you can also use spices, lemon zest or coffee. The recipe below makes one 24cm cake or 12 cupcakes. 

Mum's 5-minute birthday cake 

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

1 1/4 cups caster sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

125g butter, softened and cubed

1/2 cup milk

vanilla paste

Preheat oven to 180C and line a 24cm cake tin or place cupcake liners in a 12-hole muffin tin, Combine all ingredients and beat for five minutes. Spoon into prepared cake or muffin tin and bake for 15 minutes if making cupcakes or 30 minutes for the cake (or until golden and a skewer comes out clean).