Cupcake'tastic

I've decided that this years Christmas presents are going to be of the home made variety. Specifically the cupcake variety.

This has come about as a result of getting the best possible recipe book for cupcakes. Usually my baking suffers from a bit of dryness, however the end result of these have been light and moist and delicious "bites of heaven"* The plan is to make 4 per family: 1 chocolate, 1 red velvet, 1 lemon and 1 vanilla.

This process hasn't been without its teething troubles. On my first batch of Red Velvet cupcakes I had in my enthusiasm burst in on them while they were trying to rise in the oven. I clearly caught them unawares and they reacted with a severe bout of shyness and promptly collapsed. The icing sugar wasn't any better- like white soup. I've never experienced cupcake collapse before and I've been quite traumatised by it so have been testing and practising like you wouldn't believe to make sure its avoided at all costs.

So according to my calculations I have about 100 cakes to make- there is room to keep some as moral boosters for the guys who are having to work the Christmas/New Year shift. . . fingers crossed I am up to the test of mass baking!!

I have persisted and tested each of the 4 flavours and hopefully I'll be as successful with the mass baking as I was with this little batch

* a direct quote from one of my work colleagues.