Vanilla Cupcakes

I am very pleased to anounce that I have officially seen the light! I have been making vactoria sponge for as long as I can remember, religiously following the 'bero' cook book that my mum always used. The results were always reliable - lovely, light and spongy - everything you would expect from a victoria sponge - however......... I decided to take a risk and branch out and try a new tactic.

Swapping most of the butter for milk and controversially exchanging self raising flour for plain flour and baking powder left me with 11 perfect vanilla flavoured cupcakes - there were supposed to be 12 but I slightly over filled the cupcake cases! They were as light as air and with an interesting pale golden 'crust' on top - perfect for taking a good dollop of butter cream.

Im still at the novice level when it comes to cake decorating, but armed with some butter cream whipped into a frenzy for five minutes and various hand crafted sugar flowers, i think i did a pretty good job. All in all, a successful afternoon in the kitchen!

Next on the agenda - lemon cupcakes.

First Post

Hello, I havehung up my apron for the night so thought now would be a perfect time to start my blog. I suppose it is customery to start these things off with a small introduction, so here are a few things you may (or may not) like to know about me.

My name is Antonia Fusaro-Topping, recently married (hence the non italian sounding name that is now tagged onto the end!!) and live in a lovely 1913 red brick house in Macclesfield, Cheshire with my new husband and our cat

I am an estate agent by day and singer by night and am now a full blown baking addict!!

I decided that I would like to document my kitchen trials and triumphs as they happen, as my husband and work collegues are getting rather tired of my blow by blow account of how I created 'the most amazing butter cream' You see, not everyone has the inbuilt ability to get excited over butter mixed with sugar and a splash of vanilla (or lemon zest in tonights case) so I decided that blogging would be the perfect outlet for my baking babble. I get to talk about the wonders of confectionary and my husband doesnt decide to move into the shed!

So watch this space as I work through this all encompassing addiction that seems to have taken a strong hold on me, but for now, I must clean the bomb site that is my kitchen and see if I can find the lovely granite work tops under the thick duvet of icing sugar...............