The light airy dough that many people like so much and is called a sponge cake is one of those classic recipes that everyone can always cook according to. In this case, for a successful result, it is important to meet only two conditions: beat the dough well (and an electric mixer copes with this task perfectly) and bake at the right temperature, which will not have time to dry the dough, but will have time to bake. Sponge cake is most often associated with pie. But now portioned cakes and pies are becoming more and more popular. A mini version of a pie is just a cupcake, so we bring to your attention simple sponge cupcakes.
Cooking features
The biscuit dough for muffins is based on only three products: flour, eggs, sugar. They are quite enough to make delicious muffins. However, culinary mistakes when preparing dough and baking cupcakes from it can be expensive: the dough may not rise, it may turn out to be too dense and not crumbly.
- To improve the taste and aroma of the dough, vanillin, lemon zest, and various spices are often added to it. It is important not to overdo it with them. When using these ingredients, it is better to introduce them at the very end of preparing the dough, stirring into it with a spoon or spatula, that is, without using kitchen equipment. In the same way, raisins, candied fruits, pieces of fruit, chocolate, and berries are mixed into the dough if they are added to the dough. Vanilla sugar is added to it along with regular sugar or flour.
- The sequence for preparing biscuit dough for cupcakes is almost always the same. First, beat the eggs, then beat the sugar with them, then add flour to them. Sometimes the whites and yolks are beaten separately, resulting in a more airy dough. At the first stage, it is recommended to use a mixer, but it should work at medium speed. It is convenient to mix in the flour with a spatula, but sometimes after this the dough is beaten again, but not for long - only 10-15 seconds.
- In order for the dough to be as tender as possible and rise well, the flour must be sifted. This simple procedure helps cleanse the flour of debris and saturate it with oxygen.
- To make it easier to beat eggs, use fine crystalline sugar for making biscuits. If you have coarse sugar, you can pre-grind it using a blender or coffee grinder. If the choice is between coarse sugar and powdered sugar, it is better to give preference to the latter.
- It is advisable to knead the cake batter in one direction.
- The muffin pan (or molds) should be greased with vegetable oil. The exception is silicone containers, to which the dough does not stick, even if they are not covered with fat.
- You should fill the molds no more than two-thirds full with dough, since properly made biscuit dough will rise greatly during baking.
- Place the molds with biscuit dough in the already preheated oven. Cupcakes are baked at a relatively low temperature - from 160 to 180 degrees. You can even cover them with foil on top for a while. All this is done so that they have time to bake inside by the time they brown on the outside.
- Baking time depends on the size of the pan. In small silicone molds, muffins are usually ready in 15 minutes; in larger molds, they may need to be baked 3-4 times longer. Check readiness with a wooden toothpick by piercing the cake with it. If it remains dry, the baked goods are ready.
Cupcakes are served with tea, coffee, cocoa, cold milk or just like that. They must first be removed from the molds and cooled. If the cake is large, cut it before serving.
How to vary the taste of cupcakes
Portioned baked goods will become one of your family’s favorite desserts if you prepare it with love and different fillings! Every housewife can give free rein to her imagination and use the ingredients she likes. Recipes for sponge cakes in silicone molds encourage different experiments with fillings. Several of the most famous types will help novice confectioners who, due to their inexperience, are afraid to show their imagination.
- Pour the condensed milk into small ice cube trays and place in the freezer. Use the resulting cubes as filling. Thanks to this procedure, the condensed milk will not spread during baking.
- Any fresh berries or a piece of chocolate will also add an original touch to the cupcakes. Or you can use both types of product, then it will turn out even tastier! For example, chocolate with strawberries, cherries or raspberries can be an excellent combination.
- A piece of marmalade, chewing candy, marshmallow or marshmallow is great for filling.
- Banana, prunes, dried apricots, cut into portions, will add variety to the traditional muffin recipe.
A simple recipe for sponge dough for cupcakes
Compound:
- chicken egg – 4 pcs.;
- fine crystalline sugar – 150 g;
- wheat flour – 160 g;
- salt - a pinch.
Cooking method:
- Break the eggs into a bowl, add salt to them. Beat lightly with a whisk or mixer (at minimum speed).
- Add sugar to the egg mixture. Beat it into a thick foam. The egg mass should lighten and increase in volume. When you remove the mixer attachments from it, marks should remain on them for some time.
- Sift the flour.
- Mix it into the egg mixture using a spatula. To prevent the egg foam from settling, you need to stir in the flour using vertical movements and carefully.
The biscuit dough is ready to use immediately after preparation. It is enough to put it in molds and place them in an oven preheated to 160–180 degrees.
Strawberry muffins according to a traditional American recipe
What could be tastier than cupcakes with aromatic berry filling? The most delicate structure, bright strawberry taste, enchanting aroma and very appetizing appearance - all this will win the heart of any sweet tooth! Muffins are the same small cupcakes. This is the name this delicious pastry has in the USA. The recipe for sponge cakes in silicone molds presented to your attention is traditional in the country where muffins originated.
You will need:
- three chicken eggs;
- 140 grams of granulated sugar;
- 60 grams of butter;
- 150 grams of wheat flour;
- 120 milliliters of milk with any percentage of fat content;
- 12 teaspoons thick strawberry jam (jam);
- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder.
Vanilla biscuit dough for cupcakes
Compound:
- wheat flour – 130 g;
- fine sugar – 150 g;
- chicken egg – 4 pcs.;
- vanilla sugar – 10 g.
Cooking method:
- Separate the whites from the yolks.
- Beat the whites into a thick foam. Continuing to beat, add 80 g of sugar to them, adding it gradually, a tablespoon at a time. You need to beat until stiff peaks form.
- Add the remaining sugar to the yolks and beat them. As a result, they should turn white.
- Continuing to beat the yolks with a mixer, sift the flour into them and add vanilla sugar. Try not to drag out this process, but keep it within 15 seconds. You can even stir in the flour with a spoon first, then beat.
- Add the whites and fold them into the dough with a spatula.
Cupcakes made from dough prepared according to this recipe turn out fluffy and fragrant.
Juicy blueberry muffin
Ingredients:
- 200 g butter
- 200 g sugar
- 200 g flour
- ~ 200 g blueberries
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp. powdered sugar (for decoration)
Preparation:
- Using a mixer, beat butter with sugar and eggs. Sift flour, baking powder and knead the dough.
- Grease a cake pan with a thick layer of butter and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
- Mix blueberries with a small amount of flour (so that the berries are evenly distributed in the dough). Add to the dough. Knead, place in a silicone mold (or several small molds), level and bake for ~ 40 minutes at 180-200 C.
- Remove the cupcake (or cupcakes) from the oven and leave in the pan for 10 minutes. Then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Decorate as desired.
Delicious muffins with raspberries
Ingredients:
- Raspberries - 100 gr.
- Butter - 100 gr.
- Milk - 120 gr.
- Flour - 220 gr.
- Granulated sugar – 180
- Egg - 1 pc.
Cooking method:
- Melt the butter on a hot stove, then add granulated sugar, beat everything, and stir with a whisk.
- Then break the egg into a bowl and beat everything. Gradually add milk and mix. Add flour and knead the dough.
- Add fresh or thawed raspberries and mix.
- Then use a spoon to put the dough into the molds. Place in the oven at 200 degrees for 15 minutes.
We take out the ready-made cupcakes, treat them to our relatives, and remember grandma’s baked goods. Bon appetit.
Milk muffins in the oven
Baking products:
- 2 eggs,
- 100 grams of sugar,
- 400 grams of flour,
- ½ cup cottonseed oil,
- 2 glasses of milk,
- A pinch of soda,
- ½ pack of vanillin,
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon cognac.
Recipe:
- Place flour and soda, not slaked with vinegar, sifted through a sieve into a container. Add a little salt and a couple of eggs.
- Whisk the ingredients thoroughly.
- Add vanillin and sugar to a homogeneous mass. Whisk.
- Add the rest of the ingredients: butter, milk and cognac.
- Add a little cinnamon and chopped apples to the resulting dough.
You can experiment with the filling and use something else instead of apples and cinnamon. For example, grated chocolate or lemon zest. If you use chocolate, you don’t have to add it to the dough, but put it in the following way: put a little dough in the molds, then put in the grated chocolate and fill it with the rest of the dough.
Bake the muffins in a preheated oven for 30-35 minutes at an average temperature of 180 degrees.
Video recipe
The author's video illustrates in detail the preparation of sponge cakes with detailed comments. It will come to the rescue if the step-by-step recipe does not sufficiently cover any aspect of cooking. In addition, it will be useful to watch the video before starting any culinary manipulations. This will give you a general idea of the entire cooking process, which will make subsequent actions easier and reduce the chance of error.
Sponge cakes with cream are an exquisite pleasure from the taste of tender and juicy dough and the rich taste of black currants. Making such a dessert is not difficult and does not require special ingredients, but it will please both the whole family and picky guests. If desired, you can add raisins and/or chopped walnuts to the dough. The cream can be made from any berries or fruits, which adds even more variety and makes the delicacy not boring.
Did you like the sponge cakes? Share your opinion or ideas about preparing them in the comments.
Ginger Lemon Cupcakes
Ingredients:
- 1.5 cups flour;
- 1 cup of sugar;
- 1 glass of sour cream;
- 3 eggs;
- 0.5 packs of margarine;
- 0.5 packs of baking powder;
- lemon (zest and juice of half a lemon);
- 2 teaspoons grated ginger.
Preparation:
- Beat eggs with sugar until sugar is completely dissolved. Melt margarine, grate ginger and lemon zest. Mix eggs with sour cream, margarine, ginger and lemon zest. Add the juice of half a lemon. Add flour and baking powder, mix with a spoon. Sprinkle the cake pan with flour. Place in the oven, heated to 220-250 degrees for 45 minutes.
- Drizzle with glaze (1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp water, 4 tbsp powdered sugar).
For cake in any large silicone mold
Ingredients:
- 175 g sugar
- 175 g butter
- 175 g raisins
- 140 g eggs
- 240 g flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder for dough
- a pinch of salt
- vanilla sugar
Preparation:
For this recipe, it is very important to stick to the exact quantities of ingredients.
- With eggs it’s simple - 140 g is three medium eggs and I take a little protein.
- Keep the butter at room temperature for half an hour, grind it with sugar in a blender or mixer until fluffy, add one egg at a time, beat well, the next egg, etc.
- Wash the raisins and dry them on a paper towel.
- Add them to the butter mixture, add a pinch of salt and mix everything well.
- Separately sift the flour (why do this is written here), baking powder, add vanilla sugar.
- Then carefully add the flour to the mixture with butter and mix well at low speed (I just do this with a spoon).
- I grease the mold well with oil, lay out the dough and level the surface with a wet spoon.
- I wet the knife in water and make a deep longitudinal cut into the cake.
- It will supposedly tighten later, but when the cake starts to rise, it will appear and will not give the cake the opportunity to burst.
- The oven is preheated to 160 degrees, bake for approximately 80-100 minutes.
- Carefully remove from the mold, set to cool on a wire rack (to avoid wet sweat) and decorate as desired.
