How to make Valentine Cupcakes

Hi everyone! Do you like cooking?  today it’s St Valentine’s day and we want to celebrate it with you in a very sweet way: sharing and explaining a recipe suggested by the BBC newpaper.

We hope you like it. You’ll find the vocabulary explained and pictures at the end of the recipe.

Valentine Cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cakes

• 125g/4oz unsalted butter, softened
• 125g/4oz caster sugar
•  2 free-range eggs
• 125g/4oz self-raising flour
• 150g/5oz raspberries
• 6 passion fruit, sieved pulp only
• a little milk, to loosen the mixture as necessary

For the icing

• 500g/1lb 1½oz icing sugar
• 160g/5½oz butter
• 1 vanilla pod, seeds only
• 2-3 drops pink liquid food colouring
• 50ml/1¾oz milk
•  hundreds and thousands

Preparation

1. For the cakes, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Sit 12 paper cases in a muffin tray.
2. Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until well combined.
3. Fold the flour, raspberries and passion fruit pulp into the mixture until almost smooth. If the mixture looks too stiff, add a little milk, as necessary.
4. Divide the mixture among the paper cases then bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out onto a wire rack and set aside until completely cooled.
5. For the icing, using an electric whisk, cream the icing sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Whisk in the vanilla pod seeds and food colouring. Gradually whisk in enough milk to form a smooth paste.
6. Spoon the icing into a piping bag with a large star-shaped nozzle and pipe the icing over the cake. Sprinkle over the hundreds and thousands.

 GLOSSARY

• oz (ounce /awns/)- noun. A unit of weight equivalent to 28.349 g
• caster /kæstər ʃʊgər/- noun. A very fine powdered sugar used for cakes and desserts.      
• free-range /fri- rendʒ/- adj. Eggs from hens that live in farms and can move freely. Eggs produced in natural conditions.
• self-raising /sɛlf- rezɪŋ/-  adj. Flour that has  a raising agent, such as baking powder, already added.

• sieved pulp /sieved pəlp/- noun. A separated or cutted pulp. The pult is the inside part of any fruit.
• loosen /lusən/- verb. To make something less tight, compact or rigid.
• icing / ajsɪŋ/- noun. The frosting, a sugar preparation for decorating cakes, cupcakes, etc.
• lb (pound /pawnd/)- noun. A unit of weight equivalent to 0.453 Kg
• pod /pɑd/- noun. The seedcase of a fruit or vegetable. See picture; 

• hundreds and thousands /həndrədz ænd θawzəndz/ noun. see picture: 

• muffin tray /ˈmʌfɪn treɪ/ – noun. See picture:

• Smooth /smuːð/ – adj. without bends or irregularities. Soft. 
• stiff /stɪf/- adj. rigid, inflexible.
• wire rack / wajər ræk/- noun. See picture: 

• whisk / wɪsk/- noun. See picture: 

• To Spoon / spun/- verb. to transfer (food, liquid, etc) from one container to another with or as if with a spoon
• piping bag /pajpɪŋ bæg/noun. see picture: 

• nozzle / nɑzəl/ noun. See picture (in red):

• pipe /pajp/- verb. to force (cream, icing, etc) through a shaped nozzle to decorate food.
• Sprinkle /sprɪŋkəl/ verb. to scatter (liquid, powder, etc) in tiny particles or droplets over (something)

Source: BBC