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If you like cupcakes, you'll love Rachel Allen's vanilla cupcakes. These cupcakes are so easy to make and taste delicious too. Add crystallised flowers, sugared almonds, or other edible decorations. This recipe makes 12 cupcakes and will take 1hr and 15 mins to make, bake and decorate.
Ingredients
75ml (2½ fl oz) milk
Scant 25g (1oz) butter
75g (3oz) plain flour
½tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 medium eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
125g (5oz) caster sugar
For the icing:
100g (4oz) icing sugar, sifted
1-2tbsp single cream
1tsp vanilla extract
To decorate:
Crystallised flowers
Sugared almonds
Other edible decorations of your choice
WEIGHT CONVERTER
grams
to
cups
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F, gas mark 6). Place 12 paper bun cases in a bun tray.
Heat the milk in a saucepan until it almost comes to the boil, take it off the heat, add the butter and stir to melt, then set aside.
Sift the flour with the baking powder and add the salt. In a separate large bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla extract with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy, for about 10 mins. Gradually beat in the sugar until thick and mousse-like. Turn the speed down and blend in the flour, then the milk. Stop beating as soon as it's all mixed in.
Spoon into each paper case and bake in the oven for 15 mins or until golden and firm to the touch. Allow to cool slightly in the tin before moving to a wire rack and icing.
To make the icing, mix the icing sugar with 1tbsp cream and the vanilla extract; if it's not a good spreading consistency, add a little more cream. To ice the cupcakes,dip a table knife into boiling water and spread the icing over each cake with the warm knife.
Top Tip for making Rachel Allen's vanilla cupcakes
The reason the cakes are so light is because the eggs are whisked for about 10 mins until they're full of air and they only use a tiny amount of butter.
Rachel Allen left home at just 18 to pursue a career in cooking. Originally from Dublin, Ireland she moved to County Cork to study at the famous Ballymaloe Cookery School. Soon after graduating from the prestigious culinary school, she worked at the Ballymaloe House Hotel testing recipes and then onto teaching at the school.
Her first television series, called Rachel’s Favourite Food, was broadcast in 2004 throughout Ireland, Canada, Australia and elsewhere in Europe. A book of the same name accompanied the series, giving viewers a true insight into Rachel’s special brand of family-orientated cooking and recipes.
Since then she has authored more than eight different cookery books (opens in new tab), based around baking and home cooking. She’s particularly famous for her baking recipes, such as the delicious walnut and American frosting cake (opens in new tab), as well as simpler recipes like basic fairy cakes (opens in new tab). Rachel’s books have sold more than 1 million copies worldwide.
As well as being a TV chef and author, Rachel writes regular columns for Irish magazine, The Sunday Tribune. In the past, she has also contributed to BBC Good Food magazine and AWT at Home magazine.
Alongside writing, Rachel also teaches at the same school she trained. She regularly appears on BBC’s Saturday Kitchen and has her own popular cooking show on Irelands RTE network.
In March 2017, Rachel Allen opened her first restaurant. Dwyers of Cork on Washington Street in Cork is a joint business venture with her husand, Isaac, and publican Paul Montgomery.
Appearing on the show over a number of years, in September 2019 Rachel returned as a judge and co-host with Marco Pierre White on the popular Irish television series, The Restaurant.
Rachel lives in County Cork with her husband, Issac. The couple have three children together - Luka, Joshua and Scarlett.
From simple one-pot meals and roast dinners to your favourite sweet treats, we’ve got all of the best Rachel Allen recipes (opens in new tab) to choose from.
Butterfly buns
