Delicious Muffins..

If you like cake, you’ll love these muffins, especially if you have kids in the house. (Including the adult’s with a sweet tooth).

My friend Caroline told me about this cake recipe, she makes it frequently. I wanted to have a go, so asked her for the recipe..

It’s a Mary Berry Victoria Sandwich she’s adapted. Needless to say I made a few adjustments of my own but the basics are the same..

It took me just 40 mins from scratch to make these and the kids were tucking in as soon as they got home from school. Hubby and I had one with a cup of tea the next day, they were very nice..

Ingredients (You can half these and make fewer muffins).. 

• 4 eggs
• 8oz caster sugar,
• 8oz self-raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 8oz baking spread, margarine or soft butter/baking spread at room temperature,
• Spoonful of icing sugar to dust the finished muffin though caster sugar will do.

I wouldn’t normally use baking powder with self raising flour, but as Mary does I gave it a bash, they certainly rose very well.

Method

Preheat your oven to about 180, (make sure it’s nice and hot before putting your mixture in).

Beat sugar with butter until it’s nice and creamy. I use a hand mixer to make my cakes, but you can beat with a wooden spoon if you’re a masochist. Obviously if you have one, a free standing mixer is even easier..

Add eggs to the mixture with a spoonful of the flour to prevent them curdling. Carry on beating, adding the flour and baking powder gradually until you have a nice dropping consistency. If mixture is a tad stiff, blend a small amount of milk into your mixture. I usually finish my mixture with a wooden spoon to ensure I’ve mixed every bit.

(Tip you’ll know your dropping consistency is good when the mixture drops from the spoon within 5-6 seconds). 

Divide the mixture evenly between your muffin cases. make sure they are 3/4 full, don’t skimp otherwise they’ll look a bit sorry for themselves when cooked.

Place your muffins on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Check them after 10 minutes. Check the top to see if they are golden brown and springy. The bottom of the muffin will be nice and firm when ready.

Remove them from the tin and place on a cooling rack until they are cold.

Once they’ve cooled, take a knife and carefully scoop out the middle of the muffins and leave the tops to one side.

You can fill them with whatever you like. I had some cream cheese style soft icing in the cupboard, so half filled them with that, added strawberry jam to fill then replaced the lids.

Finish off by dusting with icing sugar.

Yummy..