Cupcake Cravings

As I was putting together my grocery list for the week I got to thinking about baking a cake. And as I was pondering about the perfect cake to bake (I’m keen on trying my hand at a Japanese sponge soon – love the texture), I got distracted by photos of cupcakes and then by illustrations of cupcakes and so on (I do get distracted easily).

I  tried to focus on my grocery list again but then kept wanting to add things like buttercream and bicarbonate of soda to it – which means that some sort of cupcakery must soon occur or else.

I have now put aside the grocery list in order to concentrate on cupcakes and try to get my mental list of desirables down to a maximum of three to try. To assist in this endeavor I have turned to the Restless Chipotle, who, aside from telling you to ‘channel your inner tart’ has also compiled a list tantalizingly titled ‘50 Best Cupcake Recipes on the Internet‘. But there is a lot more out there : The Good Food Channel has its top 10, Panlasang Pinoy has its 23 of the Best Cupcake Recipes on the Internet and the trusty Guardian has 3 great ones to offer.

So I’m off now to go in search of the perfect for me cupcake from amongst them. If you have a contender do let me know – and I’ll keep you posted on what occurs on this end!

Home Cookin’ – ‘Andaazay Sey’

Since I moved to the UK I have had to cook far more regularly than ever before. Prior to this my only kitchen experience was in ‘Food & Nutrition’ class during school days (a long, long time ago) and some dabbling while in graduate school. Fortunately, I have access to a brilliant panel of cooks, my mom, aunts and cousins, who pass on their recipes to me and other displaced family members across the world.

These are recipes passed around orally and usually with vague instructions regarding quantities and methodology i.e. ‘just enough chilli powder’, ‘wait until it’s cooking happily’. I have attempted to put some of them in writing, on scraps of paper littered about the house, and keep planning to make little recipe cards to print out and laminate for easy reference in the kitchen.

Since I have the first 4 recipes down, after much procrastination, I thought I’d share them here. Do experiment and adjust to taste as you go, as there are no hard and fast rules with these and every household seems to create its own unique flavour, which is kinda cool. At the bottom I’ve placed a link to a downloadable PDF file so you can print out all four on a sheet of A4 paper, cut and laminate for easy reference in the kitchen.

Download A4 sized PDF of all four recipes here.

I can be pretty vague myself, so if you find anything that needs clarification or correction, do let me know. And if you end up with variations of you own do share!

This post goes out dedicated to my wonderful mother Fauzia, my forever young aunt Shaz and my beautiful Maasi (who’s cooking will remain unmatched). Love you!