Giant cupcakes!

Recently giant cupcakes have been very popular for parties and they are great fun!  

A lot of people have normal sized cupcakes on a stand with a giant cupcake on the top and it looks great.  Because they are so much fun, I was really excited when I started getting orders for these.  I have had a few practices now, and here is what I have learnt so far!...

I bought the silicon giant cupcake mould.  I was a bit worried, because they were a lot cheaper than the alluminium ones that you can find.  I didn't think the mould itself was very attractive, but what matters the most is what's on the inside, right?  :)  The silicon moulds themselves seem good quality.  They come with a filling insert, which you can see in the image.  As far as I can work out you put slightly less mix in the bottom mould than you normally would and sit the filling on the top to create a dip in the cake, which you can put filling into.  I have been using this every time because it doesn't make such a big dip as I first thought it would - infact, it helped to keep the bottom cake nice a flat, so I didn't have to cut the any off the top!

I was surprised to find out how much ingredients you need in these beasts!  In the vanilla recipe below I use 8 eggs!  EIGHT!!!  And in the banana one I did I used 7 bananas!  Because of this the cakes usually come out really light, which is a good thing because the slices are massive!

I was very happy with the final result each time tho.  The moulds have to be really well greased (You can use oils...I just used flora!) and the cakes come out of the moulds really easily.  They take a long time to cool down and they must be really cool before you start to decorate them.  The top of the cupcake didn't take on the patterns from the mould as well as I would have liked, but that doesn't really matter because when you decorate them you can't see the sponge anyway!

Once they are cooled then you must level the cakes off, and make sure that they fit nicely flat on top of each other.

To decorate I have been icing the bottom with regal icing and then covering the top with buttercream.  (Take a look at my best ever buttercream blog!)

Here is my vanilla giant cupcake recipe.  I based it on the Victoria sponge recipe that I normally use for smaller cakes....

Ingredients:

450g unsalted butter (softened/room temperature)

450g caster sugar

8 large eggs (free-range ofcourse!)

450g self raising flour

4 level tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla (as usual, a good quality extract)

3 tbsp milk (at room temperature)

- Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas Mark 4 and grease the moulds.

- Cream the butter and sugar together using an electric whisk and add the vanilla.  Mix for 5 minutes.

- Add one egg at a time and mix on a slow speed.  After a couple have been added I usually start to add a bit of the flour, about a tablespoon full at a time, between adding eggs.  This helps to stop it from curdling.  Use a spatula to scrape the sides, so that the mixture is really well blended together.  Don't over mix.

- At this point I suggest that you only use a large metal spoon.  I got this tip from one of Mary Berry's books.  After working so hard to mix the air into the mixture, folding gently with a metal spoon will help to keep the air in.  So step away from the electric mixer or the blender, or whatever you are using and pick up a large metal spoon!  Fold in the rest of the flour, the milk and the baking powder.

- Place the mixture into the moulds.  Most recipes I have found have said to only fill it to 3/4 but I did this on my first attempt and the sponge didn't rise to the top of the mould, so now I fill it right to the top or almost to the top (depending on the mixture!).  I place the moulds onto a baking tray, so that they are easy to move in and out of the oven.  

My oven is fan assisted and it took my cakes 40 minutes to bake through.  So it will probably take longer in other ovens.  I started checking the sponge after about 30 minutes - obviously only open the oven when you think it is absolutely necessary, you don't want to lose the heat and make the sponge sink -try to observe through the oven window where possible.

- The sponge is baked through when it is springy to the touch and the skewer comes out clean.

- Leave it in the moulds for about 15 minutes before tipping it out.  If the cake has overflowed or it is too high, don't worry because when it is cool you can level it off with a sharp knife or a cake leveller.  (When you come to doing this you can place the cake back into the moulds to get it level.)

- When it is thoroughly cooled then decorate it how you please!  Enjoy!