Flat Layer Vanilla Sponge Cupcakes - Recipe & Method

Following on from my flat layer vanilla sponge cake recipe which you can find as a separate detailed blog, this recipe and method is slightly different with measurements and baking time but results in the same light airy sponge cake that rises beautifully but barely domes.

These are perfect for buttercream cupcake piping, they all have a lovely flat finish to them so you can pipe your beautiful flowers or patterns with ease.

Ingredients

- 200g Caster Sugar

- 200g Baking Margarine

- 200g Self-Raising Flour

- 4 Eggs

- 1tsp Vanilla Extract

Method

Beat your baking margarine and caster sugar in a mixer until you can no longer see any grains of sugar, just to note in England Caster sugar is finer than granulated but thicker than powdered sugar, it can take a while to beat but you want it to look smooth, that's when you know it is ready for the next step.

The Image above is the texture you are aiming to achieve when you can no longer see any grains of sugar

In a Jug beat your eggs by hand and add your vanilla extract

Beat your eggs using a folk in a jug and add the vanilla extract

With your mixer on you now want to add a small amount of your eggs and beat, alongside this to help prevent your cake batter from splitting also add some of your Self-Raising Flour (Self raising flour is just normal flour that has already had a rising agent added to help bake a light airy sponge cake) Continue to add the rest of your eggs and flour bit by bit until your batter is smooth and ready to bake.

This is what the batter should look like

NOTE - This can take practice as we have used a lot of eggs which does make it higher risk in regards to splitting.

I than add my batter using a spoon to each individual cupcake wrapper so they are three quarters full, the batter will rise for the last quarter and you will have a perfect cupcake. I don't weigh this out I judge it all by eye, you may have some batter left depending on the size of your cupcake wrappers.

Bake at 170`c for 20 minutes (fan assisted)

They will dome slightly whilst in the oven however as soon as you take them out they will go lovely and flat

This is what your cupcakes should look like

If you are more of a visual learner you can watch this detailed video of me making the above recipe for a flat layer vanilla sponge cupcake on camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeA5MOhw3zc

If you are wanting a Buttercream Recipe that is perfect for piping, Click on the image below for the Written BLOG for easy reference.

All the flowers in this image have been piped with the buttercream recipe on this other blog