Contents Introduction Ingredients and equipment Hens and eggs 1 Low-faff 2 Mid-faff 3 High-faff 4 Savoury 5 Seasonal Index Acknowledgements 11 14 40 66 82 94 111 112Introduction There has been intensive res out on the healing power of cake... Scientists, nutritionists and psychiatrists have all spent hours pondering the curative qualities of the cupcake (possibly). Can cupcakes be classed as a “health food"? Probably not, but they cheer you up and make you smile. So that’s good enough for me. Bought cakes that come in boxes and sit on supermarket shelves hold fond memories of a childhood Saturday afternoon treat. We (three children) would pester Mum, and sometimes she would give in and a cake would be bought. When we got home, the family of five would stare at this small round foamy sponge with a red, red jam and whiter-than-white “cream” filling. Yumm-eeeee. The cake would be sliced with surgical precision by the appointed “cutter”. It had to be fair. Each slice would be examined at length by me, my brother and my sister. in order to determine whether one slice was bigger and therefore “unfair”, The you-cut- Ichoose rule was enforced with a rod of iron, Once the cutter had performed their task, they had to stand back and wait for the agonizing choice by the siblings. This extended doling-out of the smalll cake to the greedy family simply served to add to the deliciousness of it all. Looking at one of those cakes now, | wonder how we managed to get five slices out of it ‘This is where the cupcake has so many things going for it. There’s the element of built-in portion control. Fairness without the fuss. But how many should be eaten? Arguments may arise - and there must be room for an argument somewhere. My answer would be: cat Introduction