I bought these robot cupcake molds at a kitchen sale at the market this summer. Figured they would get stuck in a drawer forever. But then I started researching the “single cupcake” recipe and suddenly these little silicone cupcake molds were a terrific buy! There is a strange art to making a small batch of cupcakes. Two small cupcakes seem to be the perfect amount for this family. The husband isn’t a cupcake fan, and I’m not terribly interested in baking (and, then, eating) a dozen or more. Also provides you a perfect opportunity to fool around and test some things without wasting a ton of ingredients. So without further ado, the results of this month’s experiemnts.
Test 1 (of 3):
Err … not so much. I used this recipe as a starter. I tried to make chocolate by adding cocoa powder, but it was a total experiment. Since I had coconut milk (or drink, as the carton called it. What was it really? Don’t know, just tossed it in).This one didn’t rise and tasted meh. Kid seemed to think it tasted just fine.
Test 2:
Better, but still a bit odd. This time I tried cocoa powder again, and also included some greek yogurt. The yogurt made for a creamier texture and at least the batter rose as expected. But still not the greatest tasting. I might need to do more cocoa and more sugar to get the taste that I’m looking for. Again, kid ate it up. If it looks like a cupcake and smells like a cupckae it must be a cupcake, according to her.
Test 3:
Jackpot! I ditched the cocoa powder and went with this recipe. No chocolate, but super vanilla. I went for broken and also made a little cream cheese frosting for the top (what’s a cupcake without frosting?)
These are the recipes I riffed off of. Just because my results weren’t great doen’st mean the recipes as written aren’t successful. One pattern I’ve noticed, and maybe it’s due to the cupcake mods, is that I need to bake them for far longer than the instructions suggest. But constant checking means at least they’re not burnt:
- Test 1: A Sweet Road – How to make a single cupcake
- Test 2: Chocolate-Covered Katie: Vegan Single-Serving Cupcake
- Test 3: One Bowl Vanilla Cupcake