Coffee sponge cupcakes recipe

I like baking cakes. Seeing the cakes rise in the oven fills me with joy. I wish that my home is always filled with the smell of things being baked. Haha. Am I weird? Well, I recently started trying out baking sponge or chiffon cakes. I love them because they are so light. I suppose that they are less fattening too as compared to the usual cupcakes or muffins which use heaps of butter, sugar and flour.

As baking is not an art but science, we have to follow a recipe when baking. But there are so many sponge cake recipes on the Internet. Which recipe does one choose from? I guess I should try each recipe and find out which is the best.

After a few searches on the Internet, I found that the basic chocolate sponge cake shared by Nasi Lemak Lover looks quite nice and promising. So I decided to give it a try. However, I made them into cupcakes simply because I find them easier to eat and quicker to bake. The only expected problem is that they would likely to shrink and sink when cooled as the paper cupcake cases are unable to provide support to the sponge to hold its shape, unlike the cake tin. I am fine with this as long as it tastes good. After all, it's for eating I thought. Besides that, I modified the recipe slightly for coffee flavour.

The cupcakes turned out quite well albeit the wrinkled top and a bit of shrink when cooled. More importantly, it tastes great. I am happy with the result!

Recipe:

(12 cupcakes)

4 egg yolks (large)

20g caster sugar

50g corn oil

60g milk

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoon coffee (I made thick coffee using Nescafé Gold for stronger coffee taste)

90g cake flour

Meringue:

4 egg white (large)

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

60g caster sugar

1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl until pale and thick.

2. Add corn oil and whisk to combine.

3. Add milk and stir to combine.

4. Add salt and coffee and stir thoroughly.

5. Sift cake flour into the mixture and mix well. Leave the batter aside.

6. Now start making the meringue by beating the egg white.

7. Add cream of tartar as soon as the beaten egg white starts to foam.

8. Gradually add in the sugar when the egg white starts to thicken. Beat until firm peak stage.

9. Add the meringue onto the egg yolks mixture in 3 batches. Mix the meringue and egg yolks mixture until they are almost combined using a hand balloon mixer for the first and second batches. Fold in the last batch using a spatula until everything is combined well. Bang the batter on the table for a few times to release the big air bubbles.

10. Pour the batter into the cupcake cases, about 3/4 full each.

12. Bake in the preheated oven at 165c for about 20-25 mins on the lower rack.

13. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let them cool on the wired rack.

Suggestion: Top cupcakes with butter cream to conceal the wrinkles but it would be fattening!