The Best Vanilla Cupcakes Ever

They probably won't be to you, but I think they're the best. This is the only cupcake recipe I've ever used, and it comes from my mum's supremely old Common Sense Cookbook. They're just simple. Just little and vanilla and a bit rustic and yum. They're not the moist, kind of sticky consistency like you get in a lot of packet mixes - they're just light and fluffy and nice. They're also very easy to make.

You'll need:
- Capful of vanilla esscence
- 1/4 cup margarine
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 cup sifted self-raising flour

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. :)

Firstly, beat the margarine and sugar to a cream. You can do this with electric beaters, but I've always done it by hand with a wooden spoon - it's not that hard :)

Now, add the egg and mix well. When you first start mixing, it looks disgusting - everything separates and just ugh. But eventually it'll even out and come to a pretty smooth consistency, like below.

Gradually add the milk, vanilla essence and flour to the mixture, stirring until it's all combined  to a battery doughy kind of thing.

Then all you've got to do is pop them in the oven for 10 minutes or so (they should be very slightly browned), cool them on a rack and prepare Basic Icing (http://thesweeterside-tss.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/frosting-icing.html). You can make it as thick or thin as you want, and today when I made them I was in the mood for smooth and sleek cupcakes, so I made it thick just by gradually adding teaspoonfuls of water at a time to reach the right consistency. Also, instead of the standard lemon juice that I like to add to the icing, I decided to use vanilla essence today - radical, I know.

 And here we go - the finished product! I used decorative icing writing to do the swirls, which was good fun, and those little edible silver ball things to make myself feel fancier. I hope you enjoy these cupcakes as much as I do!