Too Cold to Blog

It's like last year all over again out here except without the ice storm and to be fair there's not been quite so much snow.  Walking the kids to school when its so cold your nostril hair freezes is getting old.  To cap it all we're not sure when spring is coming as the groundhog evidence was inconclusive this year.  I'm with the one in Wisconsin who refused to reveal his prognostications and instead bit the mayor and hopped it for home.  He'll think twice about waking people up on a cold day in future.

So we've not been out and about much and I can't take photos for fear that my fingers will freeze to my camera.

Yesterday was Tom's birthday, Happy Birthday Tom! so I made cupcakes.  Don't they look smashing.

 

Apparently they were good, somehow the kids managed to eat them without wasting half by smearing it all over their faces.

So just for fun I'm including the recipe so you can make them yourselves.  It's from a Martha Stewart book and requires just a single bowl, that's my kind of washing up.

 

1.5 cups of plain/all purpose flour

.75 cups cocoa powder

1.5 cups caster sugar

1.5 teaspoons baking soda (bicarb)

.75 teaspoons baking powder

2 large eggs

.75 cup buttermilk or yoghurt

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla ext

.75 cup warm water

 

Put all the ingredients in a big bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk until smooth.

 

Fill jumbo cupcake cases 2 thirds full with the batter and bake in a preheated oven at 350f/180c for 20-25 minutes.  You can turn them round half way through if you like for even baking.

 

Makes about 20, if in doubt put less rather than more batter in the cake cases as its quite runny and can spill over before it rises.