First cupcake of the season

I finally had time to take out our cake mixer to bake yesterday, since the weather didn't allow us to go out.  We bought the Moulinex Masterchef Gourmet last December.  When I tried to bake using the mixer then, I thought it was because of the colder room temperature during winter that was preventing the butter from getting soft and fluffy.  I had to stop the machine many times to scrape the sides and even then, the mixture was not getting creamed well.

Yesterday, I used the mixer again, thinking that it would give me better results.  But the same thing happened.  The butter and sugar mixture was not beaten well.  I had to stop the machine many times to scrape the sides and bottom but the mixture was still not getting fluffy.  I think it's because of the poor design of the machine.  That's because when I finally gave up and used a hand mixer, the batter was ready in minutes. 

Pete helped me to search the internet to find a solution to the problem, to see if there were any feedback about the machine.  But we didn't find any helpful info.  The general feedback was that the machine was good for it's price, powerful but not good for small quantities of batter.  I will give it another try and see if I can get better results when I use double the quantities of the batter I made yesterday.  The machine also comes with a blender and other attachments.  I still have not used them.  I will have to try it out.  Hopefully they work better as a blender.

That's the problem with cake mixers.  It's hard to get a good one if you can't try it out for yourself first.  If only they have a trial set that you can use before you buy one.  You can't really trust what they wrote on the packaging.  You have to try it or to get recommendations from others.  My recommendation is not to get the Moulinex Masterchef Gourmet.  The only good thing I discovered about it so far is the mixing bowl.  It's really nice and deep, excellent for mixing.  I will use that bowl to make my batter.  By hand.

This makes me miss my trusty Kitchen Aid back home.  Mixing cake batter and bread dough with it is such a breeze.  I don't really want to bring it over since it's for my family to use.  I have taught my sis and mum some recipes using the Kitchen Aid, so I want them to make use of the machine to bake.  I don't want my family to go without home baked goods.

But I really would love to have one here.  It's more expensive to get it here.  There is a store selling the white one, just like what I have at home.  And it is on discount.  The price is SEK3990 instead of the usual SEK5990.  But it's still too expensive for us to buy.  I can still use the hand mixer, since I'll go crazy getting the Moulinex to work.  In this cool kitchen, I really don't mind using the hand mixer since I won't work up a sweat.  It's fine for now. 

Never mind the kitchen troubles.  This was what I baked yesterday - lemon cupcake with whipped cream and strawberries.  So good on a cool, rainy afternoon with a cup of hot lemon tea.

Lemon Cupcake

1 3/4 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

zest from 1 lemon, grated

3/4 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a mixing bowl.

In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 5mins).

Add the eggs, one at a time.  Then add the grated zest.

Fold in the 1/3 of the flour.  Then add 1/2 the milk.  Repeat, finishing with the flour.

Scoop into cupcake tins lined with those pretty liners you can get from the stores nowadays.

Bake for 25mins.