Spiced cupcakes (eggless)

The concept of cupcakes came into being because of the reduced time it takes to bake as compared to a whole cake. They were also initially called number cakes or 1234 cakes as it was easy to recollect the portion sizes of each of its ingredients - the recipe had butter, sugar, flour and eggs in the ratio 1:2:3:4.

I use the spices, cardamom and star anise in this recipe. I accidentally discovered star anise when I was shopping for spices for my masala chai. It has a strong, distinct flavour. So I tried it with this cake. And the aroma at baking time was mild and pleasant. No wonder there are star anise perfumes!

When I want to make more cupcakes, I just double all the ingredients.

The ingredients are :
Plain flour - 3/4 cup
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Milk powder - 2 Tbsp
Cinnamon powder - a pinch

Fresh cream - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Green cardamom pods - 4
Star anise - 1, small
Vanilla essence - 5 or 6 drops
Milk - 1/2 cup

Sieve flour, baking powder and cinnamon powder. Stir in milk powder.

Remove seeds from cardamom pods by placing the pod in a mortar and pounding it with a pestle. Break off petals of star anise. Grind sugar, cardamom seeds and anise petals into a fine powder.

Beat sugar, spices and fresh cream in a large bowl until fluffy. Stir in the essence.

Add flour mixture, stirring just until evenly moistened. Add milk to loosen batter.

Coat cupcake moulds with butter and little flour. Spoon batter into the cups, filling each a little more than half full, allowing space to rise.

Preheat oven to 180 C. Bake until a skewer inserted in the centre of a cake comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool cakes on wire rack after turning them out. Serve warm.

Recipe courtesy : https://whatscookingmom.in/eggless-chocolate-muffins/