As promised, todays Tasty Thursday is about cupcakes. Specifically, ultra-soft delicious eggless cupcakes with a divine honey lemon frosting.
What I find interesting however, is that the day I decide to post a recipe about cupcakes, I come across this article in the U.K Version of The Guardian. It was published about two years ago, but I believe it is still relevent today. The title is "Do good feminists bake cupcakes?". In the article, the views of a few 20-something women who have taken to the domestic arts are juxtaposed against the views of modern day feminists. The discussion basically comes down to the following 2 arguments.
"... what makes this modern domesticity very different to the old-fashioned kind is that it is done out of choice, not out of duty or an attempt to impress men ... "
"... There are problems associated with domesticity because, in the past, there was the assumption that it was just 'what women did'..."
The core of feminism to me, is the ability to choose what is right for you and not be dependant on anyone else to make your decisions for you. I am a working woman, a wife and hopefully one day a mother. My husband is a working man, a husband and hopefully one day a father. We both share equally in the responsibilities of owning a home and living together. We are both breadwinners in our family, we share food preparation duties and we look after our doggies toegther. If feminism is about equality, then I am a feminist and so is my husband. But if I choose to bake and cook and knit (yes, I went through phase where I knitted myself some lovely scarves), and if that makes me happy, that doesnt change anything. Choosing domestic arts does not automatically make a woman not a feminist just like a man choosing woodwork and vintage cars does not make him a chauvenist.
So bake cupcakes if that takes your fancy. You dont need to be a 1950's housewife to do so :)
Honey Lemon Frosted Cupcakes
For the cake
1 3/4 cup (200g) self raising flour
3 level tsp baking powder
3/4 cup (115g) sugar
1/2 cup (125ml) vegetable oil (I mixed sunflower and olive oil)
1 cup cold water
4 tsp lemon juice
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (375F)
Whisk dry ingredients together in a bowl
Add wet ingredients and whisk
Place paper cups into muffin tray and or individual cupcake molds
Fill mixture in cups
Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
Wait 10 mins before removing from tins and placing on cooling wracks
(Makes 17 cupcakes)
For the Frosting
3 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup butter softened
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbs honey
2 tbs lemon juice
Cream butter, honey and vanilla together
Add sugar half a cup at a time
Once all the sugar is added, continue to cream until it reached the right consistency
Add lemon juice and any colouring if you are using
Decorate cupcakes
(Depending on how much frosting you use, you will have plenty left over. I have frozen the leftovers for next time)
No comments:
Post a Comment