Single-Serving Vanilla Cupcake (With Video! Or not.)

UPDATE! I made a similar version of these but it's a tiny batch of TWO that you can bake in a toaster oven. Check out these Vanilla Cupcakes for Two!


Oh, hello! How are you? Come in! Hurry! Mind the mockingbird out there, he's a biter. Can I offer you a cup of tea? Maybe a cupcake?

That's a single-serving cupcake. Would you like the recipe? Why bother making one single cupcake, you ask?

I'm glad you asked, for I have made a list of reasons why one might want to go through the trouble of making one single cupcake. I'll take any opportunity to make a list. The possible reasons one might have to make one lone cupcake are as follows.

*clears throat*

1. You are on a diet and you want to have a sweet treat without having to bake a whole batch of cupcakes or an entire cake. If you're anything like me, making an entire batch means eating an entire batch. Or, you may want to make one little treat for someone else who is on a diet.

2. You live with someone who is taking a break from sweet treats but you don't necessarily want to be dragged down that sugar-free hellhole. You don't want to tempt the poor miserable sweet-treat break-taker with a big batch of cupcakes that would probably sit there for days under his or her nose while you leisurely eat them all. This is my reason.

3. You only have a couple of tablespoons of flour left and you are desperate for some cake. It's 3am and you don't feel like putting on pants to drive down to Walmart.

4. You are a tiny little mouse and one single cupcake will feed your entire family of 14 for a couple of days.

5. You have been miniaturized with a shrink ray in a lab experiment gone wrong and one cupcake will last you a week.

6. Why not?

Right. Now that we got that out of the way let's get baking! I bought myself a little toaster oven to make tiny bakes like this one. It's a Cuisinart TO-60. I'll tell you all about my toaster oven buying adventures next time. Let's just say that the Cuisinart was the fifth oven that I tried because I am a picky oven buyer, apparently. Who knew?

Anyway, I made you a recipe video for this one. It's one of those kooky quiet videos that I make for my YouTube channel sometimes. The actual recipe is just below the video if you don't feel like watching it. Rude.

Actually, I made you two videos. One at regular speed and another sped-up version for hyperactive squirrels. I find the cooking sounds of the sped-up video oddly satisfying.





SINGLE-SERVING VANILLA CUPCAKE


2 teaspoons white sugar
1 teaspoon powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
4 teaspoons vegan milk, divided
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/16 teaspoon salt (a pinch)

1. Preheat your toaster oven or regular oven to 325 degrees F. Spray one paper cupcake liner with cooking spray and place it in a small ramekin or cupcake tin.
2. In a small bowl or cup, whisk together the sugar, powdered sugar, oil, two teaspoons of milk, and vanilla extract. Give it all a really good whiskin'.
3. Sift in the flour and the baking powder. Add the salt and gently stir until the dry ingredients are barely incorporated.
4. Add the remaining two teaspoons of milk and gently stir trying not to overmix the batter. If you watch the video you can see how I sort of push the batter around rather than mixing it too vigorously.
5. Pour the cake batter into your prepared cupcake liner and bake at 325 for 15 minutes.
6. Crank the heat up to 350 and bake for 5 or 6 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. I wouldn't be tempted to check it before it's had a chance to bake at 350 for 5 minutes lest we end up with a deflated cupcake. Let the cupcake cool down to room temperature before frosting it.

Specific baking directions for the Cuisinart TO-60:

Set the "FUNCTION" dial to "WARM" instead of "BAKE" and set the temperature at 325 degrees F. This will keep the oven from toasting your cupcake from the top which would leave you with a dry, cracked cupcake. Once the oven is preheated, bake your cupcake for 15 minutes.

When the 15 minutes are up, switch the FUNCTION dial from WARM to BAKE and crank the heat up to 350 degrees F. Bake your cupcake for 5 or 6 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.

FOR THE FROSTING


1 tablespoon vegan butter, softened
1 tablespoon vegan shortening
1 or two tablespoons of powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine the butter and shortening in a small bowl or cup, the narrower the better, and use a small spoon to beat them together for a minute or so.
2. Add in the powdered sugar one tablespoon at a time and beat vigorously until light and fluffy. This should take a couple of minutes. I like mine with just over a tablespoon of sugar, but we all like what we like so if you end up adding lots of extra sugar to yours you may need to add a tiny bit of milk to make the frosting workable and soft.
3. Add the vanilla and give it a good beating until smooth. The whole process should take about five minutes.
4. Frost your cupcake and eat up! I actually like to refrigerate the finished cupcake for a few minutes before I eat it because I like the frosting to be a bit more firm.

NOTES


. I like to put my room-temperature cupcake in a small food storage container for a while before I frost it. This makes the top of the cupcake super soft. There's no need for it, it's just personal preference.

. You could just bake it at 350 from the start, but that will give your cupcake a more dome-shaped top like a muffin. Baking it at 325 for the first 15 minutes keeps it nice and flat on top.

. I like to use a little bowl with a handle of sorts to make the hand-beaten buttercream. It keeps me from grabbing the actual bowl and transferring heat from my hands onto the butter.



UPDATE! I made a similar version of these but it's a tiny batch of TWO that you can bake in a toaster oven. Check out these Vanilla Cupcakes for Two!


Did you watch the video? Did you catch my cute foxy creamer? Argh! I love it! Lookit!


It's a cute little ceramic fox creamer from World Market. I also bought a cute sugar bowl but I'll show you that one next time. I have kept you long enough today.

Sorry about that. It's just that when I go so long without seeing you I have so much to tell you! Did I tell you that I passed my driving exam last week and I now have a driver's license for the first time? I did! I do! At 37 years old! Practically 38! Slay! Everyone else taking their driving exam was 16 or 17 years young. It was terrifying! Terrifying! I'll write a whole blog post about it soon because I think there may be some fellow non-driving panickers out there that may find it helpful. Driving is some scary schtuff for some of us.

OK, I'll shut my mouth now. See you next time. Don't be a stranger! Really, mind the mockingbird as you leave. He's a cranky little grumpasaurus. If you follow me on Instagram you may have already seen His Grumpiness. That's where I mostly hang out now, on the Instagrams. Sometimes I also hang out on the Twitters.

OK, OK, bye!


Comments

  1. Absolutely genius!!! Although I'll have to double it so both me and my husband can have one ;)

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    1. Yes to doubling it up! My husband is not eating sweets right now so I am having to eat cupcakes all by my lonesome. :)

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  2. LOVE this. Because I am one of those people who doesn't need an entire batch of cupcakes for any good reason. But there are legit times that I NEED a single cupcake. I'm bookmarking this recipe!! Will be making the next time I have a cupcake emergency.

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    1. Sometimes you just NEED a cupcake! Even if I bake an entire batch of something and then freeze most of it, I'm still gonna take it out of the freezer and eat it anyway until it's ALL gone. The freezer door doesn't stop me! :)

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  3. YOU don't be a stranger! :) I always love when you post. I'm requesting more of these single-serving recipes - excellent!

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    1. I am working on a single-serving chocolate cupcake now, but considering that I worked on the vanilla one since before Christmas, the chocolate one probably will be ready by the end of 2018! Making videos takes forever when you're a slowpoke! :D

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  4. Aaah, I'm always so excited to see your posts in my feed, and this one did not disappoint! I love the single serving cupcake idea. There's only two in our household, and so I shy away from making a big batch of anything for all of the reasons you mentioned. Plus, there was the whole shrink ray debacle... I know you understand. That fox is the cutest. I'm glad you mentioned where you got it. Loved the videos!

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    1. Thanks, Cadry! <3 Baking for two is tricky for sure. Another reason why it's nice to bake tiny batches of things is that we get to bake something else sooner than if we baked a big batch! :D

      Be careful with those pesky shrink rays!

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  5. Hi hi hi! Welcome back. We sometime bloggers should form a special group so we don't feel lost. I used to make single serve cupcakes in the microwave, before I decided not having stomach pain was worth not eating gluten. Sort of. Every time I tried to reproduce a gf cupcake in the microwave, it exploded! I miss my old toaster oven but what with an Instant Pot and now an air fryer, I don't think I can fit any more appliances into the kitchen. So, I guess I'll have to eat the whole batch when I bake. The fox is great, and the bird gives new meaning to "angry birds"! I think I recognize the sprinklz. :D (Watched both videos at the same time.)

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    1. We should! Maybe it could be called something like the Occasional Blogger Society? The Random Blogger Support Group?

      Ugh. Exploding microwave cupcakes sound awful! Not so much the cake itself, but the mess that they leave behind can't be fun to clean at all.

      If you can't find room in your kitchen for a toaster oven then the only logical thing to do is to make and eat an entire batch. I'd be happy to help you... *ahem* dispose of some of them.

      Those are little sprinklz! Impressive sprinkle recognition skills! :D

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  6. Eu também amo tudo isso. Sou aquelas pessoas que não precisa de muitas razões para comer um lote inteiro de cupcakes. Mas há momentos legítimos que eu preciso de um único cupcake, quando assisto um bom filme. Esta receita já esta marcada no meu caderninho!

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    1. Oi! Eu estou usando o Google Tradutor. Espero que funcione bem! Eu espero que você goste do cupcake se você fizer. Eu estou trabalhando agora em uma receita para um cupcake do chocolate para uma pessoa. Provavelmente estará pronto no final da semana. Obrigada por visitar e por deixar-me uma mensagem! :)

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    2. Wow, you're a beautiful River.
      Thank you for responding and taking care to translate for my language. I love chocolate cupcakes, my cousin sometimes does it for me. I hope it gets tasty. Bjs

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    3. Oi! Aqui está a nova receita para o único cupcake de chocolate. É um vídeo, mas o texto da receita também está abaixo do vídeo. Eu espero que você gosta do cupcake se você ou seu primo fá-lo! :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiSKGCFy45Q

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  7. Happy Vegan MoFo! I found your site on the blogroll! Glad I did! You have a great place here! LOVING your snapshots, too! Cheers!

    http://MyBlissfulJourney.com

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    1. Hi Jennifer! Happy Vegan MoFo! I missed the first two weeks due to life kicking my butt but I'm ready to join the MoFo festivities now! :)

      Thanks for stopping by and for your sweet message! Happy MoFoing!

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  8. Can you use regular milk? My daughter has an egg allergy and isn’t vegan. Just didn’t know how it would turn out! Thanks!

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    1. Hi! I've only ever made these with either coconut milk or oat milk so I can't be sure, but I don't see why it wouldn't work with any milk. You may need to adjust the amount of milk if your batter is too thick. As long as your batter has a similar consistency as the cake batter in my video I think you should be OK. Good luck and thanks for stopping by!

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  9. Thank you for this recipe! My son is vegan and this is great to make for him when we go to birthday parties so he can have some cake too!

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    1. You're most welcome! It's so nice of you to make him a little cake to bring with him so he can have some too! <3

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