Rose Essence Flavored Cupcakes | Eggless Butterless Pink Cupcakes | Rose-milk Cupcakes | Pink Cupcakes | Custard Powder Cupcakes

Looking for an easy to whip up, eggless, butterless, super soft, moist cupcake recipe? Here it is!! and girls these are pink too. I just tried my hands at making these for a pink virtual birthday treat for one of my dear friend and blogger Priya Ranjit sis, some time back. But due to my restless schedule, I could not post it earlier. I was waiting to share this recipe as these cakes were tasting out of the world. Rose essence added made the cupcakes so tasty, smell sweet and look delectable, you can call these the girly cupcakes or even the pink sponge cake. Though being eggless and butterless they were wonderfully soft and moist and the best part is you do not have to take out your beater or use any mixers, just a hand whisk or even a fork/spoon will do. 20 to 30 minutes will be completely enough to whip up this easy to make cupcakes. 

I used custard powder a key ingredient that makes a cake incredibly soft. I've used the same in my eggless butterless dates cake too and these cakes are the one you should not miss trying. This was my first try with rose essence and I was really very impressed with the taste and result, the only concern was with the cracked tops and I guess there was extra usage of baking powder, when you give a try just reduce it to 3/4 teaspoon and I hope it will work. Though the tops were cracked there was no compromise taste-wise or texture-wise!! You can make these for any girly get togethers, parties and baby / bridal showers or for your tea-time. Do try these and send me your feedbacks!!

Update: After trying the same recipe with a different temperature setting and after reducing the amount of baking powder I got the perfectly risen cupcakes, so have updated the recipe now with changes. 

(I made these for an order! only the flavors are different; there's mango, vanilla and chocolate)

After reducing oven temperature and amount of baking powder got the perfectly risen cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

Makes 6 cupcakes
Preparation Time - 5 minutes
Baking Time - 15 to 25 minutes

Update: After trying the same recipe with a different temperature setting and after reducing the amount of baking powder I got the perfectly risen cupcakes without any cracked tops, so have updated the recipe now with changes. 

1. Maida / All purpose flour - 150 grams 
2. Sugar (granulated) - 100 grams 
3. Salt - 1/8 teaspoon 
4. Custard powder - 4 teaspoons 
5. Baking powder - 1/2 teaspoon (I used 1 teaspoon at first which gave me cracked tops as u see in the pics)
6. Milk - 120 ml 
7. Rose essence - 3/4 teaspoon (the rose essence I used was already pink so I did not have the need to use food color)
8. Oil - 75 ml 

Rose Buttercream 

1. Rose essence - 1 teaspoon
2. Unsalted butter - 100 grams (Room temperature)
3. Icing sugar - 250 grams 
4. Salt - A pinch (Optional) 

Oven / OTG Settings

1. Heater / Rod select - Both
2. Shelf / Tray placement - Center 
3. Temperature - 160°C (Baking at 180 degrees gave me cracked tops) 
4. Baking time - 15 to 20 minutes 
5. Preheat Oven - 10 minutes

  

PREPARATION METHOD

• Place a tray in the center rack of the oven and preheat at 175°C for 10 minutes.  
• Line a 6 cup muffin pan with cupcake liners and set aside. 
• Sift flour, salt, custard powder and baking powder using a strainer/sieve twice and set aside. 

• To another mixing bowl add oil, milk, rose essence and sugar and stir well using a spoon or a whisk. (No need to stir vigorously, just mix well)

• To this wet mixture add the flour mix little by little and mix with a whisk gently until there are no lumps and the batter seems even. 

• Scoop out equal amount of the batter and pour into the lined cups/moulds in the cupcake pan and place inside the preheated oven. 

• Bake at 175°C for 15 to 20 minutes or until a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. (Always check after 15 minutes to see if your cake is done)

• Remove cupcakes from pans and place on a wire rack for it to cool down well. Store in airtight containers or serve! You can optionally frost the cake with buttercream. 

Frosting / Rose Buttercream / Rose essence flavored buttercream 

• I used rose essence flavored buttercream and vanilla buttercream (basic) which I colored blue. 
• For the basic / vanilla buttercream click here. To make rose essence flavored buttercream, follow the same procedure, just add rose essence in place of vanilla and use for frosting. (I have explained the procedure below, but for more details check the strawberry cake post)
• Take a mixing bowl and add unsalted butter, using an electric beater beat on a medium speed (2 speed) until smooth and creamy. 
• Add rose essence and beat again for a few minutes. Scrape the sides and beat again. (If your rose essence is not pink in color you can add pink food color if you wish) 
• While still beating add icing sugar tablespoon by tablespoon and increase the speed after adding all of the icing sugar, keep beating until it is very light and fluffy. It should stand in peaks and not easily fall down. If you don't get the correct consistency add some more icing sugar. If it is too thick add some milk or fresh cream and adjust the consistency likewise. 
• Fill into piping bags and use for frosting the cake or store it in closed containers and refrigerate for future use. 

TIP 1: The cupcakes cracked on the top and I guess it was because of extra baking powder, so when you try just try sing 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder instead of 1 teaspoon. 

TIP 2: There are some colorless rose essence available you can use them as such and add food color if you wish. You can also use rose water instead of essence. 

Soft, spongy, easy to prepare, fragrant sweet smelling cupcakes are now ready!!