Life

How To Bake The Queen's Favourite Cupcakes, According To The Official Royal Recipe

by Orla Pentelow
Eddie Mulholland/Shutterstock

Sure, you’ve had a cupcake. But have you ever had a Royal-approved cupcake? Didn’t think so. Luckily for us, pastry chefs to the Royal Household recently shared their chocolate cupcake recipe online to mark the Queen’s 94th birthday in April, so you can now get a slice of the action too.

Like many during lockdown, Her Majesty celebrated birthday in self-isolation at Windsor Castle with her husband, Prince Philip. To celebrate her special day, The Royal Pastry Chefs, who work on everything from menus to stock management for the Royal Household, shared their chocolate cupcake recipe - which includes a secret ingredient of vinegar - via the Royal Family’s Instagram page to inspire others in lockdown to get baking with their spare time.

“Happy birthday to Her Majesty! To celebrate The Queen's birthday we are sharing a chocolate cupcake recipe from The Royal Pastry Chefs,” the post read. “If you or a loved one are celebrating a special occasion during isolation why not treat yourself to some #RoyalBakes? Remember to share your creations with us!”

If you’re new to baking, cupcakes are a great place to start. For those more au fait with the nuances of bicarbonate and baking soda, why not test your icing skills with some intricate designs?

Here is the royal recipe to make some of the Queen's birthday cupcakes for yourself...

The Royal Pastry Chefs' Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

Ingredients

For the cake sponges

  • 15g vinegar
  • 300ml milk
  • 50ml vegetable oil
  • 60g butter (melted and cool)
  • 2 eggs
  • 5ml of vanilla essence
  • 250g of self-raising flour
  • 75g cocoa powder
  • 300g caster sugar
  • 10g bicarbonate of soda
  • 100g white chocolate chips
  • cupcake cases

For the buttercream topping

  • 90g of high percentage dark chocolate
  • 100g butter
  • 125g icing sugar

Extras

  • The recipe also adds the option to use food colouring to create different colours.
  • You can also use Royal icing, instead of buttercream, available pre-made in shops.

The Method

For the cake sponge

Step One

Preheat the oven to 150C. Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl. Whisk the eggs in a separate jug/bowl, with the vanilla essence, melted butter, oil, milk and vinegar.

Step Two

Slowly add the wet mixture into the dry mixture, little by little. Ensure the batter is smooth with no lumps. Finally, add the chocolate chips. (An alternative here could be nuts or dried fruit).

Step Three

Lay the cupcake cases onto a tray. Use a metal spoon to equally divide the mixture into the cases. Bake for around 15-18 minutes, take out of the oven when golden and springy on touch. Leave to cool.

Step Four

If using buttercream icing: cream the sugar and butter together, until light and creamy. Add in the warm melted chocolate.

If decorating with royal icing: roll the icing out and cut into circular disks

Step Five

If using buttercream icing: If you have a piping bag to hand, pipe the icing on the top of cakes for decoration (otherwise gently use a teaspoon or small spatula to ice).

If decorating with royal icing: lay the disc over the cupcake and mould to required shape.

Brew a pot of the Queen's favourite Earl Grey tea, and enjoy!