The Brûlée That Wasn’t, and the Cupcakes That Were

I’m not sure why, but cupcakes just felt like the perfect sweet counterpart to burgers — maybe because they’re so American, a bit indulgent, but also offer loads of scope to play around with flavours. You can do any sponge base, any combination of fillings and toppings.

I did mess up slightly from the start, though — I forgot my blowtorch. So we could do the crème… but not quite the brûlée. The signature golden brown shell of caramelised sugar was missing and so was that delicious crack, but we made up for it with a little gold dust and few chocccy decorations  so they still felt just a little glamorous.

The First Step — The Base Cake

We started with a classic pound cake base — equal parts egg, sugar, and butter. As I often do, I warned Becky to expect it to curdle when adding the eggs. That’s just my approach: plan for the worst, hope for the best. It helps manage expectations, especially when baking, where things can look a bit wrong before they turn out just right.

But on this occasion, everything seemed to align. The butter was at the perfect temperature, and Becky added the eggs slowly and carefully. The result? No curdling at all — just a beautifully smooth batter that came together exactly as it should.

Technically, in professional baking (especially when decorating later), these kinds of sponges aren’t supposed to dome. Professional decorators often avoid raising agents and bake at a lower temperature to create a perfectly flat top.

But for home baking — and definitely for Becky in this session — a dome is part of the charm. It’s exciting to see that little rise, a promise of something good inside. And of course, when we trimmed the tops, the best question of all came up: who gets to eat the offcuts? (Answer: always the baker. Or at least... the baker's assistant.)

Okay, I’ll admit — I may have slightly overfilled them. But I think a little drama in the oven is part of the fun.

The Custardy Topping — For Flavour, Not Refinement

Next came the all-important crème pâtissière. I’ve made so many over the years that I usually don’t bother weighing the ingredients — it’s just instinct now. But since this was a lesson, I made the effort to measure everything out. The idea is that one day Becky will be able to make it from memory too, without needing a recipe, just like me.

Crème pat is one of those things you can make on your own, but having someone with you makes the whole process so much smoother— the consistency too. I whisked the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour until they turned pale and thick, while Becky warmed the milk with a good dose of vanilla paste. I prefer paste over extract — the flavour’s better, and I love the little black specks it leaves in the otherwise too pale white milk.

Now for the pressure point: tempering. Becky carefully poured the just simmering milk into the yolk mix as I whisked like my dogs life depended on it (nobody wants sweet scrambled eggs on their cupcake) when it was just loose enough i passed becky the bowl and i took the pan back over the heat and she now poured the loosened egg mix back into the milk as i continued to whisk. The whole thing was like a carefully choreographed masterpiece of whisking pouring, maneuvering and timing and within minutes we had a thickened beautiful custard 

From there, it was all about patience. If there’s even the tiniest bit of warmth left in anything, your topping will slide off and ruin the decoration. Me and becky are both quite poor at patience so the final result was a rustic beauty, it looked indulgent but not quite so refined.

The Topping — Not Quite Crackable Sugar This is where we had to improvise a little — I’d forgotten my blowtorch. Instead, we made use of some adorable white chocolate stars, gold chocolate buttons, and a generous spritz of edible gold glitter spray, all perched on top of our slightly sloppy crème diplomat (that’s crème pâtissière folded into whipped cream). Maybe the custard was still just a touch too warm…

A standout moment was when Becky brought over the tops we’d sliced off the cupcakes — perfect for decorating too! An excellent attitude toward less waste, and a lovely little surprise addition.

Why This Lesson Matters

Because it taught us how to just roll with it and follow the flavour — not the look. You don’t need all the fancy equipment to make a simple, tasty cupcake. The messy domed tops we decorated only proved it further. Perfection isn’t flat or flawless — it’s buttery, soft, and covered in gold stars if you're lucky.

The Verdict

The sponge? Perfection. The custard? Smooth and delicious (if a little on the sloppy side). Mess factor? 100%. Glamour and glitz? Off the scale. So, all in all — a resounding success.

Closing Thoughts

You really can’t go wrong with cake. Especially when there’s custard involved.