I Tried Nigella Lawson’s Secret To Fluffy Cakes, And It Instantly Elevated Them

If there’s one thing I’ve become something of a master of since having kids, it’s fairy cakes. 

Every weekend there comes a point when we run out of things to do and baking always saves my bacon as a nice way to spend some one-on-one time with my eldest, but also kill half an hour before the dinnertime rush. 

Hey, sometimes we’ll start the day with an 8am fairy cake sesh. 

Of the many cake recipes I’ve tried over the years, they all tend to share the basics: you need equal parts caster sugar, soft butter and self-raising flour, with two eggs and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

However, after hearing that a colleague swears by Nigella Lawson’s method for top tier scones, I sought out a recipe for fluffy cupcakes on the TV cook’s website – and, dear reader, there will be no going back.

I shall remain devoted to this recipe forevermore. 

Hang on, are fairy cakes and cupcakes the same thing?

Well, it depends on who you ask. 

British Baker suggests there are two main differences: one is the size (fairy cakes are smaller than cupcakes) and the other is the toppings (cupcakes tend to have more elaborate toppings while fairy cakes typically have a drizzle of icing and maybe the odd sprinkle).

But Nigella’s site suggests “nowadays most people would think of a fairy cake and a cupcake as being pretty much the same thing”.

What’s Nigella’s recipe?

The recipe, which featured in her book How To Be A Domestic Goddess, follows the usual ingredient format but adds a couple of tablespoons of milk to the mix.

The chef also adds milk to her classic Victoria Sponge, so it’s clearly a tried and tested formula. 

According to experts at Kitchen Aid, using milk in cake recipes gives them a “moist, decadent texture”. Not only that, but Bakery de Stefano suggests it can “help to create a softer crumb in breads and cakes”.

Nigella’s method also differs from other recipes I’ve tried as she suggests you can add all the ingredients to a blender to blitz it – then add the milk at the end, pulsing the mixture to create a “soft, dropping consistency”.

Simples.