First of all, let me begin by apologising for all you vintage folk who, like I, hate the association between vintage and cupcakes. Vintage does not = Cupcake. Cupcake does not = Vintage. I can't even imagine mothers of Wartime baking up a batch of beetroot cupcakes. It just wouldn't happen?! That said, I love baking and I love baking cupcakes, or as they are more British-ly known: Fairy Cakes. After baking up over 100 cake-ettes in one day, (wedding-tasting session) I have somewhat honed my cupcaking talents and have reached a sturdy, professional-looking cupcake shape. 
You Will Need:- An Oven
- Baking Sheets
- Silicone Cupcake Cases or Silicone Cupcake Trays
- Paper Cupcake Cases
- A Recipe, Ingredients and general Baking Know-How
- A spoon.
Preheat your oven to the required temperate, and lay out as many baking sheets as you own.
Pop your silicone cupcake cases or trays on top of the baking sheet.
Line each silicone case/tray with a paper case.
Spoon up some of the mixture and fill the paper case 2/3 of the way full.
Finally, Pop 'em in the oven and watch them blossom.
When Cooked, Leave to cool in their cases before popping out the paper cases and allowing to entirely cool. Decorate.
Re-Load your silicone cases and repeat for round two!
The genius behind the whole operation is the Silicone. Yes, admittedly not very vintage, but then, cupcakes are not very vintage. In this instance, what we're striving for is that tall, perfectly proportioned cupcake that you see only in Cupcakeries. (This is what I have now christened all the Cupcake Shops of the world.) It's already the perfect shape, unlike the metal, yorkshire-pudding shaped 'muffin trays'. Observe:
Specimen 1: A hilariously shaped cupcake cooked atop a baking sheet in only a paper case.
Specimen Two: The same fate as Specimen 1, It is possibly more pathetically-shaped. Poor cupcake.
Specimen 3: More agreeably shaped, it at least resembles a cupcake, but is still a little short-and-fat for my tastes. Cooked in a metal 'muffin tray' in only a paper case.
Of Course, if you aren't baking 8 Bazillion cupcakes like myself, you needn't buy hundreds of Silicone cases. The idea is that they are re-usable and at around £5 a packet, they should be! If you are baking for home, pass up the paper cases and fill the silicone cases by themselves. The only reason I have used the paper cases is because it allows the silicone cases to be re-used immediately (so cakes can be cooked in 'batches') and so we don't have to buy 50 silicone ones when the wedding rolls around.
Hope you enjoyed, there's more where that came from!
Lots of Love, Auntie Pancake! ;)
xxxx
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