My friend Brynjar wrote the most wonderful comic book and it’s called Strîmb kids. He wrote it together with his childhood friend and sidekick, Stine Lastein and it’s all about how they ballet and judo their way through school and life in general, as two perfect strîmb kids.

This book is the third in the Strîmb series so far and it is pure gold. But don’t take my word for it, get your copy at Anthony Frost English Bookshop and prepare to fall in love with Balletboy and Judogirl, I know I did.

Back in 2009, Brynjar launched his first comic book, Strîmb Life and the launch party was at his and his partner’s home. That’s when Brynjar asked me to make some sort of a muffin or a cupcake to serve at the party. And the brief was simple: something imperfect and eggy, yellow-ish and white-ish. So I did, I made these really simple cupcakes with a white frosting. And I’ve been making them every time he’s launched a new comic book. This time however, since we were treading on childhood territory, I decided to add some coloured sugary sprinkles. I’m happy to report the kids attending the book launch did a great job in licking the sprinkles off the cupcakes, touching every and each one of them for dibs, biting into several of them and rarely eating a whole one. What a suitable fate for strîmb cupcakes, don’t you think?

The recipe follows below and while I’ve made them with powdered sugar frosting and sprinkles for this special occasion, I’d definitely recommend you have them plain, unless you’re really into sugar.

For the strîmb cupcakes:

Makes 16

225gr/1 cup sugar

225gr/1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 eggs

225gr/1 cup all purpose flour

Zest from one lemon

First preheat your oven to 180C/350F and line/butter a cupcake tray. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with the aid of a hand-held mixer, whisk the sugar and the butter for about 4 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, on at a time, and mix well. The batter might look weird at this time, but add the flour and the lemon zest, mix just until incorporated and voilà, the batter is ready! With the aid of a tablespoon, fill your cupcake tray and pop it in the oven for 20-23 minutes. They are done when a toothpick inserted in the centre of a cupcake comes out clean. Place cupcakes on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting:

300gr/10 oz. powdered sugar

A little bit of water

With the aid of a whisk, mix sugar with a little bit of water at a time, until you reach the desired consistency. Once cupcakes are cooled, stick them in the glaze, then dip them in sprinkles, if desired.