When I lived in Manchester in the UK, I had a gloriously large kitchen – it was new, sparkly and it inspired me to cook. But four years on, and I’m living in a (very pretty) shoebox in Manhattan with virtually no kitchen. So as you’ve seen before, when I have an urge to cook, I quite often rely on other people’s kitchens.

Tonight I headed to Butter Lane in the East Village to use theirs – and left with a batch of icing-slathered cupcakes.

If I’m honest, I’m not a huge fan of cupcakes. Yes, they are delicious, but it’s not something I’d ever think to buy because it just seems so decadent and the icing can be overwhelming. But making them seems like fun, so when I saw a Groupon deal for Butter Lane I snapped up two tickets.

Ryan joined me, which didn’t impress him too much, but it definitely impressed the ladies in our group.

In total, there were about 15 of us in the class and we were divided into three groups making a different flavored batter each: vanilla, chocolate or banana. We ended up at the banana table, which I was happy about because it’s definitely the flavor I’ll most likely make again.

We checked out our ingredients (For 36 cupcakes: 1/2 lb butter, 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar, 3 eggs, 1 splash of vanilla, 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk, 3 cups cake flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 2 cups pureed bananas) and got to work – first mixing the butter and sugar before adding the eggs with the vanilla.

Then we added the flour (mixed with the baking soda and baking powder) and the buttermilk. Finally, we folded in the banana.

I picked up a couple of tips, such as using cake flour to make a lighter sponge and buttermilk for more moisture.

Butter Lane had done the measuring for us, but I must say that I much prefer the American system of baking – that is, using cups instead of weighing scales. It’s so quick and easy that it almost seems like cheating. So I really can’t see this recipe taking too long if I tackle it again.

After the batter was mixed, we used ice cream scoops to perfectly portion our cakes. Then they went in the oven – 23 minutes at 300 degrees.

As the cakes started baking, we checked out the rest of the store for some inspiration.

Afterwards, we got to work on the cream cheese frosting (1/2 lb of butter, 16 oz cream cheese, 8 cups confectioners sugar, 1 splash of vanilla extract). We combined the butter and cream cheese then added the sugar before throwing in a dash of vanilla.

Then we grabbed our cakes from the oven.

Then it got messy. Each group divided their icing into two batches so we could create six flavors in total: Cream cheese, cinnamon cream cheese, chocolate, peanut butter chocolate, vanilla and raspberry.

We learned how to dollop the icing on top and, using a palette knife, smoosh it down into a smooth ball. Then we held the knife flat on top of the icing as we turned the cake, creating a swirl pattern on top.

Some were pretty unsuccessful…

…while others went much better…

Everyone left with a box of nine cakes each, although I stopped at four.

Once back home, I brewed the kettle and nibbled a banana cake with cream cheese icing – and ooh it was delicious. So soft and moist. There was too much icing for me, but I’m sure when I try one of the chocolate peanut butter ones, I won’t be complaining quite as much.

A fun, sociable and clear class – with great results. And after realizing how simple it was, maybe I could even manage it in my mini kitchen.

Butter Lane has two locations: East Village (7th Street between Ave A and First Ave) and Park Slope (Seventh Ave between 4th and 5th Street), where they have more classes and cupcake flavors.