The 26th of August is a very special day in New Zealand – it is the day we bake our hearts out for a fantastic cause known as Cupcake Day and all proceeds from selling cupcakes go to the SPCA, visit http://www.spcacupcakeday.co.nz to see what it’s all about.
Last year a lovely lady asked me to bake a few cupcakes for her to sell at work and she raised an amazing amount of money. This was my contribution…
This is a very simple yet delicious cupcake batter recipe and turns out perfectly every time, so is one of my favourites for those occasions when I have limited time or ingredients on hand.
They are decorated with a combination of butter icing, fondant, spaghetti (for whiskers), chocolate and jelly beans (the dog’s noses). I had great fun doing these, just sorry I didn’t get onto it in time this year.
Cupcake ingredients:
250 g unsalted butter, softened
330 g caster sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
450 g self-raising flour
250 ml milk
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and line 2 x 12 hole muffin tins with paper cases.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add half the sifted flour and half the milk. Stir well to combine.
- Add the rest of the sifted flour and milk and stir to combine again – you don’t want to over beat the mixture.
- Spoon about 2 tablespoons of mixture into each case, taking care not to overfill them as the self-raising flour causes them to rise beautifully.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool the cakes in the tin for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks.
Buttercream ingredients:
250 g unsalted butter
500g icing sugar (2 cups)
1 – 2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cream
colouring and flavours of your choice
- Cream the butter until it is very pale in colour and looks light and fluffy.
- Sift the icing sugar and add to the butter one cup at a time, beating on a low speed so you don’t end up covered in the sugar.
- Add the vanilla extract along with any colouring or flavour.
- Add the cream (more or less as required until you have the beautiful fluffy consistency of butter cream icing).
- Decorate the cupcakes using different nozzles, piping bags, lollies and spaghetti (whiskers).
TIP: Depending on the amount of icing you’re wanting to use on each cupcake, it may be a good idea to double this recipe, dividing it into separate bowls so you can add the different colours/flavours.
They take a while to decorate, but everybody absolutely LOVES them.
Enjoy!
I absolutely love them too! Bravo! x
Thank you icecreammagazine. I had a peak at your blog and your photography is amazing!
These were definitely our most popular cupcakes last year, thank you so much! A shame we didn’t have permission to do it this year…Anita
Hi Anita, I was wondering whether I’d hear from you this year, lol! Thanks for the opportunity 🙂
Many thanks for penning this