Want to impress your other half with some amazingggg tasting cupcakes? This is the perfect recipe; it's easy, look good and taste even better!
What you'll need:
For the cakes:
A baking tray lined with 12 cupcake cases
100g Butter (at room temperature)
100g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
100g Self Raising Flour
1 Tbsp Milk
For the Buttercream:
150g Un-Salted Butter (at room temperature)
300g Sieved Icing Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Red or Pink Food Colouring
1 tbsp milk
A piping bag and round tip nozzle
For Decorating:
White Fondant Icing
A Small Heart-shaped cutter
Letter Icing Stamps
Now you've got everything you need let's get started!
Pre-heat your oven to 190 degrees
Firstly, either using a hand held mixer or an electric stand mixer, cream together the sugar and butter until it is light and fluffy:
Then add the eggs, milk and the vanilla extract and whisk again:
Until it looks like this:
Then add in the flour and fold it in using a large spoon:
Divide evenly between the cupcake cases
bake in the oven for 15-20minutes (when they are done if you gently press the top of one it will bounce back up)
While They're cooling, we can start to make the Buttercream
An electric Mixer is best for this as by hand will take a lot longer and a lot of arm strength!
Place the butter in the mixer and mix for 5 minutes until it is light in colour and really soft:
Then add a small amount of the icing sugar and mix again for a few minutes:
Keep adding small amounts at a time and mixing in-between, and add the vanilla extract, milk and colouring with the last bit of icing sugar.
Mix for a further 2 minutes making sure to stop to scrape down the sides every now and again so that it all gets mixed up together:
Put your round tip nozzle into your piping bag and the spoon in your buttercream, pushing it down so it is right at the tip and then twist the top to stop it coming out.
Keep you piping bag vertically upright, and starting at the outside of the cupcake squeeze the buttercream on going round and then into the centre then do a final squeeze, release the pressure then pull away from the cupcake. This will create a nice round swirl on top of you cake.
Then take your fondant icing and place of a surface that is dusted with flour, dust your rolling pin aswell and roll out the icing to the thickness of a pound coin.
Using your letter stamps, stamp 12 XOs onto your fondant icing
Take your heart shaped cutter and cut around each XO
Then place these on top of each cupcake and that's it, your cupcakes are ready to share with your loved one this Valentines Day!
