Duncan's Birthday Cupcakes

This was a new recipe and a new idea ... I got the chocolate cupcake recipe from Love Food's 'Mmmmm.... Chocolate' recipe book - the original recipe is for 'Chocolate Butterfly Cupcakes':

*Makes 12 cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes:

- 125 grams soft margarine
- 125 grams caster sugar
- 150 grams of self-raising flour, sifted
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 25 grams of plain chocolate, melted

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees
2. Spray your cupcake pan with non-stick cooking spray and line it with 12 cupcake cases
3. Melt the 25 grams of chocolate on 'Medium' in the microwave - watch it, as I burnt mine a few times ...
4. Place the margarine, caster sugar, flour eggs and cocoa powder into a large bowl and beat until the mixture is just smooth.
(I added a cap full of milk as the mixture tends to be quite thick and stodgy)
5. Fill the cupcake cases with the mixture (3/4's of the way) and place the pan in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes

(If you want to check if the cupcakes are ready, take a cake tester or a toothpick and stick it in the middle of a cupcake, If it comes out 'clean', then they are ready!)

Condensed milk icing:

- 125 grams unsalted butter
- 200 grams of icing sugar
- 1 tbsp of milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla essence
- 2-3 tbsp. of condense milk - depending on how sweet you want it!

1. Beat the butter in the large bowl until it's smooth and fluffy
2. Add the icing sugar, milk, vanilla essence and condense milk and continue to beat.

(I added Whispers as well as drizzled chocolate for the toppings)

Jacqui's Baby Shower Cupcakes

These were fun to make ... I used the same recipe as the Disney Princess recipe (which never fails) ...

For the pink baby spoons, I got hold of a spoon chocolate mould and melted white chocolate with pink colouring - I let them set in the freezer for 10 minutes and voila ... done! I added the bows onto them and then iced the vanilla cupcakes with chocolate icing so that the spoons would stand out ...

For the baby rattles, I dipped Fizz Pops into white chocolate with purple food colouring and sprinkled edible glitter on them. I let them set over night on wax paper. They did have cracks in the chocolate, but they were hardly noticeable. I iced the cakes in the different patterns then took a kebab stick and made holes through the cupcake wrapper for the Fizz Pops - I stuck them in and tied a bow on each one ... as easy as that!

Jamie's 28th Disney Birthday Cupcakes

These were my first set of cupcakes where I really enjoyed making them! They are so simple:

I googled and printed all of the Disney characters, cut them out and attached them to sosati sticks (which I cut in half) ...

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe - never fails!

(Makes 12 cupcakes)

1 cup + 2 tbsp flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.  Line the muffin tin with the colourful cupcake liners.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together and leave aside.

Beat butter with sugar until it is smooth then add eggs one at a time.  Mix the vanilla.  Add flour and milk alternating until the batter looks smooth.

Fill 1/4 cup of batter into the liners with a tbsp or ice cream scoop.  Bake for 20 to 24 minutes until the top is firm and toothpick inserted comes out clean.

(http://www.createwithmom.com/2012/04/cupcakes-for-birthday.html)

For the Icing, I used the following recipe with different food colourings - I used a piping bag with a nozzle:

• 125g/4½oz unsalted butter, softened
• 200g/7oz icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation method

1. Put the butter into a large bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy.
2. Sift in the icing sugar, then work it into the butter, starting slowly at first, then beating more vigorously once all the sugar is combined.
3. Add the milk and the vanilla, then beat until creamy and smooth.
4. If the mixture is too stiff, add a little more milk.

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/how_to_make_icing_04669)