Cupcake Minis

So I turned 21 this week which came as a bit of a shock to the system with officially being an adult and all that, but, I wasn't making the transition without one final almost tea party! Besides, what's a party without lots of cake? Along with my Chocolate Tower Cake, I decided to make a few batches of cupcake minis in a selection of different flavours for my party.  I went with a batch of vanilla, a batch of chocolate and a batch of lemon drizzle. The cake and buttercream recipes are both extremely easy to follow and I'd definitely recommend giving them a go. Just so you know, each recipe starts out the exact same and the flavours are added nearer to the end.

Ingredients

FOR ONE BATCH OF TWELVE

225g Butter

225g Caster Sugar

4 large Eggs

225g Self Raising Flour (sieved)

Rind of one lemon OR 2 tbsp Cocoa Powder OR 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract

Method

FOR ONE BATCH OF TWELVE

1) Preheat your oven to 180C/ 360F/ Gas Mark 4

2) Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until nice and fluffy

3) While the butter and sugar are mixing, line your small cupcake tray with mini cupcake cases

4) Add the eggs to the mixture, one at a time, and continue to beat

5) When combined, add the sieved flour, one spoon at a time, and mix until light and fluffy

6) Add in the flavouring of your choice (the cocoa powder, lemon rind or vanilla extract) and mix again

7) Spoon roughly a tsp of the mixture into each muffin case and bake in the oven for 10 -15 mins (check the cupcakes after 10 mins and leave in if not yet golden brown in colour) 

8) Leave the cupcakes to cool fully on a wire wrack before icing - while you're waiting you can get cracking on the buttercream...

Ingredients 

FOR THE BUTTER CREAM

50g Butter (softened)

100g Icing Sugar

I tsp Lemon Juice OR 1 tsp Vanilla Extract OR 50g Melted Chocolate and 1 tbsp Cocoa Powder

2 tbsp Boiling Water

Method

FOR THE BUTTER CREAM

1) Cream the butter and icing sugar together in your electric mixer until light and fluffy (the lighter the better)

2) Add in either the lemon juice OR the vanilla extract OR the cocoa powder (if you are making the chocolate cupcake minis, add the cocoa powder first and when combined add in the melted chocolate, one spoon at a time)

3) Continue to beat and add the boiling water, again, one tbsp at a time

4) Beat for a further few minutes and you're ready to decorate

 You can then decorate the cupcakes however you wish. I piped the icing using different techniques on each of the different styles and used "Princess sprinkles" which I bought in Lidl.