Garden Cup cakes

Beautiful  and colourful vanilla garden cupcakes that will be perfect for any summer party

Ingredients:

240 g / 8 oz plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
240 g / 8 oz sugar
240 g / 8 oz butter
4 eggs (or 4 tablespoons egg replacer)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Butter cream:

120 g / 4 oz unsalted butter(room temperature)
360 g / 12 oz icing sugar
1 large tablespoon trex (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Milk(optional)
Decoration:
2-3 drops green food colouring
Ready to roll fondant icing in various colours

Method:

Cakes:

1. Preheat the oven to  200 degrees C/400 degrees F  for 10 minutes
2. Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
3. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl to mix together the white and the yolk.
4. Sieve the flour and baking powder.
5. Add alternate spoonfuls of flour and eggs to the butter and sugar until all the flour and eggs are mixed into the butter and sugar.Add the vanilla and fold gently.Do not over mix the batter.
6. Half fill cupcake cases with the batter and bake the cupcakes in the oven for 15-18 minutes until golden brown. (Check if cakes are baked by inserting a skewer in the center of the cake if it comes out clean cakes are ready.)
7. Remove from oven and transfer them to wire rack to cool completely.

Butter cream:

8. Add the butter, trex and vanilla into a mixing bowl and whisk the butter until soft and creamy. Add small amounts of icing sugar to the butter and continuously whisk until all the icing sugar is mixed into the butter.
9. If the butter cream appears too thick you can add 1-2 tablespoons of milk and whisk again to thin it down.The consistency should be fairly stiff.
10.To the prepared butter cream add a few drops of green food colouring to tint it green.Add a grass nozzle (wilton 234) to the piping bag and fill it with green butter cream and keep aside.

11. Roll out the coloured fondant and using flower cutters cut out assorted flower shapes in different sizes.
12. Pipe the top of the cup cakes with the green butter cream to replicate grass.You can watch this video here on how pipe grass.
13.Add the cut out flowers on top of the icing.
Serve  immediately.

NB-The addition of trex will give the butter cream a nice gloss and it will stabilize it.

Entering these cute little garden cupcakes to the rangecookers.co.uk creative cupcake competition. If you have baked a cupcake why not try entering this competition , the prize is a range cooker.