Bloody easy cupcakes

This is Missy's butterfly birthday cake. Why butterfly? Simply because we have butterfly decals in her room that she loves and points to the first thing every morning.

I had enormous amounts of fun baking for her birthday. It also helped heaps that my mother-in-law did most of the house cleaning and every other possible work around the house to make the party happen. I simply couldn't have done without her. Mum helping out gave me the time to bake the butterfly cake along with some vanilla cupcakes, red velvet cupcakes and biscuits.

I hadn't considered putting up any recipes here -- not till after submitting the manuscript! -- but for a very dear friend who asked to "recommend a decadent cupcake recipe". I knew just the recipe for her and for you if you like decadence and cupcakes.

The fairy cake recipe I used for Missy's birthday is so tasty and so easy that it made me cry. Not really but it did make my job easier. With swirls of buttercream icing and some sprinkles, they also looked quite pretty. I also used the cupcake recipe to form the 'body' of the butterfly for Missy's birthday cake. You might want to use a whipped-cream icing instead of the buttercream for even more decadence. However, if you want the cupcakes to last longer -- especially if baking in hot weather -- I would recommend the buttercream since it stays for really long (two days without fridge at 20°C or below)

Since I baked the main cake the day before the party, I've used buttercream icing both inside and on top of the cake. The 'smile' is with some gel-based writing icing straight out of a tube and the chocolate spots are pressed in choco-chips. For the wings I baked two chocolate madeira cakes and cut each in half. The three cakes that form the butterfly's abdomen and the two little ones for the tail are all fairy cakes.

And now for the bloody easy, very delicious fairy cake (vanilla cupcake) recipe. I used the recipe from Quick & Easy Kids' Cakes by Sara Lewis (ISBN 978-0-7537-1892-6) that I bought for AUD $ 10 at a book sale. It's been one of the best bargains ever!

FAIRY CAKES

Prep time: 10 minutes, baking time: 12-15 minutes, icing: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

MAKES 12

125 g self-raising/self-rising flour*

125 butter/ margarine

125 g caster sugar

2 eggs

NOTES: *If you don’t have self-raising flour, please use the following substitute: 125 g plain flour (maida) sifted with 1 ½ tsp baking powder and ¼ tsp salt.


METHOD


1. Preheat oven to 180°C (170°C for fan-forced ovens) and place rack in the centre.


2. Line 12-hole muffin/cupcake tray with patti/paper cases. Alternately, I used silicon mini cupcake pans and lined them with paper. This recipe makes 12 regular-sized cupcakes and about 25 mini cupcakes.


3. Put all the ingredients into a bowl and beat together until incorporated. Please do not overbeat else your cupcakes will be hard.


4. Divide the mixture evenly between the patti case and level the surface using the back of a spoon.


5. Bake for 12-15 minutes till toothpick inserted in the centre of a cupcake comes out clean. The cupcakes should spring back when touched. Leave the cupcakes in the tray for 5 minutes then remove from tray leave on wire rack to cool completely.


6. Once completely cooled, frost/ice with your choice of icing.


Happy eating!