More Birthday Cupcakes!

With less than 2 weeks to go until my sister's 21st (exciting!!!!), I've been having a go at some more practice cupcakes for her party (see here for the chocolate cupcakes I tried a while back).

As well as the scrummy chocolate ones (I've bought some edible glitter to decorate those next time, so some glittery and some with the stars), my sister wanted some cupcakes with her favourite childhood sweets on top. After some deliberation, she decided on flying saucers, chocolate mice and jelly beans on top of standard vanilla cakes with buttercream.

To make them, I used the basic cupcake recipe here before swirling with buttercream and sweets. And here are the results...



Not the neatest icing in the world (I was in a hurry and Florence was pestering me for one to eat) but you get the idea :)

Having made them, we're contemplating replacing the white mice (look a bit anaemic!) and possibly choosing another type of sweet to add variety. She doesn't know what to choose, anybody got any suggestions?

Chocolate cupcakes!

It's been much longer than I intended since my last post, but I've been busy busy busy with all sorts of things this week! I was invited to 3 interviews, but it turns out I got the job on the first one, yay! I don't start officially until semptember, but when I do there'll be a lovely class of 30 with my initial in their class name (I'm hoping it'll be 3p or 4p, but could be year 5 or 6, scary thought) beaming at me and waiting eagerly for their first lessons. I wish.

Anyway, what with all that baking has taken a bit of a back seat, but with my sister's 21st party less than 3 weeks away now, and me baker in chief for the event, I thought it was about time to get cracking on some practice attempts. What a good excuse to fill the house with cake!

This weekend it was the turn of some chocolate cupcakes. I used the basic cupcake recipe here, replacing about a tablespoon of flour for cocoa powder. When the cupcakes were cool I iced them with buttercream made from butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder (I normally do this by eye, adding more sugar until the consistency seems right rather than measuring out ingredients) and topped with some white chocolate stars.

Definitely need to work on my icing skills I think...

Oh, and whilst you're here, any other suggestions for these?