Pretty Little Cupcakes

So, this is my first post and what better way to start than with the very fashionable and cheerful CUPCAKE! Cupcakes seem to be the baked good that is on everybody's lips at the moment and rightly so. They are the perfect size (which allows you to feel only a little bit naughty when devouring one), they can be decorated in the most beautiful ways and can be literally any flavour you desire... chocolate, vanilla, rose, pimms, peanut butter, coffee, lemon, vodka, coconut and so the lists goes on! 

In the past month I have tried a number of cupcake recipes and Marian Keyes's 'Consistently Reliable Cupcakes' from her new book Saved by Cake have proved a winner every time. It is apt that my first culinary endeavour on this blog comes from Marian. Suffering from depression, Marian found baking to be her saviour. Although she explains in her book that baking has not 'cured' her, she writes that it gets her through. I guess it is the same for me. Although baking a cake will not magically make the pain of loosing my Mum disappear, it will take my mind of it for a few hours. Not only that, I get something delicious as a result!

Anyway...enough rambling! Here is the recipe:

Consistently Reliable Cupcakes

 Makes 12 (or 8 Muffin-size cupcakes)

125g butter, at room temperature

125g caster sugar

2 eggs

1 vanilla pod or a teaspoon of vanilla extract

125g self raising flour

Buttercream Icing

225g butter, at room temperature

300g icing sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

food colouring (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 160°C / 325°F / gas 3 if you'd like flat top cakes or 180°C / 350°F / gas 4 if you'd like them roundy. Line a 12 hole cupcake tray with paper cases.

2. Cream your butter in a bowl, then add the sugar until your mixture goes pale and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well between each addition. If the mixture looks curdled, just sieve in a little of the flour and beat until the problem goes away! 

3. Add the scraped out seeds of the vanilla pod or the vanilla extract to the mix and then sieve in the flour. Gently fold this into the mix, using as few turns of the spatula as possible. Then fill the paper cases with the mixture until approximately two-thirds full.

4. Bake in the oven for 22 minutes if you want flat tops or for 18-20 minutes if you'd prefer dome shaped. Cool on a wire rack. 

5. To make the icing, cut the butter into chunks into a bowl and slowly sieve in the icing sugar. Beat the two together until smooth and creamy (start of slow, otherwise you will disappear in a poof of icing sugar). Add the vanilla extract and food colouring, if you are using, and beat again. 

6. Use a palette knife to smooth the icing over the tops of the cupcakes or use a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle and pipe fat swirls. Then decorate however you wish! I used red heart and pink shimmer decorations from Sainsbury's.

I am no piping expert so I apologise if they look a little dodgy but I gave it a go and hopefully (with a lot of practice) I will improve!