Baby Shower Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, gas mark 4) and line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.

Place the butter and caster sugar in a bowl and cream together until pale and fluffy, then add the eggs one by one beating well in between each addition, then add the vanilla extract.

Finally carefully fold in the flour until evenly mixed.

Spoon the batter into the paper cases. Then place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean and the cupcakes are golden brown and springy to the touch.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a cooling wire.

To decorate the cakes, lightly dust your work surface with icing sugar and roll out the white icing until it is about 5mm thick. Using a cutter that is the same size as the top of the cupcake, cut out discs of the icing.

Lightly brush the top of each cake with the warmed jam, then carefully place the white icing disc on the top.

To make the hats and faces, take a ball of the white sugar paste icing and add a small amount of the pink food colour, kneading it into the icing until the colour is evenly distributed through the icing.  Repeat this with the blue food colour.

 

Roll out onto a surface that has been lightly dusted with icing sugar, cut a disc from each colour then cut this in half. Place one half onto the cake for the hat.

Place one half onto the cake for the hat. For the brim cut a strip of icing and place this on the bottom edge of the hat, using a small amount of water to attach. You can make a bobble for the hat using a small ball of icing or attach a flower to the hat, cut using a small flower plunger cutter. To finish the face you can add a nose using a small ball of icing and 2 eyes made using small balls of black sugar paste icing.

Use baby bottle, pram or bib cutters if you have them to decorate other cupcakes.