Easter cupcakes!

Yet another hit from the Hummingbird Bakery cook book! Scott suggested contacting the owner and asking to open a franchise in Liverpool haha. All of the recipes have been hits though. If I could live with just one cookbook for the rest of my life, it would be this one. The icing is amazing too, even better than Magnolia's! When you whisk it all together is goes perfectly white and it is so so fluffy. There isn't much butter in it, so it is just mostly sugar, yet is so smooth and delicious. Easter wouldn't be easter anymore without cupcakes decorated with mini eggs!

Recipe

120g plain flour
140g caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
a pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter, room temperature
120ml milk (recipe says whole, but I used semi)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (recipe says 1/4, but I wanted more!)

1. Preheat oven to 170c/325f/gas 3.

2. Put flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl and mix together with an electric whisk, until it achieves a sandy consistency.

3. Pour in half of the milk and beat until combined.

4. In a seperate bowl, whisk the egg, remaining milk and vanilla extract together, then add to the flour mixture until just incorporated (Do not overmix! Overmixing will give you a stodgy cake)

5. Spoon into cupcake cases 2/3 full and bake for 20/25 minutes, until just turning lightly golden ontop. Leave to cool completely before icing.

Icing

250g icing sugar, sifted
80g unsalted butter, room temp.
25ml milk
few drops of vanilla extract

Soften the butter, then slowly add the icing sugar, beating together with an electric whisk. Keep beating until it all comes together. Pour the vanilla and milk together in a seperate bowl, then add to the icing mixture, beating on high. Beat for at least 5 minutes, until mixture is pale, light and fluffy. The longer you mix, the fluffier it goes!

I then seperated the icing into 3 seperate bowls and mixed with a few drops of food colouring. I grated some white chocolate to sprinkle over the eggs to look nestlike and sat 2 mini eggs safely in the middle of the nests!

I hope you all had a lovely Easter!