Vanilla Cupcakes with Blue Butter Icing (With photos!)

Yesterday afternoon, the Mister decided he fancied some cupcakes. It's not something I ever make, although I've drooled over many pictures online. We looked up a recipe and went on our merry way to Tesco for ingredients.


I'll share the recipe with photos of the finished product below. Before that, I have a short, funny story to tell about our 1st attempt at these cupcakes...



Never again will I let my Better Half read out a recipe to me!! We followed the recipe to the dot. We get to the part where we add Baking Powder and he tells me I need to add one tablespoon. I add this and follow the rest of the recipe. After 5 minutes in the oven the cupcakes had TRIPLED in size!! The recipe actually called for 1tsp, which he interpreted as 1 tablespoon. Bless!

So, to make 6 large or 12 small cupcakes you'll need:

• 120g plain flour
• 140g caster sugar
• 1 and a 1⁄2 tsp (teaspoon!) baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 40g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 120ml whole milk
• 1 egg
• 1⁄4 tsp vanilla extract

• 250g icing sugar, sifted
• 80g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 25ml whole milk
• a couple of drops of vanilla extract

METHOD

• Preheat your oven to 170°c and line a cupcake tray with paper cases
• Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a large mixing bowl and 'rub' with your fingers until it becomes a sand like consistency, like this:

• Pour half of the milk into the mixture and stir until the milk is mixed in.
• Combine the rest of the milk, vanilla extract and 1 egg together and add this to the mixture too. You'll need to mix for a while until you get a smooth consistency, like this:

• Divide the mixture between the paper cases until around two-thirds full and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until light golden. When they are ready, the sponge will 'bounce back' when touched

Before baking

Ready!!

Next, leave the cupcakes to cool, while to prepare the Butter Icing!

• Beat the icing sugar and butter together until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.
• Combine the milk and vanilla extract in a separate bowl, then add to the butter mixture a couple of tablespoons at a time. (Also add food dye at this point, if you want coloured icing like we had!)
• Once all the milk has been mixed in, mix again!
• Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter it becomes.
• Spoon onto your cupcakes, or use a piping bag if you have one

TIP: If you don't have an icing bag, you can make your own!! Spoon your mixture into a freezer bag, cut a hole in one corner and pipe onto your cupcakes!

Photo's of our finished cupcakes...