Ingredients
200g unsalted butter
softened
2 cups caster sugar
1 tbsp vanilla essence
4 eggs
3 cups plain flour
2 baking powder
1 cup sultanas
optional
1 cup milk
2 cups icing sugar
for icing
2 tbsp water
for icing
Yellow food colouring
for icing
Black and red writing gel
for decorations
Equipment
- 1 Two 12-hole muffin trays
- 1 Cupcake papers
- 1 Electric mixer
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Sifter
- 1 Icecream scoop
- 1 Wire racks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C. Place cupcake papers in two 12-hole muffin trays.
- In an electric mixer, beat butter for 2-3 minutes until pale in colour and creamy.
- Add sugar one third at a time, beating well between each addition.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about a minute between each addition.
- Add the vanilla essence and beat until combined.
- Sift flour and baking powder and add half to butter mixture with half the milk, beat until just combined. Repeat with remaining flour and milk.
- Stir in sultanas.
- Spoon into cupcake papers (an icecream scoop is perfect for this) and bake for about 15 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
- Transfer to wire racks and allow to cool completely.
- To make the icing, sift icing sugar into a bowl, add enough water to make a spreadable paste. Add a few drops of yellow food colouring to get the right sunny colour.
- To decorate, spread the top of each cupcake with icing, using enough to completely cover the cake. Leave for 15 minutes to set.
- Use the writing gels to make your favourite happy faces.
Notes
Tip
I like to use a plain icing for these cupcakes because it gives a nice flat, shiny finish. And lighter icing suits the spring weather!
Tip
Writing gels are from supermarkets. Mastering the writing gels is a bit tricky, so try a few practice ones on a piece of paper towel. But then again, they aren’t for display at an art exhibition – have fun with your smiley faces.
Variation
Adding the sultanas makes the cakes more moist – a favourite trick of my mum’s (and sneaks a bit more fruit into the day).
