Christmas cupcakes with butter frosting

Ingredients:

125g butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 cups self raising flour
1 cup (250mL) milk
2 cups icing sugar
60g butter, softened

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C and place paper cases in trays.

Using a stand mixer or hand-held electric beater, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time until each is mixed in well. Add vanilla essence. Stop mixer and sift half the flour into the bowl and pour in half the milk, start mixer and beat until combined.

Repeat with remaining flour and milk.

Fill each paper case until two-thirds full and bake for 10-15 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.For icing, cream butter and icing sugar until it is a thick spreadable consistency.

Add a little water if it is too thick. When cupcakes are cool, spread with a generous amount of icing and decorate with sprinkles or other fancy topping.

Notes:

This recipe makes 48 cupcakes or 24 muffin size cupcakes. The recipe also can be easily halved.
In the unlikely event you have leftovers, the cupcakes freeze and defrost well. I freeze 6-12 in a single layer in medium-sized freezer bags.
Baking sections of supermarkets have a range of toppings for cupcakes including letters, cachous (those shiny little balls), icing flowers and lots of different coloured sprinkles and 100s and 1000s.
This recipe was created by Melissa Hughes for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder