Princess crown cupcakes

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and a half cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 quarters a cup (185mL) milk

Icing

50g unsalted butter
2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons milk

Decoration

600g white ready-to-roll fondant icing*
pink gel or paste colouring (liquid food colouring not compatible with the fondant icing)*
icing sugar, for dusting
red, purple and pink diamond shaped jubes
red and pink candy hearts
pink or purple coloured sugar

*from cake decorating shops

You will need 12 large cupcake papers (base 52mm x height 30mm) for this recipe.

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Place cupcake papers in a 12-hole muffin tray.

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 well combined. Repeat with remaining flour and milk.

Spoon into cupcake papers (I use an ice cream scoop) 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.

Icing

Cream butter until pale and smooth. Add the milk and half the sifted icing sugar. Beat until well combined. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat until mixture is light and fluffy. The mixture should be a spreadable paste; if it is too dry add some more milk, if too wet add more icing sugar.

Decoration

Remove papers from cupcakes, trim the top of the cupcakes so they are level, turn the cakes upside down on a work surface. Reserve 2 tablespoons of butter cream icing, then use remainder to spread a thin layer on the top and sides of each cupcake.

Chop the white fondant icing into small pieces and knead until starting to soften. Add a small amount of pink colouring using a toothpick. Knead until the colour is even, add more colour if required, knead again. Work with 1/3 of the icing and wrap the rest in plastic wrap until ready to use. Dust the work surface with icing sugar to prevent the icing sticking and roll out to 5mm thick. Cut into three strips 20cm long and 5cm wide. Use the end of a piping nozzle (1 cm diameter) to cut a scalloped edge along one of the long edges. Wrap the strip around the cupcake (tips of crown facing upwards), trim any excess length and use a small dot of water to join. If the tips droop, trim off some height. Knead the trimmings and roll out for the fourth crown. Repeat until you have made all 12 crowns.

Use a small amount of butter cream icing to stick on the jube and candy jewels to the crowns. Spoon the coloured sugar sprinkles into the tops of the crowns. Transfer the crowns to a serving plate or cake board and leave for at least 30 minutes for the icing to harden.

Notes:

Preparation time: 15 minutes, baking time: 15 minutes, decorating time: 1 hour.
These are so pretty and relatively easy to prepare for maximum appreciation!
Vary the colour of the fondant icing and decoration to make King crowns if you have Kings and Princes coming to your Princess party!
Make the undecorated cupcakes in advance and freeze until needed; it is also easier to ice the frozen cupcakes. The crowns can be iced and decorated the day before the party and stored in an airtight container.
I also love making these cupcakes using a red velvet cake mix, see Pirate cake. The red velvet cake mix will make 24 cupcakes (and a few more) -you can freeze half if you don’t want to make 24 crowns or halve the recipe.