VANILLA ELVISH CUPCAKES

 

I made these with my mum for children in need day. We turned it into a raffle as well by putting a chocolate piece hidden in the middle of one of the cakes (after baking and cooling, but before the icing). The person that got this cake won a chocolate bar.

 

Ingredients for cake mixture

• 110g/4oz butter softened at room temperature
• 110g/4oz caster sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 110g/4oz self-raising flour
• 1-2 tbsp milk

 

For the butter cream icing

 

• 140g/5oz butter, softened
• 280g/10oz icing sugar
• 1-2 tbsp milk
• a few drops food colouring

makes 12

 

Preparation method

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line 12-muffin paper cases.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale.

Beat in the eggs a little at a time and stir in the vanilla extract.

 

Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon, adding a little milk until the mixture is of a dropping consistency. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until they are half full.

Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into one of the cakes comes out clean. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack

THE ICING
For the butter cream icing, beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
Then add the remaining icing sugar with one tablespoon of the milk, adding more milk if necessary, until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Add the food colouring and mix until well combined. we divided the butter cream in 4 portions and added a different colour to each for a varied colourful mixture of cakes.
Spoon the icing into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe the icing using a spiralling motion onto the cup cakes in a large swirl.

Little Elf's Yummy Brownies

This is quite an easy recipe so I can pretty much do it all on my own, however it is very important to be very careful when cooking because most accidents happen in the kitchen.

xxx

Magical

ingredients•

250g unsalted butter
• 200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken up
• 80g cocoa powder, sifted
• 65g plain flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 360g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Line a 25cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper.

In a large bowl over some simmering water, melt the butter and the chocolate and mix until smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and sugar.

Add this powder mixture to the chocolate mixture. Stir together well.

Beat the eggs separately and mix in until you have a silky consistency.

Pour your brownie mix into the baking tray, and place in the oven for around 25 minutes.

You don’t want to overcook them so, unlike cakes, you don’t want a skewer to come out all clean.

The brownies should be slightly springy on the outside but still gooey in the middle. Allow to cool in the tray, then carefully transfer to a large chopping board or clean kitchen towel and cut into chunky squares. You can also serve them with crème fraiche for a more sophisticated desert.

BEFORE YOU TRY ANY RECIPE, WATCH THIS VIDEO!