Mini Cupcakes

It's been a very hectic few weeks, firstly we are renovating our house, we moved our bedroom furniture out & were sleeping in the living room. Secondly during the renovations, we planned my nephews 6th birthday party. My husband had to quickly finish the area he was renovating for the party, & so we ( myself, husband & sister in law) worked frantically to get it all cleaned up.

My nephew & sister in law moved back to Australia in November after living in the UK for the past 5 1/2 years, it's been a difficult time for my nephew who missed England & all his friends & so we thought a party would help,  he wanted a Ben 10 theme,colors where green & black, as many boys his age like Ben 10.

The party went well, more kids showed up than we'd thought would, & so the house was full of screaming kids, jumping & climbing everything.
I made these mini cup cakes as I know kids will generally eat the icing & take a bite of the cake & leave the rest.
I had a butter cream recipe, but after seeing Masterchef ( a cooking programme) I decided to use the recipe they had shown on the show, as it looked great.

I made chicken breast nuggets, home made sausage rolls, home made pizza, hot dogs made with mini beef sausages, jelly with snakes, chocolate mousse, creme caramel, mini cupcakes & few other dishes.


It's been a weird year, firstly I contracted glandular fever 11 months ago, a few days after my 40th birthday, a time that left me unable to work or leave the house for months, one of the reasons I decided to start this blog.
During this time my sister in law & nephew arrived & my life has changed, for the better.
I have a little boy that I treat as my own & he is such a joy to have around, he loves food & eats everything I cook. I love cooking for him & teaching him about food.
I was so happy that I'm 70 percent recovered & was able to give him the party he wanted & deserved.

 The party had a green & black theme,  as half the children were girls, I decided to make pink one's for them.

Cute little cupcakes

Mini Cupcakes

• 115g butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups caster sugar
• 5 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 2 cups self raising flour
• 1 cup milk

Vanilla Butter cream

• 300g caster sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 2 tea vanilla essence
• 500g unsalted butter, softened

1. In an electric mixer or a hand held mixer, cream the butter & sugar together, till fluffy & a pale creamy colour, this may take 5 minutes.

2. Add the eggs to the butter 1 at a time, making sure each egg is incorporated to the mix before you add each one.

3. Once all the eggs are incorporated add the vanilla essence & the flour, mixing gently so that the flour does not fly everywhere.


4. Then add the milk mixing till the milk is all mixed in.


5. Line small patty tins with mini cupcakes & pour a small amount into the liners.
Fill only 1/2 the liners with the mix, & bake at 180 degrees for 12- 15 minutes or until they are cooked all the way through.

For the butter cream

1. Moisten the sugar with the water in a saucepan, place on the stove, brushing down the edges with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystallisation.

2. Bring the syrup to soft ball stage (121 degrees). Then cool slightly.

3. Whisk the egg yolk in a mixer  until light & fluffy on high speed.

4. Once the sugar cools add it to the yolks in a slow thin stream, whisking continuously until all has been added. Keep whisking on low speed until the mixture cools & then add gradually add the butter a piece at a time till it's all incorporated.

5. Add the vanilla essence

Assembling the cupcakes

1. Divide the butter cream into separate bowls, how many will depend on how many colors you want. Add the food colour to your desired colour.   


2. Fill a piping bag with a star nozzle.


3 Pipe rosette shapes onto cooled cupcakes







     Kids picking up lollies from the pinata

My gorgeous nephew