National Cup Cake Week

A Cupcake By An Other Name

by Let Them Eat Cake

Ingredients:

For the sponge:

• 125g caster sugar
• 125g Stork margarine
• 2 Eggs
• 125g self-raising flour
• 5ml Vanilla essence
• Milk

1. Cream the margarine and sugar.
2. Add vanilla
3. Add the eggs and whip.
4. Sieve the flour and fold into the mixture
5. Add about 10ml of milk to give the mixture a dropping consistency
6. Portion out into 12 cupcake cases in a muffin tin.
7. Bake at 200 deg C for approx 10 mins. Leave to cool.

For the buttercream:

• 30g Meri whites dissolved in 80ml water OR 2 egg whites
• 250g butter (at room temp)
• 125g caster sugar
• ½ tsp Rose water

Method:

1. Place the egg whites in a stand alone mixer's bowl and place as a double boiler over a pan of simmering water, add the sugar and whisk until smooth and silky. Remove from the double boiler and place on the mixer, whisk for several minutes until the mixture and bowl are cool. Add the butter gradually in chunks. Keep whisking and add the rose water.
2. Place a portion of the buttercream in a piping bag with a large petal nozzle ( Wilton 127). Mix in a small amount of pink colour gel ( marble effect do not mix to an even colour) Pipe petals onto the cupcake sponge.
3. Arrange the cakes in a bouquet using cocktail sticks or special cupcake holding wires, placed in a polystyrene structure, such as a sphere.
4. Add sugar crafted leaves made with petal paste coloured green and left to dry on wires. Insert the wires in to the polystyrene ball. Add tissues paper for effect.   www.letthem-eatcake.com