Butterflies, Ladybird and Dragonfly Cupcakes/Fairycakes

Submitted by froglet

"My daughter's reception(age 5) classes are named after these insects, so when they had a bake sale for charity, I made these(with her help) and they went down a storm! And we had a lot of fun icing them. Use what chocolate you can get for the details. I used ready-to-use icing writing tube for speed, but you could make your own and pipe it on."

 

• Ready In: 50mins
• Ingredients: 17
• Yields: 24 fairy cakes
• Serves: 24

ingredients

• For the cupcakes

• 225 g self-raising flour
• 175 g caster sugar
• 175 g butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons milk

• To Ice

• 250 g butter, softened
• 500 g icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon hot water
• 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
• food coloring, 3 colours (I used red, yellow and blue liquid)
• 1 (40 g) package white writing icing
• 1 (40 g) package black writing icing
• 1 (40 g) package any colour writing icing (butterfly wings)
• 1⁄4 cup chocolate chips
• 20 chocolate sticks (I used matchmakers)
• 1⁄2 cup chocolate-covered raisins
• 1⁄4 cup hundreds and thousands

directions

1. FOR THE CUPCAKES:

2. Preheat oven to 150 deg celcius.
3. Sieve flour then add the rest of the ingredients.
4. Bind the mixture on slow speed, then faster for 1 minute(until it looks creamy).
5. Spoon into cupcake papers in fairycake sized trays.
6. Bake for about 15 minutes.

7. FOR THE ICING:

8. Mix the ingredients - except the colouring - in a bowl on low speed, then increase speed until light and fluffy.
9. Divide mix approximately into 3 bowls.
10. Add a few drops of colouring to each bowl, one bowl for each colour, and mix each bowl of icing well with a spoon.

11. FOR THE BUTTERFLIES:

12. Ice each fairycake with the yellow icing.
13. Break a chocolate stick into the right length for it's body and place.
14. Pipe the outline of the wings.
15. Fill wings with hundreds and thousands.
16. Add a chocolate-covered raisin for each head.
17. Pipe on white eyes with black pupils.

18. FOR THE LADYBIRDS:

19. Ice each fairycake with the red icing.
20. Place a chocolate-covered raisin for each head.
21. Pipe on white eyes with black pupils.
22. Pipe wing shape with black icing.
23. Place chocolate chips for the spots.

24. FOR THE DRAGONFLIES:

25. Ice each cake with the blue icing.
26. Place a long piece of chocolate stick for the body.
27. Place a chocolate-covered raisin for the head.
28. Pipe on white eyes with black pupils.
29. Pipe on white wings.