Festive Cupcakes

  Festive Cupcakes

  Makes 24
  These favourites of children’s parties are now appreciated for all occasions. So why not introduce them at Christmas? I like to decorate them with tiny holly sprigs found in cake decorating shops and some supermarkets.
  125 g butter
  ¾ cup caster sugar
  2 eggs
  1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  ¼ cup dark choc bits
  2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
  ⅔ cup milk
  glacé icing

  1½ cups icing sugar
  2–3 tablespoons boiling water
  20 g butter
 
  Preheat the oven to 190°C. Line 2 × 12-hole deep patty pans with paper cases. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla essence and choc bits.
  Lightly fold the flour and milk into the butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Spoon into the patty cases to three-quarters full. Bake for 12–15 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
  To make the glacé icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the boiling water and butter. Stir until smooth and shiny. Spread the top of each cake with the icing and decorate with tiny holly sprigs moulded from a firm icing, or cut holly with leaves from red and green glacé cherries.