MOTHERS DAY VANILLA CUPCAKES 

if making pink hearts, make these first. (recipe below)

200 gm butter softened
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 3/4 cups self raising flour

preheat oven to 180 c (350 F). fill 2 12 hole muffin tins with patty pans.

cream butter, sugar and vanilla.

add eggs 1 at a time

fold in flour and sour cream in 2 batches till well combined.
evenly fill the patty pans.

cook for approx. 15 minutes till a skewer comes out clean. should be just nicely brown.

cool in tins for 5 minutes then put on cooling rack.

ice with butter icing when cool and decorate with hearts. ( i also poked strawberry cream chocolates into the cakes before i iced them)

BUTTER ICING

250 gm butter softened
3 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons milk.beat butter in electric mixer till pale and fluffy.

add 1/2 the icing sugar and beat on low till combined. 

add milk and rest of icing sugar and beat till combined.

for strawberry icing add strawberry essence to taste and a few drops pink colouring.

for chocolate icing add 2 tablespoons sifted cocoa to icing sugar.

FOR PINK HEART DECORATIONS

1 egg white
2 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
pink food colouring

beat egg white till foamy.
add icing sugar.
add lemon juice.
add food coloring.
beat till thick and shiny.

either trace hearts onto baking paper or draw freestyle.

if tracing, turn paper over.


using a piping bag with a 3mm plain nozzle, pipe icing following the trace lines or do the freestyle piping hearts.

let set for quite a few hours till hard. be careful moving them onto cakes . they are fragile.