Cactus Cupcakes

I decided to make cupcakes for the cute chocolate cactus decorations I recently made.

If you're looking for a fuss free cupcake recipe this is a great recipe as you place all ingredients into a bowl and mix.

These Cactus Cupcakes are so fun to make and they look so pretty too.  They are made of a moist vanilla cake and iced with a deliciously sweet American buttercream.  Finally they are topped with a cute chocolate cactus and sprinkles.

Happy Baking xo

Cactus Cupcakes

Ingredients

· 125 grams butter, softened
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· ⅔ cup caster sugar
· 3 eggs
· 1½ cups self-raising flour
· ¼ cup milk

Buttercream icing

· 115 grams butter, room temperature
· 3 cups icing sugar
· 3-5 tablespoons milk
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Decorations

· Sprinkles (assorted sprinkles - Dollar Sweets)
· Chocolate cactus toppers (refer to chocolate cactus decoration recipe)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Spray with oil or place cupcake patty cases into a 12-hole cupcake tin.

3. Place all ingredients into a bowl and using an electric mixer combine all ingredients on slow speed until ingredients are just combined. Increase speed to medium and beat for 3 minutes or until mixture is smooth and has changed to a pale colour.

4. Divide the mixture into four bowls and add a few drops of different food colouring to each.

5. Spoon small amounts of each coloured mixture into the prepared tin, filling the cups ¾ full.

6. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow the cupcakes to cool before icing them.

Buttercream icing

7. Place butter into a large bowl. Beat on low speed until butter is fluffy. Add 1 cup of icing sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk and vanilla extract. Beat until combined and add the remaining 2 cups of icing sugar.

8. Increase speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy (this will take a few minutes). Add more milk if the buttercream seems too stiff.

9. Use a spatula to ice the top of the cupcakes and add sprinkles to the edge of them. Place a chocolate cactus topper in the middle of the cupcake. Pipe some small flowers onto the chocolate cactus.

Tips

· Allow cupcakes to cool completely before icing and decorating.
· Unfilled and un-iced cupcakes can be frozen for up to a month.

Did you bake this recipe?

Remember to tag @youcanbakeittoo on Instagram & hashtag #youcanbakeittoo 

so I can see your wonderful bakes.