I love creating themed bakes for special occasions. Valentine’s Day is exciting, as it is the first big holiday of a new year, bringing with it varying shades of pink and red, chocolates, flowers, and – more importantly – an extra excuse to spoil your loved ones. Mr Stanton and I never go all out when it comes to Valentine’s Day. In fact, we are more likely to be found surrounded by pens and paper making a card or getting the glue out to create a more sentimental gift. These cupcakes are simple to make and not too naughty to eat.
You will need
55g butter/margarine
55g dark muscovado sugar
1 large egg, beaten
55g self raising flour
1/2tsp baking powder
1tsp black treacle
25g cocoa powder
1tsp milk
100g butter/margarine
150g icing sugar
one tube of freeze-dried raspberry pieces
miniature cupcake cases
fondant
Wilton’s gel colours
cutters/rolling pin/etc
Method
Preheat the oven to 170C and line a miniature cupcake tin with twelve cases. Cream together the butter and sugar, then beat in the egg. Fold in the flour and baking powder, then add the treacle, cocoa powder and milk. When the ingredients are well combined, spoon into the cases and bake for 20mins, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
For the buttercream, whisk together the larger amount of butter with the icing sugar and freeze-dried raspberry pieces, and add some pink gel colour to give a Valentine’s feel. Once the cupcakes are cooked and cooled, spread the buttercream liberally on top, and top with a Valentine’s sugarpaste topper (see below).
To make the red rose topper, cut out a circle of white sugarpaste and put to one side. Colour some sugarpaste red and roll it out to 2mm thick. Using a rounded flower blossom cutter, cut out a flower shape, the roll a small piece of red sugarpaste into a ball (about 2mm in diameter) and place it in the centre of the flower. Fold the petals of the flower up into the centre so that they overlap, formed a rose-head shape. For the leaves, use a daisy cutter to cut a flower out of green sugarpaste, then cut off the petals and use them as leaves. Arrange the leaves and roses on top of the white sugarpaste circle, and place onto a cupcake.
To make a love letter topper, cut out a circle of pale pink sugarpaste and leave to one side. Roll white sugarpaste to a thickness of 2mm, and using a sharp knife cut out a ‘house’ shape (a rectangle with a triangle on top). Fold the triangular ‘roof’ part over the rectangle to form an envelope. Use a small heart plunger cutter to cut a heart out of red sugarpaste, and use it to seal the envelope. Stick the envelope to the circle or pale pink sugarpaste and place the completed topper on top of a cupcake.
To make the love hearts topper, cut out a circle of white icing and leave to one side. Using heart plunger cutters in various sizes, cut hearts out of pink sugarpaste and arrange them in the centre of the white sugarpaste circle. I thought three of decreasing sizes looked pretty, but feel free to experiment with colours and sizes. Arrange the completed topper on top of a cupcake.
To make the pink hearts topper, cut out a circle of pale pink sugarpaste and leave to one side. Using the small heart plunger cutter, cut ten hearts out of dark pink sugarpaste, then arrange in a heart shape on top of the pale pink circle. Using a medium heart plunger cutter, cut out one heart and put it in the centre of the smaller hearts. Place the topper on top of a cupcake.
Mrs Stanton's Makes 