Pink butterfly cupcakes

Preparation time:: 15 mins

Cooking time:: 25 mins

Serves:: 24

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Dainty and delicious, these sugar-dusted delights will have your tastebuds all aflutter!

Ingredients

Cupcake batter
200g unsalted butter, chopped, softened
1½ cups caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
½ cup sour cream

1¾ cups self-raising flour

1 quantity Glacé Icing (in notes)
Pink food colouring
300ml thickened cream
¼ cup strawberry jam
Raspberry liquorice and icing sugar, to decorate

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line two 12-hole ¹/³-cup capacity muffin tins with paper cases.

2. Put butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and, using the paddle attachment, beat on high until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Gently fold in sour cream and flour in

2 batches, until combined. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked when tested with a skewer. Swap position of tins in oven halfway through cooking.

3. Cool in tins for 5 minutes, then turn out to cool completely.

4. Prepare Glacé Icing, then tint pink with a few drops of colouring. Spread each cake with icing. Once set, cut 3cm- wide x 1cm-deep V-shaped holes from centre of each cake and cut in half to create wings.

5. Whip cream until soft peaks form. Add jam and beat until firm peaks form. Fill holes with cream, then top with wings, with iced sides facing upwards. Cut antennae from liquorice and arrange on cakes. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

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Glacé icing
Preparation time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 5 mins

Makes 1½ cups

3 cups icing sugar mixture
2 tsp unsalted butter

3 Tbsp hot water

1. Sift sugar into a large heatproof bowl. Set over a medium saucepan of simmering water. Add butter and water. Stir for 5 minutes or until butter has melted and mixture is shiny and of a spreadable consistency.