Dish 13 - Little Spring's 2nd Birthday Cake/Cupcakes

Little Spring's 2nd Birthday Cake/Cupcakes

Ingredients - Cake/Cupcakes - make 2 lots (1 for cake, 1 for cupcakes - makes 24 cupcakes (more than needed)):

Cake
125gm butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup castor sugar
2 x 60g eggs
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
2/3 cup milk
Icing
90gm butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture, sifted
2 Tbsp milk, approximately

Method - Cakes/Cupcakes:
Cake:

1. Combine butter, vanilla, sugar, eggs, flour and milk together in a large bowl. Beat on low speed until ingredients are just combined, then increase speed to medium and beat for a further 2 minutes until mixture is pale and creamy.
2. Grease a 9-in square pan (I couldn't find one, so I used a 25cm) for the cake (1 batch of cake mix). Bake at 180oC for about 10-15 minutes or until cake is just firm in centre and light golden brown. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then turn onto wire rack. For cupcakes, line 2 x 12 hole patty pans with paper patty cases. Bake at 180oC for about 15 minutes or until cakes are just firm in centre and light golden brown. Stand cakes in pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to complete cooling.

Icing:

1. Beat butter and vanilla in bowl with electric mixer until creamy. Beat in half the icing sugar and half the milk, then beat in the remaining icing sugar and enough milk for a light, fluffy consistency.

Decorations:
Follow the directions from the Betty Crocker Website with the following substitutions for Australians without access to all products listed:

1. Graham Cracker Squares (used in barn decorating) - ice cream wafers cut to size (found in ice cream cone/topping section of supermarket).
2. Orange gumdrops (used in chick decorating) - I used orange snakes.
3. Red miniature candy-coated chocolate baking bits (used in sheep & pig decorating) - red mini M&Ms (bonus - the rest of the M&Ms you can eat as they aren't needed!)
4. White gumdrops (used in sheep decorating - ears) - found in the Allen's mixed bag of lollies, "coke bottles". By cutting the bottoms off (where the reddish colouring is), you end up with perfect shaped ears!
5. Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-Ups (used in pig decorating) - any brand roll up is fine - just don't buy the ones with prints!
   

Notes: Really, really easy to make and the website even comes with a handy instructional video, showing you techniques/hints etc. I didn't end up using this cow design that I also found, but you would have plenty of cupcakes left over to add a few cows to the mix. Obviously you'll need to find your own substitutes for decoration products.

Recipe Source: Betty Crocker for the decoration and an old issue of Woman's Weekly for the Vanilla Cupcake recipe