Christmas Tree vanilla cupcakes!

Deliciously yummy!

It is time to get into the festive period now that Christmas is fast approaching!!! My family love a plain vanilla cupcake so I decided to spice it up a little bit in time for Christmas. These are vanilla cupcakes with white chocolate chips through them. The icing is buttercream icing with a hint of vanilla, white chocolate and milk chocolate stars and milk chocolate colour coated balls for decoration. The ingredients and method which I used to create these festive favourites can be seen below...

This recipe bakes 12 cupcakes!

Ingredients (Cupcakes)

- 125g Unsalted butter, softened

-125g caster sugar

-125g self-raising flour

-Pinch of salt

-3 medium eggs

-70g White chocolate chips

-1 tsp Vanilla extract

- ice-cream scoop (optional)

1 x 12-hole muffin tin, lined with festive paper cases!

Ingredients (Buttercream & decoration)

-200g butter (I use Lurpak slightly salted)

-250g Icing sugar

- 1 tsp Vanilla extract

-12 Chocolate stars (baking section of ASDA)

-Any decorations you wish for the tree!!

Method- Cupcakes

1. Set the oven to 160C or 180C if you do not have a fan oven.

2. Put 12 cupcake cases into the 12- hole muffin tines so that you have this ready for when you need to empty the cake mixture into them.

3. Mix together the butter and the sugar with a spoon ensuring that it is all mixed together nice and smooth without any lumps. This can also be done with a mixer or a whisk.

4. Add the flour, eggs, white chocolate chips and salt to the butter and sugar and mix all the ingredients together until the mixture is smooth.

5. Using an ice-cream scoop, or a spoon, divide the mixture between all of the cupcake cases which you have already set out on the muffin tin (you want to make sure you only fill them up around half way so that the cakes do not peak or go above the cases).

6. Place the cupcakes into the over for around 20 minutes.

7. Take the cupcakes out, use a skewer to place through the middle of the cupcake. If it comes out with mixture on it they are not ready yet. If it comes out clear, your cupcakes are ready!

8. Leave the cupcakes to cool in the tin for around 45 minutes. While they are cooling, it is time to make the buttercream.

Method- Buttercream

1.Using a spoon or a whisk, soften the butter in a bowl until it is smooth.

2. Slowly add the icing sugar to the butter. Do not put all of it in at once, do a bit at a time.

3. Once the butter and the icing sugar has been mixed together and it is smooth, add the vanilla extract and continue to mix.

4. Once this is all mixed together, add as much green food colouring as you need, it is up to you how green you want to make the buttercream.

5. Place the icing into a piping bag with a piping nozzle and leave in the fridge to harden slightly while the cupcakes cool down!

6. Once the cupcakes are cool, squeeze the buttercream onto the cupcakes in a swirling motion. Add a chocolate star at thee top along with colour sprinkles as the tree decorations.

Have a bite and enjoy the goodness of these festive beauties!!