National Cupcake Week cupcakes recipe

goodtoknow's cupcake queen, Victoria Threader, has created these cute bakes in honour of National Cupcake Week (12-19 September 2011). We like to think of them as 'cupcake cupcakes!'

Ingredients

• 1 x basic cupcake mixture 1 x basic buttercream recipe 350g white fondant (available from supermarkets) 50g flower paste for the cupcake toppers Paste food colourings (Victoria used Sugarflair's Christmas Red for the cherry and a touch for the pink 'cupcake case', plus Sugarflair's Gooseberry Green for the backgrounds). Equipment Cupcake topper mould (Victoria used one from alphabetmoulds.com) Dotty texture mat (Victoria got hers from eBay) Set of double-sided cookie cutters (with fluted and plain edges) Drying sponge

Method

1. Bake a batch of basic cupcakes and leave to cool.
   
2. Meanwhile, colour 10g of the flower paste red, 20g pink and leave the rest white. Grease the inside of the cupcake topper mould lightly with a touch of vegetable fat or butter. Then mould 12 cupcake toppers by placing a tiny piece of red flower paste inside for the cherry, white for the icing and pink for the cases. Leave to dry on a drying sponge.
3. Colour 200g of the white fondant pink with a tiny touch of the red paste colour and the remainder of the fondant green with a touch of the green paste. Store in an airtight freezer bag until you have iced your cakes.
4. Make the buttercream by adding all the ingredients in a large bowl and beating for 5 minutes with an electric mixer until smooth and glossy.
5. Once the cakes are cooled completely, spread the buttercream on the centre of the tops. Don’t spread it right up to the edge of the paper cases though, or the buttercream will squash over the sides when you place the fondant on top.
6. Roll the pink fondant out to 1/8 inch thick, then cut 12 circles to the size of the cakes with the plain side of the appropriate-sized cookie cutter. Place on the tops of the cupcakes and smooth the edges with you finger.
7. Roll the green fondant out 1/8 inch thick and texturize with the dotty texture mat. With the fluted side of the cookie cutter, cut 12 smaller circles and, using a dab of water to keep them in place, place them on the tops of the cupcakes.
8. When all the cakes are covered place the cupcake toppers on the tops of the green fondant with a brush of water.