Unicorn cupcakes

MAKES 12 PREP 30 mins COOK 20 mins plus cooling EASY V

These easy vanilla sponge cupcakes with rainbow-swirled buttercream, chocolate beans and sprinkle decorations should please everyone.

150g white caster sugar 2 large eggs

100g butter, melted

150g self-raising flour

For the vanilla syrup

3 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the buttercream 200g butter, softened 300g icing sugar few drops vanilla extract

4 tsp milk food colouring (we used pink, green and blue)

For the decoration selection of sweets and sprinkles (we used hundreds and thousands, mini meringues, sugar stars and chocolate beans)

1 Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. Put the sugar, eggs, butter and flour in a mixing bowl and whisk using an electric whisk for 3-4 mins until light and pale. Divide the mixture evenly between the paper cases and bake for 20 mins or until a cocktail stick inserted into the centre of one of the cakes comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

2 For the vanilla syrup, mix the maple syrup with the vanilla extract and 1 tbsp water. Use a cocktail stick to poke a few tiny holes in each of the cooled cupcakes, then drizzle a little bit of syrup over each one.

3 For the buttercream, beat the butter with the icing sugar and vanilla until smooth and pale, then beat in the milk a little at a time. Put half in one bowl, then divide the other half between three bowls. Use the food colouring to make one batch pink, one pale green and the other pale blue. Transfer all four buttercreams to one large piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle by holding the bag flat on one side and layering the buttercreams in the bag. Pipe swirls on the cupcakes – as the buttercream comes through the bag, the colours will blend. Decorate the cupcakes with your favourite sweets and sprinkles to serve.

PER SERVING 407 kcals • fat 21g • saturates 13g • carbs 50g • sugars 40g • fibre 1g • protein 2g • salt 0.6g