Surfing Santa Cupcakes

Serves 12, Prep and Cook: 1 hour, 30 mins

410g packet vanilla cupcake mix Milk chocolate Santas and milk chocolate Christmas coins, to decorate

SURFBOARDS

125g each red, yellow and green ready-to-roll icing (See Tip)

BUTTERCREAM

250g block unsalted butter,

chopped, at room temperature 2½ cups icing sugar mixture 1 tblsp milk

Liquid blue food colouring

1 To make surfboards, knead each coloured icing, separately, on a clean bench. Roll out, separately, between two sheets of baking paper until 4mm-thick. Using a 10.5cm surfboard cookie cutter (See Tip), cut out four shapes from each colour, re-rolling as necessary.

2 Reserve icing scraps separately, then roll each into a ball. Separately, roll out each one thinly between two sheets of baking paper into a rectangle. Cut out four lengths, 10cm long x 5mm wide, from each colour.

3 Using water as glue, gently press each length down the centre of a surfboard. Place on a tray. Stand, uncovered, overnight until dry and firm.

4 Line a 12-hole muffin pan (¹⁄³-cup capacity) with blue paper cases.

5 Prepare cupcake mix according to packet directions. Divide mixture evenly among cases (about ¼ cup in each). Reserve frosting sachet for another use.

6 Cook in a moderately slow oven (160C) for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until cooked when a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove. Stand in pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

7 To make buttercream, beat butter in a small bowl of an electric mixer until pale and creamy. Beat in icing sugar, ½ cup at a time, until smooth. Beat in milk. Tint blue with colouring.

8 Transfer buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a 11mm star nozzle. Pipe onto cupcakes. Decorate with ‘surfboards’ and Santa chocolates, as pictured.