BRIGHT AND CHEERFUL CUPCAKES

MAKES 24 CUPCAKES Preparation: 20 min Cooking: 15-20 min

CAKE 1kg box cupcake

premix ingredients needed to prepare premix (listed on the box) DECORATING 4½ x 250ml (4½c)

icing sugar 375ml (1½c) butter,

softened 15ml (1T) milk 15ml (1T) vanilla

essence pink, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple food colouring mini marshmallows Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease two 12-hollow muffin tins. 1 Cake Prepare the cupcake batter according to the packet instructions. 2 Decorating Beat the icing sugar and butter together using an electric beater. Add the milk and vanilla essence and beat until light and fluffy. 3 Divide the icing among 6 smaller bowls. Colour 5 of them, each with a different shade of food colouring. Keep the last bowl white. 4 Place each of the five colours into an individual resealable plastic food bag or piping bag. Cut a corner off each bag. 5 Put a large piece of clingfilm on a working surface. Pipe the icing from each bag onto the clingfilm to form horizontal lines in rainbow order. The lines should touch (pic A). Using the clingfilm, gently roll the icing into one large roll (pic B). 6 Snip the tip off one end of the clingfilm. Place the icing roll, with the snipped opening facing down, into a piping bag fitted with a star-tip nozzle (pics C and D). 7 Using a spatula, ice each cupcake with a layer of white icing. 8 Pipe a rainbow design on each cupcake. Add mini marshmallows for clouds.

Alternatively, divide all the icing (including the white) as above and pipe a swirl over the entire surface of each cupcake. (Turn over)