Elf & Santa cupcakes

QQMakes 16 Prep 40 mins plus drying Cook 18 mins

Q175g butter, softened

175g golden caster sugar

3 eggs

200g self-raising flour

1 orange, zested, ½ juiced pinch of ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

FOR THE ICING

100g unsalted butter, softened

2 tsp vanilla extract

250g icing sugar, sifted

FOR THE LEGS fondant icing sugar candy canes strawberry pencil sweets black, green and white fondant icing gold and silver balls

1 Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Line two eight-hole bun tins with cupcake cases. Put all the cupcake ingredients in a large bowl using 4 tbsp of the orange juice, then beat together for 1-2 mins until smooth. 2 Spoon the cake mix into the cases, so they are three-quarters full. Bake for 15-18 mins, or until golden and firm. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins, then transfer to a wire rack.

3 To make the icing, beat the butter, vanilla and sugar until pale and creamy. Add

1-2 tbsp warm water to loosen, if needed. Ice the cakes with a palette knife, or use a piping bag to pipe swirls deep enough to hold the Santa and elf legs.

4 For the legs, make up a batch of fondant icing following pack instructions. Cut the candy canes and pencil sweets into 4cm lengths. Use green fondant icing to mould elf boots around the candy cane legs, and black fondant icing to mould Santa boots around the strawberry pencil legs. Add some white fondant around the top of the Santa boots. Use the fondant icing to stick a silver or gold ball onto each toe of the elf boots. Leave the boots dry completely. Use our chimney template on bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/ chimney-cupcake-template, or make your own sleeves to wrap around the cupcakes. Push the legs into the cakes just before serving. PER CUPCAKE 338 kcals, fat 15g, saturates 9g,

carbs 47g, sugars 36g, fibre 1g, protein 3g, salt 0.4g