Little Monsters in the Oven!

I had a long but great night last night baking cupcakes with my auntie. She had a competition at work where she had to make 6 cupcakes with the guidance of three rules: consistency (all cupcakes had to look the same), creativity and taste.

I'm not usually a fan of my own baking...it usually tastes too eggy or too bland or too something! but I have to admit, these cupcakes tasted great! We decided to keep it really simple for the topping and decoration by just piping on frosting and little hearts. We didn't actually need much frosting as the cupcakes expanded to three times their size like little monsters in the oven!

I'm still loving my new camera so I often take about 10 photos of the same thing...in this case, one cupcake! I couldn't decide which photo looked the best...

I thought I would post the recipe I used for these, for my own use if no one else's! I always use different recipes from different chefs everytime I make cupcakes and they just never seem to turn out right but, as I mentioned before, these ones did! 

Vanilla Cupcakes (12)

You will need:

175g   Self-raising flour 

150g   Caster sugar

3         Medium eggs

150g    Slightly salted softened butter

1 tsp    Vanilla extract

1 tbsp  Milk

1. Put all ingredients, except the milk, in a bowl and mix with an electric whisk for 2 minutes on a medium speed. If the mixture is too thick, add the milk and continue to whisk.

2. Use an ice-cream scoop to fill 12 cupcake cases (paper or silicone) and bake in a muffin tin in a preheated oven at 180° C for 20 minutes or until risen and golden.

3. Once cooked, cool on a wire rack before decorating.

I had 6 of these cakes left over so I have put them in the freezer for when I'm in a cake-decorating mood! I have seen some on pinterest that I definitely want to try like a "burger" cake and a cupcake in fondant cup with "chocolate coffee" and mini marshmallows on top! I'll post the pictures when I get round to making them!

Do you have a go-to cupcake recipe? What are your favourite cupcake variations? What are you like at decorating cupcakes? Ever came up with some inventive or whacky ideas?! (: