Beautiful Butterfly Cakes

So a bit of a blast from the past here. I don't know about you guys, but when I was little, pretty much every birthday party featured these yummy little treats. Even though they're essentially just iced cupcakes, there's something about the little 'wings' that makes them so much more than that.

The eagle eyed among you may have noticed that in the photos I only made 12 cupcakes but in the recipe I've said that it makes 24. This is in part to my determination do only do one batch of 12, but also due to the fact that I only had muffin cases which are much bigger than cupcake cases. Lesson learned - get the correct size cases. Alright, now onto the recipe!


Beautiful Butterfly Cakes

Bare Necessities:

For the Cakes
150g/2/3cup Margarine
150g/2/3cup Sugar
3 Eggs
2tsp Vanilla Essence
150g/1 1/2cups Self Raising Flour
1 1/2tsp Baking Powder

For the Icing
100g/2/3cup Butter
300g/ 2 1/2cups Icing Sugar
1tbsp Milk
1tsp Vanilla Essence

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/340F.
2. Place 24 cupcake cases in a cupcake tray.
3. Beat together the margarine, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour and baking powder until fully combined and light and fluffy.
4. Divide the mixture equally between the cases.
5. Pop in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
6. Place the cupcakes on a rack to cool.
7. Beat the butter until creamy and gradually add the icing sugar. (I added 100g a time, which helps make less mess)
8. Add the milk and vanilla and beat until thick and creamy. At this point you can gradually add more milk or icing sugar to achieve the desired consistency.
9. Once the cupcakes are cool, carefully slice off the top of the cupcakes.
10. Slice the tops in half. This will create the 'wings'.
11. Spoon a medium dollop of icing onto the cupcakes.
12. Slot the 'wings' into the icing.
13. Pop in the fridge to keep cool or enjoy straight away!