Things we <3 - Cupcakes, Sprinkles & Butterflies

Our friend A turned 24 this week, so of course, we made cupcakes! We looked around for decorating ideas, but the baking section of Coles let us down massively, and squashed our dreams of mini oreo decorations and other cupcake cuteness. We settled on white icing with multi coulour sprinkles, and tried (a tad unsuccessfully) to make a few into butterfly cupcakes. The butterflies were cute, but difficult to make as the recipe we used produced cupcakes with a crispier top than desirable for cutting out the wings.

from Food Network Canada
Vanilla Cupcakes:

• 2cups sifted cake-and-pastry flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 x eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using electric mixer on low speed, mix in butter, milk, eggs and vanilla; beat on high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.
2. Spoon into 12 paper-lined or greased muffin cups, filling about three-quarters full. Bake in centre of 375°F (190°C) oven until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Transfer to rack; let cool completely. (Make-ahead: Store in airtight container for up to 1 day or freeze for up to 2 weeks.) Variation: Chocolate Cupcakes - Reduce flour to 1 cup and baking powder to 1/2 tsp. Add 1/2 cup cocoa powder and 1 tsp baking soda to dry ingredients. Sift before adding butter and wet ingredients.

For the icing, I just kinda mixed some icing sugar with a few tabelspoons of butter and enough milk to thin it out to the desired consistency. (Again, not a measuring kind of girl)

For the Butterfly cupcakes, we cute out wing/circle shapes from the top, leveled them, and cut the pieces in half. We filled the cupcake with a little icing, and placed the wing halves back on top. A little icing, a few sprinkles, and an m&m to complete!

** Side Salad story for your amusement: E and I got Rosemount Sauvignon Blanc for $11.99! Needless to say, we had a fantabulous night, which ended in: us standing at a McDonald's drivethru while our cabbie waited for us to order, and later, eating mentioned McDonald's while watching an informercial on a broom and devising a pyramid scheme to try and get the brooms for free. Also, a box of crackers managed to sneak into E's bed....?