Homemade © J Sainsbury plc 2016 www.homemadebyyou.co.uk
Panda cupcakes
These little cakes are super cute and super delicious
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Ready in 1 hour 5 minutes plus cooling
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Cooking time 25 minutes
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Prep time 40 minutes plus cooling
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Makes 12
Ingredients
- 125 g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
- 125 g white caster sugar
- 0.5 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 125 g self-raising flour
- 0.25 tsp baking powder
For the buttercream icing:
- 250 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 500 g icing sugar
To decorate:
- 100 g ready-to-roll black icing
- 2 tbsp desiccated coconut
- 24 white chocolate chips
- 1 black writing icing pen
Method
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1
Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Line a 12-hole cupcake tin with silver foil paper cupcake cases. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric hand whisk to cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy.
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2
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding a little flour with each egg to stop the mixture splitting.
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3
Sift over the remaining flour and baking powder, then gently fold in with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth.
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4
Divide the mixture evenly among the cupcake cases. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. The cakes are cooked when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. They should be golden and risen and spring back to the touch.
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5
Put the cakes on a wire rack and allow to cool completely before you start decorating.
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6
Meanwhile, make the buttercream icing. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric hand whisk to beat together the butter and vanilla extract for 2-3 minutes, until pale and soft.
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7
Add half the icing sugar and beat on a low setting at first, so the icing sugar doesn’t puff up and out of your bowl. Beat on a higher setting until smooth, then repeat with the rest of the icing sugar. Continue to beat for 1-2 minutes, until pale and fluffy.
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8
Spread the buttercream over the cooled cupcakes to make smooth domed tops.
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9
Roll out the black icing to 3mm thickness. Cut out 24 x 2cm circles for the ears and 24 x 1.5cm circles for the bases of the eyes. Using the remaining black icing, roll 12 balls, each about the size of a blueberry, for the pandas’ noses.
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10
Press the noses and the bases of the eyes lightly onto the cupcakes, then sprinkle the desiccated coconut over the rest of the surfaces – it will stick to the buttercream. If any of the coconut stays on the eyes or noses, gently brush it away with a small paintbrush.
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11
Press white chocolate chips into place for the eyeballs. Using the black writing icing pen, make pupils in the centres, then draw a mouth under each nose.
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12
Finish the panda faces by making 2 small indentations with a knife where the ears will go, then gently pressing the black icing circles into them so that about a quarter of each is embedded in the sponges and buttercream.
