Cupcakes with Hearts – The Perfect Valentines Day Bake

1. Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180°C, fan 160°C. Place 12 white or coloured fairy cake cases in the holes of a muffin tray.
2. Whisk the butter and sugars in a bowl with an electric beater, until softened. Add the eggs with 3 tbsp of the flour and whisk, until smooth. Add the cocoa powder mixture, the vanilla essence, remaining flour and the baking powder and whisk, until smooth. Fold through the white chocolate chips.
3. Spoon the mixture into the fairy cake cases – they should be about ¾ full. Bake for 20-25 mins, until firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

   What should a clean skewer look like?

    

   Play Video

4. For the icing, whisk the butter until softened, then add the icing sugar with half the white chocolate. Whisk until smooth, then beat in the remaining white chocolate and the pink colouring.

   How to melt chocolate

    

   Play Video

5. Using a serrated knife, cut the tops off the fairy cakes just above the paper case line. Either using a very small heart shaped cutter or by hand, cut hearts out of the tops of the fairy cakes.
6. Spoon the buttercream onto the cakes and top with the cut-out tops. Dust with the icing sugar to serve.

Storing instructions for Cupcakes with Hearts : 

these cupcakes can be kept for up to 3 days if unfilled with buttercream icing. If they are filled, they should be eaten on the same day. Best stored in an airtight container, such as a tupperware box or cake tin.