Giant Cupcake

Ingredients:

• 450g softened butter
• 450g caster sugar
• 8 large eggs
• 450g self-raising flour
• 4 level tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp of vanilla
• 3 tbsp milk
• Giant cupcake mould

For the cake covering:

• 250g white fondant icing
• Pink food colouring
• Strawberry jam

For the buttercream:

• 110g unsalted butter, softened
• 500g icing sugar
• 60ml milk, room temperature
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• Pink food colouring

Method:

Set the oven to 180ºC and grease the tin/siliconemould using cake release spray or cooking oil.

Cream the butter and sugar and add the vanilla. Beat for about 5 minutes. Add one egg at a time with a third of the sieved flour and baking powder until it has gone then add the milk and beat slowly until it is mixed in.

Place half of the mixture in each side of the tin to about ¾ full and bake for 50 mins. Times really depend on your own oven, so start to check the cake at 50 minutes, then every 10 minutes and do not remove from the oven until the cake is springy to the touch.

Remove from the oven and let it cool for 20 minutes before tipping out. If the cake has overflowed or has risen too high don’t worry, you can trim this with a bread knife or a cake leveller. It’s easier to do this while it is still in the tin.

Hold the cooling rack tight over the top of the tin and turn them out to cool. Once the cake is totally cool (probably an hour or 2) you can start decorating it.

Colour and roll out the fondant icing to a ¼ of an inch thick. It has to be 25cm in length and 8cm high. Then use a texture mat to add a flower pattern to the fondant.

Melt some jam in the microwave and leaving the cake in the upside down position brush over the base of the cake. This helps the fondant stick. Place the fondant around the cake and trim the excess. You can fold a little over the top (which is the bottom) so you have a clean edge. Press your finger round the indentations so you get the shape of the base back. Then turn the cake (not gripping too hard or you will squash it) the right way up.

Beat the butter, icing sugar, milk and vanilla together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Put a third of the buttercream in another bowl and add pink food colouring to it. Reserve this for your buttercream roses. Spread jam on the bottom half of the cupcake, then the icing and sandwich the two pieces together.

Ice the top with the rest of the buttercream in a design that suits you. .To create the two-tone effect, fill your piping bag up with the cream icing then add the pink on top. Twist the top of the bag and squeeze into a bowl until you see the pink coming through.

Top your giant cupcake with sugarcraft butterflies, flowers or lady birds