Chocolate cupcakes

Ingredients

• 200 g butter
• 200 g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 200 g self-raising flour
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder

For the icing

• 450 g icing sugar
• 200 g butter
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• grated chocolate
• chocolate sweets to decorate

How to make it

1. Mix the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add the eggs and mix well.
2. Gradually add the flour and cocoa powder.
3. Put the cupcake cases in a mini-muffin tin and half fill each case with the mixture. Use the back of a spoon to flatten the top of the cupcakes to make them smooth.
4. Bake the cupcakes in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes – they are done when they rise up and spring back into shape when lightly pressed. Leave them to cool.
5. For the icing, put the icing sugar in a large bowl. Cream the butter in a large bowl. Add this to the icing sugar and mix together well, adding the water and vanilla essence gradually.
6. When the cupcakes are cool, spread a layer of icing over each one. Then decorate with the grated chocolate and sweets.

If you’d like to find out about more recipes like this, check out our Smart Kids Activity book!