These christmas cupcakes are fun for children to make themselves. You can line boxes or tins with shredded Cellophane or some tissue paper and nestle your decorated cakes inside.

Ingredients

100g/4 oz softened butter or soft margarine
100g/4 oz golden caster sugar
2 eggs
100g/4 oz self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
icing sugar for dusting
150g  ready to roll white icing
3 tbsp apricot jam

Decoration
Marshmallows
Red Fizzy Laces for the scarves
Tubes of coloured Writing Icing (available in supermarkets)
Sugar baubles (for cake decoration) or silver baubles
 

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/ 300F /.Gas 4/fan oven 160C.  Place the softened butter or margarine, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla essence into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for a few minutes until the mixture is light in colour and fluffy.

Line a bun tin with 8 paper cases and divide the mixture between them, filling the cases about two thirds full.  Bake for about 20 minutes until the fairy cakes are risen and lightly golden.  Lift the cakes (still in their paper cases) out of the tins and leave them to cool on a wire rack.

Dust a clean working surface with icing sugar and roll out the icing to about 5mm/1/4”.  Cut out 8 circles using a small pastry cutter that is the same size as the top of your cakes.  Put the apricot jam into a small dish and stir in 1 tablespoon of hot water, then brush this over the surface of the cakes and stick the circles of icing on top.

To decorate the cakes use marshmallows for the snowmen’s heads, black writing icing for the eyes, red writing icing for the smiles and sugar baubles for noses (stick them on with a blob of Writing Icing). Stick the heads on the cakes using a little apricot jam, then stick on the sugar bauble buttons.  Wrap Fizzy Laces around the snowmen’s necks  for scarves. 

Information
MAKES 8 to 10 SNAZZY SNOWMEN