Red & White 60th Birthday Cupcakes
Home » COOK » Recipes »Today is my dad’s birthday, and I thought it would be fitting to share the cupcakes I made for his 60th birthday a few years ago. His birthday falls on the 23rd April – St. George’s Day, so red and white were the colours to go for!
This is my tried and trusted vanilla cupcake recipe. Makes 24 cupcakes. I use an ice cream scoop to get equal quantities of cake mixture per case. I use vodka to spray away excess icing sugar dust from sugarpaste. Just buy a little spray bottle and pour a shot of vodka in it. Vodka evaporates quicker than water, leaving the sugarpaste nice and clean and free from icing sugar. To make chocolate cupcakes, add 3 tbsps cocoa powder to the batter.
I made a mixture of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes topped with vanilla buttercream and red, sugarpaste ’60s’, which I cut out with number cutters.
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Red & White 60th Birthday Cupcakes
This is my tried and trusted vanilla cupcake recipe. Makes 24 cupcakes. I use an ice cream scoop to get equal quantities of cake mixture per case. I use vodka to spray away excess icing sugar dust from sugarpaste. Just buy a little spray bottle and pour a shot of vodka in it. Vodka evaporates quicker than water, leaving the sugarpaste nice and clean and free from icing sugar. To make chocolate cupcakes, add 3 tbsps cocoa powder to the batter.
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- 335 g unsalted butter softened
- 335 g caster sugar
- 335 g self-raising flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 6 eggs
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract
For the buttercream icing
- 500 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 500 g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp milk or lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the ’60’ toppers
- red sugarpaste/fondant
- icing sugar for dusting
- vodka spray
Instructions
- It's best to make the toppers a day or so before so that they have time to dry. Dust the icing sugar over the counter and roll the sugarpaste to a thickness of about 5mm. Cut out the numbers and place on a baking sheet covered with greaseproof paper. Brush away excess icing sugar, or spray with vodka to remove. Leave to dry. Do not put in the fridge (they get sticky) or leave in the kitchen to dry as it's often too humid.
- Preheat oven to 175C/Gas 4.
- Place 24 cupcake cases into tins.
- Put all of the ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk for 3 minutes until smooth, pale and fluffy.
- Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases. (see notes above)
- Bake for 20 minutes until golden and risen.
- Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
To make the buttercream
- Add the softened butter to a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer.
- Slowly sift in the icing sugar until combined.
- Whisk in the milk (or lemon juice) and vanilla extract.
- You should find that the buttercream will form stiff(ish!) peaks and can be used in a piping bag.
To assemble
- Only decorate the cupcakes when they are completely cool.
- Place some of the buttercream icing into a piping bag with a star nozzle attached (don't overfill the bag) and pipe a swirl on top of each cupcake.
- Add the '60' toppers
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 481kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 18g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 121mg | Sodium: 220mg | Sugar: 40g
Nutritional information is always approximate and will depend on the quality of ingredients used and serving sizes. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.
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mummy madness
April 26, 2015 @ 10:16 pm
I thought it read goth cakes was wondering why there was 60 on them doh!
Stephs Two Girls
April 25, 2015 @ 10:37 pm
Love these – being a baker myself, I know how time consuming it all is though, hard work! Sure they were appreciated though :)
Globalmouse
April 24, 2015 @ 2:04 pm
I love these, they look so striking. Would like to taste them to make sure though ;)
Michelle Ordever
April 24, 2015 @ 2:08 pm
Well, it’s the only way to make sure :D
LucyDorrington
April 23, 2015 @ 11:25 pm
The simplest ideas are often the best and I love the idea of the numbers. I imagine you could cut them out yourself with a number biscuit cutter, so effective though!
Michelle Ordever
April 24, 2015 @ 2:09 pm
Thanks for reminding me! I’d left out that I had used cutters for the numbers!