Love Heart Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

Love is certainly in the air this week. And what better way to celebrate than with these sweet love heart cupcakes? The beauty of this recipe is that it creates cupcakes the are deliciously light and airy, but still have the crumbly consistency of a cake.

The key to creating the silky texture is to follow the mixing timings closely – don’t rush! The royal icing is simple to handle and easy to create a professional look without having to master a piping bag. These lovely little cakes would be the perfect addition to a bridal shower morning tea. Or you could even get together with your bridesmaids and make multiple batches to wrap or box them up and present to your wedding guests as favours. I’m certain that once you try this cupcake recipe, you’ll save it to use time and time again. Enjoy!

What You’ll Need:
100g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
160g caster sugar
2 eggs
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
200g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

1 x 600g packet of white ready-made royal icing
Red food colouring
Pure icing sugar (for dusting table before kneading icing)

12 x patty cases
Muffin tin
Small love heart cookie cutter
Scone cutter
Bench-top mixer or handheld beaters
Rolling pin

What To Do:
Step One. Line muffin tray with patty cases. Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius.

Step Two. Cream butter for 2-3 minutes until pale in colour. Gradually add caster sugar, a dessert spoon at a time until it has all been combined and the mixture is light and fluffy. This process should take around 6-8 minutes.

Step Three. Add one egg, beat for 1-2 minutes until combined then add the other egg and repeat. Add the vanilla and beat for a minute until combined.

Step Four. Sift flour and baking powder together. Add half the flour to the butter mixture and mix slowly until combined. Add 1/4 cup of milk and mix until combined. Repeat this step again so all flour and milk is added. Once well combined, stop mixer.

Step Five. Spoon mixture into patty cases so they are approximately 3/4 full.

Step Six. Place cupcakes into the oven for approximately 18-20 minutes. Cupcakes are ready when ever so slightly browned on top and a skewer can be removed clean from the centre of a cupcake.

Step Seven. While the cupcakes are cooking, prepare the icing as directed on the packet. Separate approximately 150g of the icing. Add a few drops of red food colouring and knead until the colour is well combined. Sift icing sugar onto a clean bench. Use a rolling pin to roll pink icing to approximately 3mm thickness. Use the heart shape cookie cutter to cut 12 x heart shapes out of icing. Be careful when handling the icing as it will still be soft. Carefully transfer love hearts to a clean, dry board.

Step Eight. Sift a new layer of icing sugar over the bench top. Use the rolling pin to roll out the remaining white icing to approximately 5mm thick. Using a scone cutter, cut 12 rounds from the white icing.

Step Nine. When the cupcakes are ready, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool before assembling.

Step Ten. Using a small container of water and a pastry brush, dampen the underside of the white icing rounds and gently press onto the top of each cupcake. Once assembled, repeat the process for the love hearts – dampen each of the undersides of the hearts and attach to white icing by gently applying pressure.

Enjoy! These sweet cupcakes can be wrapped and enjoyed as a gift or a wedding favour; wouldn’t they look gorgeous included in a wedding shower high tea!