Happy Easter! New Recipe!

What better way to spend the four day bank holiday weekend than by baking your heart out! I personally can't think of anything better, and so that is exactly what I have done. Well, apart from sleep my heart out too.

These are marble cupcakes - best of both worlds! A bit of vanilla, and a bit of chocolate. The vanilla sponge gives just the right balance to make sure that you don't spend your Easter weekend in a chocolate coma! And just what you want to hear, they're seriously easy to make.

But as per usual, the best part of the baking is the decorating...especially when you have green icing looking like grass, and bunny ears coming out of them too. I thought the cream cheese icing wouldn't hold through the spaghetti piping nozzle, but it actually worked out quite nicely, and tasted even nicer.

There's still time to fit yours in before the Easter weekend is over...so here is a recipe and some more lovely photos just for you!

Happy Easter all.

Ingredients

Vanilla Sponge

- 40g unsalted butter

- 140g caster sugar

- 120g plain flour

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- a pinch of salt

- 1 egg

- 120ml whole milk

- half teaspoon of vanilla essence

Chocolate Sponge

- 40g unsalted butter

- 140g caster sugar

- 120g plain flour

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- a pinch of salt

- 2 heaped tablespoons cocoa powder

-1 egg

- 120ml whole milk

Icing

- 100g unsalted butter

- 600g icing sugar

- 200g cream cheese (e.g. philadelphia)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees (fan)

Line a muffin tray with muffin cases

1. For the vanilla sponge, combine the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt together with an electric mixer until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.

2. Break in the egg, add the milk & vanilla essence, and increase the speed of the mixer until all the ingredients are fully combined.

3. Repeat step one for the chocolate sponge, this time adding the cocoa powder as well. Then add in the egg and the milk, and mix until fully combined.

4. Divide the batter of the vanilla sponge equally into the muffin cases (an ice cream scoop works well for this). Then do the same with the chocolate sponge, placing the chocolate batter over the vanilla (or vice versa, which ever one you want on the bottom!)

5. Make sure the cases are about two thirds full, and using the end of a skewer, swirl the two flavours together - this will give you the marbled effect. Place in the oven for 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

6. For the icing, combine the butter and icing sugar together with your finger tips until they resemble fine breadcrumbs. Add in the cream cheese, and mix together with an electric whisk. You can then add food colouring at this point if you wish.

7. Then pipe, spread, decorate, sugar paste - do whatever you fancy to decorate, and serve to your family and friends (or eat all by yourself...muahah...)