Pudsey rainbow cupcakes

 By BakingMad.com

 

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

• 250g Butter (unsalted)
• 250g Self-raising white flour (we use Allinson) Self-raising white flour
• 250g Unrefined golden caster sugar (we use Billington's) Unrefined golden caster sugar
• 4 Egg(s) (free range)
• 2tsp Vanilla extract (we use Nielsen-Massey) Vanilla extract
• Milk (whole)
• Red food colouring
• Yellow food colouring
• Green food colouring
• Blue food colouring
• Purple food colouring

For the decoration

• 250g Unrefined golden icing sugar (we use Billington's) Unrefined golden icing sugar
• 80g Butter (unsalted)
• 25ml Milk (whole)
• 1tsp Vanilla extract (we use Nielsen-Massey) Vanilla extract
• White sugar paste icing
• Yellow sugar paste icing
• Black sugar paste icing
• Red sugar paste icing
• Green sugar paste icing
• Blue sugar paste icing

The Method 

1. Step 1 Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C, gas mark 4). Line a cupcake tray with 8 cases.
2. Step 2 Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition.
   

   tip: Adding eggs to the cupcake mixture
3. Step 3 Add the milk and vanilla extract. Finally, stir in the flour and mix well.
   

   tip: Mixing your cupcake batter
4. Step 4 Divide the mixture into equal portions – add food colouring to each portion and mix well. Try using a  plastic bag which saves washing up and helps with piping the batter into the cases.
   

   tip: Decorating – how to fill and use a piping bag
5. Step 5 Cut the end of each piping bag, creating a small hole. Pipe a thin layer of the first colour (purple) into all the cases smoothing down and spreading evenly with the back of a teaspoon. Repeat the process with the other colours in the order of blue, green, yellow and red until all the batter has been used. It is important not to fill the cupcake cases more than ¾ full as they will spill over when baked, so try to keep each layer of batter thin.
6. Step 6 Bake for 20-25 minutes until brown and cooked throughout. Place on a cooling rack to cool completely.
   

   tip: How to know when your cake is cooked
7. Step 7 To make the buttercream, whisk the butter, sugar, milk and vanilla extract together until light and fluffy.
8. Step 8 To make the pudsey bear decoration, use a small palette knife to spread the buttercream lightly on top of each cupcake.
9. Step 9 Roll out the yellow sugar paste and using a circular pastry cutter, cut out a circle slightly larger that your cupcake top, to ensure that the cake is fully covered. Lay the sugar paste on top of the buttercream.
10. Step 10 Next cut out two smaller yellow circles for Pudsey’s ears. You could use the base of a piping nozzle as a cutter. Attach these to the top of the cupcake by brushing the underside lightly with water. To give more definition to the ears, push your finger into the centre of the sugar paste circles.
11. Step 11 Next, roll out the white sugar paste and cut out a shape to act as Pudsey’s eye patch. Attach this to the cupcake with water, leaving room for the other facial features.
12. Step 12 Using the black sugar paste icing, roll a small ball of icing between your fingers and attach to the cupcake for Pudsey’s eye. Slightly press down to make the icing flatter and spread out, then attach a much smaller ball of white icing to the top right corner of the eye.
13. Step 13 For the nose, roll out a ball of black icing and attach to the centre of the cupcake, slightly pressing down when attaching to flatten. For the eye brow and mouth simply roll a little sausage shape of black icing, cutting to size if necessary and attach.
14. Step 14 To decorate Pudsey’s eye patch, cut out small circles of assorted coloured sugar paste and randomly attach the circles to your own style
    
     The Cupcake Factory - Easy & Delicious Cupcakes & Frosting Recipes