Lovebug Cupcakes
Surprise your lovebug with these super cute cupcakes this Valentine’s Day. Our edible eyes and writings icings make to so easy to create this design you will love.
Here’s What You’ll Need
175g unsalted butter
175g caster sugar
3 medium eggs
135g self-raising flour
40g cocoa powder
1 tbsp milk
Buttercream
250g unsalted butter (softened)
250g icing sugar
200g milk chocolate
Red and black sugarpaste ( or white and colour with gel?)
Cake Décor Edible Eyes
Cake Décor Writing icing/ cake pen
Cake Décor Edible glue
Here's What You'll Do:
- Begin by preparing your sugarpaste decorations. Roll black sugarpaste and cut 12 discs using a 6 cm cookie cutter. Place on a flat surface or tray to harden (top tip … keep them away from plastic as they will not dry out). Repeat this with the red sugarpaste but before leaving the discs to dry, use a 5cm cookie cutter to cut a half circle shape from one corner of the red disc. Using a sharp knife, cut the red disc in half from the centre point of the circle you have just cut, which will create two wing like shapes. Cutting these shapes, the day before you decorate your cupcakes will allow them to dry out and harden fully but at least allow them a few hours to dry.
- Preheat oven to 170ºC/160 ºC and line a 12-hole cupcake tray with cupcake cases.
- Cream together the unsalted butter/ baking spread and caster sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add in eggs, self-raising flour and cocoa powder and beat.
- If your mixture is too thick you can add in 1 tbsp milk. Add a little bit at a time.
- Scoop the mixture evenly into the cupcake cases and bake in the oven for c. 20 minutes or until cooked through. (Springy to touch or a skewer comes out clean.)
- Leave the cupcakes to cool completely before decorating.
Decorate:
- While allowing the cupcakes to cool prepare the chocolate buttercream.
- Melt milk chocolate and leave to the side to cool.
- Beat together softened unsalted butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add cooled, melted chocolate to the icing sugar and butter mixture and beat again until mixed well and smooth.
- Prepare a piping bag with a star shaped nozzle and add in chocolate buttercream.
- To create your lovebug cupcake, pipe a rose swirl onto your cooled cupcake (you can also spread the buttercream onto your cupcake in a thick layer if you would rather not pipe the buttercream on.)
- To make each lovebug you will need a black sugarpaste disc and two red sugarpaste wings. Using edible glue stick the wings to the black disc, arranging them so you create space for a round lovebug face, the red wings will sit slightly from the black sugarpaste disc which will make it look like your ladybug is ready to fly.
- To finish adding the details to the lovebug, use edible glue to stick two edible eyes onto the black face of the love bug, you can add some extra character by using the corner of a straw or a scallop sugarcraft tool so press in a smile underneath the eyes.
- Finally, you can add some black dots to the lovebug wings using a black writing icing pen or a black cake pen. Once you are happy with your lovebug character, place it on top of a frosted cupcake.
- Repeat with the remaining cupcakes.
