Sunflower Cupcakes

These cupcakes were made on the speer of the moment. I really had no intention on baking anything over the weekday - you could say I wanted to take a break! So I'm not sure how this happened. Anyway I ended up with 12 cupcakes that needed some decoration on them. So I decided to take out my piping tips which I have not used for a long while now (if you need to know this) and turned these chocolate cupcakes into sunflowers. Just right for a sunny bright Sunday afternoon as well. As my other half is really not into cakes at all, these went to other willing "hungry" mouths - and they sure weren't complaining at all!



Sunflower Cupcakes
Adapted from "Favourite Cupcakes & Cheesecakes"
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
1 tsp coffee extract
1/4 cup cocoa powder

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 160C. Line a 12 cupcake pan with paper liners.

2) Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3) Add in the eggs, one at a time and beat until mixed thoroughly. Then add in the the coffee extract.

4) Add the flour in 3 batches, alternating with the milk.

5) Divide the batter into the paper lines and bake for about 18 - 20 minutes. Immediately transfer to a wire rack once baked to allow the cupcakes to completely cool before icing with your favourite frosting.

6) Using a round piping tip #8, fill up a circle with chocolate butter (about 1") in the middle of your cupcake. Dip the cream into a bowl of chocolate rice. Next using a leaf tip #352, fill your piping bag with yellow buttercream and pipe leafs from the edge of the chocolate circle towards the outer edge of your cupcake. You can overlap the leafs to give it a more realistic petal look.