Tea party cupcakes recipe

These impressive tea party cupcakes are easier to make then you may think and are perfect for an afternoon tea party with friends and family. The handmade toppers may look a little fiddly but they're quite easy to perfect. Once you’ve mastered the basics of this cupcake recipe you’ll be able to create other miniature scenes too from dinner parties to picnics.

Ingredients

For the cakes:

• 150g self-raising flour
• 150g softened butter/stork
• 150g golden caster sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 3tbsp milk, room temperature

For the buttercream:

• 100g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 200g icing sugar
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1½tbsps milk

For the toppers:

• 450g white ready to roll fondant
• 125g pink fondant
• 2tsps tylose powder/gum tragacanth (optional)
• Pink, brown, purple, green and yellow food colour
• Red sugar balls for the cherries and the tomatoes
• Green leaf sprinkles or green fondant for decoration
• Gold and silver edible paint

You will also need:

• Deep muffin pan with 12 cupcake cases
• Small circle cutters
• Cocktail sticks
• Various embossers for the tablecloth
• 78mm scalloped cookie cutters
• Wavy circle cutters
• Small plunger cutter
• Water brush for sticking

Method

1. For the cakes:
   1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3 and line your baking tray.
   2. Add all the ingredients into a large bowl and beat until smooth. Don’t overbeat or the cakes will be greasy.
   3. Fill the cases and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool in the tins for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack
   For the buttercream:
   1. Add all the ingredients into a large bowl and beat until smooth, this will takeabout 8 minutes with an electric hand whisk.
   For the toppers:
   1. Ice your cold cupcake by spreading the buttercream flatly over the tops of the cakes.
   2. Add 2 teaspoon of tylose (if using) to 450g of fondant and knead well.
   3. To make the tablecloth: Take 250g of the white gum paste, roll to 1/8 of an inch thick and emboss with an embossing folder or mat. Cut 12x 78mm circles and lay them over the cupcakes like a tablecloth.
   4. Roll 125g of dark pink fondant to 1/8 of an inch thick and cut 12x 5cmx5cm squares. Emboss each square with a stitching tool. Glue the squares onto the white table cloths with a brush of water.
   5. To make the plate/sandwich stand: Cut 12x 3cm wavy circles. Emboss 12 plain circles using the cutter a size smaller and stick underneath, this will lift up the wavy edge slightly. Make six sandwich stand stems by rolling a cone and cutting the top off it. Paint the edges of the plates and stands with edible gold paint. Leave to dry for a few minutes before sticking six plates on to the stems with a brush if water, then stick them and the remaining plates onto the cupcakes with a brush of water.
   6. To make the saucers: Cut 24 circles from the white gumpaste and emboss the centre with the end of a plunger cutter. Paint the edges with edible gold paint.
   7. To make the teacups: Roll cone of white fondant and trim them to size, making sure the tapered end is at the bottom. Emboss the top slightly with the plunger cutter and paint the edges gold. Stick them onto the plates with a brush of water.
   8. To make the spoons – Roll tiny fondant sausage shapes. Poke a cocktail stick and poke it in to one end a roll very slightly. Paint them with edible silver paint.
   9. To make the sandwiches: Roll white and pink fondant. Cut squares out and stick them together, popping the pink in the middle. Cut the square in half to make triangle. Place them on the cake plate and decorate with sugar leaves and red sugar balls. Stick them all down with a brush of water
   10. To make the macaroons: Colour some white fondant purple and cut 24 circles. Colour some more fondant pink and roll a bit thinner this time. Cut 24 pink circles and sandwich the pink between purple with a brush of water. Stick 2 on each plate.
   11. To make the cupcakes: Colour some white fondant light brown. Roll small cones and cut the top off. Use a cocktail stick to emboss the cupcakes cases. To make the swirl toppings, roll long thin sausages and spiral them up, popping a red sugar ball in the centre.
   12. To make the Battenburg: Use some of the pink fondant and colour some white fondant yellow. Cut into tiny squares and stick them together with a brush of water.
   13. Store in a breathable cake box or the fondant will go soggy.

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