Cupcakes for a birthday girl

Mariposa is now 9 years old. 9! She's been waiting to turn 9 for years. It brings a promise of having her ears pierced soon, but we have to wait until after the ballet exams.

We made a lovely big batch of cupcakes to share with her ballet class, topped with whipped creme cheese, icing sugar and lemon juice. Nana and Grandad were here whilst they were being made, so taste testing was done early and a smile of approval.

Here is the basic recipe we used for the cupcakes:

100g butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
150g self-raising flour
few drops of vanilla
1-2 tbsp milk

1. Preheat oven to 190degC/375degF. Set out paper patty cases (we used the muffin tray, so 12 of those, or 18-20 smaller ones).
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs a little at a time with a tsp of flour. Gently fold in remaining flour with milk and vanilla essence.
3. Spoon into patty cases, around 2/3 full. Bake for 15mins or until risen and slightly golden on top. Cool in patty cases.

We decorated with 100g creme cheese, 2 tsp lemon juice and 1/2 cup icing sugar, all whipped together then smoothed on top of cooled cakes. Decorate as desired (we had some left over little icing sugar flowers).