Children's Cupcakes

Bring the children into the kitchen for an afternoon and start their culinary education early. Here’s a selection of recipes for your children to try baking and decorating!

Baking With Children: Tips

Children love to be fully involved in baking especially when it’s something sweet and sugary! Make sure they’re well covered if you’re going to let them ice and decorate – you can buy children’s aprons (as well as small mixing bowls, spoons and moulds) from many baking suppliers. Be very careful where melted chocolate is involved, as – because of the high sugar content – it will get extremely hot.

Fortunately, most cake recipes are so simple and quick that your children will be able to take a very active part in baking them. If you’re going to ask the children to ice the cakes, provide lots of exciting ingredients – coloured icings, hundreds and thousands, jelly beans, marshmallows, chocolate chips – and let them use their imaginations!

No-Cook Cupcakes

Use mini cupcake cases for these sweet mouthfuls – they’re quite rich, so you might want to ration them. You can choose what to put in, and children can do most of the work. The only difficult part is waiting for them to set!

Ingredients:

• 8oz milk chocolate
• 1oz butter
• 4oz nuts (pecans, walnuts, or Brazils) or desiccated coconut
• 4oz miniature marshmallows

To Make:

• Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl set over a simmering pan of water.

• When it’s fully melted, allow to cool a little and then pour it over the remaining ingredients.

• Mix thoroughly and press into small cupcake cases. Put aside to set.

• Now you can decorate with more melted chocolate, icing or silver balls.

Double Chocolate Brownies

Squidgy, chocolatey, messy: no wonder brownies are most kids’ favourites. Help them to make their own and serve with ice-cream and squirty chocolate sauce for a weekend pudding!

Ingredients:

• 8oz plain flour
• 0.5tsp baking powder
• Pinch salt
• 2oz cocoa
• 4oz caster sugar
• 4tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3oz chocolate chips

To Make:

• Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into a large mixing bowl.

• Stir in the sugar and salt.

• In a microwave or small pan, melt the butter, and pour it over the dry ingredients.

• Beat the eggs and add to the bowl, then mix everything to make a smooth batter.

• Fold in the chocolate chips and pour into a greased, approximately 8” square baking tin.

• Bake at 180 deg C for about 20 minutes.

• When a skewer comes out cleanly, the brownies are done.

• Cool in the tin and cut into squares.

Vanilla Cupcakes

Make some simple vanilla cupcakes and top with a variety of flavoured icings or sweet decorations. Just give the kids some small bowls of coloured glace icing, some packets of sweets, and instructions not to eat everything before they’ve finished!

Ingredients:

• 4oz margarine
• 6oz caster sugar
• 6oz self-raising flour
• 0.5tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 5tbsp milk

To Make:

• Cream the margarine with the caster sugar until pale and fluffy.

• Sift in the self-raising flour and baking powder, and fold gently.

• Finally stir in the beaten eggs and milk.

• Beat to form a thick batter. Spoon into paper cake cases, and bake at 180 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

• For the topping, make a simple glace icing by stirring water into sifted icing sugar until it drips slowly from a spoon.

• Divide into smaller bowls, and colour each batch using a different food colouring.

• Add spoons, then sit your children down with everything and let their imaginations run wild!

Other Recipes To Try

Once they’ve become a little more confident, try the Jammy Cupcakes (Cupcakes for Fetes), Hot Cross Bunnies (Easter Cakes), or Blueberry Muffins (Low-fat Cakes). Have fun!