My eldest daughter requested some cupcakes for her Tinkerbell birthday party. I love cupcakes, I think they are the cutest little things, but I was making a cake covered with fondant, serving marshmallows, chocolate and lots of other sugary items already. The thought of making frosted cupcakes too, was not really appealing to me. I was going to serve them to small kids after all! And we all know, too much sugar is not a great idea. So, I decided to find a recipe that did not require frosting to look pretty. As the theme was nature, I immediately got hooked to these super easy and great looking butterfly cupcakes. No frosting needed. You just spoon 2 tsp of your favourite filling on them, just to keep the “wings” in place, and you are done. Easy and quick to make. I used Crème Patissière for my filling because we use it a lot in our sweets in Italy and I love it, but you can use anything you like: jam, Nutella, whipped cream, lemon (or any other fruit) curd! You get the idea. You could also use different fillings and have different coloured butterflies! So many possibilities for such a simple recipe. I loved the way they looked and they tasted really yummy too! Enjoy!
Butterfly Cupcakes
How to bake and decorate cupcakes that look like butterflies!
Ingredients
- 100 gms – 7 tbsp unsalted butter softened
- 185 gms – 6.5 oz. caster sugar sifted
- ½ tsp vanilla extract or essence
- 200 gms – 1.6 cups self-raising flour sifted
- 125 ml – ½ cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 batch of Crème Patissière cooled
Instructions
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Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
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Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition.
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Add the flour and milk in alternate batches until just combined.
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Bake them in a pre-heated oven at 180ºC – 355ºF for about 20 minutes or until cooked through.
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When ready, remove the cupcakes from the oven and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
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When cold, use a sharp knife to cut small circles from the centre of each cupcake about 5 mm – 0.2 inches in from the edge of the cupcake. Make sure to slant-cut down 1 cm – 0.4 inches into the cupcake. Lift out the small rounds of cake and cut each round in half, to make the wings of a butterfly. Spoon about 2 tsp of Crème Patissière into the hollow and place the wings on top of the cream.
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Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
You will have some crème patissière left. You can use it to make Profiteroles or Fruit Tartelettes. You can keep it in the fridge for 2 or 3 days.
Just beautiful, Manuela! I am not a huge fan of cupcakes, but butterfly fairy cakes are a favourite!
Oh Manu, the cupcakes look so cute. I love the idea to fill with Crème Patissière, like more than buttercream