Cupcake critters: a monster fairy cake recipe for kids

Look mummy, this one’s really funny! – JD, 4

JD and I had lots of fun last week making cupcake monsters. Scroll to the bottom for more pics – the red and the yellow ones are entirely JD’s creations.

The recipe below makes 24 sponge cakes and basic icing, then we just went crazy with the icing pens, white chocolate Maltesers and chocolate drops.  Much fun.

Monster cupcake ingredients

1. 160g margarine
2. 100g granulated sugar
3. 100g golden sugar
4. 2 medium free-range eggs
5. 200g self-raising flour
6. 2-4tbsp milk
7. 24 coloured cupcake cases (ours were part of a multi-coloured set from Lakeland)
8. 200g white chocolate
9. 200g icing sugar
10. 2-4 tbsp of warm water
11. Icing pens, food colouring, chocolate buttons and any other decorative bits you fancy

Monster cupcake instructions

The sponge

1. Cream the margarine and sugar together, then beat in the egg with a fork
2. Stir in the sifted flour
3. Add milk until it’s thin enough to drop off the spoon
4. Divide between the 24 cake cases
5. Bake at 180C for about 15 minutes then cool completely

The icing

1. Melt the chocolate
2. Mix the icing sugar and water together and beat into the chocolate
3. Add a couple of drops of the food colouring
4. Divide between the cakes straight away before it sets
5. Once set, decorate however you like!