Fancy cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 190C/gas 5. Arrange silver paper cake cases in tartlet tins.

Combine the eggs, flour, butter, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk until smooth and pale.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared paper cases and bake for 12-18 minutes until risen, golden and just firm to the touch.

When cakes are cool, ice with the frosting of your choice and decorate as desired (see cook’s note below).

For the orange butter cream: whisk all the ingredients together till smooth and spread onto cooled cup cakes.

For the mallow frosting: beat the egg whites with the vanilla sugar until stiff. Swirl the mixture onto cooled cup cakes, then pop them under the grill for a few minutes until just tinged with colour. For a marbled finish, stir some chopped chocolate or crushed berries into the meringue at the last minute before grilling.

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