Pink vanilla cupcakes and cupcake decorating lessons from a couple of cuties!

 

Pink has been the colour of the month with ‘Pink October’ initiatives raising awareness for breast cancer. There have been multiple Pink October events taking placing throughout the month including Pink Ribbon Day, Girls Night In, Pink Golf Day and many others. I thought that I would promote Pink October by creating a few pink recipes and spreading awareness amongst family, friends and colleagues by sharing pink food with them.

I’m currently KitchenAid-less as mine is getting repaired though, as if on queue, KitchenAid (who are also supporting Pink October) came to my rescue and lent me a Stand Mixer from their KitchenAid Platinum Collection in the most amazing colour, Raspberry Ice!

KitchenAid donates a percentage of sales on ALL its Pink and Raspberry Ice products throughout the year to the Breast Cancer Network Australia and the Breast Cancer Network NZ. This includes proceeds from sales of all Platinum Collection Raspberry Ice Stand Mixers and Blenders, and all Artisan Pink Stand Mixers, Blenders, Hand Mixers and utensils. See more info on KitchenAid below.

Over the next few days I’m going to share some of my pink recipes with you. Maybe you can make them for a Pink October event or sell at work to raise money or just spread the word of Pink October by sharing. Today’s recipe is Pink Vanilla Cupcakes and I enlisted the help of my gorgeous nephews and nieces to decorate.

INGREDIENTS

For the cake

1 cup self-raising flour

90g softened butter

1 tsp madeira flavouring (optional)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

2 tbs milk

A few drops of pink colouring

For the icing

125g butter, softened

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

2 tbs milk

A few drops of pink colouring

 

METHOD

For the cake

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with papers and put aside.

Sift flour into a bowl of an electric mixer and then add the butter, madeira, extract, sugar, eggs, milk and pink colouring. Mix on low until combined and then increase speed to med-high and beat until mixture changes to a lighter colour.

Spoon mixture into the cupcake cases and put in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden and firm to touch.

Let cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then let stand on a cooling rack until completely cooled.

For the icing

Beat butter in a small bowl with an electric mixer until it is as light as possible.

Beat in 1/2 the icing sugar and 1/2 the milk, mix until combined and then add the remaining icing sugar and milk.

Once combined add the pink colouring to the icing.

Once cupcakes are completely cooled you can add the icing using a palette knife or piping bag.

 

HOW TO DECORATE THE CUPCAKES

 

Stay tuned for more pink recipes coming this week.

 

Want to know more about Breast Cancer Awareness Month?

‘Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Australian women, with one in 9 Australian women diagnosed before the age of 85. October is Australia’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time to show support for women and families personally affected by breast cancer.

More than 14,000 women and 105 men are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year alone.  Thirty-eight Australian women are diagnosed every day and while survival rates continue to improve – today more than 88 per cent of women survive five years after diagnosis – there is still a long way to go.’ Visit http://www.bcna.org.au for more information.

Want to know more about KitchenAid?

The iconic brand KitchenAid have just a new premium KitchenAid Platinum Collection where the stylish stand mixer now sports a premium metallic finish.  The new collection comes in eight new finishes including Candy Apple, Raspberry Ice, Medallion Silver, Black Storm, Electric Blue, Sugar Pearl Silver, Cafe Latte and Antique Copper.

According to Comms Manager at KitchenAid distributor Peter McInnes, the premium metallic finish evokes the look and feel of luxury and are inspired by foods like sugar pearls, summer berries and shiny toffee apples.

With Christmas coming this might be the perfect gift to put on the wish list! The KitchenAid Platinum Collection can be bought at Myer, MatchBox and Essential Ingredient. RRP $799 (inc GST). I use my KitchenAid (well before it went in for a service) weekly and couldn’t live without it

What would you decorate your cupcake with?