Carolyn White - Seasonal Cupcakes--Christmas: 3 fun & festive cupcake decorating projects

Before you start, its a good idea to check you have everything to hand that you might need. Included in this section is a list of essential equipment for making and baking your cupcake sponge bases and to whip up your frostings; a basic decorating toolbox; and key specialist tools. Dont feel you need to have all the latter kit to create fun cupcakes, but if you are making a large quantity or get really hooked, these are the items I find really useful. Specific tools required beyond the basics are listed under you will need at the start of each project.

• Kitchen scales/measuring cups and measuring spoons for accurately weighing ingredients
• Electric stand mixer with paddle attachment (flat beater) to make the sponge cake base and toppings
• Muffin and mini muffin trays (pans)
• Wire rack to cool cupcakes
• Flexible plastic spatulas for scraping out bowls
• Muffin baking cases (liners) keep a variety of the many fantastic designs available, both paper and foil, on hand for spontaneous events
• Large disposable plastic piping (pastry) bags, 46cm (18in) and 53cm (21in) for piping your mixture into cases
• Oven thermometer a must if unsure of your internal oven temperature
• Microwave or double boiler for melting chocolate
• Plastic or glass microwave-safe bowls for melting chocolate and butter
• Sieve (strainer)

• Non-stick work board with non-stick mat beneath to prevent slipping to roll out icing and cut out and model paste shapes
• Non-stick rolling pin for rolling out sugarpaste (rolled fondant) and flower (petal/gum) paste
• Icing spacers to get an even 3mm (in) thickness
• Large disposable plastic piping (pastry) bags for piping frostings
• Paper piping (pastry) bags made from baking (parchment) paper for small quantities of royal icing/applying details
• Piping tubes (tips) fine for piping royal icing details; large for piping frosting
• Scissors to snip the ends of piping (pastry) bags for piping tubes (tips) to fit snugly
• Large and mini palette knives large for buttercream; mini for cutting, turning paste and lifting paste shapes/features
• Paintbrushes a selection of sable (no. 3 for glue) and pony (no. 8 for edible shimmering flakes, non-toxic glitters and lustre dusts) are handy for all sorts of details
• Set of 11 circle cutters (Ateco) nos. specified count outwards from the smallest, no. 1
• Icing smoother for smoothing and polishing sugarpaste (rolled fondant)

• Shaped cutters ovals, hearts, square, star, triangle
• Kemper mini plunger cutters 4mm (in) circle and heart; PME blossom set comes with a foam pad to push plunger against to cup the paste
• Ball tool and smile tool (PME) for adding detail to paste characters
• Dresden tool for scoring lines into paste and adding texture
• Paint palette for mixing colours and blending gold/silver lustre dust with alcohol
• Dusting brush for brushing lustre dust onto paste
• Cocktail sticks (toothpicks) for making tiny indentations and applying colour to icing
• Foiled cake board for storing made-ahead paste discs

My team and I always use a stand mixer and where possible give easy all-in-one recipes, but if you wish to make your cake mix by hand, cream the fat and sugar together in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon until light and fluffy before gradually beating in any liquids and finally incorporating the flour with a large metal spoon.

Light and luscious, this vanilla sponge recipe will never fail to produce a great sponge base for the most fabulous decorations. If you fancy a change for a more zingy flavour, simply follow the suggestions for a citrus version.

125g (4oz) margarine, softened

125g (4oz) caster (superfine) sugar

1 tsp (5ml) vanilla extract

2 eggs (medium or large), lightly beaten

125g (4oz) self-raising (-rising) flour

2 tbsp (30ml) milk

If you want a really good, dependable chocolate cupcake recipe, this is the one. The cakes keep well and are great for decorating, but they are also ideal just with a cream cheese frosting or a decadent chocolate frosting.