LAURA'S CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES...

Reader Laura shares a fab recipe for gorgeous cupcakes… with a cool, can't-go-wrong recipe! Give it a go…

Laura says:

You will need:
100g margarine
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
75g self-raising flour
25g cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder

Method:
* Preheat your oven to 200c/400f/Gas Mark 6.
* Place around eighteen paper cake cases into some bun tins.
* Measure all the ingredients out into a large bowl and beat the mixture well until it is smooth and well blended.
* Spoon the mixture into the paper cases to about half-full (they will rise in the oven!) Divide the mixture evenly between the cases.
* Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cakes are done… you can test this by inserting a knife or skewer into one of the cakes. If it comes out clean, the cakes are done. Also, the cakes should spring back when pressed lightly.

* Set the cakes to cool on a wire rack.
* Once cooled, ice the cupcakes with buttercream… you can add a bit of food colouring if you like, but that's optional! You can either buy ready-made buttercream or make your own… it's easy. I used a recipe from the BBC Goodfoods website, but if you do the same halve the quantities… I have a piping bag full of unused buttercream!
* Sit back, relax and enjoy a cake… tidying up can wait a minute, right?

I made these cakes for a friend's birthday. I had to give them to her at school, as her birthday was at the weekend, but unfortunately the cakes got squished on the bus and all the icing came off! I had to explain that the meaningless blobs had once been a heartfelt message…

Cathy says:
Wow… these look SO good! I think my day NEEDS some chocolate cupcakes. COMMENT BELOW if you like the look of these… or if you have some fab recipes you'd like to share on DREAMCATCHER!