Sunshine Cupcakes

I work hard, I have a pretty much full time job, and I study full time too. Mostly, I love it, it's flexible and I get to split my time between doing things that I (largely) enjoy, and spend time outside during the day as I commute between places. Of course there are times when that gets a bit much, and gets me down, but someone has to pay the bills. At these times, the people that sit around me at the office generally are in the same stressed out boat as me. Especially at this time of year, when you're getting into the office before sunrise and leaving before sunset, I get the feeling that everyone needs a bit more sunshine in their lives. So I make what I call "Sunshine Cupcakes". Normally, they're iced yellow, but Dolly Mixtures were on special at my local Tesco so I used all sorts of colours to make them look scrumptious. The Recipe is below. It includes a sugar syrup which was news to me when I made them. If you're going to make these, please please please don't forget the sugar syrup, and put lots on, quickly. It might make your pretty cupcake cases a bit less pretty but it makes the cakes so so moist and so vanillovely. Oh, and on the vanilla point: I know they're expensive, but there really is no substitute for Vanilla Pods. I bought a huge amount on Amazon (now doing groceries) and the price was 1/10th of the supermarket, for the same product.

Ingredients:
CAKES:
200g butter, softened, unsalted
200g caster sugar
200g plain flour
4 eggs (large, free range)
1tsp vanilla extract
2tsp baking powder
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VANILLA SYRUP
200ml water
100g sugar (granulated or caster)
1 vanilla pod (whole)
--------------------
ICING
300g butter, softened, unsalted
750g icing sugar
seeds of 1 vanilla pod
food colouring (yellow for sunshine- or whatever you want)

Method:
Preheat oven to 160*C, line cupcake tin.
Cream together butter and sugar, add vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating in between.
Add the remaining dry ingredients - mix.

Bake for 25-30 mins

Meanwhile... make the vanilla syrup: put all ingredients in a pan over low heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Crank up the heat and boil for 1 minute (keep an eye on it). Then turn off the heat.

When the cakes are done, brush the cakes with the syrup... the more the better, I sometimes just pour... This makes them so lovely and moist.

Leave the cakes to cool for a good 20 minutes (impatience is always my weakness).

For buttercream: beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla until desired consistency. Add colouring if you want.

The rest is up to your creativity.