Father's Day Cupcakes

This is my first post since August! We have been extremely busy this past month as we have just moved into our new home, so it has left little time for baking. But we are settled in and Father's Day was my first opportunity to bake again :)

I had been using the Planet Cake cupcake recipe but my cupcakes always seemed to rise and crack at the top. Sure, it was fun cutting off and eating all the top bits, but its much more gratifying seeing beautifully domed cupcakes come out of the oven :) For my birthday a very good friend of mine spoilt me with two wonderful cupcake/cake books: Debbie Brown's 50 Easy Party Cakes and the Women's Weekly Kids' Little Party Cakes. Debbie Brown's book has some wonderful designs for birthday cakes but I think ill use the the Women's Weekly book more regularly as the cupcake designs aren't just for kids and it really has some quick to prepare but still gorgeous looking cupcakes. It really is a wonderful book which i highly recommend.

Back to my cupcake recipe dilemma, i decided to try out the very popular Women's Weekly Basic Buttercake recipe, which was in the book i received. And im now converted! I had the most perfectly sized and domed cupcakes come out of the oven - and this was the first time i had used the oven in our new home! Im definitely sticking to this recipe.

Back to Father's Day, my father in law loves chocolate (hmmm who doesn't!) so i decided to go for a chocolate buttercream with some simple fondant shapes on top. Gosh it's much easier to make cupcakes look pretty for girls than it is for guys!

The buttercream was delicious, i tried the recipe from the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake book. How do i know it was delicious? Well, apart my my taste buds telling me so, my brother-in-law never eats sweets but i begged him to try it and he was very impressed :) I think im starting to convert him he he.

I have been looking to buy a cream Robert Gordon Cupcake stand but they are sold out everywhere! So the cupcakes were just transported to my in-laws house in my cupcake courier and they didnt even make it to a serving plate as our niece and nephews just dug in!