It might be Mother's Day, a friend's birthday, a fancy afternoon tea – or just a regular Wednesday. Whatever the occasion, or even if there isn't one, cupcakes are always joyous. Our collection is filled with pocket-sized bites of happiness, from classic vanilla, chocolate and red velvet creations to more elaborate flavours and decorations. You'll want to try them all.
A very simple cupcake which looks so impressive with its two-tone icing. You can now buy dual-compartment piping bags which you fill with two colours of icing and pipe at the same time to achieve the effect. Otherwise put each colour on either side of a normal piping bag. The icing is a simple buttercream but use the pink colouring sparingly – it's very concentrated so it may end up bright pink rather than a soft pastel.
These cupcakes are made with the all-in-one method – simply put all the ingredients in a bowl, then whisk it together. The sponge is lifted with honey and sharp lemon zest. There's a surprise centre too. Once baked, a little sponge is scooped out and filled with honey cream. The cupcakes are decorated with honey buttercream, piped on with a wide star nozzle. Add a sprinkling of edible gold glitter for added wow factor.
A very autumnal cupcake, flavoured with allspice and topped with cinnamon and honey buttercream. It uses fresh pumpkin, which is grated raw, so you may want to enlist the help of your food processor. Decorate with a dusting of ground cinnamon or edible glitter.
Get the recipe for spiced pumpkin cupcakes here
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The sponge for these cupcakes is a little different from the norm. It's an angel food cake recipe, which is a fat-free sponge made with whisked egg whites and sugar, like a meringue, and flour. Don't be heavy-handed when folding in the flour as you want to keep it light and airy – a balloon whisk does the job perfectly. The cupcakes are topped with blueberry buttercream. You can happily use frozen blueberries for this recipe.
Make a favourite cake into a cupcake! To transform the light lemon sponge into a drizzle cupcake, mix 5tbsp fresh lemon juice with 3tbsp granulated sugar. When the cupcakes come out of the oven, make holes with a cocktail stick and spoon on the lemon mixture. When cold, make a lemon glaze icing, mixing a little lemon juice into sifted icing sugar, then drizzle over the top, adding some lemon zest.
Chai is an Indian tea, made from tea leaves traditionally mixed with cardamom, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and peppercorns. You can buy it ready-mixed for an instant drink, and it works perfectly in this cupcake recipe which also has a little cocoa added, to give a heavenly combination of chocolate and spice. It's topped with chai buttercream.
This is a very straightforward vegan sponge, where the eggs and butter are replaced with plant-based milk and sunflower oil. You can use any non-dairy milk you like, but almond milk works very well. Orange zest is used in the sponge to give it that citrusy flavour and the cupcakes are topped with melted chocolate.
The classic combination of juicy cherries and dark chocolate works perfectly in a cupcake. Our recipe uses tinned cherries in syrup, so no need to hunt for fresh ones out of season. For a grown-up twist, the sponge contains puréed cherries laced with cherry brandy, and they are topped with a cherry brandy-infused cream.
This cupcake recipe has all the traditional Black Forest flavours with a refined and elegant twist. Halved, pitted morello or sour cherries (defrosted frozen or jarred ones are fine) are stirred through mascarpone to give the icing its pale pink colour, and it's dolloped on top of a basic chocolate sponge. And the cherry on top of the whole thing? Well, it's a cherry on top.
A bit wacky perhaps, but why not give these a try! The sponge contains a cooked kale purée, but the slight bitterness of the leafy green is toned down by orange zest and juice, vanilla and sugar. They are topped with an orange buttercream. This is also a handy sponge to have up your sleeve if you need a green element to a novelty cake (we are thinking football pitch here!), and don't want to resort to green colouring.
Key limes are stronger, more intense and more aromatic than a regular lime, but everyday limes will still work perfectly in this cupcake. The lime sponges, once cooked, are drizzled with a lime syrup and topped with a white chocolate, creamy frosting. You can also decorate them with crystallised lime peel, which is simple to make but needs to be prepared the day before.
This is a dessert cupcake, with a twist on a classic British summer pudding. Berries are folded into the batter before baking, to give a soft, moist sponge, and the cupcakes are topped with more berries, lightly cooked with a little sugar. They would be just perfect served with whipped vanilla cream. You can use frozen berries when fresh are out of season and they won't change the end result.
Sometimes all you want is a simple, basic vanilla cupcake which you can decorate with your favourite toppings. Be sure to use pure vanilla extract – you don't need very much but it will give you a true vanilla, rather than synthetic, flavour. Using a spring-loaded ice cream or cookie scoop to divide up the batter will give you perfect portion sizes too. Top with vanilla cream cheese frosting or buttercream (find the recipe here).
Here's a fun cupcake for kids' parties – you can add all sorts of sweets, chocolate buttons and decorations to the coconut topping, as they will stick happily to the icing. There's a simple chocolate batter to make, then the icing is buttercream with melted white chocolate. Melt the white chocolate very slowly over a pan of simmering water – because of its high cocoa butter content, it can overheat and seize up.
Get the recipe for chocolate cupcakes with coconut and white chocolate frosting here
Sweet and sharp all at once, this lovely cupcake is made with dried cranberries, drizzled with an orange syrup and topped with white chocolate buttercream. Try decorating them with sugared cranberries too. To make, prepare a sugar syrup by heating equal amounts of sugar and water until the sugar has dissolved. Cool, then toss in the cranberries in the syrup, remove with a slotted spoon and allow them to dry a little on baking paper for 30 minutes, then roll them in granulated sugar.
When you fancy some carrot cake, what better than to have a stash of cupcakes in the freezer, ready to go! Our recipe for carrot cake will make around 24 cupcakes and the vanilla cream cheese frosting is not to be missed. Bake them for around 20 minutes, until golden brown and beginning to shrink away from the sides of the cases. Decorate with the frosting and finely chopped walnuts.
This stunning cupcake was designed to commemorate British Armistice Day on 11 November. It's a red velvet cupcake, topped with cream cheese frosting and decorated with a fondant poppy. To make the poppy, use red fondant and a petal cutter, or work freehand with a stencil. The centre is made from black fondant, pushed into poppy seeds once shaped. To roll fondant icing, use cornflour or icing sugar on the surface to prevent it sticking.
A simple, soft, chocolate sponge makes a perfect cupcake base for you to decorate as you wish. You could pipe on chocolate buttercream, using a wide star nozzle, or make a chocolate ganache, gently heating equal quantities of chocolate and double cream together until combined, then setting aside until firm enough to pipe or spread. Before piping, twist the filled icing bag (disposable ones are much easier to deal with) until there's no air in it.
Always a winner for a celebration, these easy chocolatey cupcakes are topped with a rich cream cheese frosting. Our top tips on the frosting? Take the time to sieve the icing sugar thoroughly. Once you add the butter, it's tricky to get rid of any lumps of icing sugar. You also need a good full-fat cream cheese (we recommend Philadelphia), as anything less will cause the icing to be runny and impossible to pipe or spread over the cupcakes.