Easter Recipe: Mini Bug Buns

Baking is the perfect way to spend quality time with your children over the Easter break, allowing them to create something that they can feel proud of and that tastes delicious! Your budding bakers will love helping to make Si?cra’s Mini Bug Buns and the exciting icing craft work that will keep them busy for hours. This recipe makes 24 Mini Bug Buns.

?Cake Mixture

Ingredients:
125g butter, at room temperature
125g Si?cra Light Golden Brown Sugar
2 medium free range eggs
150g self-raising flour
3tbsp milk
2tsp vanilla extract
Required: 24 hole mini muffin tin & 24 mini muffin paper cases

?Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180?C/ 160?C fan.
2. Line the mini muffin tin with 24 paper cases.
3. Beat together the butter and Si?cra Light Golden Brown Sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
5. Mix in the flour, milk and vanilla extract.
6. Divide the mixture equally between the 24 cases.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
8. Cool on a wire rack before piping on the buttercream.

?Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:
225g butter, at room temperature
450g Si?cra Icing Sugar
3tsp vanilla extract
Green food colouring
Required: piping bag and small star nozzle

?Method:

1. Beat the butter and Si?cra Icing Sugar together.
2. Add the vanilla extract and beat again. It takes a few minutes to turn into buttercream.
3. Add the green food colouring gradually until you have the desired colour.
4. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small star nozzle.
5. Pipe onto each cupcake starting wide at the bottom and getting narrower as you go up. Try to do this in one movement.
6. Place a mini bug on top.

?Mini Bugs:

Ingredients:
1 pack (454g) of Si?cra Rollout Icing Sugar
Icing colour – yellow, black, green, red
Edible glue (optional)
Black edible pen (optional – black roll out can be used instead)

?Method:

1. Divide the Si?cra Rollout Icing Sugar into 5 pieces and knead until it softens.
2. To colour the icing put a small amount of colour onto the white icing and knead it in until it is well combined. (You may want to wear gloves when doing this.) Add more colour if necessary.
3. Colour one piece yellow, another piece black, another piece green and finally another piece red. Leave the final piece white.
4. Make the bugs:

Caterpillars: Roll 6 balls of green into circles. The head is the biggest ball and the final two balls are a little smaller than the middle ones. Stick on little balls of white for the eyes and a little black for the pupils.

Bees: Roll a piece of yellow into a small ball and then roll it into an oval shape making one end a bit skinnier than the other. This will be the tail. Cut or roll thin strips of black icing for the stripes. For the wings roll two small amounts of white into circle shapes and bend them up slightly. Stick on little balls of white for the eyes and a little black for the pupils.

Ladybirds: Roll some red into an oval shape and some black into a small ball for the ladybirds head. Place a thin strip of black down the centre and some black dots on the red. Stick on little balls of white for the eyes and a little black for the pupils.

For more information on Si?cra products or recipes visit:?www.siucra.ie