Ice-cream Sundae Cupcakes!

I love to bake, so I was pumped when the Instructables team created a cake decorating contest! I really enjoy making these sundae cupcakes because they are cute, delicious, and SO easy! They'd be perfect for a movie night or a children's party. I've included in this instructable a great basic buttercream recipe, and also my family's favourite chocolate sauce recipe - it doesn't have an ounce of chocolate in it, but it's so decadent you'd never know. Let's get decorating!

You will need:

- Six cupcake bases (I like to make regular chocolate cake batter for my cupcakes, then pour it into cupcake cases instead of a cake tin. It makes really light, moist cupcakes.)

- Jaffas

- Long sprinkles (Hundreds 'n' thousands would also look good)

Special equipment:

- A mixer (Either a hand mixer or a stand mixer)

- A piping bag without a tip (or else a large round tip). If you don't have a piping bag, a regular plastic bag with a hole snipped in the corner works well.

- Measuring spoons

- Striped cupcake liners. These are optional, but look so cute!

Chocolate sauce ingredients:

- 100 grams of cubed butter

- 2 Tbsp cocoa

- Just under 1/2 cup sugar

- 1 egg

Buttercream ingredients:

- 125 grams softened, cubed butter

- 1 1/3 - 2 cups of sifted icing sugar (see below)

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 1 - 4 tablespoons of milk (see below)

This is only a basic buttercream recipe, and you can mess around with it as much as you like. The amount of milk and icing sugar varies, depending on the texture you're looking for. Less milk and icing sugar make a denser, more yellow icing, and more milk and icing sugar make a fluffier, white icing. I used about 3 Tbsp of milk and 1 2/3 cups of icing sugar.

Put your butter, cocoa, sugar, and egg into a small saucepan and stir it all really well. Once it's mixed, turn the heat up to halfway and cook it, stirring constantly, until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. There shouldn't be any lumps, and it should be quite thin and runny. Pour it into a wide container - the wider it is, the quicker it will cool - and put it in the fridge to thicken up.

Put your butter and icing sugar into a bowl, and beat to a cream. Next add your milk, a tablespoon at a time, followed by your vanilla essence. Once all the ingredients are in the bowl, beat for about seven minutes or until light and fluffy. Your icing should be a creamy colour, and if you rub a bit between two fingers, it should be only slightly gritty. If you can still feel a lot of icing sugar in there, keep beating!

It's time to fill your piping bag with buttercream! Drape your tipless piping bag over a cup (You don't have to do this, but it makes filling a lot less messy) and fill with icing up to the rim of the cup. Slip your piping bag off the cup, squeeze out any air that has managed to get trapped inside, and twist the end shut.

Lay your cupcakes out on a board, and pipe a big mound of buttercream on each one. Start on the outside and swirl your way in, piping in a circular motion. When you reach the top, stop piping and jerk your piping bag up and away for a perfectly pointed peak.

Now for the fun bit - it's time to decorate! Put your chocolate sauce, Jaffas, and sprinkles into small bowls, and put the bowls within easy reach. Drizzle each 'sundae' generously with chocolate sauce. I like to direct mine a bit with a spoon so the sauce dribbles down all sides, just like on a real sundae. Then grab a few pinches of sprinkles and shower them over your cupcakes. I did about two pinches per cupcake, but you could definitely add more to jazz them up a bit! Last but not least, put a 'cherry' on top of each sundae. You're done! If you're using the striped cupcake cases, you can put the cupcakes into them now.

I really enjoyed teaching you how to make these cupcakes, and I hope you enjoyed learning! If you did, please favourite this instructable, and vote for it in the cake decorating contest :) If you make these, please post photos - I'd LOVE to see them! Have a fantastic day!