These petite Vanilla and Rosewater cupcakes not only look gorgeous, but taste gorgeous too! 

Inspiration for this recipe came from the stunning blog Sprinkle Bakes via ModCloth.  I have adjusted some ingredients and measurements to suit Australian readers.

 

 

You'll Need:

 

 

Cupcakes:

 

• 1 1/2 cups of self-raising flour

• 1/4 teaspoon of salt

• 6 tbsp soft butter

• 3/4 cup caster sugar

• 2 large eggs (or 3 small)

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• the seeds of 1 vanilla pod

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1 tsp rosewater

 

 

 

Rosewater Icing instructions below

 

Steps:

 

1. Preheat your oven to 180'c or 350'F

 

 

2. In a mixing bowl, sift flour and add salt 

 

 

3. Separately, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

 

 

4. Crack your eggs into a small bowl and add one at a time to the creamed sugar, mixing all the while.

 

 

5. Cut vanilla pod in half length-ways.  Run a sharp knife along the inside to extract the seeds.  Discard husk (or keep for making bath crafts). Beat in vanilla bean seeds and vanilla extract.

 

6.  Combine all ingredients by adding flour mix and milk alternatively to the creamed sugar bowl.  Start with flour, then add a little of the milk, then the flour etc until all ingredients are combined.

 

 

7. Line your tray with cupcake cups.  I have added two tablespoons of batter to each cup, but if you are using bigger cups, fill them three quarters full.

 

 

8. Bake small cakes for 10 minutes, and bigger cupcakes for 15 - 20 minutes.

 

 

Rosewater icing:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

• 3 cups icing sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

• 1/2 teaspoon rose water (don't use too much or your icing will taste like soap!)

 

 

1. At low speed, beat butter and icing sugar together. Gradually increase speed until sugar is absorbed and your icing is light and fluffy.  You should not be able to see any crunchy sugar bits.

 

 

2. At this stage add the rose water and mix through.  I have halved my icing and added a drop of red food colouring to one half.  The remainder I left white.  

 

 

3.  Spoon icing into a piping bag (or snip the end of a sandwich bag like I did!) and pipe onto cupcakes.  Start at the outside and wind your way around to the middle.  Gently dab at the outer edges of your icing to create the resemblance of a rose.

 

You can embellish with edible glitter or cupcake toppers if you wish. 

 

 I've actually gone ahead and made a sugared rose petal for the tops, which you can read over at Candied Rose Petals.

 

Who could resist these little delights?