My four-year old niece Luka asked me to make a birthday cake for this year. This is not an easy task as she wants a Tinker Bell cake of all things. You see I am a cook but definitely not a cake baking or cake decorating person…. Baking for me is rather a tedious, scientific and boring affair as you have to follow the recipe 100% otherwise your recipe is going to flop – like most of my cakes I might add! And let it be known that when it comes to decorating I have two left hands.

So I had to make a plan somehow in order to get me started – I did not want to try my deal with Luka’s Tinker Bell cake first time around so I decided to make a simple Blue Monster cupcake to start with and in some way then prepare myself for the fairy monster ahead. Well, I had so much fun ….

Blue Monster Cupcakes
Ready-baked cupcakes
Buttercream icing
Cake food colouring # E133
Grass nozzle # 234 (ask for this at any cake decorating shop)
Piping bag
Eyes – you can buy them or make your own with white and black plastic icing
Mouth – chocolate chip cookies, broken in half

Mix the buttercream icing with a little blue food colouring until you get the real “monster” colour. Spread a thin layer of blue buttercream icing over the cupcake. Place the grass nozzle in your piping bag and fill-up ¾ with icing. Press the icing on top of the cupcake and then pull it up to get the effect of hair. Place the eyes and the mouth in place.