Christmas Tree Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, gas mark 5) and line a muffin tin with muffin cases.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, mixing well in between, then add the chocolate extract. Finally fold in the flour, cocoa and baking powder until well combined.

Spoon the mixture evenly into the cases and bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until they are springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean.

To make the buttercream use an electric mixer or hand mixer to mix the icing sugar and butter together until you get a breadcrumb texture, then add the milk and mix on high speed until and fluffy. Add a few drops of green food colouring to the buttercream and mix until you get a ‘Christmas tree’ green colour.

Pipe the buttercream onto the cakes in a pyramid and top the ‘trees’ with festive sprinkles for the perfect finishing touch.