So last weekend we had the pleasure of looking after our nearly 3 year old niece. She absolutely loves baking and after showing her lots of pictures of different cupcakes she decided that we should make Cookie Monster ones...cupcakes and cookies, girl after my own heart!
We made vanilla cupcakes but added in some chocolate chips, covering them in flour first to prevent them from sinking to the bottom. (This is such a handy tip and works well for dried fruit too).
I was amazed at how much she remembered from all the cooking she does at home with her mum...she could tell me all the ingredients needed off the top of her head (better than my husband could ;-)). She had a go at cutting up the butter with a blunt knife too...I don't think it is ever too early to teach children how to be responsible with kitchen equipment.
We used a combination of 'Navy' and 'Ice blue' from the Sugarflair range to colour the buttercream, it took us a while to get just the right shade of blue. Nia rolled out the modelling paste for the eyes and used a round cutter for them whilst I used an icing pen to draw the pupils.
When it came to assembling the cupcake Nia took charge of sticking on the eyes and cookies whilst I piped (I used a closed star tip as I am awaiting for my 'fur' tip to arrive). The best part was when Nia kept 'accidentally' (on purpose!) covering the eyes in the blue buttercream which left her with no option but to eat them. She has such a sweet tooth, just like her aunty!
After they were all made she licked the icing bowl clean (something me and my brother used to fight over when we were younger). We had a brilliant time together and I think I've found a baking buddy for life.