Holly Cup Cakes

After a hard day's childcare, I decided to wind down with a spot of cake baking this evening, going against my vow to never bake mid week. Another reason is because I have ordered various sugarcraft paraphernalia recently which I haven't had a chance to test out so tonight seemed like a good opportunity.

I stuck to the cup cake variety of cakes, mainly because they are quick and easy and everybody likes them, also it's not so much the cake making I am interested in as the cake decorating, after all if I am hoping to sell my cakes then they must look amazing as well as taste amazing!

I decided on holly leaves for the decoration as these seemed like a simple place to start and spent half an hour cutting out tiny green leaves and rolling little red berries to put on top. Using royal icing I generously smeared the icing over the cakes laying the holly and berries gently on top.

I am pleased with the result however, there are a few questions that I need to find the answers to; a) how can I stop my muffin cases going brown in the oven? b) how can I make sure the cakes come out flat and not with a big hill on the top, and c) how can I add the icing without it looking so messy!

The answer to c) I think is to start piping my icing out instead of using the spatula, something I will have to put to the test next time. If anyone has any tips on a) or b), answers on a postcard please ...