Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and what better way to spoil that special someone with our rose cupcakes with cute hearts hidden inside? Just be sure to start prepping them a few days in advance, as there’s quite a lot of cooling and freezing time involved.

MAKES 12 // COOKING TIME 2 hours, plus cooling and freezing time

INGREDIENTS
250 g butter
500 g caster sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp rose water
375 g cake flour
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup milk
Red food colouring

METHOD
1. Preheat oven to 180˚C
2. Cream the butter and sugar together.
3. Mix in the eggs and rose water.
4. Sift all the dry ingredients into a separate bowl.
5. Alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the creamed butter mixture, mixing well after each addition.
6. Add a few drops of red food colouring to the mixture and pour into a greased and lined loaf tin.
7. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, cool and slice. Press a heart out of each slice and freeze them.
8. Make a second batch of batter following steps 1-5. Line a muffin cupcake tray with paper cases.
9. Fill each case halfway and insert a frozen heart into each one. Cover with the remaining batter.
10. Bake for 15 minutes, cool completely and ice as desired.