Victoria Sponge Cupcakes

A party is not a party unless you have cupcakes, right?
I decided to bake some Victoria Sponge cupcakes based on Jamie Oliver's recipe.
Since I was on a roll with the buttercream icing I could not resist keeping to a rose theme in shades of pink. Pretty predictable but they were a big hit with the kids!

Here is a copy of the recipe mentioned above, except I did not add lemon zest and I used butter cream icing instead of a fruit icing.
Ingredients:
for the sponge
• 225g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
• 225g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs, preferably free-range or organic
• 225g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting

for the buttercream icing
• 250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 500g icing sugar, sifted
• a dash of milk (optional)

Method:
• Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5
• Beat the butter and sugar together in a food processor, until very light and fluffy
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating each one in well before you add the next
• Sift in the flour and fold the mixture together
• Place 18 paper cake cases into muffin tins
• Use tablespoons to evenly divide the mixture between the paper cases
• Put the muffin tins into the oven and bake for 15 minutes
• You can check to see if the cakes are cooked by sticking a cocktail stick right into one of them
• Remove it after 5 seconds and if it comes out clean they’re cooked; if it’s slightly sticky they’ll need a bit longer, so put them back in the oven for another 5 minutes, or until cooked through and golden on top
• If you cook them for too long, though, they will go dry so keep an eye on them
• Remove the cakes from the tins and transfer to a wire rack to cool

Once cooled you can ice the cupcakes.
In a food processor beat the butter for a few minutes until soft and then add half the icing sugar. Beat until smooth. Now add the rest of the icing sugar and beat until creamy and smooth. If your mixture is too stiff then you might need to add a bit of milk to loosen it slightly.
Add food colouring and beat until well combined.
Have fun decorating the cup cakes!