Method

• Preheat the oven to 180ºC/300ºF/gas mark 4. Place 100g/ 4oz of the softened butter/margarine, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla essence into A bowl. Beat for a few minutes until the mixture is light in colour and fluffy.
• Line a bun tin with eight paper cases and divide the mixture between them, filling the cases to about two-thirds of the way up. Bake for about 20 minutes until the cakes have risen and are lightly golden. Lift the cakes (still in their paper cases) out of the tins and leave them to cool on a wire rack.
• Dust a clean work surface with icing sugar and roll out the icing to about 5mm/¼in thick. Cut out eight circles using a small pastry cutter that is the same size as the top of your cakes. Put the strawberry jam into a small dish and stir in one tablespoon of hot water. Brush this over the surface of the cakes and stick the circles of icing on top.
• Beat the remaining butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
• Add the remaining icing sugar and one tablespoon of the milk and beat the mixture until creamy and smooth. Beat in the milk, if necessary, to loosen the mixture.
• Place a table spoon worth of butter cream icing onto the top of each cupcake.
• To decorate the cakes, use marshmallows for the snowmen’s heads, black writing icing for the eyes, red writing icing for the smiles and for noses (stick them on with a blob of writing icing). Stick the heads on the cakes using a little strawberry jam, then stick on the blue roll icing once its rolled into little balls for buttons.