Free range...

I love me some farm fresh eggs. I don't care what anyone says, I CAN tell the difference between free range and cage eggs. I don't even mind if there are a few bits of dried chicken poo on my egg shells, it reminds me they come from the farm and that's a good thing. I was lucky enough to get a about three dozen beautiful, farm fresh eggs on the weekend, but I otherwise buy Eggs by Ellah or a similar free range local brand and I don't mind paying a bit extra for the privilege.
Eggs by Ellah is a brand that is proud of its story and the farmer behind it is happy to stick her face on the packaging. Ellah is a new generation egg farmer and she is educating her customers as well as providing them with a beautiful product. And she does it in a very stylish way! With today being International Day of Rural Women, I thought it fitting to give Ellah, and all the other fabulous rural women out there, a bit of a plug because quite frankly they deserve it. 

Anyway, with my abundance of eggs I decided to have a crack (oh yes I did) at making cupcakes with a creamy chocolate peanut butter icing I've been wanting to try. Let's just say the big lad wasn't adverse to the idea of being my guinea pig either...

Vanilla Cupcakes with Creamy Choc Peanut Icing

Ingredients
115g butter (unsalted is best)
115g raw caster sugar
2 free range eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 1/2 cups SR flour
1/2 cup almond meal
2 tablespoons milk 

Icing
60g cream cheese
2 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
3/4 cup icing sugar
100g dark chocolate, melted

Method
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a 12 hole muffin pan with cases. 
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gently fold in milk, flour and almond meal. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.
Cool on wire rack. 
For the icing, combine cream cheese, peanut butter and icing sugar before folding in melted chocolate. Be careful not to over mix. Ice as you please, but I put the icing into a piping bag with a star nozzle and put a couple of stars on each cake - the term "free range" can also be applied to my piping skills!