Variations on the Standard Cupcake:

Apple & Walnut - Add in an extra 1½ tsp ground cinnamon. Peel, core and chop 2 Granny Smiths into 1cm pieces and add fold into finished batter. Finish with cream cheese frosting and a sprinkle of cinnamon along with walnut halves.

Apple Blossom - Make an apple tea with 4 tbsp apple iced-tea powder and 3 tbsp boiled water. Add this to the milk. Make a standard buttercream but dissolve 4 more tbsp in the milk beforehand.

Banoffee - Add 1 tsp vanilla extract to milk in sponge then mush up 2 ripe bananas and stir into finished batter. *Icing separately published*

Boston Cream - Add 1 tsp vanilla extract to sponge. Make a filling by bringing 250ml whole milk and ½ tsp vanilla extract to the boil. Meanwhile whisk 2 large egg yolks with 50g caster sugar, 1 tbsp flour and 1 tbsp cornflour by hand. Once the milk is boiling add 4-5 tbsp of egg mix to loosen. Return to the boil, whisking constantly to avoid lumps and boil for at least 1 minute to ensure flour is properly cooked. Once thickened, pour custard into a bowl and cover with clingfilm to prevent a skin and leave to cool for 30-40 minutes. Make a buttercream frosting but replace 100g of icing sugar with cocoa powder and add a dash more milk.

Candy-Cane - Add 1 tsp of vanilla extract to the sponge. Make a buttercream with 4 tsp peppermint essence. Separate mix into two halves and add a dash or red food colour paste/liquid to one half. Fill a piping bag with the two colours so that they're next to each other, not one above the other and pipe!

Caramel -  Add ½ tsp vanilla extract to the sponge and after adding the milk-egg mixture, stir in 150g tinned caramel or 'dulce de leche'. Make a buttercream and pipe cool shapes onto the cupcakes using approximately 100g more caramel.

Cherry - Make the sponge as usual then stir in by hand 150g Kirsch-soaked cherries, drained, pitted and chopped, making sure they are evenly distributed. Again make a buttercream and stir in 80g more cherries plus extra whole ones dipped in melted dark chocolate to decorate.

Cherry Blossom - Like with the Apple Blossom but instead use 3 cherry blossom teabags and leave to draw in boiled water for 30 minutes. Add to milk but retain teabags. Infuse buttercream frosting milk with teabags for 30 minutes and make sure to give them a good squeeze.

Chocolate - Replace 40g flour with 40g cocoa powder in the sponge. In the buttercream, replace 100g icing sugar with 100g cocoa powder and cover in sprinkles etc...

Chocolate Fondant - Replace 40g flour with 40g cocoa powder in the sponge. Make a cheat's ganache by heating 400ml double cream just to boiling point and pouring over 400g finely chopped dark chocolate. Wait until the chocolate has melted then give it a stir until smooth then cover with clingfilm and leave to cool.

Coca-Cola - Simply add 1 tbsp cola syrup to the sponge and 2 tbsp to the buttercream. Decorate with Haribos!

Earl Grey - Leave 3 Earl Grey teabags to brew for 30 minutes in 3 tbsp boiled water. Add this to the egg-milk mixture making sure to squeeze the teabags into the egg-milk mix. Top with plain buttercream.

Eggnog - Leave the sponge as it is but top with a buttercream flavoured with 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg and 2 tsp rum. Top with funky X-mas decorations, edible if possible.

Espresso - Lightly warm the milk without boiling it and dissolve in 20g instant espresso powder. Leave to cool and proceed as usual. For the buttercream frosting,  you can either heat the milk and dissolve in 16g powder or you can use coffee essence, if available. A few drops should do.

Fruit tea - Make as for Earl Grey but use summer fruits/mixed berries teabags and perhaps top the buttercream with sliced or whole, if small enough, fruit.

Orangeade - Make exactly as per lemonade but replace the quantities of lemonade syrup with fizzy orange syrup and top with orange jelly sweets.

Hot-Chocolate - Gently warm the milk, without boiling and dissolve in 25g hot chocolate powder (Green & Blacks, of course) and leave to cool. Repeat with the milk used in the buttercream but this time dissolve in 30g.

Jasmine - Make as rose but replace the rosewater with jasmine tea. Put 3 white jasmine teabags in 35ml boiled water and leave to stand for 30 minutes. Add this to the milk-egg mixture in the sponge. Retain the teabags and infuse the milk for the buttercream with the teabags.

Lemon & Cranberry - Add 1½ tsp finely grated lemon zest, 1½ tsp vanilla extract and 100g dried cranberries, dried and tossed in flour to the sponge. Make a buttercream frosting but add a dash of lemon juice and sprinkle over a few more cranberries.

Lemon Meringue - Add 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest to sponge and hollow out a section. Add a dollop of lemon curd/jam and replace the sponge 'hat'. Top with a meringue frosting *appearing later*

Lemonade - Add 1 tbsp lemonade syrup and ½ tsp finely grated lemon zest to the sponge. Then make a buttercream, adding 1 tsp finely grated zest and 2 tbsp lemonade syrup. Top with lemon jelly sweets or slices.

Marbled - Make the batter as usual but divide mix into two. Add ½ tsp vanilla extract to one and 20g cocoa powder to the other. Fill the cases to a ⅓ full with chocolate mix then to ⅔ full using the vanilla mix on top. Swirl the two gently with the stick of a spoon and bake. Top with ½ buttercream recipe with ¼ tsp vanilla extract and ½ buttercream recipe where 50g icing sugar has been replaced with cocoa powder. Mix the two frostings gently together and spread on.

Mocha - Gently warm, without boiling, the milk and dissolve in 15g hot chocolate powder (Green & Blacks all the way!) and 5g instant espresso powder. Leave to cool and use as normal. Similarly heat the milk for the buttercream and dissolve in 30g hot chocolate powder. However if this seems a bit too chocolatey you may wish to add 1 - 2 drops of coffee essence but be careful, like almond extract, it is very potent! A little goes a long way.

Orange Blossom - Again, like apple blossom but use 1 tbsp orange blossom water in sponge and 3 tsp in the frosting added to the milk in both cases.

Peppermint - Make as the Earl Grey but use peppermint teabags.

Rose - Flavour the sponge with 1 tbsp rosewater added to the egg-milk mixture. Top with a buttercream flavoured with 3 tsp rosewater and top with candied rose petals or crystallised rose petals *coming soon*.

S'more - Replace 40g flour with 40g cocoa powder in the sponge. Finely grate 30g chilled dark chocolate and blitz 5 digestive biscuits in a food processor. Sprinkle the chocolate and approximately ¾ of the biscuits over the batter before baking. *Top with a meringue frosting, appearing later* and sprinkle over remaining biscuits and dark chocolate squares.

Vanilla - Add ½ tsp vanilla extract to sponge. Top with buttercream flavoured with ½ tsp vanilla extract and divide mix and experiment with food dyes to achieve pretty pastel colours for the frosting and don't forget the sprinkles!

Violet - Make as with rose but use ¼ tsp violet essence in the sponge and 2 drops in the buttercream instead of rosewater. Decorate with sugar paste flowers (shop-bought or home-made).