Please help me make some fantastic cupcakes for school bake off

[nappydaysagain]

I need to make some cup cakes for school on Friday with DS and am hoping that someone can give me some tips on a nice recipe and how to decorate them so they look good!!
I usually make brownies and other cakes but never cupcakes.
Thank you

I use this recipe and the kids love it (me too!):

CHOCOLATE CHIP CUPCAKES

Ingredients

• 150g/5oz butter, softened
• 150g/5oz caster sugar
• 175g/6oz self-raising flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 50g/2oz chocolate chips

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Line a 12 cupcake tray with cases.

1. Crack the eggs into a cup & beat lightly with a fork.

1. Place all the ingredients (except the chips) into a bowl & beat with a mixer for 2 minutes, until light & creamy.

1. Add the chocolate chips & mix through.

1. Divide the mixture between the cases & bake for 10-15minutes.

(My oven takes less than 15 mins, so keep an eye out.)

Then top with butter icing and a smartie on top, or plain icing works too.

Nappydays, ha ha, just finished making some cupcakes for tomorrow, gotta do my bit! this time i did something different,i made red velvet cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting, google it they are really easy to do.

Thanks for the tips. In the end I uses a Mary Berry cupcake recipe and pipped the top with butter icing with coco powder in. Let DS decorate with silver balls, tiny smarties and chocolate drops