• Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
• Arrange cupcake liners into muffin trays.

Baking the Cupcakes

• Measure butter and sugar into a medium bowl. Cream until the mixture turns light and creamy, for approximately 2 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl half way through.
• Next, add the eggs. Add them one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl again.
• In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking powder. Sift in these dry ingredients into the creamed mixture, alternately with the milk. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches and the milk in 2 batches. Start and end with the flour mixture.
• Next, add the pandan extract. Mix well.
• Scoop the pandan cupcakes batter into the prepared cupcake liners. Fill each casing until about two thirds full.
• Bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes. Remove the baked pandan cupcakes from the oven and transfer them onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Decorating the Cupcakes

• To make the pandan buttercream, cream butter until soft.
• Sift in the powdered sugar. Mix into the creamed butter very slowly at first, to avoid the sugar from flying. Gradually increase the speed and cream until the buttercream turns light and fluffy.
• Add the pandan extract and continue to beat until the extract is well incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat again to ensure the green color is all even.
• If the buttercream appears too stiff, add some milk or cream. Start with one tablespoon first and increase gradually is more is needed. Transfer the pandan buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.
• Make sure the cupcakes are completely cool (to room temperature) before applying the frosting to avoid the buttercream from melting. Start by piping the stars all around the edges of the cupcake and then one large one in the center.
• Add another row of the buttercream stars on top of the earlier layer, but this time, pipe them in a smaller circle.
• Finally, pipe a large star at top, right in the center.
• To garnish, grate coconut palm sugar (gula Melaka) and sprinkle it on the cupcakes.