IT’S CHRISTMAS!!! 1st December has arrived and that can only mean one thing.
Let the celebrations begin and the Christmas treats commence. We are kicking it off with a classic made Christmassy. Cupcakes.
We have topped a regular chocolate cupcake with a peppermint frosting to create a ‘candy cane cupcake’. By adding red food colouring to the inside of a piping bag we have achieved the striped candy cane look when piping the buttercream onto the cupcake.
For Christmas we turned our cupcakes into advent cupcakes by adding fondant shapes painted with gold numbers, you’ll spot these on your feed if you follow us on our social media channels (if you don’t you should probably go follow us, here’s some handy links for Instagram, Facebook and Twitter). Each day we’ll be sharing our advent image and for an extra treat, on Facebook and twitter, we’re sharing a favourite festive recipe of ours each day for some Christmas baking inspiration!!
If you don’t have a need for an advent cupcake, you can top with whatever you like to finish. Glitter, gold stars, crushed candy canes, whatever you like – it’s Christmas, go wild. One of the greatest things about Christmas is that no one can judge you for going entirely overboard on colour/decoration/glitter/sweets/everything.
- 40g cocoa powder
- 175g plain flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 225g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 175g unsalted butter, softened
- 180ml milk
- 2 tbsp yogurt
- 75g butter
- 450g icing sugar
- 70ml milk
- 2 tsp peppermint extract
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add in the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt and bicarbonate of soda and mix for a couple seconds to incorporate everything.
- Add in the butter and continue mixing until you have a sand like texture with no big lumps of butter.
- In a jug add the eggs, milk, vanilla and yogurt, whisk together until combined, then pour the mixture in a slow, steady stream into the bowl whilst mixing on a slow-medium speed.
- Mix for 1-2 minutes until you have everything is fully incorporated and you have a smooth mixture. With a spoon or ice cream scoop, fill the cupcake cases about 3/4 full.
- Bake at 150 degrees for about 30 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.
- With a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or an electric whisk, cream the butter until pale and fluffy.
- Add in about a third of the icing sugar and mix on a low speed until incorporated, then add half of the milk mixing until incorporated again. Continue adding icing sugar and mixing until everything is combined, add as much milk as you need to get the right consistency, you may need more or less icing sugar, just keep tasting the buttercream until you’re happy with it.
- Add the peppermint and mix on high for about 2-3 mins until the buttercream is light and fluffy.
- Fit a Wilton 2d tip or an open star nozzle to a piping bag and brush red food colouring down the sides of the inside of the piping bag.
- Pipe a double swirl of icing around the edge of the cupcake, start in the middle and work your way out and round, then finish in the middle to neaten it up.
- The red food colouring should have created a lovely red stripe effect to your frosting to create a candy cane look.
