Pudding? Yes please..
Merry Christmas!
The run up to Christmas always makes me want to bake more. Not really sure why, but I always find it easier to think of new designs and flavours around this time of year. I also have more willing tasters as well!
With that in mind, I present to you… the Christmas Pudding cupcake!
This is my usual chocolate cupcake recipe, adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days recipe book. It’s nice and light, with a chocolately kick. For extra flavour, I filled the centre of these cupcakes with my chocolate mousse. These cupcakes work best when the cupcake is already slightly domed – but not to worry if not! For some of the more level cupcakes, I added a larger blob of chocolate buttercream to the centre first. I used chocolate flavoured fondant (so much tastier than standard fondant) and cut out circles to smooth over the top of the cupcake and buttercream – creating a slight dome. The white “icing” is cut out freehand, whilst the holly is cut out using your standard holly cutter, then dusted liberally with lustre powder. Quite effective, no?
Next up on the agenda.. apple and cinnamon cupcakes.
I used the same cupcake recipe as I did with the Apple Crumble cupcakes, but added a teaspoon more cinnamon. These are the best when they come straight from the oven – the apples and still warm and soft.
The icing is a cinnamon buttercream – I changed my usual vanilla buttercream recipe, adding cinnamon instead. I think the flavours worked quite well together, very festive!