Christmas Cupcakes | Blogmas Day 7

The title of this post may be a little misleading, they're not really Christmas cupcakes.. They're just chocolate cupcakes with Christmas decorations so sort of Chrismas, right?! 

Unfortunately, they didn't turn out quite as I hope as they just look a bit of a mess but they taste good, so thats what matters! 

I bought these really lovely Chrismas fairy cake cases and decorations so I thought they'd be perfect for this. 

Ingredients (Makes 12)

110g Butter or Margarine

100g Caster Sugar

2 Medium Eggs

75g Self-Raising Flour

25g Cocoa Powder

For the Icing and Decoration
175g Icing Sugar
75g unsalted butter
5m Milk or Warm water
Holly and Berry Sprinkles (Waitrose)
Edible Glitter Flakes (Waitrose)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4 and then place the cupcake cases into the tin.  I used a muffin tin which worked well, but you can of course use a cupcake tin.
   
2. Next, cream the sugar and butter together.  It should become lighter and fluffy.  I put the butter in the microwave for a bit before doing this just to make it a bit easier. 

3. Once its all creamed together add the 2 eggs.  It is best to add one then beat it in and then add the other and beat the mixture again.

4. Then add the flour bit by bit and fold in using a metal spoon.  Once that's all folded in, sift the cocoa powder in and fold again.

(does not look too appetising here but it gets better!)

5.Finally, spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases.  I found filling them up about 2/3rds of the way up works well.

Put them in the oven for 15-20 minutes.  Mine took 15 minutes, but it all depends on your oven.  When they're cooked they should be well risen and firm when you gently touch them.  Leave them to cool on a wire rack!

I just made a basic butter cream icing by mixing the butter and icing sugar together.  I used a bit more than 5ml of milk as it needs to be spreadable, so I'd suggest just adding what every you think you need!
Decorating the cakes is where it all went a little bit wrong (i.e they turned out looking nothing like how I wanted them to!!)  I planned to pipe the icing on, but then my piping tube broke and I couldn't find anything to make a piping bag out go so I had to just spread it on.  I then just sprinkled the red and green glitter flakes all over while the icing was still wet enough so it would stick and then added the holly pieces on a few of the cakes.  This part of decorating them is entirely up to you!

They may not look like very neat but they taste so nice! I definitely recommend you make these if you like to bake as they are so easy to make.

See you tomorrow

Jessica 

xx