Okay, so Christmas is the time for the Nutcracker ballet, and the ballet is about Christmas so this was my inspiration for these cupcakes. The second inspiration was a tv programme about cupcakes in America and some cupcakes that once cooked had their centre removed with an apple corer and were filled with buttercream, well, I didn't want buttercream inside and outside a cupcake so I decided to put damson jam inside them instead. So, I made six plain cupcakes and six with jam inside them whilst baking. With the cakes cooked with the jam sandwiched in the middle, some of the jam seeped out and down the side of the cake case - not good - but tasted wonderful still warm. The other cakes, I removed the centre with an apple corer, put half a teaspoon of damson jam in the space created and then popped the small piece of cake from the apple corer and put it back to cover the jam filled hole (hope this makes sense).
Once cool, I made up some fondant icing (fondant icing sugar from a packet mixed with water) - unfortunately I didn't weigh the icing sugar nor measure the amount of water used, then covered the tops of the cakes with the fondant, sprinkled with a little edible pink glitter and topped it off with a white chocolate blackcurrant.
There are so many cupcake recipes around that it seems pointless giving a recipe here but I will list the ingredients and the method for making them just in case there is someone out there who needs it!
Ingredients:
110g/4oz unsalted butter, room temperature
110g/4oz caster sugar
2 eggs
140g/5oz self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbs milk
damson jam - or jam of choice
fondant icing
water
White Chocolate blackcurrants
Edible glitter
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.
Cream the butter and sugar together and add the eggs one at a time. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the mixture a little at a time. Add the milk and mix again.
Either - spoon one teaspoon of mixture into the bottom of the paper cases, then one teaspoon of jam followed by a further large teaspoon of mixture or just fill each paper case with two teaspoons of mixture.
Bake in the centre of the oven for approximately 20 minutes and then test the cakes with either a skewer or a cake tester.
Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
Once cool, remove the centres of the cakes with the apple corer, place half a teaspoon of jam into the gap created and top with the removed cake piece.
Make the icing according to the packet but make it quite thick so that it stays on top and doesn't run down the sides. Decorate however you like.
Keep them for yourself or box them up and give as a gift - I would be happy to receive a box of these.
