BAKING | CHRISTMAS CRANBERRY CUPCAKES

With Christmas just around the corner and the house looking all kinds of festive, I decided to get creative in the kitchen and try my hand at a couple of cupcake recipes, the first of which I thought I'd show you today! I picked up a selection of Christmassy edible cupcake toppers that I wanted to try out from My Cupcake toppers, and since they were Christmas themed, I knew I wanted to do something festive when it came to flavours, so I took to the good old internet to find some tasty recipes! Today I'll be showing you these Cranberry Cupcakes that I adapted from a recipe found on Food Network. (Warning, they are so delicious you will definitely eat more than is necessary).

You will need...

For the cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temp)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 jar cranberry sauce

For the frosting:
230g unsalted butter (room temp)
3 cups icing sugar
1/4 jar cranberry sauce
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
White chocolate, for topping

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake cases.

Step 2: Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and ground nutmeg in a medium bowl.

Step 3: Beat the butter and sugar in a larger bowl with a mixer on a medium speed until creamy.

Step 4: Add the egg and vanilla and beat until fluffy.

Step 5: Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat until just incorporated.

Step 6: Add the sour cream and continue beating until light and fluffy.

Step 7: Divide the batter among the cupcake cases and bake for around 22 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

Step 8: Meanwhile, make the frosting. Beat the butter and 1 cup of the icing sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on a medium speed.

Step 9: Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the remaining 2 cups of icing sugar, beating until fluffy.

Step 10: Increase the speed to medium high and beat in the cranberry sauce, vanilla and salt until combined.
Step 11: Pour in to a piping bag with a large round nozzle and set aside.
Step 12: Once the cakes have cooled, carefully remove a small amount from the centre of each cake with a teaspoon and fill the gap with a small spoon of cranberry sauce.

Step 13: In a circular motion, pipe the frosting on top of the cake to cover the cranberry sauce.

Step 14: With a sharp knife, finely chop the chocolate into small shards.

Step 15: Top a selection of the cakes with the edible cake toppers by carefully peeling them from their backing, and decorate the remaining cakes with shards of chocolate.

Voila! These are truly scrumptious and make the perfect baking project for Christmas Eve or as a contribution to a festive dinner party. The toppers add that extra bit of fun and are really easy to use once you get the knack of peeling them off their backing. They're available in lots of different designs, and I'll be showing you the other that I chose in my next baking post at the end of the week (one word: Disney!), but for now if you'd like to pick some up for yourself, the lovely folk at My Cupcake Toppers are offering Who What Claire readers a generous 10% off with the discount code WWC10.

Happy baking!!

C x