JAFFA CAKE CUPCAKES

Ingredients:


200g Castor Sugar
200g Stork or Butter
3 Large Eggs
200g Self Raising Flour
Zest and Juice of One Small Orange

Buttercream & Decoration

250g Salted Butter
450g Icing Sugar
200g Plain Chocolate
Jaffa Cakes


Cakes:

1. Pre heat your oven to 180c fan/350f or gas mark 4.
2. Start by beating the sugar and fat together on a high speed until the mixture has become creamy looking and a lot lighter in colour, then add the eggs one by one beating well in between each addition. If your mixture looks like its curdled don’t worry, when you add the flour it will come back.
3. Then add the juice and zest of the orange and the flour. Incorporate the flour into the cake batter gently so as not to knock out the air, once the mixture is completely combined and forming ribbons you’re ready to fill your cases.
4. You can use any size case you like, but I find the standard size (50/53mm base x 30/38mm deep) is the best.
5. Pop your empty cases into a cupcake or muffin tray then using a dessert spoon scoop up a spoonful of the mixture and using your index finger slide the mixture into the case so it’s about 2/3’s of the way up the case. Once they are all filled place on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 10 - 12 minutes.
After this time gently press the top and if it bounces back and feels nice and spongy then they are done. Alternatively push a skewer into the cake and if it comes out clean it’s done.

Buttercream:

1. Now make your buttercream. Add the butter and icing sugar to your mixer, or into a bowl and whisk on a high speed for at least 5 minutes, stopping after a couple of minutes to have a good scrape round the bowl and check the consistency. The buttercream should turn white when it’s done and have a lovely billowy texture, it needs to be the consistency of extra thick cream, if not then add a splash of milk if it’s too stiff or touch more icing sugar if its too loose.

Icing:

1. To create the same effect as on our cakes you’ll need an open star nozzle.
2. Drop your nozzle into a piping bag and cut off the end so that around half of the nozzle is poking out of the bag. Then fill the bag with the buttercream.
3. When you’re ready, hold the piping bag directly over the centre of your cake and give the bag a good squeeze, then gently move the nozzle around the top of the cake making sure the nozzle is pointing straight down and not on an angle. You want the buttercream to create a nice swirl around the top a bit like a Mr Whippy ice cream. Then stop squeezing and pull away gently.
4. Melt your chocolate; either by gently melting it in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water or in the microwave checking it every 20-30 seconds.
5. Once the chocolate has melted leave to cool for a minute or so, before dripping over the buttercream. I use a spoon to do this and just flick the chocolate back and forth. When the chocolate cools it sets on top of the buttercream giving a nice snap when you bite into them.
6. Then simply finish by cutting a Jaffa Cake in two and wedging into the buttercream.