Chocolate and raspberry butterfly cupcakes

Serves:

Ingredients

• 100g unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 large free-range eggs
• 1½ cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup milk
• ¾ cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup boiling water

Chocolate icing and ‘wings’:

• 1½ cup icing sugar mixture
• 150g butter, softened
• 120g chocolate, chopped
• ¼ cup thickened cream
• 12 dark chocolate digestive biscuits, each biscuit cut in half
• 1 jar raspberry jam
• Icing sugar, to dust

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake papers and set aside.

Sift together flour and baking powder in a bowl. Mix cocoa and boiling water together until smooth and allow to cool completely.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy then stir in vanilla. Add one egg and beat for one minute, then add the second egg and beat in again for another minute.

Add flour mixture and stir until combined. Add milk and cocoa mixture then beat entire mixture until smooth. Fill cupcake papers 3/4 full and bake for 13-15 minutes. Stick a butter knife into a cupcake. If it comes out clean, the cupcakes are ready. Remove and cool on a wire rack.

To make icing, beat together the softened butter and icing sugar until creamy. In a saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer and whisk in chocolate until smooth and shiny, then allow to cool completely.

Once cool, whisk chocolate mixture into the icing sugar mixture. Cut the tops off each cupcake, and using a sharp knife, carve out a little hole into the middle of the cake.

Using a piping bag full of raspberry jam, pipe the hole full of jam. Place a dollop of icing onto each cupcake after they are filled with jam. Press two biscuit halves into the tops of the iced cupcake standing upright like ‘wings’, and dust with icing sugar.

Notes:

• I used Chocolate Wheaton biscuits for this recipe – and then snaffled the rest of the packet!
• If you don’t have a piping bag you can buy disposable ones now at the major grocery stores, or you could make your own out of baking paper.

This recipe was created by Kristine Duran-Thiessen for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.

Serving Suggestions

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