White Chocolate and Raspberry Cupcakes

Last weekend it was my cousin's 13th birthday, so I baked her - and my whole extended family (cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents) - these White Chocolate and Raspberry cupcakes. They all loved them!

The sponge mix is a basic vanilla sponge with raspberry jam stirred in, and once it has cooled after baking, you take a small piece out of the centre and put a teaspoon of raspberry jam into the middle. For the frosting, you make a basic vanilla frosting and then stir in melted white chocolate and double cream - it tastes just like melted white chocolate poured over the cake, divine!

Sponge:

110g Butter, softened 

180g Caster Sugar

2 Large eggs

125g Self-Raising Flour, sifted

120g Plain Flour, sifted

125ml Milk, room temperature

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

3 tbsp Raspberry Jam, preferably seedless

1. Preheat the oven to 160 C Fan/ 180 C/ 350 F/ Gas Mark 4. Line a 12 hole muffin tray with big cases ( I managed to get 14 cupcakes out of this batch, but I was making them slightly smaller than usual as my grandparents and lots of adults were eating them.)
2. Cream the butter and sugar until smooth, pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition until they are fully incorporated. 
3. Sift the flours into a bowl, and mix the mil and vanilla together in a jug.
4. Add one third of the flour mix to the butter mix, then add one half of the milk mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Repeat this until all the flour and milk is used up, and finish on the flour.
5. Fold in the raspberry jam to give a good rippled effect. 
6. Scoop the mixture into the muffin cases, until the cases are just over 2/3 full. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Leave to rest in the tray for about 10 minutes and then transfer onto a wire rack.

Frosting

30g Butter, softened

15ml Milk, room temperature

A drop of Vanilla Extract

125g Icing Sugar

100g good quality White Chocolate

3 tbsp Double Cream

Filling for cakes: 1 tsp Raspberry jam each

Topping: 1 Raspberry each

1. In a bowl mix the butter, milk, vanilla and half the sugar for a few minutes until smooth. Gradually add the remaining icing sugar, beating well after each addition.
2. Melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl, over a pan of simmering water - make sure the bowl does not touch the water, so the chocolate does not burn. Leave to cool a bit.
3. Once cooled, add the chocolate to the basic vanilla frosting you already have, along with the double cream. Beat well for a few minutes to make white chocolate frosting.
4. Make a small hole in the middle of each cupcake, and put a teaspoon of jam in each. Then top with the white chocolate frosting, and finish off with a raspberry.

If you try this, tell me how it goes, hope you like this recipe!

Thanks for reading :)