recipe: white chocolate and raspberry cupcakes

I'm sure it's no secret to anyone. I love to bake. I figured that I haven't done a recipe post in a while despite baking quite a lot the past few weeks, so I thought I'd share with you my new creations. White chocolate and raspberry cupcakes. These two vital ingredients are like one of the best flavour combinations ever! And oh my, they taste good. 


Ingredients
175g self raising flour
125g unsalted butter, softened
175g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons semi-skimmed milk
100g melted white chocolate
1 packet of fresh/frozen raspberries

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and prepare a cake tin with 12 paper cases.
2. Melt the white chocolate over a bain marie (or in the microwave, but be careful to not let it burn). Leave to one side to cool slightly.
3. Beat the softened butter with an electric whisk until light and fluffy and add the sugar, beating for an additional 5 minutes.
4. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla extract together.
5. Add the egg mixture into the butter mix in 3 separate batches making sure you're scraping down the sides of the bowl after each time.
6. Add the flour and milk alternatively, i.e. flour, milk, flour, milk, flour, milk until all incorporated.
7. Add the melted chocolate and raspberries and mix well. If using fresh raspberries, wash before use and put them in the freezer for about an hour before adding to the mix. 
8. Divide amongst the 12 paper cases and bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes.
9. Once golden brown and springs back to the touch, leave in the tray for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Top with the buttercream of your choice and enjoy with a hot beverage.

For my buttercream, I used a simple vanilla based buttercream, piped with a star nozzle and decorated it with white chocolate stars and mini marshmallows. These will keep for a few days in an airtight container and usually tastes best the day after you make them. But they still taste immense if you can't wait once they're ready!

Bon appétit 

Vanessa

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Today's Bake: White Chocolate and Raspberry Blondies

I'm not going to lie to you. I didn't make these today. I actually made these last week...but it doesn't change a thing I don't think! I recently got a new brownie tin so I was really excited to start making some traybakes. My family love traybakes because they are so dainty, they can just pick one up and off they go!


Recipe (Adapted from a Recipe Card)
125g Butter
200g White Chocolate, chopped (or to make life simpler, chocolate chips work well too!)
110g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
130g Plain Flour
120g Fresh Raspberries
100g Flaked Almonds (entirely optional)


Pre-heat the oven to 190 Degrees Celsius/Gas Mark 5 and line your brownie tin with greaseproof paper.


On a low heat, melt the butter and HALF the chocolate until melted. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until thick and golden. Sieve in the flour, add the chocolate butter mixture and fold together. Add the raspberries, remaining chocolate and the almonds (if using). Mix together and pour into your prepared tin. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a golden crust appears. 


Cut into squares (approximately 16) and cool in the tin. These blondies will give you 2 days of happiness!


These didn't last very long in our household! As you can tell, 2 were sneakily taken before I even got my camera out! You can try varying the recipe to suit your tastes but there is something about white chocolate and raspberries that bring out the summery side in me!


Bon Appétit! 

Vanessa

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