Schnapps Spiked Berry Cupcakes

Hello and sorry for my absence! I actually made these last Friday for a friend's birthday but haven't had the chance to write them up until now.

These pink cupcakes were for a friend's birthday, the brief was "as gay and fluffy as possible". Well, they certainly were that! Basically I went with the "take something glittery and girly and add alcohol" approach. Disclaimer: I'm not advocating for a second that all gay men like cutesy pink fluffy things, but this one does!

I'd made "spiked" cakes before, amaretto poured over a chocolate cake is very good, as is Baileys into brownies. You have to make sure that the cake base isn't too moist or the cake will seem too wet and sticky. If you're adding a very sweet alcohol remember
to adjust the sugar levels as well or they'll be too sickly.

I was short on time when I made these (had a GBBO style 90 minutes to make from scratch!) so I did the unthinkable and DIDN'T MAKE MY OWN FROSTING. No doubt many of you are tutting and clutching your pearls right now. A pink dyed strawberry or raspberry buttercream would work well, if you use any more alcohol in the frosting (and I wholeheartedly encourage you to, getting tipsy on cupcakes is great fun!) Just remember to add it a little at a time or you risk curdling the buttercream.

Anyhoo here's my actual recipe. Please forgive the imperial measures it's adapted from my Victoria sponge recipe which is venerable and ancient.

8oz soft butter
5oz caster sugar
4 eggs
8oz self raising flour
2 tsp pink food colouring gel
1tsp strawberry flavouring
3 tsp dried raspberry or strawberry pieces
2 shots of Archers (or whatever else you have left because no one in the flat will confess to buying it let alone drinking it)

1 tub of Betty Crocker strawberry frosting
Pink decorations (Sainsburys does a pot of Princess Sprinkles that gives a bit of variety)

Preheat the oven to 150C. Cream the butter and the sugar together and add the colouring and flavouring. Stir in one egg at a time followed by a bit of flour to stabilise the batter. Stir in the dried berries pieces. The mixture should now be relatively light but if you think it's too thick you can add a dash of milk to slacken it. You should be able to drop it off a wooden spoon easily.

Pipe or spoon the mixture directly into a lined 12 piece cupcake tin and bake in the oven for 25 mins or until golden and risen. Always follow the golden rule of never opening the oven door until at least half the cooking time has elapsed. Once they're done take them out of the tin and spoon over the Archers. You should get between 1 and 2 teaspoonfuls into each cake. Doing this whilst they're still hot will allow the alcohol to seep in better and the end result will be moist instead of soggy. If you want more booze in your cake save it for the frosting.

Once the cakes have cooled enough spread or pipe the icing onto them and cover with the Sprinkles.  You may find it easier to empty the sprinkles into a bowl and dip the cakes in.