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.

Recipe: Raspberry Meringue Croquenbouche

Gold shimmer spray gives this festive dessert a luxurious look

So it's the 27th December, and we're into that weird part of the festive season where some people are back at work, others are still partying and others still are sitting with their Christmas presents/mounds of cooked turkey wondering what to do next.

We had this as our dessert on Christmas Day itself, but it would work just as well if you're seeing family or friends in between Christmas and New Year, or if you're being super grown up and having a sit down dinner on New Year's Eve (instead of just ordering pizza to go with your champagne as I usually do).

You might think it's mad to attempt a dessert with 5 separate constituent parts. And you'd probably be right. The choux pastry took three attempts after some rather pancake like affairs. Many thanks to my Mum Rachel for her calming of me when I went full Bake Off meltdown, sitting crestfallen in front of the oven after batch two, and to my brother Chris and his girlfriend Sarah for their expertise in choux pastry. The recipe below for the pastry part is hers.

For the raspberry meringues:

6 egg whites
2 tbsp freeze dried raspberries
1 tsp sherry vinegar
300g caster sugar
2 drops pink food colouring

For the creme anglaise filling:

6 egg yolks
600ml whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
4 sheets gelatin

For the choux buns:

50g butter

100ml water

65g plain flour

2 eggs, beaten

1 small punnet of raspberries

For the raspberry coulis:

1 small punnet of raspberries

2 tbsp water

4 tbsp caster sugar

For the chocolate ganache:

200g dark chocolate

50ml whole milk

gold shimmer spray

To make the raspberry meringues, whisk the egg whites with an electric whisk until at the stiff peak stage. Slowly add the caster sugar one spoonful at a time and continue whisking until you have stiff glossy paste and all the sugar has been incorporated into it. Slowly fold in the pink food colouring, sherry vinegar and dried raspberries. If you want to go full on camp Barbie pink then do so, but you may want to use a pink food gel instead as too much liquid will destabilise the meringue.

Line a deep round 8-10" springform cake tin with greaseproof paper. Draw around the tin three times onto three other sheets of greaseproof paper and pipe or spoon the meringue mixture onto the circles. Leave a gap of 1-2cm between the edge of the circle and the meringue to allow for it to rise in the oven. Bake in the oven on 180C for 1 hour or until the meringue is lightly caramelised on top. Allow to cool.

Heat 300ml of the cream in a saucepan. Using the electric whisk again, mix the sugar, egg yolks, cornflour and vanilla extract until pale and light. Soak the gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes then add to the cream and stir until melted. Pour the cream into the egg mixture, stir until combined, then return to the pan and heat gently until thickened. Allow to cool slightly then refrigerate until solid. Whip the remaining cream until thick, then whisk the custard mixture to break it down. Slowly fold in the cream.

To make the choux buns, heat the butter and water until the butter is melted. Allow to boil slightly. then take off the heat and quickly shoot the flour into the saucepan. Beat with a wooden spoon until it forms a glossy roux that comes away from the sides of the pan. The roux will be slightly spongy. Beat in the eggs a little at a time until it forms a glossy stiff paste. Pipe or spoon small 2cm balls on to greaseproof paper and bake for 10 mins on 220C, then lower the temperature to 190C for 20 mins until golden brown.

Add the sugar, raspberries and water to a small pan and boil until the raspberries have disintegrated. Push through a nylon sieve and set aside. Heat the chocolate and the milk in a double boiler until combined and glossy.

Put the first layer of meringue into the lined cake tin. Don't worry if it cracks slightly. Spoon a little chocolate ganache over the top. Spoon or pipe the custard cream into the choux buns then arrange the first layer over the top of the meringue. Sprinkle some raspberries over the top and some of the raspberry coulis. Repeat until you have all 3 meringues, coulis, raspberries, ganache and choux pastry used up. The last meringue layer should be the top. Put the whole tin into the fridge for at least an hour to allow it to set further. 

When ready to serve, place the tin onto a glass and use it to push the cake out of the tin. Arrange on a plate and spray with the gold spray. Add chocolate decorations if you would like.