With the number of celebration days and national weeks at an all-time high, you, like us could be forgiven for overlooking some of the more obscure events. One I am sure you wouldn’t want to miss however, is National Cupcake Week ! Celebrating all the great things about this much-loved bitesize family treat, this week (18th – 24th September 2017) is sure to be a favourite, and offers another excuse to whip up a tray of your own, deliciously sweet cupcakes.
According to reports, the first mention of a cupcake was in 1796 when a recipe for a ‘light cake to bake in small cups’ was added to the first known cookbook called ‘American Cookery’ by author Amelia Simmons, published in Connecticut. Since this date there has been literally hundreds of thousands (excuse the pun) of variations to this time old recipe. As I’m sure you would expect, one of the most popular methods for us combines a wonderfully light, cupcake base with our indulgent Mint Choc Chip ice cream, but you can use any flavour you like. Here’s a quick and simple recipe which we just love.
Ice Cream Cupcakes:
Ingredients
For the cupcakes For the ice cream filling
Makes: 24 1 x 1ltr tub New Forest Ice Cream
60g good quality (70%) cocoa powder Mint Choc Chip (or your favourite
4 or 5 tablespoons boiling hot water flavour)
175g unsalted butter, softened Your favourite frosting
175g caster sugar
120g self-raising flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
Method
1.Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C / Gas mark 6. Line 2 – 12 hole bun trays with colourful paper cases.
2.Sift the cocoa into a large bowl; add 4 tablespoons of boiling water and mix into a thick chocolate syrup, adding more water if you needed. Add the softened butter, sugar, self-raising flour, baking powder and eggs. Mix with electric beaters until smooth and evenly mixed.
3.Spoon teaspoons of the mixture into the paper cases, filling them 3/4 full. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the sponge mixture has risen and the cupcakes spring back when you touch them. Remove from the oven; cool on a wire rack.
4.Place the cooled cupcakes on a piece of greaseproof paper. Cut a second piece of grease proof paper of the same size to line your freezer.
5.Use a small knife to cut a large circle, about the size of a £2 coin in the top of the cupcake. Cut almost down to the bottom of the cake and then lift out the cut section. You should ideally end up with a cone shaped piece of cake. Slice the cut section into a flat disk (to make room for the ice cream filling)
6.Working on 3-4 cupcakes at a time, filling with 1-2 tablespoons of New Forest Ice Cream Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream, and placing the disk back on the top. Now place in the freezer to prevent the ice cream from melting. Leave in the freezer for around 4hrs before serving.
7.When ready to enjoy , frost the top of the cupcakes with your favourite frosting and serve immediately.
This recipe has been adapted from one written by Dorothy Kern. More information can be found here: www.crazyforcrust.com/ice-cream-cupcakes
