One Sunday afternoon I decided to do an experimental recipe and it went surprisingly well! This is the first festive bake of the year and I’m really excited for you to try it out for yourself. As always my Instagram DM’s are open for you to send me photos of your recreations! I really enjoy seeing the twists you put on my recipes – especially with the decoration! These cupcakes are plain in decoration but full in flavour. It would be a great idea to crush a candy cane and sprinkle that on top – but I didn’t have any candy canes when I was making these!

Ingredients:

4oz self-raising flour

2oz cocoa powder

4oz caster sugar

2oz brown sugar (this gives the cakes a brownie-like texture but if the classic cupcake is more to your taste then add another 2oz of caster sugar instead)

6oz margarine or unsalted butter

3 eggs

For the icing:

2oz icing sugar

1tsp of peppermint extract

Method:

• Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Pro tip: use a spoon to break up the ingredients and then use an electric whisk to make it light and fluffy.
• Preheat the oven to 160C (if you preheat the oven before you start mixing your ingredients you are wasting energy and throwing away money!)
• While your oven is preheating spoon the cake mixture evenly into 24 cupcake cases.  This recipe is easy to divide if you want to make more or less!

• Place your cupcakes in the oven. Let them cook for 10-15 minutes. The less time you leave them in the gooey-er they are!
• As the cupcakes cool you can prepare the icing. Combine 2oz on icing sugar (roughly – we didn’t measure exactly) and a few drops of water. Once you have the right consistency add your peppermint extract. Don’t use too much as it may taste like toothpaste!
• Using a knife spread the icing on to your cupcakes. If you do want to add decorations then make sure you do so before the icing sets. Otherwise they will not stick on!

Because I am so forgetful I completely didn’t take photos of the decorating process. It’s not too impressive anyways – but I thought you were due an explanation as to why you won’t be able to see the final result! Thank you all so much for reading this recipe. If you get any time with some little ones this holiday then I do recommend you make these with them. They’re super simple and very hard to bodge up! You may also get creative with the decorations.

Do you enjoy the combination of mint and chocolate? What is your favourite festive treat to bake?

Only two days left until Christmas now! I hope that you really enjoy yourself – whether you celebrate the occasion or not. I won’t be posting on Christmas day (even though it is my usual upload day) because I want to spend some time with my family. Though I would like to wish you a merry Christmas all the same!

Many blessings,

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