This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Durham chapter.
What better on a cold November night than everybody’s favourite comfort pud, brought to the 21st century with a bang-on-trend cupcake twist! If you’re still experiencing the end of Bake Off blues like I am, these are perfect to eat your feelings with. These cupcakes are sticky, syrupy and oh-so-sweet; guaranteed to go well with a cup of hot chocolate and some Christmas tunes (roaring fire optional).
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
- 180g dates, pitted and chopped
- 180g self raising flour
- 1 tsp bicarb of soda
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 80g unsalted butter, softened
- 150g light muscovado sugar (I used demerara)
- 2 eggs
For the salted caramel icing:
- 160g butter, softened (you could use unsalted or salted here, just remember to adjust the salt levels later on!)
- 200g icing sugar
- Caramel or dulce de leche (you can make your own, or I used ½ tin of Carnation’s caramel)
- Salt to taste
- Splash of vanilla extract
Also:
- Cupcake cases
- Icing bag & nozzle (or a sandwich bag with the corner snipped off)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/fan 170ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4. Place your cupcake cases into a cupcake tin.
- In a heatproof bowl, pour 180ml boiling water over the dates and leave to soak for 20 minutes. Then, with a fork, gently break up the dates and stir in the vanilla.
- Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and set aside.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs gradually, beating between each addition – if it looks like its curdling you can add in 1 tbsp of flour.
- Lastly, fold in the remaining flour and then the date mixture.
- Spoon into the cupcake cases and bake for 15–20 minutes (the tops should spring back when pressed with a finger). Remove and leave to cool.
- Whilst your cupcakes are baking, make a start on the buttercream. Cream the butter and icing sugar until entirely combined and lump-free and add the caramel or the dulce de leche.
- Mix together and add a pinch of salt to taste.
- Put the buttercream into the piping bag and pipe it on to the cakes, or spread it on with a regular knife.
- Mix up a little more caramel and salt and drizzle over the top (you can warm this for a few seconds in the microwave to make it easier to drizzle).
Enjoy!